Azam Shah, Aurangzeb regnal years 46-49, Bahadur Shah regnal year 2 (AH 1113-1116, 1119) (1703-1707, 1709 CE)

Akhbars, or newsletters/papers relating to the transactions of the court of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, together with Akhbars of the court of Prince Muhammad A’zam Shah, son of Aurangzeb, and Nazim of the Subah of Bengal, from the 46th to the 49th year of his father’s reign, and for Bahadur Shah (regnal year 2). These date from AH 1113-1116, 1119, or 1703-1707, 1709 CE. Written in Shikastah on separate slips of paper which were bound into green leather volumes in London in the C19th. First catalogued in Morley, 1854, p. 128. Dimensions approx 24 x 16 cm (h x w). Each volume comprising ca. 300 folios in total. Digitization sponsored by the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal and Prof Rajeev Kinra.

The donation of these Akhbars to the Royal Asiatic Society is attributed to James Tod. Tod likely acquired them in Rajasthan, where he served as an agent of the East India Company during the first two decades of the nineteenth century. Henry Beveridge noted that Tod left no account of how he acquired the newsletters, but ‘from the Nagari endorsements on them it would appear that they had belonged to a Hindu Serishta [sar-rishta, i.e. a court record keeper], and presumably to one in Rajputana. Apparently they are notes by the court agent of some Rajputana prince of the daily occurrences of the Moghul Court’ (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1908, p. 1122).