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AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION
of the
A D A B - I - ' A L A M G I R I
THE PERIOD BEFORE THE WAR OF SUCCESSION
beirng
The Letters of Prince Muhammad Aurangzib Bahadur
to
Muhammad Shihäbu'd-din Shäh Jahän
Sähib-i-Qirän-i-Sänl
Emperor of Hindustan
by
Vincent John Adams Flynn
1974
A Thesis submitted to the Australian
National University in partial
satisfaction of its requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Acknowledgements and Declaration
Coming from the practice of law to the study of India,
I owe particular gratitude to two men. Professor A.L.
Basham has encouraged my efforts, and tolerated my short­
comings; Dr S.A.A. Rizvi has taught me all I know of the
Persian language, and has guided my study and understanding
of Islam. Alone, I could not have hoped to begin this work.
Yet the entire thesis is my own. I have been saved
from many mistakes; but for those which remain, the whole
responsibility is mine.
CONSPECTUS OF THE WORK
This thesis, the first part of a projected English
translation of the whole of the Adab-i-1Alamgiri, contains
the letters written by Prince Aurangzib to his father Shah
Jahan between the middle of 1650, when he was viceroy of
Multan, and the beginning of 1656, when he began his
campaign against Golconda. The translation is preceded by
a brief introduction sketching the early life and character
of Aurangzib, the style in which the letters are written and
the reason for its adoption, and a short view of the
prevailing and contradictory opinions upon Aurangzib. His
religious policy when Emperor is briefly referred to; but
with the conclusion that the Adab-i-1Alamgiri offers no
direct evidence that he had framed any part of it in his
mind while yet Prince. Indeed, no sign of any particular
Islamic piety can be seen in the letters, and the structure
of the state set up by Akbar seems to enjoy Aurangzib's
entire support. Its external incidents are accepted by
Aurangzib with equanimity, and apparent enthusiasm; even
those which some modern orthodox claim to be abhorrent to
Islam.
The value of the letters lies in two main fields;
illustration and explanation of narrative history, and
elucidation of details of administration and management of
the Mughul empire, and the careers and character of its
officers. The great but wasted effort to recapture Qandahar
in 1652; the embellishment of the palace at Shahjahanabad,
and the repair and maintenance of the "luminous tomb" of Mumtaz
Mahal at Agra; the entire reconstruction of the assessment
of the revenue of the Mughul Deccan; the enticement of Mir
Jumla to leave his hazardous hopes of further greatness in
Golconda, and perhaps independent dominion, and accept the
Mughul service; these are the most interesting subjects of
the letters. But almost no letter is without other lesser
details, and these, too, can be of the first importance.
Each letter is introduced by a note, setting out the
theme, and commenting generally. Full notes are provided
to the translation, containing textual criticism, comments
or explanations relating to particular words, topographical
elucidations, biographical material upon the men mentioned,
references to contemporary documents wherever possible, and
remakrs upon the importance of the leading events.
Because the notes are so copious, the introduction is
brief and general. The bibliography is select, confined only
to books actually consulted. Those of consequence in the
understanding of the leading schools of thought upon Aurangzib
have been discussed in the introduction.
There is a full table of contents; a note on chronology;
and an annotated table of the dates on which the letters were
written.
V
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement and Declaration ii
Conspectus of the Work iii
Table of Contents v
Note on Transliteration vii
List of Abbreviations viii
Introduction: birth and character of Aurangzib x
his career begins xi
sources for his early life xi-xii
the Adab-i-1Alamglri xii-xiii
the manuscripts of the Adab xiii-xvi
the style of the letters xviii-xviii
Emperor addressed as if a Sufi saint xviii-xx
reasons for this practice xx-xxi
the Mugjiuls and Iran xxi
chronology and arrangement of
the letters xxii
how the letters were carried -
the dak-chauki and
its functionaries xxiii-xxiii
Aurangzib assessed : Muslim
orthodox scholarship xxv
a representative of Enthusiasm xxvi
evidence in the Adab for Aurangzib's
religious policies xxvii-xxviii
for his political
acumen xxviii
Aurangzib and Dara xxviii
Aurangzib's own orthodoxy xxx
the War of Succession xxxii
Sir Jadunath Sarkar xxxiii
