Fakirullah was a distinguished scholar, musician and musicologist of the Mughal period who flourished during the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb in the seventeenth century. Although Aurangzeb is often associated with a decline in royal patronage of music, the period did not witness a complete disappearance of musical scholarship. Fakirullah stands out as an important figure who preserved and systematized the knowledge of Hindustani music at a time of political and cultural transition. He served in the Mughal court and was known for his deep understanding of both the theoretical and practical aspects of Indian classical music. His scholarship reflects the synthesis of Persian intellectual traditions with indigenous Indian musical thought, which was characteristic of the Mughal era. Fakirullah’s most celebrated contribution to Indian music is his Persian treatise titled Rag Darpan. This work is considered one of the significant musicological texts of medieval North India. Rag Darpan is largely based on the earlier Sanskrit text Man Kautuhal, which was attributed to Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior. Fakirullah translated and adapted this earlier work into Persian, thereby making the rich tradition of Indian music accessible to the Persian-speaking elite of the Mughal court. His treatise is not merely a translation but also includes his own observations, classifications and interpretations, which provide valuable insights into the musical practices of his time. In Rag Darpan, Fakirullah elaborates on the concept of raga, which forms the foundation of Hindustani classical music. He describes the structure, characteristics, and aesthetic essence of various ragas, including their time of performance, associated emotions (rasa), and melodic frameworks. By documenting the prevailing ragas and their lakshanas, he contributed to the preservation of the oral tradition in a written form. His classification of ragas reflects the medieval system in which ragas were personified and grouped into families, often referred to as raga–ragini systems. This not only demonstrates the aesthetic imagination of the period but also reveals how musical knowledge was transmitted