Fathnāma on Akbar’s Conquest of Chittor
A fathnāma is an announcement of conquest. Below is my annotated translation (from Persian) of a fathnāma from 1568, issued by order of the Mughal King Akbar (d. 1605).
Introduction
Akbar (r. 1556-1605), the grandson of the founder of the Mughal Empire, Babur (d. 1530) became king at the age of thirteen. Over the course of his reign, he consolidated Mughal rule over North India by embarking on an ambitious program of conquest that absorbed a number of regional kingdoms into the Mughal Empire. To counter the power of the Central Asian nobility, some of whom who had come to India with Babur, Akbar actively recruited the Hindu Rajput warrior elite through both diplomacy and military force. Akbar’s ties to the Rajputs included marrying Rajput women, awarding military ranks to Rajput noblemen and their kin, and eventually constructing himself as a “Muslim Rajput” who was portrayed in Rajput bardic traditions as the Hindu god Rām.[1] Akbar’s interest in religion extended to all faith communities. In 1575, Akbar set up the House of Worship, a place where debates between scholars of different religious traditions were held late at night and tenets of each religion questioned. To quell resistance from Muslim religious scholars, Akbar declared himself the mujtahid of the age; this move, formalized through an imperial decree in 1579, gave Akbar supreme authority on all matters of religious doctrine. Ten years later, Akbar commissioned the grand imperial history known as the Akbarnāma, which was completed by Akbar’s historian and trusted advisor Abu’l Fazl in 1598. The Akbarnāma traced Akbar’s genealogy from Adam, claimed that the race of Mughals was descended from a Mongol princess Alanquā who was impregnated by a ray of light, and heralded Akbar as a universal sovereign ushering in a new millennium. Akbar’s Dīn-i Ilāhī, a private circle of discipleship, which bound his men to him as both disciples and soldiers, reinforced his messianic and charismatic claims to power while cementing bonds within his inner circle. His policy of Sulh-i Kul (Universal Peace) pointed to an imperial strategy for integrating multiple ethnic and religious groups into the empire.[2]
Akbar’s ties to the Rajputs and his multi-ethnic and multi-religious court have meant that Akbar is romanticized in popular consciousness in India as tolerant and secular. Both these characterizations are a projection of present anxieties onto the past. For one, tolerance was not an ideological concern among pre-modern kings. Rather, successful kings maintained local institutions and practices in order to ensure a reasonably contented populace; simultaneously, kings asserted dominance by demanding tributes and allegiance and declaring war when necessary. Second, there was no such thing as secular kingship in pre-modern India; every king invoked a divine lineage and relied upon signs of favor from God to legitimize his sovereignty. The vocabulary of kingship took on different shades depending on the exigencies facing the king: Akbar could be both khalīfa (caliph) and Hindu god Rām.[3]
The Fathnāma-i Chittor, issued following Akbar’s conquest of a significant Rajput stronghold in February 1568, must be read in this light. A fathnāma is a formal proclamation or letter of victory issued in the name of the king and distributed across the empire. Usually penned by a munshī (scribe or secretary), fathnāmas follow highly stylized and formulaic conventions.[4] Unlike official histories such as the Akbarnāma, which was closely supervised by Akbar, the degree to which Akbar was involved in the penning of this text is unclear and the name of the munshī who penned it unknown. [5] The Fathnāma-i Chittor is arranged according to standard convention: It begins with praises for God, continues by honoring the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, praises the king, explains the reason for the imperial assault on Chittor and then describes the successful military engagement that followed. The Fathnāma closes with a request that subjects pray for the king, who is divinely favored.
In style, the document mirrors the fathnāma penned by Shaykh Zayn Khwāfī (Babur’s sadr or minister for religious affairs) on Babur’s victory over the Rajput Rana Sanga (r. 1508-1527) of Mewar, at the battle of Khanwa in 1527.[6] Rana Sanga and Babur had initially been allied against Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi of the Delhi Sultanate but following Babur’s defeat of Lodhi, Rana Sanga and Babur’s ambitions had brought them into conflict. Shaykh Zayn’s fathnāma, included in Babur’s autobiography, begins with the opening lines of the Prophet Muhammad’s sermon on the conquest of Mecca and depicts Babur’s victory over Rana Sanga through images of Muslim warfare against an infidel force. Akbar’s victory over Rana Sanga’s son, Udai Singh (r. 1540-1572) at Chittor in 1568is depicted in the same manner: The Fathnāma-i Chittor closelyfollows Shaykh Zayn’s introduction and relies heavily on copious citations of verses from the Quran. Meanwhile, in the Akbarnāma, the tone through which the conquest is depicted is less strident; Akbar subdues the wrongdoers, but Quranic references to early Islamic history are not set as precedents to Akbar’s triumph.[7] This points to how the Fathnāma-i Chittor is indicative of the early days of Akbar’s kingship, when his imperial image had not yet taken on the form for which he is now known. Ironically, Akbar’s defeat of the Rajputs and their integration into his empire directly contributed to favorable religious policies towards Hindus that were adopted by Akbar in later years, and to Akbar’s fashioning as a sacred symbol who could be likened to a Hindu god.
