The Empires of the Near East and India: Source Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal Literate Communities

THE BOOK OF WAR AND THE TREASURY OF COMPASSION

AUDREY TRUSCHKE

The Mughals are often lauded as a Persian-medium dynasty, a somewhat misleading classification that has caused many scholars to underemphasize the multilingual nature of Mughal literary culture. Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605) did indeed declare Persian the official administrative tongue in 1582, and he allocated unparalleled imperial resources to supporting Persian-medium literature, including poetry, philosophy, and history. At the time, Persian was the language of rule and culture across much of the wider Islamicate world. Accordingly, this language offered the Mughals prestige, status, and access to an intellectual and literary realm shared by Safavid Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and much of Central Asia. Although Akbar and his successors supported Persian literature above all other written traditions, Mughal devotion to Persian was never exclusionary. Beginning with Babur (r. 1526–1530), the Mughal kings knew Turkish and also patronized Arabic-speaking scholars and religious thinkers. In addition, the Mughal rulers from Akbar onward spoke a form of Old Hindi or Hindavi and also sponsored Hindi literary texts. Equally important and far less well-known, the Mughals evinced a deep, sustained interest in Sanskrit literature.

Akbar, Jahangir (r. 1605–1627), and Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658) all sponsored Persian translations of Sanskrit texts, such as collections of stories and multiple versions of the two great Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. These three emperors also attracted Sanskrit scholars to their courts, sponsored the production of dozens of Sanskrit literary works, and occasionally received Sanskrit texts written for Mughal consumption.1 In this essay, I translate excerpts from two works that demonstrate the wide-ranging imperial Mughal engagements with Sanskrit literary culture under Akbar: the Razmnama (Book of War), which was the major Persian translation of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, and the Kriparasakosha (Treasury of Compassion), a Sanskrit praise poem written for Akbar to secure royal orders benefiting certain Gujarati Jain communities. These two works bring out some of the crucial and often neglected roles of Sanskrit in the Mughal multilingual literary tradition.

Mughal engagements with Sanskrit literature—through translation, sponsorship, and reception—are well documented in primary sources but neglected by modern scholars for several reasons. In part, Mughal historians have long mistakenly understood Akbar’s 1582 declaration of Persian as his polity’s administrative medium as evidence that Persian was declared the language of empire in all senses. This assumption that Persian constituted the Mughal tongue obviated any need to look at other languages that might have had imperial cache in Mughal India. In addition, Sanskrit works that the Mughals translated into Persian have long suffered from the modern Western notion that translation is a derivative act, hardly worthy of study. The early Orientalists further compounded the problem by declaring Indo-Persian translations of Sanskrit materials to be “flimsy paraphrase[s],” calling out the Razmnama specifically as “nothing more than an abstract, and that very indifferently executed.”² In this view, not only are works such as the Razmnama derivative translations but poor ones at that. Scholars have overlooked works written in Sanskrit under Mughal support or for Mughal consumption for a more mundane reason—few Mughal historians know Sanskrit. This language gap makes Mughal-associated Sanskrit works, plentiful though they are, difficult or impossible for most historians to access. I offer a small step toward bridging that gap here and in chapter 2 of this volume (“A Mughal Debate About Jain Asceticism”) by translating imperially related Sanskrit materials.

There is an additional formidable obstacle to Mughal historians accepting Sanskrit texts—both in translation and original compositions—as a significant part of Mughal literary culture. Expanding Mughal literature to include Sanskrit and Sanskrit-based materials requires us to rethink our most basic assumptions about the Mughal Empire and its cultural realm. As recently as 2002, Wheeler Thackston wrote: “The history of literature in the Mughal Empire is basically the history of Persian.”³ If we follow the evidence in multiple languages, this position quickly becomes untenable. However, to move beyond superficial recognition of this multilingual imperial reality, we must be willing to consider that many standard ideas about Mughal literature and thus Mughal culture more broadly are overly restrictive. The Mughals were not only a multicultural but also a multilingual dynasty. Accordingly, Mughal studies needs to become a more multilingual field if historians are to make sense of the layered identities cultivated by Mughal elites. The texts presented here begin to outline some of the underappreciated linguistic and cultural breadth of Mughal literature.

The first excerpt comes from the Razmnama, the major Akbar-period translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is the longer of the two great Indian epics and tells the saga of a family-turned-world-war over a kingdom in northern India. In its Sanskrit versions, the Mahabharata stretches to roughly 75,000 verses (rounded to 100,000 verses traditionally),4 approximately seven times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined or fifteen times the length of the Bible. Emperor Akbar ordered the rendering of the entire Sanskrit epic into Persian in the early 1580s, and the translation took several years to complete. Akbar’s court had taken up a few Sanskrit texts for translation before the Mahabharata, such as the Atharva Veda, a religious text (the translation was never realized), and the Simhasana-dvatrimshika (Thirty-Two Tales of the Throne), a popular collection of Sanskrit stories.⁵ But the Razmnama inaugurated a watershed of Mughal Persian renderings of Sanskrit stories during the 1580s and 1590s, including the Ramayana, several astronomical and mathematical treatises, additional story works such as the Pancatantra (Five Tales), and even literary histories such as the Rajatarangini (River of Kings).⁶

Of more than a dozen Sanskrit works that were rendered into Persian under Akbar’s orders, the Razmnama was by far the longest and elicited the most substantial investment of imperial resources. It took a team of translators several years to produce the Book of War. Nobody involved in the project knew both Sanskrit and Persian, so two teams of translators worked in tandem. A group of five Brahmans read the text in Sanskrit and orally translated it into Hindi. A second team of four Mughal translators heard the epic in Hindi and wrote down the story in Persian. This verbal communication via a Hindi vernacular and the names of the Sanskrit-knowing Brahmans are described in a colophon to the Razmnama.⁷ The textual translation was checked by Naqib Khan, a court historian who oversaw the entire effort, and even by Akbar himself on occasion.⁸ The completed translation includes all eighteen books of the Sanskrit epic, along with many of the smaller side stories and digressions, plus the Harivamsha appendix. In a modern edition, the translation runs to more than 2,000 pages of printed Persian text.⁹ Once the text of the Razmnama was finalized, court artists lavishly illustrated the imperial copy, and several subimperial illuminated copies were produced in the following decades. The illustrations further adapted the Indian epic for a new audience.¹⁰ The Razmnama was repeatedly recopied for centuries, and hundreds of manuscripts of the translated epic survive today in India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Akbar’s court largely understood the Mahabharata epic as a story about kingship. In his introduction to the translation, Abu al-Fazl, one of Akbar’s principle ideologues, described the text thus: “It is no secret that of the 100,000 shlokas (verses) in the [Mahabharat], 24,000 concern the war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, which is a model for the wise on warnings and examples, battle and carnage. The rest concerns advice, guidance, stories, and descriptions of war and feasting.”11 Elsewhere in his introduction, Abu al-Fazl explicitly lists advice for kings as one of the cardinal reasons behind Akbar’s sponsorship of the Razmnama.¹²

