Mīr Dāmād in India: Islamic Philosophical Traditions and the Problem of Creation

The learned culture of the high Mughal period has increasingly attracted attention, with a focus on the role of the Dars-i Nizämi curriculum, devised in the eighteenth century to produce cohorts of capable imperial administrators, and on the intellectual life of Delhi, Lucknow, and the Doab in the middle to late Mughal period. 1 Some have identified the significant role of Mir Fathulläh Shiräzi (d. 997/1589), a philosopher trained in the school of Shiräz, a student of the philosopher and sometime sadr of the Safavid empire, Mir Ghiyäthuddin MansOr Dashtaki (d. 949/1542), and emigrant to the court of Akbar (r. 1556-1605).