Har Karan Kamboh (d 1631), also known as Har Karan Multani, was a great scholar with deep knowledge of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

languages. He was son of Mathura Das

Kamboh The Kamboj (Devanagari: कंबोज, Nastaliq: کمبوج, Gurumukhi: ਕੰਬੋਜ ALA-LC: ), also Kamboh (Nastaliq: کمبوہ ALA-LC: ), is a caste and agrarian community of India and Pakistan that originated from the central Punja ...

and belonged to

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

which was a great center of learning during

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

reign. His father was also a good poet of Persian language. Har Karan is best known for his book ''Insha-i-Har Karan'' written in Persian language during the last days of

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

and early days of

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

. ''"One day in the reign of the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

, Har Karan Kamboh had sat at the seat of Empire in the city of Matura (Mathura) in the company of his agreeable companions and chosen friends and devoted himself to improving his skills as Munshi (Secretary)"''. And there followed a selection of letters to different classes of people indicating how princes write to princes, diplomatic (firmans, parwanahs), letters between notables and legal documents including certificate for the sale of a slave girl etc. The result was his famous ''Insha-i-Har Karan'' (''The Form of Har Karan'') in Persian language which soon became an established model of excellence. The work was compiled between 1625 AD and 1631 AD. ''Insha-i-Har Karan'' is divided into seven sections and contains models of letters and other documents relating to the State. Furthermore, ''Insha-i-Har Karan'' was also used as a ''model for diplomatic correspondence with the native princes and potentates'' by the British in India and also as a model for school children learning Persian-letter writing in the schools. Not much is known about his other works but ''Insha-i- Har Karan'' was indeed considered an excellent book till

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rule. It was translated into English language by Francis Balfour M.D. The second edition of it was printed in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1804. In the beginning of his book, Har Karan introduces himself as “the ignorant lowly pauper, the weakest servant of the eternal God, Har Karan, son of Mathuradas Kamboh from Multan” (''Faqir-i haqir-i hechmadan, azhaf min ibad Allah As-Samad, Har Karan Valad-i Mathuradas Kamboh Multani'').Aian-i-Khemkaran, Lahore, 1925, p 283, S Pratap Singh Nibber.

References

17th-century Mughal Empire people People from Multan

See also

References