The ÁÍN I AKBARI´ is the third volume of the AKBARNA´MAH, by Shaikh Abulfazl, and is by far the greatest work in the whole series of Muhammadan histories of India. The first volume of this gigantic work contains the history of Timur's family as far as it is of interest for the Indian reader, and the reigns of Bábar, the Súr kings, and Humáyún, whilst the second volume is devoted to the detailed history of nearly forty-six years of the reign of the Great Emperor. The concluding volume, the A´ín i Akbarí, contains that information regarding Akbar's reign which, though not strictly historical, is yet essential to a correct understanding of the times, and embodies, therefore, those facts for which, in modern times, we would turn to Administration Reports, Statistical compilations, or Gazetteers. It contains the áín (i. e., mode of governing) of Akbar, and is, in fact, the Administration Report and Statistical Return of his government, as it was about 1590 A. D. The contents, therefore, of the A´ín are naturally varied and detailed. The first of its five books treats of Akbar's household and court, and of the emperor himself, the soul of every department, who looks upon the performance of his duties as an act of divine worship, and who enters into the details of government, in order to create a harmonious whole. Vouchsafed as king with a peculiar light from on high, his person is prominently put forward as the guide of the people in all matters temporal and spiritual; in whose character and temper the governed find that rest and peace which no constitution can give, and in whom, as the author of a new and advanced creed, the dust of intoleration is for ever allayed.
The second book treats of the servants of the throne, the military and civil services, and the attendants at court whose literary genius or musical skill receives a lustre from the encouragement of the emperor, and who in their turn reflect a brilliant light on the government.
The third book is entirely devoted to regulations for the judicial and executive departments, the establishment of a new and more practical era, the survey of the land, the tribal divisions, and the rent-roll of the great Finance minister whose name has become proverbial in India.
The fourth book treats of the social condition and literary activity, especially in philosophy and law, of the Hindus, who form the bulk of the population, and in whose political advancement the emperor saw the guarantee of the stability of his realm. There are also a few chapters on the foreign invaders of India, on distinguished travellers, and on Muhammadan saints and the sects to which they respectively belong.
The fifth book contains the moral sentences and epigrammatical sayings, observations, and rules of wisdom of the emperor, which Abulfazl has gathered as the disciple gathers the sayings of the master.
In the A´ín, therefore, we have a picture of Akbar's government in its several departments, and of its relations to the different ranks and mixed races of his subjects. Whilst in most Muhammadan histories we hear of the endless turmoil of war and dynastical changes, and are only reminded of the existence of a people when authors make a passing allusion to famines and similar calamities, we have in the A´ín the governed classes brought to the foreground: men live and move before us, and the great questions of the time, axioms then believed in and principles then followed, phantoms then chased after, ideas then prevailing, and successes then obtained, are placed before our eyes in truthful, and therefore vivid, colours.
It is for this reason that the A´ín stands so unique among the Muhammadan histories of India, and we need not wonder that long before curious eyes turned to other native sources of history and systematically examined their contents, the A´ín was laid under contribution. Le Père Tieffentaller, in 1776, published in his ‘Description Géographique de l'Indostan’ long extracts from the rent-roll given in the Third Book; Chief Sarishtahdár Grant used it largely for his Report on Indian Finances; and as early as 1783, Francis Gladwin, a thorough Oriental scholar, dedicated to Warren Hastings his “Ayeen Akberi,” of which in 1800 he issued a printed edition in London. In his translation, Gladwin has given the greater part of the First Book, more than one-half of the Second and Third Books, and about one-fourth of the Fourth Book; and although in modern times inaccuracies have been discovered in the portions translated by him— chiefly due, no doubt, to the fact that he translated from MSS., in every way a difficult undertaking—his translation has always occupied a deservedly high place, and it may confidently be asserted that no similar work has for the last seventy years been so extensively quoted as his. The magnitude of the task of translating the A´ín from uncollated MSS. will especially become apparent, when we remember that, even in the opinion of native writers, its style is “not intelligible to the generality of readers without great difficulty.”
But it is not merely the varied information of the A´ín that renders the book so valuable, but also the trustworthiness of the author himself. Abulfazl's high official position gave him access to any document he wished to consult, and his long career and training in various departments of the State, and his marvellous powers of expression, fitted him eminently for the composition of a work like the Akbarnámah and the A´ín. His love of truth and his correctness of information are apparent on every page of the book, which he wished to leave to future ages as a memorial of the Great Emperor and as a guide for enquiring minds; and his wishes for the stability of the throne and the welfare of the people, his principles of toleration, his noble sentiments on the rights of man, the total absence of personal grievances and of expressions of ill-will towards encompassing enemies, shew that the expanse of his large heart stretched to the clear offing of sterling wisdom. Abulfazl has far too often been accused by European writers of flattery and even of wilful concealment of facts damaging to the reputation of his master. A study, though perhaps not a hasty perusal, of the Akbarnámah will shew that the charge is absolutely unfounded; and if we compare his works with other historical productions of the East, we shall find that while he praises, he does so infinitely less and with much more grace and dignity than any other Indian historian or poet. No native writer has ever accused him of flattery; and if we bear in mind that all Eastern works on Ethics recommend unconditional assent to the opinion of the king, whether correct or absurd, as the duty of man, and that the whole poetry of the East is a rank mass of flattery, at the side of which modern encomiums look like withered leaves,—we may pardon Abulfazl when he praises because he finds a true hero.
The issue of the several fasciculi of this translation has extended over a longer time than I at first expected. The simultaneous publication of my edition of the Persian Text, from which the translation is made, the geographical difficulties of the Third Book, the unsatisfactory state of the MSS., the notes added to the translation from various Muhammadan historians and works on the history of literature, have rendered the progress of the work unavoidably slow.
I am deeply indebted to the Council and the Philological Committee of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for placing at my disposal a full critical apparatus of the A´ín and entrusting me with the edition of the text, for which the Indian Government had most liberally sanctioned the sum of five thousand Rupees. My grateful acknowledgments are also due to Dr. Thomas Oldham, Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India and late President of the Asiatic Society, for valuable advice and ever ready assistance in the execution of the work; and to Col. H. Yule, C. B., and to H. Roberts Esq., of the Doveton College, for useful hints and corrections.