The Fathnāma-i Chittor,along with its forceful assertions of Muslim supremacy through appeals to the Quran, also draws upon poetry from well-known Persian poets Saʿdī (d. 1292) and Nizāmī (d. 1209). Praises to God in the opening section begin with verses from the Quran that are followed with verses from Saʿdī. Praises for the Prophet Muhammad begin with Quranic injunctions to strive against hypocrites and infidels, and conclude with mystical verses from Nizāmī that portray the Prophet as having divine powers that allow him to grant victory to those he wishes. A number of verses of unknown origin are scattered throughout the Fathnāma, including verses that praise the otherworldly grandeur of the fortress Akbar’s forces would besiege and verses that contain imagery of legendary pre-Islamic heroes. Many motifs are in operation here: Akbar is fighting a just war, much in the way of the early Muslims, the Rana is punished for his false pride, and submitting to Akbar is the same as submitting to God because Akbar has been entrusted by God to keep a community of devout believers safe. Simultaneously, by invoking the mythical warriors of Persianate romances, the Fathnāma turns Akbar and his heroic army into protagonists in a literary drama.
Despite their divergences, Akbar is portrayed in both the Fathnāma-i Chittor and the Akbarnāma as a champion favored by the divine, even as the meaning and expressions of divine charisma would change over the course of Akbar’s reign. When read in conjunction with other texts, the Fathnāma-i Chittor can add another layer to the many faces of Akbar. The Fathnāma is evidence of an older vocabulary of kingship that Akbar would largely leave behind; at the same time the idiom of kingship evident in the Fathnāma can still be read as a necessary stage of the king’s evolution.
Translation
All praise is due to God, who has made true His promise, aided His servant, honored His soldiery, and vanquished the confederates alone for there is nothing after God.[8] Tribute and gratitude are due to the Great Conqueror by whose merit sultans steadfast in religious adherence and justice are given keys to the seizure of forts and the conquest of lands. His royal decree and favor adorn the khilāfat of the victorious khans.[9] The Merciful One has promised the faithful: “It is Our duty to help believers.”[10] By elevating the power of God, the thunderbolt swords of the noble mujahidin have subdued the rebellious infidels for the order is: “Fight them! God will punish them at your hands, bring them to disgrace, and give you victory over them.”[11] Regarding this:
God crowns the head of one and offers him the throne.
Another He hurls from the throne to the ground.
He decorates one’s head with prosperity’s cap,
but fills another’s chest with adversity’s threadbare rug.
He turns burning fire into a garden of flowers for His friend.
He sends His enemies to eternal punishment through the Nile’s waters.[12]
God is exalted and they say His sovereign power over His kingdom is dependent on neither friend nor helper. Benediction will reach mankind in acknowledgement of the command, “Oh Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be firm against them,”[13] which by the grace of the Sovereign, heralds the raised flag of faith, the bowed heads of tribes and clans, the conquered forts, the triumphant soldiers, for “God sent down soldiers whom you did not see.”[14] A great leader is one to whom conquest is granted with ease. The prosperity of his kingdom is assured eternally and his noble intentions and pure devotion are in the creed (kalima) uttered by his tongue: “There is no God but God and Muhammad is His Prophet.” Every short-sighted crow which becomes blind to the blessings of the hereafter for the sake of the firewood of this world goes down the path of ignorance and becomes the target of the arrow of the raging fire of hell and its painful punishment.
The Messenger is he who, without laying claim to throne or crown,
extracts tributes from the greatest of emperors.
I was wrong in referring to him as the king whose throne is the pinnacle of creation.
For he is the one who both bestows crowns and seizes thrones.
His body is intimate with the throne of the heavens.
