ʿAbd al-Bāqī “Bāqī” Nihāvandī, Āqā or Ḫwājah

Biographer

Bāqī spent his early career in the service of the Safavids, eventually becoming a vizier in the administration. He fell from the ruler’s grace shortly thereafter and migrated to Mughal India, where he entered the service of Ḫān-i Ḫānan Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, a general in Mughal Emperor Akbar’s army. Bāqī’s exact year of death is disputed but accepted to have occurred either in 1042/1632 or in or after 1046/1637.

Works

Maʾāir-i Raḥīmī Literary Works about Raḥīm

Completed 1025/1616.

At Ḫān-i Ḫānan’s request, Bāqī wrote his biography, Maʾāir-i Raḥīmī. In addition to the information on the general’s ancestry and achievements, Maʾāir-i Raḥīmī also includes a short history of the Mughal Emperors and a list of poets and other contemporaries of the author who frequented Akbar’s court.