The Book of Akbar 52.1

52.1

Abu-l-fazl gives four horoscopes. The first and fourth however appear to be substantially the same. Both were made by Muhammadan servants of Humayun,—the first by Maulana Cand and the fourth by Maulana Alyas of Ardabil. Maulana Cand’s was drawn up according to the “New Tables,” i.e., those of Ulugh Beg Mirza who was Timur's grandson. These were calculated for 1437. Maulana Ilyas’ horoscope was cast according to the Ilkhani or Imperial Tables, i.e., those made by Nasiru-d-din Tusi at Maragha—about 50 miles S. by W. of Tabriz—in the reign of Hulagu Khan cir. 1272. Abu-l-fazl, writing in the 40th year of Akbar, (1596) says (Jarrett II, 4.) that 362 years had elapsed since Nasiru-d-din built his observatory and 156 since Ulugh Beg built his at Samarqand. This gives a date of 1440 for Ulugh Beg’s Tables and of 1234 for Nasiru-d-din’s, but the latter is certainly wrong, and probably there is some clerical error in the text. If Hulagu Khan first established him in Maragha, it is assuredly wrong, but A. F. evidently thinks he was there earlier. (Ain II, 11.) The second horoscope was made by Jotik Rai, Akbar’s astrologer. We do not know its exact date but it was, of course, drawn many years after Akbar’s birth and after the construction, by Humayun’s orders, of the first and fourth horoscopes.