(d. 1163)
Lālā Mansārām was in the service of Niẓām al-Mulk (d. 1163/1749), a prominent governor, general and statesman in late Mughal times who served as Governor of the Deccan from 1125/1713 to 1127/1715. (Later Niẓām al-Mulk went on to gain control of the Deccan and places as far north as Āgra independent of the government at Delhi.) Lālā Mansārām served as a secretary in the office of the Sadarat (religious establishment) under Niẓām al-Mulk and completed two works in Persian regarding his employer: Risālah-yi darbār-i Āṣafīyya, a work on the “rules and regulations laid down by Niẓām al-Mulk for administrative guidance;” and, Masir-i Niẓāmī, a cursory biography of Niẓām al-Mulk containing some of the Niẓām’s anecdotes and letters. Risālah-yi darbār-i Āṣafīyya was completed in 1175/1761 and Masir-i Niẓāmī in 1200/1785.
Translated excerpts in Eighteenth Century Deccan. Trans. P. Setu Mahdava Rao. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1963, 46-72, 73-131.
Note: Must decipher Rao text. He definitely mentions Risālah-yi darbār-i Āṣafīyya, however, at times hard to tell when his paraphrasing text and when he is directly quoting it. Rao’s work certainly contains extracts from Masir-i Niẓāmī .