ʿInāyat-Allāh Kanbū

Historian

Šayḫ ʿInāyat-Allāh Kanbū spent his early life in the service of the Mughals at Lahore, but later retired from the world and lived as a recluse beside a shrine in Delhi. The historian Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Kanbū Lāhūrī (see Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Kanbū Lāhūrī) called ʿInāyat-Allāh his elder brother, but whether the two were actually blood-related is not known for certain. It may have been that Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ simply regarded him as an indispensable patron. ʿInāyat-Allāh completed several historical works, but it was a collection of tales entitled Bahār-i Dāniš that brought him the most fame. He died in 1082/1671 at Delhi.