Razmnama — Persian Mahabharata (c. 1584–1586)
Illustrated manuscript of the Razmnama ('Book of War'), a Persian translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata commissioned by Emperor Akbar, c. 1584–1586. Translation by Abu'l Fazl and a team of scholars; illustrations by workshop painters. The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, Jaipur holds the most important surviving copy (presented to Raja Bhagwant Das). Multiple illustrated copies were produced.
Scholarly Significance
Represent the Mughal translation-illustration project as a cross-cultural textual and visual transmission event — Sanskrit Mahabharata rendered in Persian for Akbar's court, with illustrated folios.
Patronage Context
Commissioned by Emperor Akbar as part of his maktabkhana (translation bureau) project to render major Sanskrit texts into Persian, making Hindu literary heritage accessible to the Mughal court. Translation team led by Abu'l Fazl (Akbar's court historian).
Notes
- ·The Razmnama is the first major translation of the Mahabharata into Persian. The project required a team of Sanskrit scholars, Persian translators, and Mughal painters over approximately two years.
- ·Abu'l Fazl records in the Akbarnama that Akbar personally initiated the project, declaring that the great Hindu epics should be accessible in Persian to all educated courtiers regardless of religious background.
- ·The paintings combine Mughal court painting conventions with attempts to visualise scenes unfamiliar to the Persian visual tradition — a laboratory of visual translation.
- ·The Jaipur copy's 169 miniatures include battle scenes, court assemblies, and divine visions from the Kurukshetra War narrative. The painter roster included both Hindu and Muslim artists from the imperial workshop.
- ·The project had political significance: it was part of Akbar's sulh-i kull (universal peace) policy of cultural bridge-building between his Hindu and Muslim subjects.
- ·A related project, the Ramayana translation (Ramayana in Persian), was produced concurrently.