The Mughals found the whole of the Mahabharata an edifying reflection on rulership, but they judged book twelve, the Shant Parvan (Shanti Parvan in Sanskrit, Book of Peace), especially valuable in this regard. Book twelve begins after the conclusion of the great battle between two sets of cousin-brothers, which wiped out a nearly incalculable number of people on both sides. In the aftermath of near total destruction, King Yudhishthira prepared to ascend the throne but struggled with how to rule properly in a postapocalyptic world. The Book of Peace contains advice to the would-be king given by Bhishma, a patriarch who was mortally wounded in the battle but clung to life to share his wisdom. This section of the Mahabharata constitutes a substantial portion of the Sanskrit epic and was translated into Persian at even greater length, constituting a full 25 percent of Akbar’s translation.¹³ In his introduction, Abu al-Fazl singles out for special praise “ the advice, guidance, and manners for inner and outer rulership narrated by wise (hakim) Bhishma that are generally approved by intellectuals and liked by the wise.”¹⁴ Moreover, the Mughal translators adjusted Bhishma’s counsel to make it palatable and relevant to Akbar, both aesthetically and instructionally. They inserted verses of Persian poetry throughout much of Bhishma’s guidance that are quoted from the great masters of Persian literature, including the likes of Nizami, Hafiz, and Saʿdi. The translators also adjusted the content of Bhishma’s speech to address topics pertinent to Akbar and took out ideas that would have fit poorly in a Mughal context.

The translation here is an especially compelling episode from the Book of Peace that concerns the ancient Indian king Manu. According to Bhishma, Manu was the first earthly monarch and a worthy model for how to bring justice and peace to a chaotic situation. Several things are noteworthy about the Razmnama’s rendition of Manu’s story. First, some features of this excerpt are characteristic of the Razmnama more generally. The episode is a relatively close translation of the parallel portion of Sanskrit text.¹⁵ The story features Hindu gods as well as an Islamic-style God, a ubiquitous character throughout the Persian translation.¹⁶ Second, the translators employ a Persianate idiom to talk about kings (padshah) and kingship (padshahi). The translators also occasionally use the Sanskrit word raja (king), but the emphasis remains on being an Indian padshah, an issue germane to Akbar, the primary audience of this translation. Last, this episode contains the single overt mention of Emperor Akbar so far identified in the Razmnama. At the end of the episode, the translators enact an earlier teaching in Manu’s story that “subjects ought to pray for their king” and name and laud their patron. Manu’s saga then ends with verses quoted from the famous fourteenth-century poet Saʿdi that seem to apply equally to Manu and Akbar, an ancient and the current Indian sovereign. Overall, Manu’s story as told in the Razmnama sheds light on the formulation of political advice in the Mughal Empire, how literature (both prose and poetry) was being redefined in Mughal India, and how Akbar’s court invoked the deep history of subcontinental kingship.

The second translation is the entirety of the Kriparasakosha (Treasury of Compassion), a Sanskrit praise poem. The work was written by Shanticandra, a follower of Jainism, a minority religious tradition in Mughal India. The encomium is one of several Sanskrit works written explicitly for the enjoyment and edification of Mughal elites. Sanskrit praise poems were also dedicated to individuals such as ʿAbd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan, Asaf Khan, and several Mughal kings and princes.17 More than half a dozen such works survive today, but this body of materials remains virtually unknown to modern scholars. Here I translate all 128 verses of the Treasury of Compassion to make this important work available for the first time to Mughal cultural and literary historians.

Before addressing the contents of the Treasury of Compassion, a few words are necessary concerning the Sanskrit language in the Mughal context. So far as we know, Akbar did not know Sanskrit, nor did any other Mughal kings. This basic fact renders the reception of Shanticandra’s poem and similar Sanskrit encomia enigmatic. How did Mughal ruling elites receive texts written in a language inaccessible to them? I have suggested elsewhere that the Treasury of Compassion is written in simple enough Sanskrit that Akbar, given his knowledge of literary Hindi, could have understood some strings of words.¹⁸ The Kriparasakosha primarily concerns Akbar’s life and family, which would have aided a transverse comprehension. Even the work’s mythological and literary references were likely familiar to Akbar and other Mughal elites who were well versed in Sanskrit and Hindi stories through translations and oral retellings. It is also possible that such poems were verbally translated for the Mughal kings, similar to the oral transmission of Sanskrit texts that were rendered into Persian. Although this is plausible, we lack direct evidence of such a verbal transmission. Still, even absent full (or any) comprehension, this Sanskrit poem and others like it claim an imperial reception. Accordingly, not unlike the many Arabic works produced at the Mughal court, Sanskrit praise poems for imperial figures constitute an important and overlooked part of Mughal literary culture.

The Treasury of Compassion contains descriptions of the early Mughal kings, Akbar’s childhood and military conquests, and Mughal imperial culture. After the customary opening praise (in this case to Jina), Shanticandra first addresses the Mughals’ ancestral lands of Khurasan and Kabul. After briefly detailing the reigns of Babur and Humayun, Santicandra discusses Akbar’s mother, especially focusing on when she was pregnant with Akbar. Akbar’s birth occurs roughly one third of the way through the poem, and the rest of the text focuses on him. Shanticandra divides his extensive treatment of Akbar into three major sections: the king’s youth, his conquests, and his characteristics as a ruler. Shanticandra freely admits certain markers of the Mughals’ Perso-Islamic culture. For example, he notes that Fatehpur Sikri was named as such because of its meaning of “city of victory” in Persian. He mentions Akbar’s marriages to Rajput women and the din-i ilahi, Akbar’s discipleship program. However, at times the poet prefers to stay within the well-worn conventions of Sanskrit literature. When detailing Akbar’s military victories, for instance, Shanticandra names no actual rulers, kingdoms, or even regions. Instead he talks about Akbar’s conquest of the four directions (digvijaya in Sanskrit) that exhibits the king’s domination over a timeless Indian landscape defined by topographical features and Hindu mythology. Shanticandra also brings in specifically Jain ideas. For example, he repeatedly lauds Akbar’s compassion (kripa, also a play on the title of the text) to all living beings, a Jain preoccupation. Shanticandra also mentions specific imperial concessions to the Tapa Gaccha, Shanticandra’s Jain lineage. He even describes aspects of Akbar’s family history, such as his mother’s pregnancy with Akbar, according to Jain literary norms. For instance, Akbar’s mother is depicted as fearless and as having exhibited enhanced empathy while pregnant, which signalled that she was carrying a child destined for greatness.

