Maasir-I-Alamgiri Saqi Must'ad Khan (A History of The Emperor Aurangzib Alamgir) (Reign 1658-1707 A.D.) of

This is a translated and annotated version into English of the original Persian text. It narrates the history of the reign of Aurangzeb in India. In this volume the events are recorded chronologically details of names of persons and places. The original text is based on the official reports stored in the Indian/State archives. The narration is full of high verbose language used for Aurangzeb, but the important facts and major events have been narrated as per the records and day to day happening. For this reason, the work is one of the primary sources of Mughal history of Aurangzeb's period. The translation is accurate, fluent, communicative yet faithful to the original text. This translated version is a valuable addition to the sources of Mughal History in English.

Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958) born in Karachmaria village. In 1891, he passed the B.A. examination with honours in English and History from Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1892, he stood First in the First Class in the M.A. examination of Calcutta University in English. In 1897, he received the Premchand Roychand Scholarship. He became a teacher in English literature in 1893 at Ripon College, Calcutta (later renamed Surendranath College). In 1898, he started teaching at Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1899, he was transferred to Patna College, Patna, where he would continue teaching until 1926. In between, in 1917- 1919, he taught Modern Indian History in Benaras Hindu University and during 1919-1923 he taught in Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, now in Odisha. In 1923, he became an honorary member of the Royal Asiatic Society of London. In August 1926, he was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. In 1928, he joined as Sir W. Meyer Lecturer in Madras University. Sarkar was honored by Britain with a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire CIE and knighted in the 1929 Birthday Honours list. He was invested with his knighthood at Simla by the acting Viceroy, Lord Goschen, on 22 August 1929.

THE Emperor Akbar (reign 1556-1605 A.D.) set the example of having a detailed history of his reign written by official command. The result was the Akbar-namah or 'Book of Akbar' of Abul Fazl (completed by other hands after that author's death). Then came the Emperor Jahangir, who dictated his own memoirs, known as the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, and therefore no official Jahangir-namah had to be written about him. This book, however, combines the literary characteristics of an autobiography with those of an official history, or in other words, it gives the Emperor's own reflections and feelings as well as an objective record of the events of his reign. Indeed, in this reign, the literary type of the Mughal official histories was determined for the future, as was exemplified by the Pädishāhnāmah (Shah Jahan), the 'Alamgir-nämah (of Aurangzib, completed by the Maäsir-i-Alamgiri), the Bahadur Shah-nämah (Shah Alam I) and later attempts like the Tarikh-i-Ahmad Shahi and the Tarikh-i-'Alamgir Sāni.

In all these works, or Namahs proper, the events are built upon a rigid skeleton of dates chronologically arranged; there is an accurate but tiresome assemblage of minute names of persons and places in the course of every month's narrative of occurrences, and the mechanical division of the book into a chapter for each regnal year is followed. Such a collection of facts, if it is to be correct, requires a basis of written official records, and this basis was supplied by the waqai' or official reports of occurrences regularly sent from every province to the central Government of Delhi. By an order issued in the 24th year of his reign (1580), Akbar appointed in each province of his empire a uniform set of officers, one of whom was the Waqai'-navis or Recorder of Events.

(Akbar-namah, Bev. tr., iii. 413, also 559). Jahangir continued the system. As he writes, "It had been made a rule that the events of the subahs should be reported according to the boundaries of each, and news-writers from the Court had been appointed for this duty. This being the rule that my revered father had laid down, I also observe it, .... and information is thus acquired about the world and its inhabitants." (Tuzuk, Roger's tr. i. 247, see also Baharistan-i-Ghayibi, Borah's tr. i. 209.) But the system of appointing secret news-writers to the provinces was really borrowed by the Indian Mughals from the 'Abbasid Khalifs who had borrowed it from the ancient Iranian empire. The different classes of these news-reporters and their method of work are fully described in my book, Mughal Administra tion, ch. IV. sec. 6.

When this State intelligence-department was fully developed with the expansion of the Mughal Empire under Shah Jahan and Aurangzib, (1627-1707), a huge collection of reports, written on small slips of paper and transmitted to the capital in bamboo cylinders (nalo) at regular weekly or fortnightly intervals,-came towas somewhat estranged from Aurangzib. He ordered 'Is Beg, Aurangzib's agent (at Court), to be imprisoned for no offence, and confiscated his property; but after a time realising the shamefulness of this act released him. Among the villainous ways of Dara Shukoh-what became the chief cause of Aurangzib's wrath was the inclination of his heart to the principles (or practices) of the Hindus and the spreading of disregard of Islamic religious prohibitions (bahat and Ilhad). Therefore, considering it necessary to defend the faith and the State, Aurangzib determined to go to Shah Jahan and to carry (with himself) Murad Bakhsh, who after doing some foolish acts, had at this time sub missively begged the patronage of Aurangzib. As it was probable that Jaswant Singh and Qasim Khan would fight, Aurangzib prudently collected the means of war, and on Monday, the 25th January, .1658/1st Jamad A., 1068 A.H., started from Aurangabad towards Burhanpur, where he arrived on Thursday, the 18th February /25th Jamad A., and whence he sent a letter to Shah Jahan (begging per mission) to visit him in his illness. No reply came in one month, but alarming news continued to arrive. Jaswant, at the instigation of Därä Shukoh, displayed aggression. On the 20th March/25th Jamad S., Aurangzib started for Agra, and on Wednesday, the 14th April/21st Rajab, when marching from Dipalpur [5] he met on the way Murad Bakhsh, who had come from Ahmadābād to see him. Aurangzib halted at Dharmatpur (situated 7 kos from Ujjain), one kos off from which village Jaswant Singh and Qasim Khan had encamped for the purpose of fighting The enemy stepped beyond their limits and prepared for fight. On Thursday, the 15th April 1658/22nd Rajab, Aurangzib marshalled his army in battle order, and beat his drums for battle. Jaswant, too, drew up his troops and rode (out) to fight, and the two armies clashed together. Though the Hindus were very numerous they were slaughtered, and at last Jaswant took to flight with a small party towards his 'home' Marwar.

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