Дабéстан-и Маза́хиб: Сравнение религий XVII века

17th century book comparing South Asian religions

The Dabestān e Mazāheb (دبستان مذاهب) "school of religions" is a Persian language work that examines and compares Abrahamic religions, Dharmic religions and sects of the mid 17th century Southern Eurasia. The work, whose authorship is uncertain, was probably composed in about 1655 CE. The text's title is also transliterated as Dabistān i Mazāhib, Dabistan e Madahib, or Dabestan e Madaheb. The text is best known for its chapter on the Dīn i Ilāhī, the syncretic religion propounded by the Mughal emperor Jalāl ud Dīn Muḥammad Akbar ("Akbar the Great") after 1581 and is possibly the most reliable account of the Ibādat Khāna discussions that led up to this.

Several manuscripts have been discovered that identifies the author as Mīr Du’l feqār Ardestānī (also known as Mollah Mowbad). Mir Du'lfiqar is now generally accepted as the author of this work. Before these manuscripts were discovered, however, Sir William Jones identified the author as Mohsin Fani Kashmiri. In 1856, a Parsi named Keykosrow b. Kāvūs claimed Khosrow Esfandiyar as the author, who was son of Azar Kayvan. The author describes that he spent time in Patna, Kashmir, Lahore, Surat and Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh). He is perceived to have been a person of great scholarship and curiosity, and extremely open minded for the context of his time. He mentions numerous interviews with scholars of numerous faiths, which suggests that he was well connected, and so qualified to report on the Dīn i Ilāhī. According to The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz, a Dabistan was commissioned by a Mughal mystic prince, Dara Shikoh. The section on Judaism consists of translations by a Persian Jew, Sarmad Kashani, and his Hindu disciple from Sindh. Walter Fischel notes: Through the medium of the Dabistan Sarmad thus became the channel through which Jewish ideas, though with a Sufic blending, penetrated into the religious fabric of the India of his time. An English version of the Dabistan by David Shea (1843) is available at the Digital Library of India IISc.