Maktab Khana (Fatehpur Sikri)

Maktab Khana
Muslim and Hindu scholars discuss the translation of the Mahabharata, Maktab Khana, c. 1599.
LocationFatehpur Sikri, India, Mughal Empire
TypeBureau of Translation
Establishedc. 1574, during the reign of Akbar

The Maktab Khana (lit. 'writing house,[1] writing chamber[2]') was a bureau of records and translation established by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in Fatehpur Sikri around 1574.

History

Emperor Akbar commissioned his most talented scribes and secretaries to translate the major texts of India from Sanskrit into Persian and to illustrate the manuscripts in the royal workshops. These texts included the Mahabharata, translated into the Razmnāma (Persian: رزم نامہ, lit. Book of War), the Ramayana, and the Rajatarangini. Various Arabic encyclopedias and histories were also translated, as well as the entirety of the Baburnama, the memoirs of Akbar's grandfather and founder of the Mughal dynasty, Babur.[3]

With this bureau, Akbar aspired to "form a basis for a united search for truth" and "enable the people to understand the true spirit of their religion."[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi (1975). Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims in Akbar's Reign. p. 207. writing house
  2. ^ A. B. M. Husain (1970). Fathpur-sikri and Its Architecture. p. 140. writing chamber
  3. ^ Rice, Yael (2010). "A Persian Mahabharata: The 1598-1599 Razmnama". Manoa. 22 (1): 125–131. doi:10.1353/man.0.0090. S2CID 145323296. Project MUSE 381860.
  4. ^ Shikuh, Dara (1998). The Mingling of the Two Oceans (PDF). Calcutta: The Asiatic Society.

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