On the Persian Translation of Bhāskara’s Līlāvatī by Abu’l Faiẓ Faiẓī at the Court of Akbar

At the court of Akbar, several Sanskrit texts were rendered into Persian; these included the epics Mahbhrata and Rmyaa, collections of fables and legends like the Pacatantra, the Sihsana-dvtriik and the Kathsaritsgara, and the historical work Rjataragi. Besides these, a Sanskrit mathematical text, the Llvat of Bhskarcrya was also translated into Persian by Akbar's Poet Laureate Fai. While the Persian translations of the Mahbhrata and others have been critically examined in modern times, the Persian version of the Llvat did not receive any scholarly attention, except in two minor cases. In 1816, John Taylor, in the preface to his translation of the Llvat from the Sanskrit, opined that Fai's Persian version omits certain sections of the Llvat. In 1952, H. J. J. Winter and Arshad Mirza discussed a small fragment of the Persian version and translated 10 verses from it into English. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt is made for the first time to compare the Persian version with the Sanskrit original and to critically analyse the structure and style of the Persian version.