Shanticandra proclaims in both the opening and closing of his work that he is writing “for the sake of enlightening (pratibodha) glorious padshah Akbar.”19 In the closing lines of his work, he further clarifies that Akbar’s enlightenment resulted in a series of imperial orders (farmans) that were beneficial for the Gujarati Jain community, including tax relief, release of prisoners, bans on animal slaughter, and more.²⁰ Several of the imperial orders that Shanticandra names are confirmed by other sources. More generally, numerous Persian and Sanskrit texts attest that Jain monks frequently secured concessions from Akbar (and later from Jahangir), and several farmans are extant in the original Persian or in translation. In terms of Shanticandra in particular, a contemporary Sanskrit text testifies to the efficacious power of the Treasury of Compassion:

Then Shanticandra, the best of the Jains—who bears royal messages, whose hand delivers farmans regarding the jizya and non-violence, and who is skilled in continually reciting the Treasury of Compassion [to the shah] on the order of [Hiravijaya] Suri—was joyfully sent from his own side to the guru by the king.²¹

Although it is unlikely that we will ever know for certain whether Shanticandra presented his poem to Akbar (much less whether or how Akbar understood the Sanskrit verses), Gujarati Jains, who enjoyed regular contact with the Mughals, perceived Sanskrit literature as a legitimate, effective way of pursuing political aims. They also treated the Mughals as worthy to be incorporated into Sanskrit literature and its powerful idioms of kingship.

Taken together, the Razmnama and the Kriparasakosha map out some of the diverse roles of Sanskrit in Mughal literary culture under Akbar. Imperial patrons sponsored the translation of Sanskrit works, and original Sanskrit poems were addressed to members of the ruling elite. Both Jain and Brahman Sanskrit thinkers populated Akbar’s court and played crucial roles in these cross-cultural exchanges. When scholars portray the Mughals as a Persianate or Persian-medium dynasty, they tend to miss these cross-cultural, multilingual aspects of the Mughal imperial tradition. Modern resistance notwithstanding, Sanskrit was not merely a periodic oddity at the Mughal court but a crucial, consistent part of its literary fabric that we would be well served to recover.

TRANSLATION

Bhishma’s Advice to Yudhishthira in the Book of War (Razmnama)

THE TALE OF THE SULTANAT OF MANU

Bhikham Pitama said,22

The first responsibility of subjects is to pray for their padshah, and whoever fails to pray for the padshahs will find no prosperity in life, nor ease in this world. People should not live in a land that lacks a strong padshah. It is also not proper to reside in a kingdom with a female padshah. It is best for a person to not live in a kingdom with a child padshah. If a person is there, then he should pray that God Exalted²³ protects that child as he grows and shows him kindness. A padshah should not trouble or oppress those who do right by him. If subjects do as the padshah says and accordingly send their wealth, even without a tax collector, to that righteous one, then a padshah need not send a person with a harsh disposition who oppresses the people to bear down on them. Similarly, if a thing that will soften in fire becomes soft without fire, then it is not necessary to throw it into the fire. Subjects must pray for their padshah because, if there is no padshah, then they may become lax one day and allow their wives and daughters to be carried off. For that reason, God Exalted created the padshah to weaken the control of tyrants over the oppressed. Without a padshah it would be on land just as it is in the sea where big fish eat small fish. Everyone who is stronger would devour the flesh of the poor and weak.

One time, a situation arose where there was no raja in the world. Anybody who was strong oppressed and overpowered the weak. Feeling strained by this oppression, the people of the world approached Manu, who was one of Brahma’s sons, and beseeched him to come and rule among them. Manu replied, “You are an infirm people, but I cannot accept such work among you because if someone does right by you a thousand times you are still not pleased and complain about him. I have no desire for such a headache.” They replied, “We promise to give you one tenth of what we farm in order to please you, and one quarter of the merit we earn will belong to you. Just like Indra is lord of thirty-three crores of gods²⁴ in heaven, be lord over the earth! Be like Indra in this world!”

After hearing their promises, Manu agreed to rule over them, and the people of the earth made Manu their raja. When Manu became their leader, divine mercy descended on the earth. It was like when the land becomes green and verdant after rain. All the people of the earth were overjoyed with his rulership. In his mercy, God Glorified and Exalted²⁵ forgave the people all their sins, and the world became cultivated and lush. When they saw the blessing of his feet, men gave wealth, fabric, jewels, and whatever they had as tribute to please him.

Raja (Manu) showed complete compassion and mercy to the world and spoke to everyone with visible joy. Day by day, his majesty and pomp increased, and many years passed on earth in his rule and good fortune. Because of his virtuous conduct, God Exalted granted him a long, generous life. It is hoped, according to the magnificence of God Glorified and Exalted that the shadow of the justice and compassion of his most exalted majesty, Shah Akbar—under whose justice, compassion, and grace all people in the world rest—would be perpetual and everlasting on earth so long as the world exists.

O God! This king, a friend to those in need,

in whose shadow lies the refuge of the world,

may you grant him long life on this earth.

May you enliven his heart through obedience to God.

So long as there is day and night, may the king be on the throne,

and may prosperity reach the zenith of the sky!26

TRANSLATION

Shanticandra’s Sanskrit Praise Poem to Akbar

TREASURY OF COMPASSION (KRIPARASAKOSHA)

For the sake of enlightening glorious Shah Akbar, the Treasury of Compassion is composed by the great teacher Santicandra.²⁷

OPENING PRAISE²⁸

He who sees the world perfectly clearly²⁹ with his eye of wisdom,

the wise one who pervades the entire universe and lacks enmity,

the divine one who cares for all people with a mind disposed to compassion,

I meditate on this bull-like leader in order to secure good favor.

He who possesses neither agitation nor greed and does not partake in amorous play,

who does not nourish faults and lacks both anger and satisfaction,

who breaks open the transient states of existence,

I serve that great man.

