2. The Ardhakathanak is a relatively new sources for researches in Mughal history. It
was discovered by the Nagaripracharini sabha and first published by the
celebrated specialist in medieval Indian literature, Dr. Mataprasad Gupta, in 1943.
For a study of the Mughal economy the Ardhakathanak does furnish some valuable
material, but it lacks statistics and the data . It provides is by the nature of the text
incidental and limited geographically.
It is a biography of an insignificant man, a family history of modest middleclass
people unconnected with count intrigues and political battles. Baranasi’s agenda to
write his life story was to make his life experience known to coming generations.
3. The A.k is a third-person autobiographical poem consisting 675 stanzas written
by Baranasi Das, a Jain from Jaunpur 1641 atAgra.
The text is in the Braj dialect of Hindi with move than a touch of Khari Boli.
He wrote it when he was 55 and he gave it a title meaning ‘half a tale’ because of
a Jain tradition which books to a human lifespan of 110 years, but he died soon
after completing the text.
Banarasi was the author of several well-respected works on Jainism, but the A.K is
unique because of its being ,arguably, ‘first autobiography in the indian tradition’-
4. Banarasi started his family history in a remote period before the Mughal invasion,
the first date mentioned by him was 1543 when his grandfather Muldas joined
the service of Mughal noble in Malwa.
His family belongs to shrimal jain caste dictated that he take up trading for the
sake of family peace, he still had enough courage to allow himself, especially
during the late period of his life, to be a first a thinker, a poet and a religion
reformer and only then a businessman.
Banarasi’s schooling was focussed on reading, writing and languages, math, letter-
writing, practical trading in cost accounting, book-keeping, tasting jewels and
drafting commercial documents.
He began his own business at the age of 13. Banarasi sustained many losses and
failed in his commercial activities.
5. But his text also refers to risks in trade due to high way robbers and exaction from
local rulers such as Nawraj Qilij Kahn, the governor of Jaunpur.
Most of those few scholars who written about the A.k stress its ‘simplicity’ rather
than formulaic alankara structures.
Eugenina Vanina says that ‘ it is written in the simple, vivid and bright Hindi
well-educated person’, while the critic Mulchandra Jain assumes that the text
written in a great hurry.
But Reipert snell in his article ‘Confession of a 17th century Jain merchant :
Ardhakathanak of Baranasi Das’ considers that Baranasi uses organic literary
devices to make a simple task into a complex orchestration of ideas. These
6. 1. end-rhyme and internal rhyme
2. word order
3. complementary ironically contrasting items and ideas.
Most of the stanzas are composed in caupai (quartrains) and dohra/doha
(couplets). His models must have included such text as- Madhumalati by Qutban
and Mirgavati by Manjhan and Awadhi sufi epics built a regular sequences of
similar metres.
Despite being a minor text the A.K provides us a unique worldview of business
practices during Mughal Period.
Its importance lies in its vivid description of middle class mentality, values and life
style, which were generally neglected by chronicles and official documents.
7. 1. Baranasi provides us with information on the daily life of the towns, picture on north
india and urbanisation, he tells us about the city such as – Agra, Delhi, Jaunpur,
Allahabad, Patna, Khairabad. Thus he refers to36 professional carte and 52 caravan
sarrais, 52 bazzars and 52mandis of Jaunpur.
2. Business activities and social relations- the text offers us rich material on business
rules and ethics especially those concerning the partnership of merchants.
3. The regulations and cultural life of trading communities like the bhakti saint baranasi
emphasised rituals and ascetic practices and also emphasised on a devotee’s sincerity,
truthfulness and morality. He protested against adoring Tirthankara images which with
lavish clothes and jewels and criticized Jain superstitions and blind faith.
4. Their relations with the Mughal authorities. So, important text.