His head is crowned with the crown of God’s praise:
“If it were not for you, I would not have created the heavens and what lies beneath!”[15]
Until the day of judgment, may God bless and be pleased with the noble group that comprises the family of the Prophet, his exalted Companions, the army of his upright friends who led the arrayed lines of the faithful in prayer and were guides to those who were true. After these preliminaries:
In view of His statement (to Adam), “I have made you a leader for mankind,” [16] the King of Kings, great in His majesty and bountiful in His gifts, has turned over to us the kingship of the provinces of Hindustan, which comprise some of the vastest climes of the world. The scribe of the celestial mandate has emblazoned the throne of our khilāfat with the proclamation (of God to David), “Indeed, We established him upon the earth”[17] that is further bejeweled with “That is God’s bounty; He grants it to whom He wishes.”[18] The truth is that all creation, which is evidence of the wonder that is the Creator’s trust, has found sanctuary in His guarantee of protection from the unpleasant events of days and the hardships of time. Ensconced in His grace and mercy, subjects who are devout and obedient busy themselves in duties of worship owed to the Most High. We consider it necessary and incumbent and a required debt for one with high aspirations to be forever thankful for the blessing (of kingship) and to sing praises for this great gift.[19] In accordance with, “Direct your attention wherever you wish, for you are victorious,”[20] wherever we direct our attention, sovereignty and fortune come to welcome us and to whichever realm we incline the rein of our firm resolution, victory and conquest rush to our presence. “This is from the favor of my Lord, to test whether I will be grateful or ungrateful.”[21]
By virtue of these auspicious tidings, “Strive in the cause of God, so that you may succeed,”[22] we are engaged to the best of our abilities in jihad and we have been blessed by His incomparable favor, for He has strengthened and expanded our kingdom. And so we subdue forts, localities, and provinces in possession of the infidels— may God forsake them!—and over all these we raise the felicitous banners of Islam. With their burnished, bloody swords, our fighters avenge themselves like Bahrām, and their arrows fly like shooting stars that bear the tidings of destiny, namely, to erase the darkness of idolatry and the signs of injustice from the surfaces of the hearts of the unbelievers and from the foundations of every place of idol-worship in India. “Praise God, who has guided us, for we would never have had guidance if it were not for God.”[23]
The substance of this discourse is such that after the killing of Ali Quli and his wretched faction, we arrived at the khilāfat of Agra “righteous and victorious,”[24] and as our noble command sought to increase the materials needed for our pastime of hunting elephants, we encamped within the borders of Sawi Subar and Gagron, which are attached to the principality of Chittor.[25] Around this time, the news reached our royal attention that Rana Udai Singh (may God destroy him), contrary to the proper conduct of welcoming, paying respects to, and kissing the royal threshold, or at the very least sending his son with a tribute in his stead, had adopted an attitude of unseemly pride and insubordination. He had taken sanctuary in the fortress of Chittor, which is his hereditary place of refuge and one of the strongest and grandest forts of Hindustan, and he was collecting provisions for war. Because thoughts of jihad were casting their reflections at the gleaming mirror of our conscience at this time, flames of ardor for the divine religion (Dīn-i Ilāhī), coupled with the fires of anger arose in our royal countenance.[26] Although most of our soldiers had returned to their assigned lands following their most recent victory, and only a handful of soldiers accompanied us on our hunting expedition, we nonetheless turned our attention to defeating the infidels in the fortress.
When news reached Udai Singh, he turned fearful and left behind (at the fortress) his uncle Sahidas, and Jaimal and Udaiban,[27] all of whom are celebrated for their bravery among the infidels (God destroy and punish them), and each is known to possess the manliness and valor of a thousand mounted horsemen. With them were five thousand of their chosen Rajputs, ten thousand soldiers stationed to defend the fortress, along with a thousand troops from the Rana’s own contingent.[28] Meanwhile Udai Singh hastened with his troops to Udaipur and Kombalmir,[29] which are securely placed between mountains and jungles. When we were at the town of Rampur, which is a well-known town attached to Chittor, the plans of the infidel became clear to us. Our royal mind determined that our soldiers must, with divine aid, first subjugate the fortress, after which we would act upon circumstances as they presented themselves. With this intention, as the star of fortune rose over the horizon, our royal presence descended upon the fortress of Chittor on Thursday, 20th Rabi-us-Sani (October 24, 1567). The majestic fortress appeared such that the mountain of Burz[30] would appear smaller than a pebble in its lap and the Hindukush would fit within its walls. The height of its ramparts competes with the celestial spheres (falak-i atlas) themselves,[31] the sun appears to orbit around these ramparts and so vast are they that the sun is unable to complete its journey. Those who can place a measure on the worth of an era are speechless with wonder at the quality of the earth from which these towers rise. The circumference of the fortress measures around three farsangs and its battlements are impossible to calculate.[32]
The engineers are the ones who have built this fort
But the Creator of stone has laid its foundation
At His feet lie both stone and sky
In His structures are placed a hundred Alexanders
And from those small inklings that are mere traps,
come the bold thoughts of those who know.