Homage to that pure, detached lord who protects the world, whose imperceptible acts

are renowned among the wise but difficult for ordinary people to perceive,

whose speech is beyond the expressive capacity of even skilled orators

and who is not matched even by the moons of ascetics. He possesses pleasing virtues and the highest eternal bliss.

He is never overcome by any worldly ignorance,

like an island is not split by oceanic waves.

That lord has crossed over to the far side of the supreme darkness of cyclical existence.

Even at the furthest edge of the ocean, is there not a lotus?

He delights people by speaking favorably even to enemies.

The creator endowed his mind and tongue

with a sweet, purifying substance.

Homage to that good one who pleases the heart.

May hidden virtues become manifest in good people

through the sight of even his seemingly bad and contrary actions,

just as sweet, wholesome nectar comes from ripe fruit.

That virtuous trickster who benefits good people, is to be praised.30

KHURASAN

In another land there is a stunningly beautiful region,

devoid of any trace of suffering, known as glorious Khurasan.

There stalks bowed by ripening bunches of dates

render the lands surrounding the city difficult to traverse.

There swift horses with delicate ears and high shoulders have

minds blinded by anger and crooked faces, but never the kings. [v. 10]

There short-eared horses are the equal of Indra’s long-eared horse:

they are the single best means of obtaining victory for a king.

There the best foods such as walnuts are scattered everywhere like grain.

How can I describe the incredibly fertile soil there?

KABUL

In Khurasan is a lovely city by the name of Kabul

that ought to be described as foremost among cities.

A tall wall shines in its ramparts,

as a line of beautiful, tall-waisted women are resplendent in the harem.

In the palace young beautiful women never see the sun

and always remain in seclusion.

Around the outskirts dense trees

cover the vast land with shade.

There trees burst into bloom as expected during the rainy season,

as if they were the well-served subjects of the king.

At that time clouds poured forth, lightening flashed,

and thunder resounded again and again.

Having seen that city’s ruler, whose decrees are potent,

the beautiful goddess of wealth fearlessly

came from all directions

to make that place her sole home.

Exhaustion is seen only in oil lamps at the light of dawn.

Rising and setting is seen only in the sun.

Waxing and waning is noticed only in the moon.

But no such fluctuations are observed in the people whose splendor radiates.

BABUR

In Kabul there is a noble hearted ruler whom all enemies fear:

Babur, bearer of pure fame, the king of the Mughals.31

His immense splendor, which incinerates enemies as if they were timber,

is the well-known submarine fire.

For kindling he provokes heaps of tears

from the lotus-eyed wives of enemy kings.

Against his taut bow, the proud curved eyebrows

of enemy women pale in comparison.

When he easily draws floods of arrows on his bow,

the knot of military pride of enemy kings falls apart. [v. 20]

HUMAYUN

To Babur was born a son by the name of Humayun,

a jewel among men.

When she was carrying him in her womb, his mother shone

like an oyster bearing a precious pearl.

Humayun grew up to become a gem among sons

with splendor, youth, and virtues.

Like the summer sun he was rich in formidable qualities

and hard to bear for even legions of enemies.

As if driven by jealousy of one another

all the arts accumulated in him.

Surely when a good lover is found he becomes

nearly bound to the beds of deer-eyed women.

The royal prince appointed love (smara), whose highest object

is piercing unseen targets, the chief of the arts.

He knew the art of archery and shot based on sound alone.

How does such a man not become predominant among the lines of archers?

Wise Babur appointed him ruler over the entire earth,

saying that he was fit in every way like Rama.

Coli Begam: Akbar’s Mother

The Queen, called Coli Begam,32 enjoys the riches of love.

She is to the king as Lakshmi is to Vishnu.

Within the stunning, vast harem she alone is the object of the king’s affections,

just like among the many gorgeous stars only Rohini is the beloved of the cool-rayed moon.

Even though she has never been seen even by the sun, a painter,

like a lotus pond, accurately depicts her as delighting in being a faithful wife.

Because the moon was conquered by her beautiful face and eyes,

the sun in its ascent and the moon in descent came together

in order to collaborate on how to defeat those features.

If it were otherwise, then how could the sun and the moon inhabit a single place?

She adorned her body with lines of ornaments

made from rubies, pearls, gems, and gold.

But in truth the great splendor of her body

actually increased that of the jewels. [v. 30]

With those two enjoying the riches of ruling the earth

time passed full of abundant pleasure,

just as the night moves quickly when the full moon and lovely moonlight

partake of pleasures in the circle of the sky.

COLI BEGAM’S PREGNANCY

The queen, whose greatness overshadows all like the sun,

bore her pregnancy like an inlaid floor carrying the chief jewel.33

She experienced a rise of good fortune indicated by lovely dreams.

That pregnancy gave great joy to the pure family.

When her son descended, the wife of the king of the earth

saw her lion-like child, seated

with a parasol held over him by female attendants.

She drank in the full orb of his moon-like face.

Like the sprout of a divine wishing tree that grants desires in Indra’s garden,

the womb grew in the lovely wife of the foremost sovereign.

Under the influence of her pregnancy, auspicious cravings

became manifested in that lustrous woman.

The virtuous, powerful world emperor, ruler of the earth

fulfilled those cravings quickly.³⁴

One morning, she turned away from the shining mirror a barber’s wife placed in front of her

and instead feverishly desired a sharpened, dazzling sword.

She did not see the injury that resulted from trying to see the reflection of the sun and the moon.

Her mind was agitated by the sorrows of others due to the rise of her pregnancy’s power.

That beautiful woman, her mind devoid of fear, played with a lion in her lap.

Even though forbidden to do so by her servants, she mounted a mad elephant without reins.

She thought that a lovely horse drawn in a picture was jumping off the page.

That virtuous woman passed the time with all sorts of such behaviors.

Surely musk, easily obtained by slaying a deer, was not desired to decorate her limbs.

Her mind deemed pearls found by breaking open oyster shells unacceptable ornaments.

As you know, a woman whose heart is pure of desire does not wear silk clothes.

When pregnant with a son, a mother is an ocean of Hari’s immense compassion.35

That great-minded woman desired to give away Mount Meru,

and likewise Tara and Rohana mountains.

Again and again she criticized King Karna

who was generous beyond measure..

She did not withhold courtesy even from disagreeable people.