Aurangzib assessed: the earlier
British view xxxiii
Hindu liberal scholarship : Aurangzib xxxiii-
and his Hindu subjects xxxviii
The Muslim counter-blast xxxviii
Value of the Adab-i-'Alamglri xxxviii
Aurangzib: his character and his
destiny xxxviiii
VI
Letters Pages
The Letters : Part I
Viceroy of Multan 1 to 7 1 to 21
Preparations against Qandahar 8 to 15 22 to 48
March against Qandahar 16 to 24 49 to 75
Qandahar besieged 25 to 33 76 to 125
Retreat from Qandahar 34 to 37 126 to 144
March to the Deccan 38 to 48 145 to 186
Part II
Viceroy of the Deccan
- at Burhânpur 49 to 56 187 to 214
- at Daulatabad and Aurangabad:
administration; 57 to 69 215 to 257
mansabs & mangoes
Mir Jumla 70 to 76 258 to 282
Deogarh and Jawâr 77 to 82 283 to 300
/
Sri Ranga Rayai 83 to 85 301 to 312
Mir Jumla again 86 to 94 313 to 332
Golconda 95 to 98 333 to 345
- march against Golconda 99 to 102 346 to 358
Appendices - A: Concordance of the Letters 359
B: Chronology of the Letters 362
Note on Dates 370
C: Analysis of Shah Jahan's 37 3
Letters to Aurangzlb
Classes of Letters 378
>
Select Bibliography 379
Errors and Corrections 385
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
The scheme adopted adheres closely to that used by
Steingass in his Dictionary:
1 a > d w i>t J k w (w when silent
y
£ s
j after
(j* ;)
^ b 6 i z sh -k ? J g xb h (a when a silent
ch
final letter)
6 '
V p V h ; r c/ s
cjL t L kh Jj zzh c / z f f m Cif I
s 6) CJS 1
n
J ^
(The izafat is represented by -i- )
Many Hindi words and names occur, in a Persian dress
The Nägar!î alphabet is thus represented I
3T a ri k -¿r ch Z t ¿r t T p ~*r y 57 s
3*T a e UC kh chh Z th th ph T r T sh
X l• It ai 3T g 3T j 2* d d / ¿T b «r 1 ?r s
i I o ^r gh ^7 jh S' dh dh 2-rbh sr V h
? u 3^ au $ n n ur n T n m
Ü
3
Urdu letters, used to reproduce Hindi sounds not found
in the Persian alphabet:
/
kh chh t c— " d th ph Q n
fl. & jj..
bh
The Hindi dipthong in such words as Ba11 has been indicated
by an apostrophe.
The system of Platts has been followed for Indian
words, except that is not c but ch, and is not
ch but chh ; and is not g_ but gh .
It has proved impossible to distinguish between an inverted
comma for 1ain , and an apostrophe for hamza; the type­
writers required use the same mark ' for both. Should this
thesis be printed in any form, this deficiency would be
remedied.
Steingass preserves the capula -o- in idiomatic
phrases such as ab-o-hawa . With the exception of
sar-o-pa, which is almost a single word, this course has not
been followed, as it is not always possible to distinguish
with certainty between popular compounds (such as khwush o
khurram) and words brought together adventitiously.
Single Persian and Indian words in the text and the
notes have been underlined. Phrases (for the most part
quoted from the original text) have not. Italics, rather
than an underline, would be preferable in any printed
version.
I have preferred to transliterate Persian and Indian
words wherever possible; hence Agra, Burhanpur, Kabul, Multan;
though, all those names are well known in English in that
same form, but without diacritical marks. Hence Qandahar
rather than Kandahar; Haidarabad rather than Hyderabad,
although the conventional spelling of the Deccani city is
used in a modern context .Delhi, Lahore and Tatta^ are
exceptions;so is Rao; so-are the Indus and the Jumna; so
also is the Nerbudda. I have not followed Professor Boyle's
2
example with cadi, Koran, and vizier ; although in phrases
of conventional praise such as wazir-i-sa1ib tadblr I have
reflected the stylization by using the conventional English
spelling, I have retained wazir for both the man and his
office. In India, an amir may be an ameer, but never an emir.
The Indian environment of Aurangzib's letters has not been
reflected in any attempt to preserve the pronunciation current
in his day. Vocalic waw was almost always majhul; so, very
often, was vocalic ya. Irvine was accurate as to pronunc-
- - - 3
iation when he transliterated "1arabahae", "ba jae" for
'arabaha'I, "ba ja-i", but to follow him now would be
eccentric. By the time he published his monumental edition of
Manucci's Storia, he was beginning to change his mind.
Steingass has been followed with such words as pesh, nauroz,
and tola.
As the diacritical marks have had to be supplied by hand,
it is certain that some will have been missed. For this I
beg pardon.
1. Tatta occurs in the mss as Thatha, Tatha, Thatta,
Thaththa, etc: to standairdise the English form seems best.
On contemporary coins it is Tatta without tashdid.
2. History of the World-Conqueror, XXXVI.
3. Army of the Indian Moghuls, 113, 233.