The walls He builds reach the zenith of the sky
The path reaches its conclusion when traversed by the king’s armies.[33]
Any prudent, intelligent person would reckon that capturing this fort would be an impossible task.
When accompanied by the generosity of the Magnificent,
and with the spiritual aid of the perfect friends of God,
in every direction that we turned our face,
we found what we were seeking.[34]
The same day we inspected the fort from all sides with a view to gaining the utmost knowledge of it and we designated responsibilities to the courageous khans, the dignified sultans, the amirs blessed under the fortunate conjunction and all the other obedient servants betrothed to our lofty service. Warriors who travel over mountain and countryside, their hearts and lives given over to the call of jihad and martyrdom to secure their rewards in this life and the next asked our leave to take the fortress with divine aid, to storm its fortifications with their lion-like strength, and to bring it into our possession.
The vexatious ones gathered inside the fortress had collected a large quantity of weapons with which to defend the fort; with them were mortars, cannons, matchlocks, catapults, carriages to transport heavy loads, gunpowder, and arrows, all of which would last out thirty years of continued deployment. Because they were full of confidence in their fort, weapons, and military prowess, and we did not wish for our fearless army of Islam (may God protect them until the day of judgment) to play on their lives needlessly, we sent for our dragon-like cannons and mortars, and for the artillery we had left at the capital. We ordered that mountain-breaking cannons and mortars be produced at our encampment, tunnels be dug, and a covered passage be made, which would allow us to enter the fort using a battering ram, following which we would launch an attack. We ordered one of our contingents to attack, kill, and take captive men of the army of Udai Singh who had stayed behind while he was sitting ten kos away from here and we dispatched another battalion to plunder Rampur, from which they returned with a large quantity of booty after sending the infidels to their doom.[35] After the artillery arrived and the covered passage was complete, we exploded our mines, set fire to their towers and battlements, and ordered our soldiers to surround the fort completely.
That sect of people destined for hell had now experienced the strength of the armies of Islam and become aware of the misplaced pride of their ruler. Faced with their own impotence, their chiefs came out of the fort to plead for respite and intercession. Despite subjecting nobles and the commoners among the community of Islam to many dangers, including gunfire, besiegement, and catapulting stones, through which some had been martyred, they offered us terms whose acceptance would have compromised our dignity. We gave them permission to return. The next day we went ourselves by the covered passage to meet Muhammad Qasim Khan Mir-i Bahr who was stationed closest to the fort and commanded that the great battle (Jang-i Sultānī) be launched. The soldiers bound to the glad fortunes of Islam are steadfast in the credo: “Allah is sufficient for us and He is our protector”[36] and they showed great audacity and courage on the battlefield. Within (the fort), the infidels, who had the character of Jews, had set ablaze the fire of war by lighting up their fire-raining catapults and thundering cannons in fierce competition. The lions of the thicket of bravery and the leopards of the summit of grandeur were such in their manliness that their hands seized the belt of Orion and snatched away the crown of Bahrām.
The conditions of man’s being are all in their place.
The heads of men’s enemies lie at their feet.
The cup in Jamshīd’s gathering is theirs,[37]
And theirs is the garland of Bahrām
These days on the battlefield give rise to all kinds of clamor,
such that a voice twists its way into the mountain of Qāf:[38]
The enemies you perceive to be a firm mountain,
Are only fragments trapped in amber.[39]
In accordance with God’s command, “Gather against them what forces you are able,”[40] the troops outdid one another in contest and together they stormed the parapet and towers battered by cannon-fire. There, the gathered crowds scattered like pigs hit by arrows, and the crowd gave way to the swords of royal army. From every corner thundered cannon-fire and the sound of catapults, and every nerve and sinew quaked at the wrath of the conquering heroes, which overthrew the enemies and scorched the harvest of their deeds.
The fire of vengeance catches left and right,
as dust flies on the earth and sparks fly in the sky.
The armies of the enemy are all agitated,
in the manner of those who inhabit the fires of hell.
The smoke from the fire of the guns of war,
is akin to the many-colored rainbow.[41]
The two sides fought incessantly for three nights and days. Like foxes, the enemy contrived deceptive schemes, and like lions, the royal army thwarted their every move.
