Mughal Archives- A Descriptive Catalogue of the Documents Pertaining to the Reign of Shah Jahan (Vol-1) (An Old and Rare Book)

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I have great pleasure in introducing to the scholars of Mediaeval Indian History this descriptive catalogue of documents pertaining to the reign of Shah Jahan which has been published by the State Archives of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Fortunately, there is no dearth of chronicles for Mediaeval Indian History but valuable as these chronicles are, the information contained in them is inadequate for the study of the social and economic history of the period. Even for political and administrative history, the information in the chronicles is far from complete. If any part of the Central Record Office of the Mughal Empire had survived, we would have been in a far better position today to analyse the nature of Mediaeval Indian Society and examine its changing pattern. However, it is a matter of great satisfaction that a large number of papers pertaining to the Office of the Mughal Viceroy of the Deccan have survived and are now preserved in the Andhra Pradesh State Archives. This rich repository of documents is invaluable for the study of the administrative system as well as the political history of the Mughal Empire from the 17th Century. It also contains valuable information on agrarian relations, prices, trade and economic life.

For many years knowledgeable scholars have been keen to use this documentary material. The publication of Selected Documents of Shah Jahan's Reign edited by Dr. Yusuf Husain, high-lighted the importance of these documents. The State Archives is to be congratulated for undertaking the publication of a descriptive catalogue of the Mughal Archives pertaining to the reign of Shah Jahan and Shri Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed, the editor of the first volume, deserves the thanks of the students of Mediaeval Indian History for having compiled it. I hope that the other volumes will also appear in quick succession.

The opulent collection of Persian records preserved by the State Archives, Andhra Pradesh stretches over a period of about five centuries and covers a territorial range of almost the entire Deccan. These records profoundly bear on the administrative, political and social history of the Deccan but these are basically a first rate source material of the economic history of the region.

These Persian records relate to the period of the Bahmanis, the Qutb Shahs, the Adil Shahs, the Mughals and the Asaf Jahs and run into millions of folios written in typical shikista style of writing. Scholars have exploited but little of these records due to the fact that it is a difficult task to analyse them and more so for want of a sound and exhaustive catalogue.

The Mughal Archives mainly pertain to the reigns of Shah Jahan (1628-1658) and Aurangzeb (1658-1707). Though they pertain to the Deccan these records link up the history of this region with the national history at large.

A little less than a couple of lakhs of these documents remained locked in the niches of the halls of the Qila-i-Arak of Aurangabad for about two centuries. But these are as good as governmentally preserved official re-cords; for, throughout this period they remained in government custody and were never passed into private hands. These records are perhaps the largest series of Mughal Archives in perfect sequence preserved in India or elsewhere. These were merged with the old Daftar-i-Diwani in 1916.

These Mughal Archives relate more to the details of procedural administration than to the policies direct. Their territorial coverage is more intensive and specific. These archives thus afford very useful data for the study of various aspects of the Deccan history from 1628-1707 with graphic de-tails. The preparation of reference media to these records was an essential requirement both for their preservation as well as for their use by research scholars. Moreover it was a serious backlog until 1968 when my predecessor Dr. V.K. Bawa introduced the scheme of preparing a descriptive cata-logue initially for the documents pertaining to the reign of Shah Jahan, in consultation with such eminent historians as Professor Dr. Syed Nurul Hasan and Professor Dr. Satish Chandra and entrusted the work to Sri Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed as its editor.

The preparation of a descriptive catalogue of Mughal Archives pertaining to the reign of Shah Jahan involved problems of linguistic and palaeographic analysis. Sri Mohammed Ziauddin Ahmed, a senior Archivist and a researcher in the field of medieval Indian history with a vast experience in analysing medieval Persian records has ably described about five thousand documents pertaining to the reign of Shah Jahan in many volumes. He has further introduced the contents of cach volume with appreciable details. In the course of processing he had also occasions to discuss the problems with many experts and veterans in the field.

The southward oxpansion of the Mughals in the Deccan right from the times of Akbar to the end of the reign of Aurangzeb was not merely a military operation carried on by a series of warfare but virtually it had been a multangular strategy. It had been political, military and economic strategy involving a longterm process of negotiations, covenants and agreements-their violations and their gradual and partial subjection and annexation of territories; payments and derials of tributes, crossing over of the nobles and ultimately a complete annihilation of the Deccan Sultanates and thus extension of the Mughal suzerainty and establishment of the Mughal jagirdari system in the Deccan.

