Although military campaigns are given the most prominence, the illustrations and paintings in the manuscripts of these works illuminate life in the imperial court, depicting weddings and other activities.

In 1799, Saadat Ali Khan II, the Nawab of Awadh in northern India, sent the Badshahnama, to King George III of Great Britain.

[2] In 1994, while the volume was being rebound for conservation reasons, the opportunity was taken to tour all the miniatures in an exhibition that was shown in New Delhi, the Queen's Gallery in London, and six American cities.

The original manuscript of the Badshah Nama that depicts the complete reign of Shah Jahan is preserved in Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, Patna, India.

The Mughals' ancestor Timur had been celebrated in a number of works, mostly called Zafarnama ("Book of Victories"), such as those by Shami and Yazdi.

The tradition was continued by the Mughals with the Baburnama (autobiography, not illustrated before Akbar), Akbarnama (biography), and Tuzk-e-Jahangiri or Jahangir-nameh (memoirs of Jahangir).