Finally, on the night of Tuesday, 25th Shaban, 975 A.H. (23 February 1568), in accordance with, “(The unbelievers) will not be able to avert the fire from their faces, nor from their backs, and no help shall reach them,”[42] the raging balls of fire in the sky and the sound of cannons escalated, “For it will come upon them unexpectedly and they will be confounded, with no power to repel it and no respite at hand,”[43] and they had no strength left to defend themselves. In this fortunate circumstance, the hidden call, “If you help God, He will help you and make your foothold strong,”[44] reached the exalted hearing and with each passing moment, the Divine Inspirer revealed the good tidings, “Surely, the help of God is near.”[45] Now the vengeful fighters, gifted in wielding daggers and drenched in the blood of their enemies, launched a glorious attack in which they seized the planks the wretched ones had put up to block the breaches. On seeing this, Jaimal, who was one of the three chiefs who had been entrusted with guarding the fortress and who had kept it within his sights from beginning to end, led a contingent of men to defend the breach. Jaimal and the men with him could be seen from a distance through flashes of gunfire that his wretched faction was firing in successive shots. We ourselves were present in the battlefield during these three days, fighting with arrows and muskets. Jaimal was destined to perish in hell at our truth-worshiping hands as the order goes: “Whatever God wills, He provides its means.” When he came into sight, our matchlock was fat and ready in our hands and we shot the worthless infidel in the forehead, heeding the call, “Wherever you may be, death will take you, even if you are in fortified towers,”[46] and so dispatched him to hell.
Disorder now spread through the herd; at every level, there was confusion. Some of the chiefs kept fighting but they could not push back the brave warriors from the breaches. At the rising of dawn, the archers, skilled to the point where they could shoot an arrow at an ant’s eye in the dark, and the lancers, magicians whose spears could target specks of dust on the ground, pushed towards the entry of the fort using a line of elephants. Through a glorious show of strength, courage, and manliness, they forced their way into the fort and began fighting with arrows and lances.
Like the eyebrows of the beautiful, the bow spread disorder
in every corner of the world.
Like the beloved’s eyelashes, the flying arrow spread chaos
in the lives of many.
Blood fills the shields of warriors the way the blood of the heart
gathers in the skirts of lovers.
Blood has rendered the warriors’ golden belts tulip-colored.
Heroes stand waist-deep in the river of blood.
Like rain that falls from the clouds that appear in the spring,
Tears of blood drop from the eyes.[47]
The hand of destiny had covered the eyes and intellect of those straying, arrogant ones and brought them to adversity for, “In reckoning there would be no punishment they willfully became blind and deaf,”[48] and they were obstructed for “They could not continue on and nor could they turn back.”[49] The prayer on the tongues of the believers was, “Our Lord, bestow patience upon us and make our foothold strong and give us victory over the disbelievers”[50] and from the heavens descended the refreshing message, “Help from God and imminent victory is at hand; give glad tidings to the believers.”[51] The royal army, staunch in purpose, swooped on the rebellious infidels in droves and captured the breach. The bodies of the enemies fell in heaps to bloodthirsty swords and flying arrows. Those who had remained ran in all directions, “as if they were alarmed donkeys fleeing from a lion”[52] until they too fell to the point of a spear which returned them to the dregs from which they came. The star of conquest rose over the horizon, to herald that, “Victory comes only with God’s providence, for God is wise, all-powerful,”[53] and the victorious army entered the fort. In dutiful obedience to the command, “And kill the unbelievers together,”[54] the unruly ones clustered in groups of two or three hundred men were killed and their women and children taken captive. In accordance with, “God has promised you abundant spoils of war which you will take,”[55] uncountable goods and treasures fell into the hands of the army. “So the roots of the people who committed wrong were cut off. Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.”[56]
The vessel of nobility, the pillar and support of throne and kingdom Asad-ad-Daulāh,[57] trustworthy servant of the resplendent khilāfat, glorious leader of the khans of the age, elevated, peerless statesman, pure, self-sacrificing one of virtuous intent, fearless horseman, adorner of the ranks of bravery, Mubarizuddin, Mir Muhammad Khan Bahadur and the vessel of nobility, the pillar and support of throne and kingdom Asad-ad-Daulāh, the purest of the nobles of the age, deserving of confidence and favor, the horseman in the field of endeavor and bravery, Qutbuddin Muhammad Khan Bahadur and all the other noble khans, sultans, and sayyids under the good influence of the stars, the great ʿulama, shaykhs, mashāikhs, and qazis, lords and peasants, Chaudhris, Qanūngūs and commoners of Sarkar Punjab, men at all levels and stages should rejoice in this fathnāma which points the way to future victories.[58] In the auspicious hours, when prayers are granted, they should bow down in gratitude in the name of the noble king and pray for the longevity and prosperity of his kingdom, pray that he will be given favor and guidance in the path of jihad and increase in his enthusiasm for charity and benevolence, and know that day after day, new doors to conquest and victory will open for us. After settling the affairs of the province of Chittor, we have inclined the reins of our determination in the direction of the khilāfat of Agra.
