Mughal Documents Catalogue of Aurangzeb's Reign- 1667-1668 A.D. (3 Part in 6 Vol) (An Old and Rare Book)

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The Archives have the distinction of preserving the largest number of Mughal records. It is difficult to available such a large quantum of Mughal record in any other State Archives of the country.

Among the various categories of records preserved in the Archives, the category of Mughal records is the oldest one. It is true that the category of farmans and other documents of the "Deccan Sultans", contains some more older documents but it is a disjointed lot of individual documents which do not form part of any series on the other hand, the number of documents in the category of Mughal records is much larger and the documents have a link with one another and they are in chronological order. Thus these documents form a series of records.

These records pertain to the reign of Shah Jahan and Aurangzebie 1628-1658 AD and 1658-1707 AD respectively Though these records throw a flood of light on the graphic picture of Mughal mansabdan system and military administration of the Mughal Deccan which consisted of four Suba's during the period of Shah Jahan Six Suba's during the reign of Aurangzeb.

A little less than a couple of lakhs of these documents remained locked in the niches of the halls of the Olla-Arak of Aurangabad for about two centuries. But these are as good as Governmentally preserved official records, since they remained in Government custody and were never passed into private hands throughout this period. These records are perhaps the largest series of Mughal Archives in perfect sequence prescribed in India or else where These records were transferred to the old records office le. Daftar--Diwani in 1916.

It is a fact that utilization and the preparation of the catalogues of the Mughal documents preserved in AP State Archives will add in great measure to the Research value particularly when the research concerned to the history of the Mughal Deccan.

It gives me great pleasure to place before the scholarly world, the work of the compilation of the catalogue of Mughal documents relating to Aurangzeb's period are concerned eight catalogues of these documents have brought out sofar which contain brief English summanes of approximately 32,000 Persian documents have well received among the scholarly world. The present catalogue (Volume-VI. Part-1) comprises of 1855 documents pertaining to later half of the 10th regnal year of Aurangzeb's ve 1667-1668 AD.

In the realm of Indian History, the Mughal Era is a very important and eventful era. Many of the emient historian have described about the Mughal Government is a paper Government, for each and every action was recorded on the paper. Unfortunately a large quantum of Mughal records perished during the past years, owing to the ravages of time and whatever could be salvaged was preserved in Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institue.

I would like to place appreciation for the meticulous scholaily skill expanded on the task by Joint Editors Smt. Dr. Zareena Parveen, Deputy Director, and Smt. Atiya Shaheen, Assistant Director (Urdu & Persian) who completed this volume in a scholarly manner.

This is an exhaustive reference aid with most of the documentary summary translated into English. I hope that the scholars of medieval Indian History will find it extremely useful in locating the required data and in analyzing the records.

This volume consists of 1965 documents pertaining to the 10th regnal year of Aurangzeb Volume VI, Part-1 (1067-68) This volume, no doubt is a continuation of the earlier 9 parts of volume I, nevertheless, it is completely independent and contains all the relevant and necessary information Before elaborating about this catalogue anymore. it seems advisable to introduce the Mughal records preserved in this Archives first.

The Andhra Pradesh State Archives is a treasure house of valuable records, stupendous in sheer number ranging from the Medieval period to the present day Particularly noteworthy is the repository of Persian records one of the richest one can find anywhere.

Amongst the various categones of records preserved in Andhra Pradesh State Archives the category of Mughal records is the oldest one. It is true that the category of records Farmans and Sanads of the Deccan Sultans contains still older documents but these are rather a disjointed lot of about 100 individual document which do not form part of any series. On the other hand, the number of document in the category of Mughal records is much larger and the documents have link with one another and they are in chronological order, a part of an identifiable series.

The fund of the Mughal documents preserved in AP State Archives of comprises approximately 1,55,000 documents relating to the reign of Shah Jahan (1628-1658) and Aurangzeb (1658-1707).

The history of how these records came into the custody of Andhra Pradesh State Archives is very interesting. In the year 916 one Accountant General, Hyderabad Maulavi Muhibbuddin, in one of his tours of inspection discovered that a large mass of old documents was dumped in one of the hall in the fort of Ark in Aurangabad, in which the Subedari Office was housed He took keen interest and reported to Sn. Syed Khursheed All who was then the Superintended of Daftar--Diwani Immediately steps were taken for transferring those records to the Daftar--Diwani in Hyderabad which was later renamed as the Central Record Office. Hyderabad and now the Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institute Tarnaka Hyderabad.

An examination of these documents shows that the paper used is hand made and is of a strong fabric That is the reason why the records are generally in good state of preservation withstanding the inexorable ravages of time. The experts are of the opinion that the records being created now in the country under different agencies may perish after a period of 100 years whereas these archival records have had a much longer life.

Regarding the physical features of these documents, they are written in the Persian language in 'Shikasta, a style of writing, very difficult to decipher, on Indian hand-made paper of average size of 8 x 4 The ink used is black indelible Indian ink. The nature of the document is given on the top of it as Yaddasht-i-Alikhan, Muqaddms, Siyah-i-Huzur, Parwancha, Arz-o-Chihra, etc.

Some of the historians are of the opinion that the Mughal Government was a paper government in that every action was recorded on the paper. Their statement is substantiated by going through these documents As example, after the verification of a trooper or branding of a horse a Yaddasht (memorandum) was issued to that effect and it contained the extract of the Dastak (order) issued for verifying the trooper or branding the horse with all other details.

These documents shed a new light on the various graphic picture on the aspects of the Mughal administration in the Deccan such as administrative organization, revenue system and military administration.

These documents shed a new light on the various graphic picture on the aspects of the Mughal administration in the Deccan such as administrative organization, revenue system and military administration.

The Mughal records were in chaotic and pell-mell condition in unsorted bundles, keeping the importance of these valuable records in view and to cater to the needs of the research scholars working on medieval Deccan, the Government of Andhra Pradesh sanctioned the schemes of compiling and publishing the catalogues of records pertaining to the reign of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb in 1968 and 1975 respectively.

**Contents and Sample Pages**