The Mughal Translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata into Persian

What is it about?

This article analyzes one of the most significant translation projects in India's early modernity: the Persian translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata sponsored by the Mughal emperor Akbar in the late sixteenth century. I investigate both the sources and methods of the translation project. I argue that rather than being a religious endeavor or a scholastic exercise, the Razmnamah was a political project that redefined Akbar's kingship through Sanskrit literature.

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Why is it important?

This article contributes to a growing body of scholarship on political and literary culture in Mughal India. It offers the first attempt to analyze a critical Mughal text, the Razmnamah, in comparison with its Sanskrit sources. It outlines innovative technologies for how to analyze translations more broadly and also suggests some productive ways to think about political power in early modernity.