The horse beneath, and the canopy of victory overhead
Conquest and good fortune ahead and behind, divine help the guide.[59]
By the will of God, in a few days, our royal presence will arrive at the seat of the khilāfat. The pillar of the kingdom knows that our noble intentions are directed towards the ordering of his affairs and guaranteeing the peace and security of our subjects. Should he wish to apprise us of events and conditions he may do so and should he wish to submit a request to us, he should do so in order that we may grant it. Written by royal order, to be obeyed for all time, at Ajmer on 10th Ramadan, 975 AH (March 9, 1568).
This translation was published in The Empires of the Near East and India: Source Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal Literate Communities. Ed. Hani Khafipour (Columbia University Press, 2019)
Recommended Readings
Gommans, Jos. Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and High Roads to Empire, 1500- 1700. London and NY: Routledge, 2002.
Moin, A. Azfar. The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge and NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Talbot, Cynthia. “Justifying Defeat: A Rajput Perspective on the Age of Akbar.” Journal of the Social and Economic History of the Orient 55, 2-3 (2012): 329-68.
Truschke, Audrey. “Setting the Record Wrong: A Sanskrit version of Mughal Conquests.” South Asian History and Culture 3, 3 (2012): 373-96.
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Abu’l Fazl ibn Mubarak. Akbarnāma.Translated by Henry Beveridge. Vol 2. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1897.
Alam, Muzaffar and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. “The Making of a Munshi.” Comparative
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Corbin, Henry and Ruth Horine. Mundus Imaginalis, Or, The Imaginary and the Imaginal. Ipswich: Golgonooza Press, 1976.
Dale, Stephen. The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Bābur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India, 1483-1530 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 347-50.
Furūzānfar, Badīʻ-az-Zamān. Aḥādīth-i Mathnawī. Tehran: Intišārāt-i Dānišgāh-i Tihrān, 1955.
Ibn Kathīr. Al-Bidāyah wa l-nihāyah. Vol. 6. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah, 1988.
Moin, A. Azfar. The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Sufi Essays. New York: State University of New York Press, 1972).
Nasīr al-Dīn Tusī. Paradise of Submission: A Medieval Treatise on Ismaili Thought, A New Persian Edition and English Translation of Nasir al-Din Tusi’s Rauda-yi Taslim. Edited and Translated byE. D. Badakhchani. London: I. B. Tauris, 2005.
Nizāmī Ganjavī. Iskandarnāma. Edited by Iraj Afshar. Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarjumā wa Nashr-i Kitāb, 1964.
Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge and NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Saʿdī Shirāzī. Būstān. Edited by Nur Allah Iranparast. Tehran: Danish, 1973
Talbot, Cynthia. “Justifying Defeat: A Rajput Perspective on the Age of Akbar.” Journal of the Social and Economic History of the Orient 55, 2-3 (2012): 329-368
Truschke, Audrey. “Setting the Record Wrong: A Sanskrit version of Mughal Conquests.” South Asian History and Culture 3, 3 (2012): 373-96.
Zilli, Ishtiyaq Ahmad, ed. The Mughal State and Culture 1556-1598: Selected Letters and Documents from Munshaat-i-Namakin. Delhi: Manohar, 2007).
[1] John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire (1993; reprint, Cambridge and NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 23-4. See also Cynthia Talbot, “Justifying Defeat: A Rajput Perspective on the Age of Akbar,” Journal of the Social and Economic History of the Orient 55, 2-3 (2012):
329-68 and Audrey Truschke, “Setting the Record Wrong: A Sanskrit version of Mughal Conquests,” South Asian History and Culture 3, 3 (2012): 373-96.
[2] For Akbar’s religious policy and its formulations, see A. Azfar Moin, The Millennial Sovereign: Sainthood and Sacred Kingship in Islam (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012), 131-52. See also Richards, 44-7.
