This book presents an up-to-date Persian edition and English translation of Ma’athiru’l-umara, a biographical dictionary of the officers of the Mughal Empire from Babur’s reign at the beginning of the sixteenth century until almost the end of the eighteenth century compiled by Shahnawaz Khan Aurangabadi and completed by his son Abdul-Hayy. Insofar as possible the sources from which the authors derived their information have been identified, and explanatory notes are given for technical terms in Persian and native Indian terminology. Almost all places mentioned in the text have been identified. It is an essential reference work for scholars of Indo-Persian studies and Indian history.

Wheeler Thackston is a retired professor of Persian and other Near Eastern languages. He has translated the memoirs of Babur and Jahangir, several histories of Humayun, the Akbarnama, and Ghulam Husain Khan’s history of eighteenth-century India.