Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh

Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh a general history of the Muslim world written by Abdul Qadir Badayuni a count historian of Emperor Akbar. It covers the history of the Muslim rule in India from the Ghaznavids to the 40th year (1595-96) of the reign of akbar. Abdul Qadir, son of Muluk Shah, was born at Badayun in modern Uttar Pradesh (UP), India in 948 AH/ 1541-42 AD. He was introduced to the emperor in 1573 and was enrolled among the learned men of the court. Badayuni completed his writings of the Muntakhab on 23rd Jamadi II, 1004 (February 1596). Probably Badayuni died soon after that.

Badayuni's Muntakhab contained so much hostile criticism of Akbar, particularly of his religious vagaries, that it was kept concealed during the emperors' life-time. It was made public during the reign of jahangir. Jahangir showed his displeasure as to the content of the book and did not believe the statement of Badaoni's children that they themselves had been unaware of the existence of the book. The Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh gives solitary information about the development of Akbar's opinion on religions.

The Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh is not of particular help for the reconstruction of the history of Bengal, because it does not devote a separate chapter on the history of Bengal. The author refers to Bengal in its general treatment of the history of India. [Abdul Karim]