The Mughal beginning in the Deccan may roughly be marked with the conquest of Ahmednagar by Akbar in 1600. Some of the landmarks of Mughal suzerainty in the Deccan are broadly outlined here with special reference to Shah Jahan.

The rise of prince Khurram to prominence mainly owes to his achieve monts in the Deccan as early as in 1616 when his rank was enhanced to twenty thousand Zar and ten thousand Sawar and he was favoured with the assignment of the title of 'Shah' which was a unique honour. Prince Khurram was exclusively incharge of the Deccan and had an opportunity to gain 'an insight into the affairs of that part of the Empire. His campaigns in the Deccan manifest an appreciable diplomatic skill which, without bloodshed, led Malik Ambar and Adil Shah to come to a peaceful settlement surrendering Ahmednagar and other forts to the Mughals. Consequent on this serene victory Prince Khurram Shah made his unfailing efforts to rebuild the administration and stabilize the Mughal bold in the Deccan. After this preliminary measures, which were over in about a few months he proceeded to the north to meet his father placing the Mughal possessions in charge of Khan-i-Khanan and Shah Nawaz Khan.

In October 1617 Pleased very much with the wonderful achievements of his son the Emperor called Prince Khurram Shah to the Jharoka and embraced him with warm affection. He then assigned him an unprecedented rank of 30,000 Zat and 20,000 Sawar and further honoured him with the title of 'Shah Jahan'.

Khan-i-Jahan Lodhi, Mahabat Khan, Raja Bhao Singh, Darab Khan (son of Khan-i-Khanan) Sardar Khan, Diyanat Khan, Shahbaz Khan, Mutamad Khan and Udai Ram Deccani who had accompanied Prince Khurram Shah in the Deccan expedition presented their offerings to the Emperor.

Subsequently Prince Khurram arranged rranged the display of the rich harvest of jewels in the Hall of Audience for the inspection of his father.

The situation in the Deccan was quite for sometime. In the course of a few years the Nizam Shah, the Adil Shah and the Qutb Shah entered into an alliance and Malik Ambar organised a huge army with Maratha cavalry. This strategy could give a retreat to the Mughals upto Burhanpur and Ahmednagar and both Balaghat and Pain Ghat were taken over by Malik Ambar. Prince Shah Jahan, who was enjoying a happy time with his father in Kashmir, was again asked to proceed to meet the challenge in the Deccan. He entered Burhanpur on April 4, 1621, and in consultations with Khan-i-Khanan, Abul Hasan, Abdullah Khan, Darab Khan and other nobles he built up an army of about 30,000 men. On May 5, 1621, the Mughal forces moved towards Daulatabad. The military and political strategy of Prince Shah Jahan was ultimately a success and Mughal authority, though instable and short lived, was restored.

During the next few years to come he had to face defections and conspiracies in the Deccan and carry several expeditions in other parts of the Empire. By 1626 he came back to the Deccan but subsequently he was engaged in striving for his succession.

On October 20, 1627 the Emperor Jahangir passed away while Shah Jahan was still in the Deccan. However successfully answering to all the challenges to his succession he reached the vicinity of Agra on January 28, 1628 and celebrated his coronation on Monday, February 4, 1628 assuming title of Abul Muzaffar Shahabuddin Muhammad, Sahib Qiran-i-Sani. Soon after his succession he appointed Khan-i-Jahan as the Governor of the Deccan who was subsequently replaced by Khan-i-Zaman son of Mahabat Khan. Shah Jahan himself had to proceed to the Deccan and stay at Burhan-pur for a longer period. Again after restoring peace and authority he left Burhanpur on March 6, 1632 but his campaign in the Deccan did not prove a real success till the complete subjugation of Ahmednagar in 1636 when Shah Jahan visited the Deccan for the second time and encamped at Daulatabad. He left Dualatabad in 1637 placing Aurangzeb as the Viceroy of the Deccan. Prince Aurangzeb continued to be Viceroy of the Deccan from July 14, 1636 to May 28, 1644 and again from 1653 to 1658 the end of the reign of Shah Jahan.

**Contents and Sample Pages**