Major Price has given, in his “Retrospect of Mahommedan History,” a copious abstract of the Akbar-náma for the interval between Tímúr and Akbar. He has also translated elsewhere the account of the capture of Chítor. Major Stewart has translated the account of the taking of Surat. There is in MS. in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society an abridged translation of the whole work by “Lieut. Chambers, of the Madras Army.” This translation was used by Elphinstone for the purposes of his History; and the Editor of this work has had the benefit of it during a portion of the time that he has been at work upon the Akbar-náma. The translation of the Extracts which follow this have all been made by the Editor.

A lithographed edition of the Akbar-náma, in three quarto volumes, was printed at Lucknow in 1867, at the expense of the Rájá of Pattiála. It is a handsome and costly work, and it is greatly to be regretted that its literary value is by no means commensurate with the money expended upon it. Gross and obvious errors abound in it, and there are many passages wanting. In one instance the annals of six months of one of the most important years of the reign (the 17th) are al­together omitted. The Editor has used this edition, and it being the only one published, he has referred to it in the following Extracts. But his chief reliance has been on an excellent Shikasta MS. belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society. He has also had the use of a fair MS. belonging to the Library of the India Office, and of other volumes containing only portions of the work. A new edition of the work is promised for the Bibliotheca Indica.

The Akbar-náma has been translated into Hindústání by Muhammad Khalíl 'Alí Khán, under the name of Wáki'át-i Akbarí.*]