[3] Richards writes that the title of khalīfa was part of Akbar’s imperial decree of 1579. See Richards, 39-40.
[4] For more on munshīs and statecraft, see Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, “The Making of a Munshi,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 24, 2 (2004): 61-72.
[5] This chapter uses the text of the Fathnāma in Ishtiyaq Ahmad Zilli ed., The Mughal State and Culture 1556-1598: Selected Letters and Documents from Munshaat-i-Namakin (Delhi: Manohar, 2007), 7-18. The volume also containsa partial, annotated translation of the Fathnāma and a discussion of the Fathnāma in its historical context. From here on, I will refer to Zilli’s transcription of the Fathnāma in Persian as “Fathnāma,” to Zilli’s translation of the Fathnāma as “Fathnāma (trans.),” and to Zilli’s discussion of the Fathnāma as “Zilli, Munshaat.”
[6] See Zilli, Munshaat, 60-1. For more on Shaykh Zain’s fathnāma, see Stephen Dale, The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Bābur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan, and India, 1483-1530 (Leiden: Brill, 2004),347-50.
[7] For the Akbarnāma’s account of the conquest of Chittor, see Abu’l Fazl ibn Mubarak, Akbarnāma,trans. Henry Beveridge, vol. 2 (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1897), 441-80.
[8] This is the opening line of the Prophet Muhammad’s conquest of Mecca. See Fathnāma (trans.), 356, fn. 3.
[9] I have deliberately left khilāfat untranslated. “Caliphate” in English refers to a distinct, hegemonic entity ruled by one caliph; however, the contextual meaning of the term here has to do with stewardship.
[10] Quran, 30:47
[11] Quran, 9:14.
[12] These verses are derived from the prologue of Saʿdī’s Būstān (The Orchard), which consists of philosophical reflections on worldly and mystical themes. Widely read, recited, and revered in the Persianate world, Saʿdī (d. 1292) is invoked here to supplement verses from the Quran that praise the glory of God. See Saʿdī Shirāzī, Būstān, ed. Nur Allah Iranparast (Tehran: Danish, 1973).
[13] Quran, 9:73.
[14] Quran, 9:26.
[15] The verses quoted in praise of the Prophet are from Nizāmī’s Iskandarnāma (The Book of Alexander). Nizāmī (d. 1209) is known for his romantic, epic poetry and the Iskandarnāma is part of a Persianate tradition in which Alexander (or Iskandar) was cast as an idealized hero, king, and sage. See Nizāmī Ganjavī, Iskandarnāma, ed.Iraj Afshar (Tehran: Bungāh-i Tarjumā wa Nashr-i Kitāb, 1964). The saying quoted at the end of my translation and attributed to the Prophet Muhammad is referred to through a synecdoche, namely “law lāka” in Nizāmī’s original. See Fathnama, 8. I have chosen to quote the saying in full. For a reference to this saying, see Badīʻ-az-Zamān Furūzānfar, Aḥādīth-i Mathnawī (Tehran: Intišārāt-i Dānišgāh-i Tihrān, 1955), 172. I am grateful to Ahmet Karamustafa for providing me with this reference.
[16] Quran, 2: 124. Brackets mine.
[17] Quran, 18:84. Brackets mine.
[18] Quran, 62:4.
[19] Brackets mine. Kingship is a blessing conferred upon Akbar so that he can ensure the safety of devout subjects who worship God.
[20] Some hadith reports describe the Prophet as having a “seal” on his back between his shoulder blades. It is described as an elevated piece of flesh. Beyond that there are varied descriptions of its detailed appearance. Abu al-Khattab (Ibn Dihyah) Umar ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Faraj (548-633) wrote a book, al-Tanwir fi Mawlid al-Bashir wa ‘l-Nadhir in which he narrated a hadith through a chain of narration going through al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi which described this seal as having written upon it tawajjah ḥaythu shi’ta fa-‘innaka manṣūr “go whither you wish, for you will be victorious.” For references to this book, see, ‘Abd Allāh ibn Yūsuf Zayla‘ī, Naṣb al-rāyah takhrīj aḥādīth al-Hidāyah, ma‘a al-Hidāyah sharḥ Bidāyat al-mubtadī lil-Marghīnānī, wa-yalīhi fī ākhir al-mujallad al-khāmis Munyat al-alma‘ī fīmā fāta al-Zayla‘ī li-Ibn Quṭlūbughā vol. 4 (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah, 1996), 278 and Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāyah wa l-nihāyah vol. 6 (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmīyah, 1988), 41. I am grateful to Ghassan Abdul Jabbar for these references.
