Although valuable works have been written on the Mughal dynasty throughout the world, Mirza Haidar and his achievements failed to get the attention they rightly deserved perhaps because he was constantly surrounded by a galaxy of luminaries hence the need for this humble corrective endeavour. With his multifarious contribution to the development of Kashmir during the short rule of a decade amidst political problems and internecine warfare, Mirza Haidar Dughlat Kurkan, born in Tashkent, in 1499/1500, proved himself to be a remarkable man of many parts – a gallant general, a good painter, a calligrapher, born poet, excellent administrator and above all a great scholar and historian.