Mulla Do-Piyaza (1527-1620) was the Advisor and

Vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

of the Mughal emperor

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

.Mulla Do-Piyaza, also portrayed as witty, was Birbal's rival. Even though these folk tales originated at the end of Akbar's reign (1556–1605), Mulla Do-Piyaza began to appear much later. Most scholars consider him to be completely fictional. Scholars believe him to be the son of loyal commander of Mughals Bairam khan, who was assassinated by Adham khan son of Maham Anga while on his way to Hajj. Later Mulla was adopted by Akbar as his courtier and even given dignity in Mughal court.

Background

In the folk tales, Mulla Do-Piyaza is depicted as Birbal's

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

counterpart and as a proponent of orthodox

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. Most of the time he is shown getting the better of both Birbal and Akbar, but there are other stories which portray him in a negative light. No Mughal-era records mention any courtier called Mulla Do-Piyaza, and pamphlets on his life and jokes were published only in the late 19th century. One modern scholar, Hafiz Mahmood Shirani, states that Mulla Do-Piyaza was a historical personality whose original name was Abdul Momin, and who was born in India, left for

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 1582, returned after 36 years, died in 1620, and was buried in Handia. The manuscripts which mention him date back to an author who died in 1532—years before Akbar was born. According to

C. M. Naim Choudhri Mohammed Naim (born 3 June 1936) is an American scholar of Urdu language and literature. He is currently professor emeritus at the University of Chicago. Naim is the founding editor of both ''Annual of Urdu Studies'' and ''Mahfil'' ( ...

, Shirani's character is fictional and based on

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

folklore unrelated to Akbar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullah Do Piaza Mughal Empire Humour and wit characters of India Akbar

Background

See also

References