ʽAbd al-Qadir Badayuni

Grand Mufti of India Abdul Qadir Badayuni
Badāʾūnī brings the news of the victory at Haldighati, June 1576. Akbarnama
Pronunciation	Abd al-Qādir al-Badāyūni
Born	Abdul Qadir 1540 Badayun, Mughal Empire[1]
Died	1615 Agra, Agra Subah, Mughal Empire
Era	Mughal India
Personal
Home town	Agra
Known for	Historian, Islamic scholar, Linguist and Courtier
Senior posting
Influenced by Usman Bengali[2]
Literary works	Tarikh-i-Bada'uni also known as Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh

ʽAbd al-Qadir or Abdul Qadir Badayuni (1540–1615)^[3] was an Indian writer, historian, and translator. He lived in the Mughal Empire.^[1] He translated into Persian the Hindu works, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (Razmnama).^[1]

He was the son of Muluk Shah.^[4] He grew up in Basavar, studying in Sambhal and Agra.^[1] In 1562, he moved to Badaun, the town after which he was named, before moving to Patiala to enter the service of prince Husayn Khan for the next nine years.^[1] His later years of study were led by Muslim mystics. The Mughal emperor, Akbar, appointed him to the religious office in the royal courts in 1574 where he spent much of his career.^[1]

Badayuni wrote Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (Selection of Chronicles) or Tarikh-i-Badayuni (Badayuni's History) which was completed in 1595 (1004 AH). This work in three volumes is a general history of the Muslims of India. The first volume contains an account of Babur and Humayun.^{[citation needed]} The second volume exclusively deals with Akbar's reign up to 1595. This volume is an unusually frank and critical account of Akbar's administration, in particular, his religious views and his conduct. This volume was kept concealed until Akbar's death and was published after Jahangir's accession.^{[citation needed]} This book gives a contemporary perspective regarding the development of Akbar's views on religion and his religious policy. The third volume describes the lives and works of Muslim religious figures, scholars, physicians and poets.^[4]

The first printed edition of the text of this work was published by the College Press, Calcutta in 1865 and later this work was translated into English by G.S.A. Ranking (Vol.I), W.H. Lowe (Vol.II) and T.W. Haig (Vol.III) (published by the Asiatic Society, Calcutta between 1884 and 1925 as a part of their Bibliotheca Indica series).^{[citation needed]}

Irrfan Khan played Badayuni in Doordarshan's historical drama Bharat Ek Khoj (1988-1989).^[5]

He was portrayed by Aayam Mehta in Taj: Divided by Blood.

• "Bada'uni, 'Abd al-Qadir." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 16 November 2005 .
• Muntakhab al-Tavarikh (in Persian) Volume 2 .
• All three volumes of his Muntakhab al-Tavarikh (in English) are available and searchable here: http://persian.packhum.org/persian/
• Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh, Volume 1 (1898)

• The Muntakhabu-'rūkh by ʽAbdu-'l-Qādir Ibn-i-Mulūk Shāh, (Al-Badāoni) Packard Humanities Institute
• Tārīkh-i Badāūnī, a translation from Volume V of The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, 1867