The Humayun Nama

A new edition of The Humayun Nama by an acclaimed Mughal historianThe Humayun Nama stands apart in the annals of the Mughal Empire. Written in the late-sixteenth century by Princess Gulbadan Begum– daughter of Babur, sister of Humayun and aunt of Akbar – it is the only surviving history of the Mughal world authored by a royal woman. Gulbadan writes as an intimate eyewitness, candid, unscripted and unexpectedly playful, opening a rare window into affections, rivalries and politics at the heart of the early Mughal court. A rare document, it reshapes our view of the magnificent Mughals, allowing us to experience Gulbadan’s life in motion – marked by travel and migration, encounters with new cultures, the extraordinary influence wielded with aplomb by women of the imperial family, and the surprising autonomies enjoyed by both royal and non-royal people. Three centuries later, her manuscript was discovered in the British Museum. In 1902, Annette Susannah Beveridge, a remarkable Victorian scholar, published its first complete English translation, preserving Gulbadan’s freshness and rescuing a text long hidden as a ‘literary pardanashin’ – veiled in the archives. This new edition brings together Gulbadan’s vivid narrative and Beveridge’s pioneering work, introduced by Ruby Lal, one of the foremost historians of the Mughal Empire. Lal traces the intertwined journeys of two extraordinary figures: the princess who wrote the first female-authored Mughal history, and the translator who revived it. A landmark work, The Humayun Nama remains a pivotal account of the Mughal Empire.