Even in response to the coarse words of servants, that cultured woman did not speak unbecomingly. [v. 40]

AKBAR’S BIRTH AND NAMING

Then, when the time was right, she gave birth to a son,

like the day of the full moon delivers the moon’s orb.

His appearance delighted his relatives.

He possessed honor and was full of good fortune.

Courtesans danced, overflowing with ornaments and with eyes like those of playful deer.

The lotus-eyed women of the family, overcome with joy, repeatedly offered good wishes.

Those with loud drums pronounced blessings in every courtyard.

He who held sway over the circle of the earth ordered a great festival for the birth of his son.

On an auspicious day he of evident might,

strongest among the strong in all fortes, of visible splendor,

born of the glorious shah, was declared

by his mother and father to be called “Akbar.”

a means the Supreme Lord, k Brahman, a the Soul,

and vara best, so that he [akabara] is the best of these [three].³⁶

Accordingly, a wise man says that the name Akbar has great meaning,

such as possessing authority and so forth.

AKBAR’S CHILDHOOD

Prospering by the joy of his parents,

he who possessed a beautiful form was delighted

in being followed by the children born of the powerful, royal family

as if he were a second moon followed by the planets.

That bold one played by making some of the princes horses,

others chariots, and others elephants,

some commoners and others ministers.

His splendor was brought out by such play.

Accordingly, the son of the king

became the crown jewel of the wise.

As the moon relinquishes its miniature status on a dark night,

he gave up being a child, he whose play was anything but childlike.

The master of the arts, he reflected all the arts

just as a mirror shows lines of images to the spectators of the world.

In horse riding his skill was precise.

How can I describe how he drove a horse?

Even though a horse was slow and dragging like mud when driven by another,

it rose like the wind when ridden by him.

He desired to mount a two-tusked, unrestrained elephant with only a staff.

That crown jewel among great heroes excelled without parallel in mental abilities.

His incomparable hand, with a sharp hook and pillar-like fingernails,

shone like a half-moon that drove away the darkness of pride.37 [v. 50]

Having clung to a lion by its mane, he binds it with only his arms, as if it were a hare.

When a leopard is to be captured, the slayer of enemies does not tremble, as if the animal were a mere picture.

When animals realize that he is the equal of a male lion, even the lions

become pitiable and find the speed of hyenas.

Whenever the hot-rayed sun and the cool-rayed moon

recall the art of archery complete with Arjuna’s roaring,

they think, “How can this be here?”

Then they quickly take cover under the armor of clouds.

On the battlefield his falling sword vanished from its scabbard

and rested in his hand, which is like a sandalwood tree.

Like a striking snake, that sword

severed the life breath of enemy kings.

AKBAR’S CONSECRATION AND VIRTUES

When his father began the journey to heaven Akbar glorified the kingdom,

like when the shining moon sets the sun illuminates the sky.

The glory of the kingdom and the glory of youth shone in him equally,

What young woman does not awaken passion in that lovely man who enjoys good fortune?

Everyone knows that an ornamented braid

prompts praise from the beautiful-faced preserver.

This creation was perfectly made, like the moon

that Rahu reaches but is not able to grasp.38

Yes, he will become the world ruler!

The creator’s palette will draw the fault of old age here!

Having seen his forehead with its eyebrows perfectly curved like the crescent moon,

a lovely-minded person marvels in his mind.

A playful pair of young deer were stilled

by the trick of seeing his wide smile.

Perpetual ascent and perfection are always in his face.

Does he not outstrip even the unsurpassable moon?

By establishing righteousness and virtue, his tongue

revives sages who were bitten by all kinds of evil snakes.

With such righteousness and virtue, his tongue possesses a stream

of thriving nectar that is beyond the grasp of the new Rahu.

He has no equal among either sugarcane or the entirety of mendicants.

Who could match even just the tip of the sweetness of his speech? [v. 60]

Pure, nectar-like speech that pleases the ears of wise people

illuminates his face, a veritable pot of nectar.

Perhaps the king of snakes, who as you know bears the earth,

now rules as a man with long arms and a mass of hair.³⁹

In my mind I see his two long arms

as the twin branches of a wishing tree.

Except by standing in his shadow how could kings

have avoided the calamity of his majestic rays?

Rivaling those of a mountain,

I know his pair of shoulders to be lovely.

Because his shoulders are also very broad,

they bear the earth in all directions.

His expansive, firm chest

does not open up but holds a secret mantra.

Nonetheless, with only a glance at the sorrow of another,

his heart melts completely. What explains this contradiction?

His feet are lotuses of superior beauty with straight toes.

They bear auspicious marks such as umbrellas and flags.

The king’s feet shine brightly, like a pair of heavenly wishing trees

that are always sought after by worshippers.

The various other limbs of the world protector

ought to be visible to members of the royal assembly.

Overflowing the earth with a flood of good fortune,

all his limbs are drenched in the nectar of the gods.

AKBAR’S CONQUEST OF THE FOUR DIRECTIONS

Even though enjoying his father’s kingdom,

Akbar desired greater victory in all directions.

There was no restraint in that yearning,

because the son exceeded his father in fame.

Having heard of this king whose arms reached his knees,

adversary rulers trembled with fear.

Even good fortune, which was already manifest in him,

became frenzied and rushed to support him.

The king directed the spread of victory with grand motions.

He advanced, his luck set, in order to traverse the directions.

The lustration of arms was auspicious,

his horses with sharp diadems neighed,

and the royal elephant roared

as the king approached with auspicious signs. [v. 70]

THE EAST

With loads of umbrellas, chowries, and ministers, all pure, praiseworthy, and shining,

with instruments resounding as if they were bards telling stories of victory,

with birds such as blue jays40 singing the full scale, he went

toward the east, bearing good fortune comparable to that of Indra.

He fearlessly cut and split kings whose forts are weaker.

He guided the lowly feet of the bowed and abolished intolerant rule.

He accepted presents offered up by people from different places.

Glorious King Akbar, the moon of the lineage of Humayun, is victorious.

He scatters the seed of his own splendor on the earth,

which is beaten by the hooves of galloping horses and sprinkled with the juice of elephants.

Reaching for the pure flowers of heroic fame the lord of the earth, a fierce sun,

penetrated the eastern regions until the edge of the ocean.

THE SOUTH

Having previously despised powerful kings that are blinded by pride but to be esteemed,

the king now spoke like a wise man answering an opponent.

Accepting their beautiful gifts

and having established victory over them,

the king went forth dedicated to doing what is right.

Firm in speech, he was invited and welcomed.

