Previous Year Question

Yogavasistha is a Sanskrit philosophical work in which questions concerning knowledge, detachment, liberation and the nature of the world are discussed through a dialogue between sage Vasistha and Rama.

Nizamuddin Panipati translated it into Persian around 1597–98 CE, during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar (1556–1605 CE). The Persian version is generally known as the Jūg Bāsiṣṭh/Jog Basisht.

An important feature of this translation is that it was prepared for Prince Salim, who later became Emperor Jahangir. The preface preserved with Panipati's Persian translation also refers to Salim. The distinction is therefore important: the translation was prepared for Salim, but Akbar was the reigning emperor at the time. Scholarly study of the surviving manuscripts places Panipati's translation in 1597–98.

It formed part of the wider intellectual activity under Akbar in which works from Sanskrit and Indian knowledge traditions were made available in Persian. The Ramayana, Mahabharata and several other Sanskrit works were also translated into Persian during this period.