Literature and Foreign Travellers during Mughal Period

Literature of Mughal Period

• Mahabharata got translated as Razmnama into Persian by group of scholars.
  
  
• Ramayana was translated by Abdul Qadir Badayuni.
  
  
• Atharva veda got translated by Ibrahim Sirhindi.
  
  
• Bhagavata Purana was translated by Todar Mal.
  
  
• Rajatarangini was translated by Shah Muhammad Shahabadi.
  
  
• Lilavathi was translated by Abul Faizi, brother of Abul Fazal.
  
  
• Tuzuk-i-Baburi (Turkish) was translated by Abdul Rahim, son of Bairam Khan.
  
  
• Sanskrit scholar Padma Sundar, a Jain, was in the court of Akbar. He wrote a book - Akbarshahi Sringar Darpan.
  
  
• Another Sanskrit scholar Jagannatha Panditaraja (a Telugu settled in North India) was in the court of Shah Jahan. He wrote books named (i) Rasagangadhara and (ii) Ganga Lahari (A poem in praise of Ganga).
  
  
• Aurangzeb patronised the codification of Muslim law under the name Fatwa-i-Alamgiri.
  
  
• Dara Shikoh's Majma-ul-Bahrain is a comparative study of Hinduism and Islam.

Foreign Travellers during Mughal Period

• Ralph Fitch - He was the first Britisher to visit India during Akbar's period. He talked about miserable conditions of common man.
  
  
• Tavernier - He was a French diamond trader, who visited India 6 times during Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb period. He visited Golconda and gave information about Qutb Shahis also.
  
  
• Francois Bernier - He was a French doctor, who worked in the military of Shah Jahan. He said there was no middle class in India (indicating feudal society). He described Mughal emperors as kings of beggars and barbarians.
  
  
• Peter Mundy - He was a Britisher, who visited India during the rule of Shah Jahan. He talked about famines and revolts against the king. He also visited Gujarat and Deccan.
  
  
• Niccolao Manucci - He wasn an Italian doctor who worked in the artillery of Dara Shikoh. He wrote a book called Storia Do Mogor (Story of Mughals). He permanently settled in India and died and buried here.