If a steady oil lamp is praised by the world,

then how much more is the king praised for his brilliance?

Thus, that lord never worried

about an assault from his people.

A skillful tree on the banks of the Tapi River

revived his horses and elephants with shade,

delighted the infantry with fruit,

and served him with blossoms while he reclined.

As it grows near the side of the Kaveri River,

a palm tree fans the army with stalks lined with leaves,

like a female servant fans with the palms of her hands,

in order to dry the sweat born from toiling on the road.

In southern places he plundered playfully.

He easily established the pillar of victory on Malaya Mountain.

THE WEST

Having amassed immense wealth from the subservient kings there,

the king of kings set out to take the other horizon with his sword. [v. 80]

The illustrious one went west

like the setting sun.

His splendor possessed the dual qualities

of being easy and impossible to bear for enemy rulers.

The women of western kings that were afflicted with sorrow

drew out long sighs that weighed on their hearts.

Among those breaths was the first rising of the fierce wind

that inflamed Akbar, the heroic scorcher.

Western kings, devoid of greatness, downtrodden,

and emasculated like actors who wear women’s clothing,

took refuge in the king of kings

who accepted those meek men.

THE NORTH

Like Kubera himself, that lord of wealth

pursued the direction of Kubera’s dwellings.

The all-destroying, intensely fierce lord of the earth

broke the pride of the northern kings.

With an imperial order in his hand and knowing the means,

he churned up that region like a stick in a pot of milk.

That famous one seized everything.

He is foremost among those who take wealth by force.

That Indra on earth led his army

to the valley of the Himalayas, king of mountains,

where nearby lands were pervaded with the sweet smell

of perfumed clouds of aloe wood burned by a forest fire.

FATEHPUR SIKRI

Then, having accepted beautiful chowries

as signs of submission and with his goal accomplished,

the lion of kings, whose mark is a four-limbed army,

desired to set out for glorious Sikri.

The land in all directions was overrun by armies

that swelled like the oceanic tide.

The best of kings actively traversed the earth,

whose load is borne by the serpent Shesha.

Thinking, I who live in this city have conquered

the full circle of the earth with my own two arms,

Akbar entered the city called “Fatehpur,”

a name given according to the sounds of his own language.

Even his lowly feet were a tribute,

covered with dirt kicked-up by the army,

from the unprotected heads of kings.

Who, having been made great by God,41 does not achieve greatness? [v. 90]

When he arrived in the city adorned with flags,

the sound of victory quick arose, filling all directions.

Like an exploding star,

that throbbing sound split open the sky.

HOMAGE TO AKBAR AND THE MUGHAL KINGDOM

The mature daughters of kings

across the entire land were given by their fathers.

Akbar even married a women who was disfigured.

What man, whose body is complete, agrees to this?⁴²

The crowd of kings paid homage

to that one seated on the lion throne

with a chowrie and a royal umbrella over his head,

who looked with his eyes upturned giving thanks.

Khan-i Khanan43 and the other Khans took a vow of firm devotion

and turned toward that king like pupils to a teacher.⁴⁴

Akbar, moon of men, surveyed with a pure eye

the gifts of kings who had come from afar.

With a gesture of his eyebrow he gave to those nearby

like a heavenly wishing tree that is drunk with generosity gives to beggars.

That king established himself on earth among those that govern.

He eliminated the heavy tax

that another king who desired the wealth of others

had placed without restraint upon the indebted earth.

He whose mind wants for nothing, master of the earth,

did not met out punishment even in a dream.

Having exiled evil people who are to be shunned,

he is full of favor to townspeople, as if they were his family.

Just as Kumarapala halted the seizure of the property of the dead

so too did the Lord of Fatehpur halt the collection of taxes.

Just as long ago Arjuna freed cows that were prisoners,

he does likewise now.⁴⁵

He renounces taxes, and his pure fame ascends to the sky.

He exceeds other kings in heroism, listening, and pleasure.

All because the collected wealth of all earthly kings did not surpass

the generous giving upon which his ocean of a mind resolved in a single day.

This joyful wishing tree who relinquishes taxes

does things excelling his own nature precisely for the sake of all Indians.⁴⁶

Thinking, how can I become the crown jewel at the head of shahs,

that wise man, in whom overflowing compassion arises, extends life to cows. [v. 100]

In the morning calves with their necks free of binding chains, their ears erect,

and raised up shaking with joy, stretch themselves playfully to suckle.

Their mothers lick them with tongues that are moist with excessive love.

The earth of glorious Humayun shines with good fortune given Akbar’s immense compassion.

Even the sun, who steals the luster from all other bodies in the sky,

spills out his light upon union with the Western horizon.

What then of men who are slaves of karma on earth?

With this thought in mind the king banned liquor, which ought to be universally reviled.

No weapon bearer should bear a weapon before me.

Desire is an open carrier of weapons

and has defeated many beings.

With these thoughts in mind he threw out the prostitutes.

The rule of this moon of kings is novel,

which posits the absence of the word “thief.”

How then does the related term “theft” arise

in spite of the fact that there are no thieves?

Having merely glimpsed the fierce,

pride-crushing gaze of that king,

who appears like the demon Ravana when angry,

nobody desires the wife of another.

It is customary that the defeated is at the mercy of the winner,

but this relationship does not work in reverse.

Being firmly attached to this idea,

he banned despicable gambling, a scourge on his land.

The Lord of All, to whom I am second, now

rules over the worlds with all their living beings.

He is filled with compassion for all beings.

Thinking this the king gave up hunting.

The wisdom among heroes is that weapons are to be abandoned

due to the sinfulness obtained by bearing arms on earth.

He sympathized with the thought—how can I,

the crest jewel of heroes, slay timid beings?

Akbar will drive out a bad person

who was appointed doorkeeper by other kings

in order to prevent the speech of good people

from entering into the ruler’s ears.

When this king who enjoys playing in the water

becomes lustrous after swimming,

fish line up at the edge of Dabara pond and unblinkingly utter praises to the king—

May you Live Long! Praise to you! May you Be Victorious! Be forever victorious!47 [v. 110]

In consideration of the virtue of Akbar, great moon of the earth,

cruel cranes that have captured fish with their beaks

sympathize, and their hearts fill with wonder.

Even though fish are their only food, the cranes abandon them at once.

When the son of Coli Begum reigns as king there is neither lawlessness nor plagues.

There is no famine, rebellion, or illness; the rains come at the right time.

Fruit grows on trees during the appropriate season, sweet sugarcane thrives,

and metal mines give generously—all because of the leader’s eye!

Lady, who are you?

I am compassion.

Why are you troubled?

King Kumarapala is gone.

What of it?

I am banished now day after day by hostile, violent men. I desire to be reinstated.

Then, O Pure Compassion, go to the one who possesses the earth.

Now, after a long time, Akbar is the sole king; he will cause you no distress.

You are delighted to have compassion as your primary goal

as your splendorous light is fueled

by the weakened exhalations of

the beautiful-eyed wives of defeated enemies.

The cities of your exiled enemies

go to seed and become covered with grass.

As if jealous of you, your teeth-baring enemies

have become rare.

If wise Rohini had not applied a dark mark in the beginning,

to her husband, the moon, then how could she recognize that lover now

given that the entire world is white with the pure fame

of glorious Humayun’s son, ruler of a united empire?

You are lord of the three worlds and teacher of the world!

You expel violence and other sins!

In the world people fear you intensely,

lest they should fail to follow your commands.

Having placed all of his authority in this one man,

God accomplished his purpose.

The king, proceeding on foot like a holy man,

bears this highest burden out of devotion to God.48

AKBAR’S SONS

Let Salim, Murad, and glorious Danyal live long!

The sons of the shah are each like a small image of the king.⁴⁹

Even among these three handsome, good natured sons,

only the eldest is fit to succeed the king.

Among the moon, a lamp, and the sun,

the sun alone possesses the utmost splendor in the world. [v. 120]

AKBAR’S ENCOUNTERS WITH JAIN LEADERS

Out of familiarity one time I, Shanticandra,

asked the good natured lord of men about compassion.

I inquired with boldness and wit

with the blessing of my own glorious teacher, Sakalendu.

Having now seen the best of Indian sages, about which he had heard tell,

the king eliminated the gap

between what he had heard and seen.

The king is by nature an accomplished connoisseur.

On account of a particular virtuous deed of glorious

Hiravijaya, a Jain leader who is devoted to his followers,

the king overflowed with compassion and ordered nonviolence toward living beings.

Only an omniscient person understands his virtuous action.⁵⁰

Legions of fish who slipped through nets met with other fish;

groups of birds who had abandoned their fetters kiss their children;

the milk-bearing cow, having bathed quickly, goes to her family—

these are the legacies of that king, the image of kindness.

CLOSING

Since Akbar gave the joy of life to living beings out of generosity,

he accrued virtue and respect.

Thus may he, along with his nobles and his sons,

flourish and live long!

He removed the jizya tax.

He rescued temples from Mughals who were difficult to restrain.

He who is compassion embodied broke the chains of prisoners.

Even base kings hospitably receive the Jains, lords of ascetics.

For six months of the year, beings are born without fear.

Large groups of cows were born unafraid.

Among the causes of the arising of such decrees,

this book was the primary reason.

Having driven out envy, this book,

called the Treasury of Compassion,

is to be examined, recited, followed,

and cherished by those who know good conduct.

Thus, the glorious book, the Treasury of Compassion, is finished. It was written by the great teacher, glorious Shanticandra in order to enlighten glorious Padshah Akbar, the king of kings.

NOTES

1. For a more detailed discussion, see Audrey Truschke, Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016).

2. Respectively, Sir William Jones, “On the Musical Modes of the Hindus: Written in 1784, and Since Much Enlarged,” in The Works of Sir William Jones (London: G. G. and J. Robinson, 1799), 1:423; and Francis Gladwyn, trans., Ayeen Akbery or the Institutes of the Emperor Akbar (London: G. Auld, 1800), 1:102.

3. Wheeler M. Thackston, “Literature,” in The Magnificent Mughals, ed. Zeenut Ziad (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 84.

4. Wendy Doniger, The Hindus: An Alternative History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 263.

5. Three authors consecutively failed to translate the Atharva Veda. ʿAbd al-Qadir Badaʾuni, Muntakhab al-Tavarikh, ed. Captain W. N. Lees and Munshi Ahmad Ali (Calcutta: College Press, 1865), 2:212–13.

6. On Persian translations of Sanskrit texts under the Mughals and other patrons, see N. S. Shukla, “Persian Translations of Sanskrit Works,” Indological Studies 3, nos. 1–2 (1974): 175–91; Carl Ernst, “Muslim Studies of Hinduism? A Reconsideration of Arabic and Persian Translations from Indian Languages,” Iranian Studies 36, no. 2 (2003): 173–95.

7. The colophon is translated in M. Athar Ali, “Translations of Sanskrit Works at Akbar’s Court,” Social Scientist 20, nos. 9–10 (1992): 41. The oral vernacular transmission is evident in several features of the translated text, including the forms of certain Sanskrit words and the inclusion of select stories found in oral tellings rather than in the Sanskrit textual tradition.

8. Badaʾuni, Muntakhab al-Tavarikh, 399–400. tells the story of how Akbar challenged part of the Razmnama translation.

9. All eighteen books of the translated epic (but not the Harivamsha) are included in Sayyid Muhammad Reza Jalali and Dr. N. S. Shukla, eds., Mahabharata: The Oldest and Longest Sanskrit Epic. Translated by Mir Ghiyasuddin Ali Qazvini Known As Naqib Khan (D. 1023 AH), 4 vols. (Tehran: Kitabkhanah-i Tavuri, 1979–1981). Nawal Kishore also lithographed several chapters of the Razmnama c. 1880–1910.

10. Qamar Adamjee and Audrey Truschke, “Reimagining ‘The Idol Temple of Hindustan’: Textual and Visual Translation of Sanskrit Texts in Mughal India, in Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts, ed. Amy Landau, 141–65 (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2015).

11. Abu al-Fazl, “Muqaddamah,” in Mahabharata: The Oldest and Longest Sanskrit Epic. Translated by Mir Ghayasuddin Ali Qazvini Known As Naqib Khan (D. 1023 AH) [Razmnama], ed. Sayyid Muhammad Reza Jalali and N. S. Shukla (Tehran: Kitabkhanah-i Tavuri, 1979–1981), 1:40–41.

12. Abu al-Fazl, “Muqaddamah,” 19–20.

13. In contrast, books twelve and thirteen together comprise just under 25 percent of the Sanskrit Mahabharata. James L. Fitzgerald, ed. and trans., The Mahabharata: Book 11, The Book of the Women, Book 12, The Book of Peace, Part One, vol. 7 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 82.

