Dussehra / Vijayadashmi Greetings and an Article - Page 2

Originally posted by: devkidmd

This a beautiful post Abhay. Very detailed. I had no clue about the lovely Ashwa ceremony performed by the Rajputs. Such respect and love for their horses!

I wanted to share a little something with your readers. I am sure you are already aware of it. I came across this in the Akbarnama Vol3 and had to read it a couple of times to make sure I read it right.

After Marium Makani died, Akbar accompanied her body for a certain distance as it proceeded to Delhi and then returned to the palace. It says the following after that:

"At the end of the day, at the time of dismissing the guards, he came out with the same manner and dress and stood for a moment. The servants were astonished on seeing his tranquility.He said to S. Farid Bakshi Beg: As tomorrow is Dusserah, tell the servants to leave off their mourning dress"

Next day he sate in the private and public window(jharoka) and recieved salutations of those who were waiting.

After that it says that he presented shawls to all his servants from rank 5000 and down as per their rank.

It certainly appears that Dussehra was an important festival at the Mughal court at least during Akbar's reign.

Thanks again for this excellent post Abhay.

Happy Dussehra everyone!

Devki

Originally posted by: devkidmd

Originally posted by: Coolpree

Thank you for reminding us of this event from the Akbarnama, Devki. I too did a double take when reading this . Infact the entire section on the religions and custom's of India In the Ain-E Akbari completely bowled me over. So much respect shown for the religion of his subjects. where can we find another Emperor's memoirs that has so much respect for a religion that is not his own.

Thats why despite his flaws, I am such a fan of Akbar's

BTW: do you have a good paper version of the Akbarnama you can recommend/. I had initially borrowed a wonderful edition of volume 2 from a University library. But most of my reading of Akbarnama has been done online...which I absolutely hate. I guess I am old fashioned and prefer the non digital version of books anyday

Originally posted by: Coolpree

Thank you for reminding us of this event from the Akbarnama, Devki. I too did a double take when reading this . Infact the entire section on the religions and custom's of India In the Ain-E Akbari completely bowled me over. So much respect shown for the religion of his subjects. where can we find another Emperor's memoirs that has so much respect for a religion that is not his own.

Thats why despite his flaws, I am such a fan of Akbar's

BTW: do you have a good paper version of the Akbarnama you can recommend/. I had initially borrowed a wonderful edition of volume 2 from a University library. But most of my reading of Akbarnama has been done online...which I absolutely hate. I guess I am old fashioned and prefer the non digital version of books anyday

Originally posted by: devkidmd

Preeti,

I have the Beveridge version. I ordered it on Amazon. The first one that I recieved had pages missing. IT was translated by someone else. I don't remember the name now. I returned that one.

Amazon has a good collection. I got Tabaqat, Edicts of the harem and a few other books from there too. You should see my first Vol of Tabaqat. It literally has small pinpoint holes in it.😆 It is very old.

Next on the list for me is Badouni(Ranking translation) but that one is a little more pricey.🤔 Maybe it will be my Christmas present.😊

I am like you. I'd rather hold a real book in my hand than read it online. I don't care for Kindle/Nook either.

Originally posted by: Coolpree

Thanks for the reply Devki. I was referring to the publisher rather than translater I guess. I wanted a book with illustrations if possible.

Kudos to you for reading Tabaqat. I have not read that one yet and may not have the patience to read it. You need to make a post for us on pertinent information from that book.

The Edicts from the Mughal Harem is a wonderful little booked packed with amazing information is it not? In fact I had shared a good number of farmaans from the book on Abhays blog some time back. Radhika and Abhay have since made some wonderful posts on farmaans from this book with scans of the actual farmaans.

Badayuni ( volume 2) is a must read Devki. He is a bigot through and through but no analysis of Akbar can be complete without his frank take. Infact the curses he heaps on the infidels like Birbal and Bhagwan das are quite funny. I dare say it is a more interesting read than the Akbarnama.

Another must read is the candid memoirs of the Jehangirnama. The edition I read by Wheeler Thackston, which was published by the Smithsonian Institute is gorgeous. I Highly recommend it.

Infact on Abhay's blog there is my one and only post on snippets from the Jehangirnama. Do read it when you get some time.

Sorry for going on and on...can you tell I love books on history?😆😆😆