Razmnama

The Razmnāma (Book of War) (رزم نامہ) is a Persian translation of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar.

Four illustrated Mughal manuscripts are known, one complete, made between 1584 and 1586, and now in Jaipur, with 176 paintings of which 147 were reproduced in 1884 by Thomas Holbein Hendley.

For some nights His Majesty personally (had it) explained to Naqib Khan, who wrote out the resultant text in Persian.

Again, the said Haji wrote out two sections and rectified the errors which were committed in the first round, and fitting one part with another, compiled a hundred fasciculi.

Some copies contain this inscription: Naqīb Khān, son of ʻAbd al-Laṭīf Ḥusaynī, translated [this work] from Sanskrit into Persian in one and a half years.

[4]Today a copy of the work can be found in the “City Palace Museum” of Jaipur,[5] with many paintings by Mushfiq.

The Jeypore RazmNamah, written by Khwaja Inayatullah on paper from Dowlatabad, contains 169 full-page miniatures with Name of Artist.

According to the preface written by Abul Fazl the historian in Akbar's court, the intention behind these gifts and their distribution was very pious.

Naqib Khan, translator and abridger of the Razmnama
Hindu and Muslim scholars discuss the Mahabharat translation.
Last page of Razmnama
Arjuna hits the target by artist Daswant and kesho from the Jaipur copy of Akbar.