The Dabestān-e Mazāheb "School of Religions" is a Persian language work that examines and compares South Asian religions and sects of the mid-17th century. The work, whose authorship is uncertain, was probably composed in about 1655 CE. The text's title is also transliterated as Dabistān-i Mazāhib, Dabistan-e Madahib, or Dabestan-e Madaheb. The text is best known for its chapter on the Dīn-i Ilāhī, the syncretic religion propounded by the Mughal emperorJalāl ud-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar after 1581 and is possibly the most reliable account of the Ibādat Khāna discussions that led up to this.
Authorship
The authorship of Dabestan is debated. David Shea & Anthony Troyer, who edited a critical edition of the text in 1843, attributed its authorship to the 17th century Persian historian Mohsin Fani. However, this 1843 edition slightly flawed since the translators were not well-versed in much of the subject matter. The editors, who were not certain of the identity of the author, believed that he was a Sufi, but the 1993 edition of the Encyclopaedia Iranica suggests that the author was most likely a Zoroastrian. More recently, Rahim Rezazadeh Malek, who edited a critical edition in 1983, has attributed the text's authorship to the 18th century Perso-Indian heresiographer Kay-Khosrow Esfandiyar. Esfandiyar was the son and successor of Azar Kayvan, and may have belonged to a Persian tradition that can be considered to be heterodox relative to orthodox Zoroastrianism.
Editions
This work was first printed by Nazar Ashraf in a very accurate edition in movable type at Calcutta in 1809. A lithographed edition was published by Ibrahim bin Nur Muhammad from Bombay in AH 1292. In 1877, Munshi Nawal Kishore published another Lithographed edition from Lucknow. The distinguished Persian scholar Francis Gladwin translated the chapter on the Persians into English and published it from Calcutta in 1789. A German version by E. Dalburg from Wurzburg was published in 1809. The chapter on the Raushanyas was translated into English by J. Leyden for the Asiatic Researches, xi, Calcutta. The entire work was translated into English by David Shea and Anthony Troyer under the title, The Dabistan or School of Manners in three volumes from London. The author describes that he spent time in Patna, Kashmir, Lahore, Surat and Srikakulam. He is perceived to have been a person of great scholarship and curiosity, and extremely open-minded for the context of his time. He mentions numerous interviews with scholars of numerous faiths, which suggests that he was well connected, and so qualified to report on the Dīn-i Ilāhī. According to The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz, a Dabistan was commissioned by a Mughal mystic prince, Dara Shikoh. The section on Judaism consists of translations by a Persian Jewish Sufi Muslim convert, Sarmad Kashani, and his Hindu disciple from Sindh. Walter Fischel notes: An English version of the Dabistan by David Shea is available at the Digital Library of India IISc.
Author's perspective
Although the author spent most of life in South Asia, he regarded himself as a Persian. However his perspective of the Hindus, and of other religions was unusually liberal. He writes: He personally met many scholars of different faiths. For example, about the Jains he writes: " with traditional Parsi hats, a wood engraving, ca. 1878 He observes that while Hindus dress following their own custom, the non-Muslims of Iran and Turan pass themselves off as Muslims, while practicing their faith in secret: He describes the disputations in Akbar's Ibadat Khana in detail, as if he had been there: He describes and defends the liberal views of Akbar:
