80 Proceedings of (he Asiatic Society, [March, 



giving translations of extracts, as Hindi poetry was extremely diffi- 

 cult. He had lately had a letter on this subject from Professor 

 Brockhaus of Leipzig, who expressed the same wish as Professor 

 Garein de Tassy had done in his last ' Discours,' that the Society 

 should print translations from Hindi, because very few scholars in 

 Europe were able to understand Hindi poetry, though there might be 

 many who spoke Hindustani with fluency. 



He therefore hoped Mr. Grow.se would continue his contributions. 



III. — Notes on the Arabic and Persian Editions of the Bibliothcca 

 Indica, by Mr. H. Blociimann. — J\ r o. I. Badaoni and the Religious 

 Views of Emperor Akbar. (Abstract). 



Mi. Blochmann said : — 



This paper is the first of a series of Essays on the works printed by 

 the Society in its Bibliotheca Indica. The essays are intended to 

 collect all the information which we possses regarding the authors 

 of our editions, their writings, style, &c, and to give translations of 

 interesting extracts, accompanied by philological notes. 



The work which I have reviewed in this paper, is the most remarkable 

 history of Akbar's reign, by Mulla 'Abdulqadir ibn i Muliik Shah of 

 Badaon. This history is written in a spirit hostile to Akbar and his 

 ministers, and was therefore concealed by the author and his children 

 during Akbar's lifetime. This book was, however, discovered towards 

 the end of Jahangir's reign. It is valuable for the biographical notices 

 of learned men and poets of Akbar's age, as also for the detailed in- 

 formation which it gives on Akbar's religion. 



I shall now read an abstract containing a few summary remarks 

 on Akbar s Religion. 



The religious opinions held by men of historical importance, present 4 

 many interesting features. They concern the inner life of the hero, 

 and disclose the motives of his deeds. Hence biographers find it a 

 profitable task to dwell on this subject, especially when it is possible 

 to trace the circumstances which led their hero to modify or reject 

 the religious views in which he had grown up. 



That the greatest Muhammadan emperor, which India has produced, 

 should have openly abjured the Islam, and established a new church, 

 is a remarkable fact, and would scarcely be credited, if we had not 