[21] Quran, 27:40.
[22] Quran, 5:35.
[23] Quran 7:43. Bahrām is the literary character Bahrām Gūr, who features in a number of Persian epics and romances, including Nizāmī’s Haft Paykār, an allegorical story about a king’s spiritual quest, and in Firdawsi’s Shahnāmeh, an epic of the kings of Iran that ends with the Arab conquest of Iran in the 7th century CE. Bahrām is depicted in both as a warrior-king with a love of hunting and is loosely based on the historical Sassanid king Bahrām V (r. 420-438 CE).
[24] Quran, 80:16. For more primary sources that mention the rebellion of Ali Quli against Akbar, see Fathnāma (trans.), 357, fn. 13.
[25] Chittorgarh (present-day term) is approximately 300 miles from Agra.
[26] Dīn-i ilāhī, where dīn refers to faith, path, or submission and ilahī to divinity has come to be known as a religion invented by Akbar. However, as explained in the introduction, Dīn-i-Ilāhī is better understood as a circle of discipleship around the sacred figure of Akbar. The use of the term in this document is interesting; it could be used as an adjective to describe Islam, literally, as “the divine faith” while also being used interchangeably with Islam. The play on words here would be similar to Akbar’s minting of coins that had on them the phrase “Allahu Akbar” i.e. God (Allah) is Great (Akbar).
[27] For more on the names of the soldiers present, see Fathnāma (trans.), 357, fn. 21.
[28] For more on the actual number of soldiers who may have been present, see Fathnāma (trans.), 357, fn. 22.
[29] Zilli writes that Kombalmir is the same as Kumbhalgarh, a fortress about forty miles north of Udaipur city today. See Fathnāma (trans.), 358, fn. 23.
[30] Alborz is a mountain range in northern Iran.
[31] Islamicate thought divided the universe into nine celestial spheres; falak-i atlas (or falak-i aflāk i.e. the sphere of spheres) was believed to be a starless firmament that enclosed the other eight. See E. D. Badakhchani, ed. and trans., Paradise of Submission: A Medieval Treatise on Ismaili Thought, A New Persian Edition and English Translation of Nasir al-Din Tusi’s Rauda-yi Taslim (London: I. B. Tauris, 2005), 21-2.
[32] A farsang was an ancient Persian unit of measurement and would be approximately four miles. For more on the measurements of the fort, see Fathnama (trans.), 358, fn. 28.
[33] I have been unable to find the origin of these verses.
[34] I have been unable to find the origin of these verses.
[35] A kos was an Indian unit of measurement which could be anything between one and three miles.
[36] Quran, 3: 173.
[37] In Persian mythology, the cup of the legendary king Jamshīd is depicted as a vehicle for divination that holds within it the elixir of eternal life and perfect knowledge. The pre-Islamic figure of Jamshīd was incorporated into Islamicate mystical imagery. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Sufi Essays (New York: State University of New York Press, 1972), 33-4.
[38] In Islamicate cosmology, Qāf is a mythical mountain range that surrounds the earth. See Henry Corbin and Ruth Horine, Mundus Imaginalis, Or, The Imaginary and the Imaginal (Ipswich: Golgonooza Press, 1976).
[39] I have been unable to find the origin of these verses.
[40] Quran, 8: 60.
[41] Qaws-i quzāh-i rang rang. Quzāh is the pre-Islamic god who governed the weather, so “qaws-i quzāh translates as the bow of the angel of the clouds, or rainbow. For original, see Fathnāma, 14. I have been unable to find the origin of these verses.
[42] Quran 21: 39.
[43] Quran 21: 40.
[44] Quran 47: 7.
[45] Quran 2: 214.
[46] Quran 4:78.
[47] I have been unable to find the origin of these verses.
[48] Quran, 5:71.
[49] Quran, 36:67.
[50] Quran, 2:250.
[51] Quran, 61:13.
[52] Quran, 74: 50-1.
[53] Quran, 8:10.
[54] Quran, 9:36. I concur with Zilli that this is quoted incorrectly and that the correct quote is most likely: “And fight the disbelievers collectively, as they fight you collectively.” See Fathnāma, 17, fn. 4.
[55] Quran 48:20.
[56] Quran 6:45.
[57] Honorific title that translates to “Lion of the State.”
[58] Mashāikh refers to a man of spiritual learning, Chaudhri is a hereditary title bestowed on landowners, and Qanūngū refers to jurists or lawmakers.
[59] I have been unable to find the origin of these verses.