Chahar Gulshan ("Four Gardens") is an 18th-century Persian language book about the history of India. It was written by Rai Chatar Man Kayath of the Mughal Empire in 1759 CE. It is also known as Akhbar-un NawadirorAkhbaru-l-Nawadir ("Accounts of Rare Things").[1]
| Author | Rai Chatar Man Kayath |
|---|---|
| Language | Persian |
| Subject | History of India |
| Genre | non-fiction |
| Published | 1759 (manuscript) |
| Publication place | Mughal Empire |
The book was written by Rai Chatar Man Kayath, also known as Rai Chaturman Saksena Kayasth. The author was a Kayastha of the Saksinah (Saxena) clan. The preface states that the book was completed in 1173 A.H. (1759 CE), and was commissioned by Wazir Gazi-ud-din Khan.[2]
Chahar Gulshan was completed only a week before the author's death. His grandson Rai Chandrabhan Raizadah re-arranged the content and added a second preface to the book in 1789.[1] Raizada's copy is the earliest surviving manuscript (Bodleian 264), likely copied from the original.[3]
The title of the book ("four gardens") refers to its four sections.[3]
The book contains important statistical data, including total cultivated area, number of villages and mahal-wise revenue.[3] However, these statistics are from a period earlier than the book's completion date, likely 1720 CE. By the time the book had been completed (1759 CE), the Mughal emperor was a figurehead. Ahmad Shah Durrani had captured Punjab. The Marathas had gained control of western Deccan and had crossed Narmada. Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I, the Mughal viceroy of Deccan, had set up a practically independent state. The book itself states that statistics of Bijapur and Hyderabad are incomplete, as Asaf Jah I had carried away all the records.[1]
The first gulshan contains information on the following provinces:[1]
The second gulshan contains information on the 6 provinces of Deccan:[1]
This section also contains additional sub-sections on:[1]
The third gulshan describes the 24 important roads connecting the main cities of the Mughal Empire:[1]
The fourth gulshan describes "Hindu faqirs" (including the Sikh Gurus) and Muslim saints.[1]
The Chahar Gulshan is a condensed book of history. Unlike the contemporary Persian-language works that featured flowerly language, it contains short and simple sentences. Jadunath Sarkar remarked that the book appears to be a "set of notes" rather than a finished treatise.[1]
A partial English translation of the book was published in Jadunath Sarkar's India of Aurangzib (1901).[4] However, his translation has several statistical errors, because he misinterpreted the raqam notation used in the original work.[3] In addition, Sarkar omitted several parts. For example:[1]
Muhammad Riazuddin Khan translated the work into Hindi (1990, Tonk). This work contained an editio princeps of the original manuscript, which was not annotated and edited.[3]
In 2011, the National Mission for Manuscripts published a version annotated and edited by Chander Shekhar. This version was based on five manuscripts:[3]