The Maktab Khana (meaning "House of Translation") was a bureau of records and translation established by the

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 ...

Emperor Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand ...

Fatehpur Sikri Fatehpur Sikri () is a town in the Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India. Situated from the district headquarters of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri itself was founded as the capital of the Mughal Empire in 1571 by Mughal emperors, Emperor Akbar, servin ...

around 1574. Emperor Akbar commissioned his most talented scribes and secretaries to translate the major texts of India from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

into

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 ...

and to illustrate the manuscripts in the royal workshops. These texts included the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

'' into the '' Razmnāma'' (

: رزم نامہ, lit. ''Book of War''), the ''

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

'', and the ''

Rajatarangini ''Rājataraṅgiṇī'' (Sanskrit: Devanagari, राजतरङ्गिणी, IAST, romanized: ''rājataraṅgiṇī'', International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �ɑː.d͡ʑɐ.t̪ɐˈɾɐŋ.ɡi.ɳiː ) is a metrical legend ...

''. Various Arabic encyclopedias and histories were also translated, as well as the entirety of the ''

Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' (; ) is the memoirs of Babur, Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as ''Türki'' "Turkic ...

'', the memoirs of Akbar's grandfather and founder of the

dynasty,

Babur Babur (; 14 February 148326 December 1530; born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad) was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also ...

. With this bureau, Akbar aspired to "form a basis for a united search for truth" and "enable the people to understand the true spirit of their religion."

References

{{coord missing, Uttar Pradesh 16th-century establishments in Asia Mughal court Fatehpur Sikri Libraries in Uttar Pradesh Libraries established in the 16th century

See also

References