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The following is an account of Akbar's literary labours (Book I, Ain 34, p. 103):
AKBAR.
His Majesty's library is divided into several parts; prose books, poetical works, Hindi, Persian, Greek, Kashmirian, Arabic, are all separately placed. Experienced readers bring them daily and read them before His Majesty. He does not get tired of hearing a book over again, but listens to the reading of it with more interest.
Philologists are constantly engaged in translating Hindi, Greek, Arabic, and Persian books into other languages. Thus a part of the Zich i Jadíd i Mírzáí was translated under the superintendence of Amír Fathullah of Shiráz, and also the Kishnjóshí, the Gangadhar, the Mohesh Mahanand, from Hindi (Sanskrit) into Persian, according to the interpretation of the author of this book1. The Mahábhárat which belongs to the ancient books of Hindústán has likewise been translated, from Hindi into Persian, under the superintendence of Nagib Khán, Mauláná 'Abdul Qadir of Badáon, and Shaik Sultán of Thanésar. . . . The same learned men translated into Persian the Rámáyan, likewise a book of ancient Hindustan, which contains the life of Rám Chandra, but is full of interesting points of philosophy. Hájí Ibráhím of Sirhind translated into Persian the At'harban which, accord
1 This can hardly be quite right, for these names are the names of the assistants of Fathullah, viz. Kishan Jaïçí, Gangadhar, Mahaïs (Maheça). and Mahanand; see Garcin de Tassy, 'Histoire de la Littérature Hindouie.' M. M.
2 Badáoní says 'that a learned Brahmin, Shaikh Bhawan, who had turned Muhammadan, was ordered to translate the Atharban for him, but that, as he could not translate all the passages, Shaikh Faizi and Hájí Ibrahim were commanded to translate the book. The latter, though willing, did not write anything. Among the precepts of the At'harban there is one which says that no man will be saved unless he read a certain passage. This passage contains many times the letter 1, and resembles very much our Lá illah illallah. Besides, I found that a Hindú, under certain conditions, may eat cow flesh; and another, that
