Secular as well religious literature was abundantly produced in Persian and Arabic languages. Both poetry and prose were promoted liberally during the Mughal reign. Tuzuk-e-Babri (memoirs of Babur), Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri (memoirs of Jahangir), Maa’sir-i-Alamgiri and chronicles of Gulbadan Begum were important literary contributions from the royal house. A very large number of prominent poets like Urfi, Naziri, Talib, and Kalim permanently migrated to the Indo-Pak sub-continent. The most popular poet of Aurangzeb’s reign is Bedil whose Persian poetry is marked by extra-ordinarily rich imagination, profundity of thought and subtleties of ideas. Abul Fazl was an remarkable political philosopher whose services to define the Mughal theory of kingship are, indeed, colossal. His Akbar Nama may be regarded as the “most important historical work, which India has produced.” The later Mughal period witnessed the rise of Urdu language and truly classical era of Urdu prose and poetry. Urdu was also patronized in the regional courts of the Southern India and Northern India. Wali Daccani was the first Urdu poet. Mir Taqi Mir, Mazhar Jan-e-Janan, Sauda, Aatish, Mir Dard, Ruswa, Ghalib and Momin are prominent among the great line of the classical Urdu poets.
This article was last updated on Wednesday, Jan 04, 2006
