BADA'UNI, 'ABD AL-QADIR

born 1540, Toda, India died c. 1615, , India Indo-Persian historian, one of the most important writers on the history of the Mughal period in India. As a young boy Bada'uni lived in Basavar and studied at Sambhal and Agra. In 1562 he moved to Badaun (hence his name) and then to Patiala, where he entered the service of a local prince, Husayn Khan, with whom he remained for nine years. After leaving this post, he continued his education, studying with various Muslim mystics. In 1574 he was presented to the Mughal emperor Akbar, who appointed him to a religious office at the court and gave him a pension. Of the many works he wrote on commission from the emperor, the most highly regarded were the Kitab al-Hadith (Book of Hadith), the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, no longer extant; a section of the Tarikh-e alfi (History of the Millennium), commissioned by Akbar to celebrate the millenary of the Hegira in 1591/92, on which more than 10 authors collaborated; and a summary translation of the work of the great historian Rashid ad-Din, Jami' at-tawarikh (Universal History). His most important work, however, was the Muntakhab at-tawarikh (Selection from History), often called Tarikh-e Bada'uni (Bada'uni's History), a history of Muslim India containing additional sections on Muslim religious figures, physicians, poets, and scholars. It aroused discussion because of its hostile remarks about Akbar and his religious practices and apparently was suppressed until the reign of Jahangir in the early 17th century. In addition to these works, Bada'uni also was commissioned to translate many Sanskrit tales and the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.