Падшахнама: Официальная история правления Шах Джахана.

17th century Indian history

Padshahnama or Badshah Nama (پادشاهنامه or پادشاه‌نامه; ) is a group of works written as the official history of the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan I. Unillustrated texts are known as Shahjahannama, with Padshahnama used for the illustrated manuscript versions. These works are among the major sources of information about Shah Jahan's reign. Lavishly illustrated copies were produced in the imperial workshops, with many Mughal miniatures. Although military campaigns are given the most prominence, the illustrations and paintings in the manuscripts of these works illuminate life in the imperial court, depicting weddings and other activities. The most significant work of this genre was written by Abdul Hamid Lahori, the pupil of Akbar's biographer Abdul Fazal, in two volumes. He could not write the third volume of this genre because of the infirmities of old age.

Shah Jahan in his eighth regnal year asked Muhammad Amin Qazvini to write an official history of his reign and he completed his Badshahnama in 1636, which covers the first ten (lunar) years of Shah Jahan’s reign. In 1994, while the volume was being rebound for conservation reasons, the opportunity was taken to tour all the miniatures in an exhibition that was shown in New Delhi, the Queen's Gallery in London, and six American cities. Manuscripts of the Badshahnamas of Qazvini and Waris are preserved in the British Library. The original manuscript of the Badshah Nama that depicts the complete reign of Shah Jahan is preserved in Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, Patna, India. Other individual miniatures are held in a number collections. The Khalili Collection of Islamic Art has one miniature in which Shah Jahan and his court watch two elephants fighting. There were some later illustrated manuscript copies made; for example the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has miniatures from 17th century versions, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from one of around 1800.

The Padshahnama fits into a tradition of imperial autobiographies or official court biographies, seen in various parts of the world. In South Asia these go back to the Ashokavadana and Harshacharita from ancient India, and the medieval Prithviraj Raso. The Mughals' ancestor Timur had been celebrated in a number of works, mostly called Zafarnama ("Book of Victories"), such as those by Shami and Yazdi. The latter is the best known, and was also produced in an illustrated copy in the 1590s by Akbar's workshop. The tradition was continued by the Mughals with the Baburnama (autobiography, not illustrated before Akbar), Akbarnama (biography), and Tuzk e Jahangiri or Jahangir nameh (memoirs of Jahangir).