14. Abu al-Fazl, “Muqaddamah,” 21.

15. Sukthankar, Vishnu S., S. K. Belvalkar, P. L. Vaidya, et al., eds., The Mahabharata for the First Time Critically Edited [Mahabharata] (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1933–1966), 12:67.

16. Audrey Truschke, “The Mughal Book of War: A Persian Translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 31, no. 2 (2011): 512–16.

17. To date I have identified seven Sanskrit praise poems dedicated to members of the Mughal ruling elite: Shanticandra’s Kriparasakosha (for Akbar, c. 1587), Rudrakavi’s four works (Danashahacarita for Danyal in 1603, Khanakhanacarita for ʿAbd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan in 1609, Jahangiracarita for Jahangir c. 1610–1620, and Kirtisamullasa for Khurram c. 1610–1620), Harideva Misra’s Jahangiravirudavali (for Jahangir, c. 1605–1627), and Jagannatha Panditaraja’s Asaphavilasa (for Asaf Khan, c. 1628–1641).

18. Truschke, Culture of Encounters, chap. 2.

19. Shanticandra, Kriparasakosha, ed. Muni Jinavijaya (Bhavnagar: Shri Jain Atmanand Sabha, 1917; repr., Khambhat: Shri Jain Granthaprakashan Samiti, 1996), 1.

20. Shanticandra, Kriparasakosha, verses 126–27. These verses (and verse 128) are missing in ms. Ahmedabad LD Institute of Indology, No. 11878.

21. Devavimalagani, Hirasaubhagya, ed. Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Sivadatta and Kashinath Pandurang Parab (Bombay: Tukaram Javaji, 1900), 14.271.

22. I retain the Razmnama’s spelling of Sanskrit words as transliterated into Persian (without diacritics) with only minor adjustments for consistency and clarity.

23. Here I translate the phrase khudavand-i taʻalá. Similar phrases occur several more times in this passage, sometimes with other names for God (for example, haqq).

24. The Persian transliterates the Sanskrit term devata.

25. Haqq subhana wa taʻalá.

26. The first four lines are from the Bustan-i Saʿdi, ed. Nur Allah Iranparast (Tehran: Danish, 1973), 18, lines 4–5. I am unclear about the origin of the last two lines.

27. Shanticandra uses lightly Sanskritized versions of the names of the Mughal kings (for example, akabara/akavara for Akbar). However, like many Sanskrit writers, he infrequently employs proper names, and so I have occasionally added them in my translation for clarity. I have not retained diacritics for Persian terms transliterated into Sanskrit.

28. I have added subtitles throughout the translation for ease of reading and navigation.

29. Literally, “like an amalaka fruit in one’s hand.”

30. Read asphuta in first line, in accordance with the 1996 edition of the Kriparasakosha. I am not fully certain of the sense of this verse, although it appears to be some sort of nindastuti (praise by blame). Judging from the nonclarifying changes made in the 1996 edition of the Kriparasakosha, the editor is similarly uncertain.

31. barbaro mudgaladhipah.

32. In modern scholarship, Akbar’s mother is more commonly named as Hamida Banu Begum. She is also named as Coli Begam (or Begum) by Antoni Montserrat, a Jesuit visitor to Akbar’s court at around the same time as Shanticandra, and in other Sanskrit sources. Antoni Montserrat, The Commentary of Father Monserrate, S. J., on His Journey to the Court of Akbar, trans. John S. Hoyland and S. N. Banerjee (London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1922), ix; Epigraphia Indica (Calcutta/Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 1892–), 2:55, verse 34. Coli refers to the queen’s wanderings in the desert (chul in Persian) after Humayun was ousted from his throne.

33. The use of light imagery is well attested within Sanskrit literature. This passage also may serve as a subtle reference to the story of Akbar’s Mongol ancestor Alanquva who conceived triplet sons through a beam of divine light. According to Abu al-Fazl, the divine light was passed on in a latent form through the generations until it manifested itself visibly in Akbar. Abu’l Fazl, The History of Akbar, ed. and trans. Wheeler M. Thackston (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015), 1:43–45.

34. Pregnancy cravings (dohadas) are a recurrent theme in Sanskrit literature and frequently augur the birth of a great man.

35. This verse plays off the Jain dedication to avoiding harm to all forms of life.

36. B and v are often used interchangeably in early modern Sanskrit.

37. There is a slight break in the Sanskrit text at the end of this verse, and so my interpretation remains tentative and incomplete.

38. Rahu is the demon responsible for causing eclipses by periodically swallowing the sun and moon.

39. Here Akbar is compared to Shesha, who supports the earth.

40. Blue jays are a good omen.

41. Shanticandra uses isvara for God.

42. I am unsure what to make of the claim that Akbar married a marred or disfigured woman, but Shanticandra lauds this decision as admirable.

43. Khanakhana in Sanskrit is ʿAbd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan, an important general and cultural figure under Akbar and Jahangir.

44. This line probably refers to the din-i ilahi (more properly known as the tawhid-i ilahi), Akbar’s discipleship program.

45. Kumarapala was a twelfth-century Chaulukya King who converted to Jainism under the guidance of Hemacandra and is much revered in the Jain tradition.

46. I translate hindubhyah as Indians here. The word hindu was originally a Perso-Arabic term and was used in Sanskrit from the fourteenth century onward. The term sometimes meant Hindus specifically, but it perhaps more commonly meant all non-Muslim Indians.

47. Akbar prohibited fishing in Dabara pond (also known as Damara pond), which was located near Fatehpur Sikri. Several Jain sources mention this royal order, which advanced the Jain principle of avoiding harm to all forms of life, including Padmasagara, Jagadgurukavya, ed. Hargovinddas and Becardas (Benares: Harakhchand Bhurabhai, 1910), verses 182 and 185 and Hirasaubhagya 14.195. In the commentary on the Hirasaubhagya, Devavimala credits Shanticandra with convincing Akbar to ban fishing in the pond.

48. I translate isha as God.

49. The sons names are given as follows in Sanskrit: Seshuji (shaykhuji in Persian, Akbar’s nickname for Prince Salim who later became Emperor Jahangir), Pahadi (a nickname for Murad), and Daniara for Danyal.

50. This verse refers to the series of royal orders (farmans) that were solicited by Hiravijaya, the leader of the Tapa Gaccha branch of Jainism, upon his first sojourn to the Mughal court in the mid-1580s. The next verse alludes to some of these concessions.