ʽAbd al-Qadir or Abdul Qadir Badayuni (1540–1615) was an Indian writer, historian, and translator. He lived in the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

. He translated into Persian the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

works, the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

and the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

( Razmnama).

Life

Badayuni was a

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of Indic languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the state * Rajasthani architecture, Indian ar ...

Shaikhzada and a son of Muluk Shah. He grew up in Basavar, studying in

Sambhal Sambhal (pronounced Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, sə̃bʰəl) is a city located in the Sambhal district of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city lies approximately 158 km (98 mi) east of New Delhi and 355 km (220 mi) north-west of the state capit ...

and

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

. In 1562, he moved to

Badaun Budaun (romanised: Badāʾūn or Badāyūn, ) is a medieval city and headquarters of Budaun district, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located about a mile east of the Sot river, and 27 km north of the Ganges, in the Rohilkhand ...

, the town after which he was named, before moving to

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubar ...

to enter the service of prince Husayn Khan for the next nine years. His later years of study were led by Muslim mystics. The Mughal emperor,

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

, appointed him to the religious office in the royal courts in 1574 where he spent much of his career.

Major works

Badayuni wrote '' Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh'' (Selection of Chronicles) or ''Tarikh-i-Badayuni'' (Badayuni's History) which was completed in 1595 (1004 AH). This work in three volumes is a general history of the Muslims of India. The first volume contains an account of

Babur Babur (; 14 February 148326 December 1530; born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad) was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also ...

and

Humayun Nasir al-Din Muhammad (6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), commonly known by his regnal name Humayun (), was the second Mughal emperor, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Northern India, and Pakistan from ...

. The second volume exclusively deals with Akbar's reign up to 1595. This volume is an unusually frank and critical account of Akbar's administration, in particular, his religious views and his conduct. This volume was kept concealed until Akbar's death and was published after Jahangir's accession. This book gives a contemporary perspective regarding the development of Akbar's views on religion and his religious policy. The third volume describes the lives and works of Muslim religious figures, scholars, physicians and poets. The first printed edition of the text of this work was published by the College Press, Calcutta in 1865 and later this work was translated into English by G.S.A. Ranking (Vol.I), W.H. Lowe (Vol.II) and T.W. Haig (Vol.III) (published by the Asiatic Society, Calcutta between 1884 and 1925 as a part of their

Bibliotheca Indica ''Bibliotheca Indica'' is a series of "books belonging to or treating of Oriental literatures and contains original text editions as well as translations into English, and also bibliographies, dictionaries, grammars, and studies" on Asia-related ...

series).

In popular culture

Irrfan Khan Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema, Khan's career spa ...

played Badayuni in

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

's historical drama Bharat Ek Khoj (1988-1989). He was portrayed by Aayam Mehta in Taj: Divided by Blood.

Notes

References

* "Bada'uni, 'Abd al-Qadir."

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

. 2005
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
16 November 2005 . *
Muntakhab al-Tavarikh
' (in Persian) Volume 2 . * All three volumes of his Muntakhab al-Tavarikh (in English) are available and searchable here: http://persian.packhum.org/persian/
''Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh, Volume 1'' (1898)

External links

The Muntakhabu-'rūkh by ʽAbdu-'l-Qādir Ibn-i-Mulūk Shāh, (Al-Badāoni)

Packard Humanities Institute The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) is a non-profit foundation, established in 1987, and located in Los Altos, California, which funds projects in a wide range of conservation concerns in the fields of archaeology, music, film preservation, ...

''Tārīkh-i Badāūnī''
a translation from Volume V of

The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians ''The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians'' is a book comprising translations of medieval Persian chronicles based on the work of Henry Miers Elliot. It was originally published as a set of eight volumes between 1867–1877 in London ...

, 1867 {{DEFAULTSORT:Badauni, Abd al-Qadir 1540 births 1610s deaths Historians from the Mughal Empire People from Budaun district 16th-century Indian Muslims Grand muftis of India 16th-century Indian historians 16th-century Indian non-fiction writers 16th-century translators Akbar Scholars from Uttar Pradesh 17th-century Indian non-fiction writers 17th-century translators Indian translators 16th-century Mughal Empire people