Ayeen Akbery: Volume 1
Or, The Institutes of the Emperor Akber

Published in 1800, the two-volume English translation of a sixteenth-century Persian document on the workings of the Mughal Empire.

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak (Author), Francis Gladwin (Translated by)

9781108067096, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 January 2014

420 pages, 1 b/w illus.
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.73 kg

Akbar the Great (1542–1605) is often regarded as the Mughal Empire's most accomplished ruler. This document on the workings of his empire was produced by Akbar's vizier, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak (1551–1602). Between 1783 and 1786, the scholar Francis Gladwin (1744/5–1812) produced an English translation from the original Persian. Reissued here is the two-volume edition that appeared in 1800. As the work's dedicatee and Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings had seen the translation as illuminating the Mughal Empire's 'original constitution' and believed it would educate and inform Britain's colonial administrators. Gladwin's text would not be superseded for many decades, and it testifies to the quality of his scholarship and the contemporary concerns of the East India Company. Volume 1 explains the workings of the royal household and military offices, including details of the mint, treasury and harem, as well as building regulations.

Translator's preface
Part I. Regulations for the Different Offices: The household
Royal treasuries
Jewel office
The mint
Some account of the immortal coins
Of dirhems and dinars
An account of the profit which merchants make
Of the production of metals
Of the specific gravity of metals
Haram, or seraglio
Of the equipage for journeys
Regulations for the encampment of the army
Regulations for the illuminations
Ensigns of royalty
Of the royal seals
Of the camp equipage
Abdar Khaneh
Kitchen
Sufyaneh
Current prices of provisions
Fruitery
Perfume office
Flowers
Wardrobe
Shawls
Current prices of manufactures
Tusweer Khaneh
Painting gallery
Kowr Khaneh
A table of warlike weapons
Artillery
Rules observed in making fire-arms
Barghu
Ranks of the royal Bundooks
Pay of the Bundookchyan
Feel Khaneh, or elephants' stables
Khaseh elephants
Horse stables
Suter Khaneh, or camel stables
Gaw Khaneh, or ox stables
Of mules
Manner in which his majesty spends his time
Bar, or times of admission to the royal presence
Koornish and Tusleem
Of spiritual guidance
Of musters
Pow Gosht
Regulations for the public fights of animals
Regulations for buildings
Part II. Regulations for the Military Department: Army
Regulations for the cattle
Munsubdars
Ahdy
Other cavalry
Infantry
Cheelah
Kahars, or bearers
Pyadeh Dakhely
Dagh, or mark
Kushek, or military commands
Office of Wakyahnavees
Of sunnuds, or grants
Ranks of seals
Manner of receiving pay
Musa-adet, or aids granted to military officers
Donations
Alms
Ceremony of weighing the royal person
Seyurghal
Of machines
Of the ten seers of grain exacted from every beegah of land
Of festivals
Khushroz, or days of diversion
Of marriages
Regulations for teaching in the public schools
Office of Meer Behry
Of hunting
Of hawking
Of games
Part III. Regulations for the Revenue Department: Of aeras
A table of months
Of tribute and taxes
Ilahee Guz
Tenab
Beegah, or Jereeb
Of the division of the lands
Of the nineteen years collections
Of the ten years settlement
Instructions for the officers.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]