Name: Sajal

Roll no: 210450

Paper: History of India 7

Course: BA (history honors)

Year: 3rd year, 5th semester

Assignment-1

Topic: Sources: - Jahangirnama

Answer: The Mughal dynasty (1526-1857) was one of the longest reigning dynasties in India before
the colonisation by the British. Historians have always been fascinated by the Mughal Empire's
complex history. They can examine different aspects of Mughal history with the aid of a wide range
of imperial discourse encompassing the fields of chronicle, painting, architecture, and numismatics.
Although Persian was not the sole language used during the Mughal era, a vast array of Persian texts
—many of which are autobiographies of the Mughal monarchs—dominate Mughal historiography.
Babur, the founder and the first Mughal ruler, narrated extensively about the places he conquered,
military matters, family chronicles, plants and animals in his autobiographical account ‘Baburnama’
written in Turkish, later translated in Persian by Akbar. Following his great-grandfather’s tradition of
writing imperial memoirs, Abu’l-Muzaffar Nuruddin Muhammad Jahangir penned down his
autobiography or the ‘Jahangirnama’ providing a substantial narrative of his reign and his personal
reflections on various facets of life including art and politics. T5his essay focuses on critically
interpreting Jahangirnama and using it as a historical account for creating narratives around the 17th
century.

“When I became emperor, it occurred to me that I should change my name [Salim] lest it should
be confused with the caesars of Rum (qayasirat-i-rum). An inspiration from the beyond suggested
to me that the labour of the emperor is world domination (Jahāngīrī), so I named myself Jahangir.”

The ‘Jahangirnama’ is the autobiography of the fourth Mughal emperor, Jahangir, composed in the
memoir genre. It is also known as ‘Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri’ (which literally translates to the regulations of
Jahangir) since they were considered to be the emperor's own guidelines for the maintenance of the
empire. Although it was originally written in Persian, Western academics with an interest in Mughal
history have translated it multiple times up to this point. The most well-known of these are James
Anderson and Francis Gladwin's initial translations and the full translation done by Alexander Rogers
and Henry Beveridge. Beginning with his accession in 1605, Jahangir wrote the memoirs personally
until his illness in his 17th year of rule forced him to hand over the writing duties to Mutamid Khan,
who carried them until Jahangir's 19th year of rule (1624). The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri stands as the most
significant source for reconstructing Mughal history in the reign of Jahangir, who had been derided,
for very long, as a ‘political lightweight’ ruler with ‘weakness of will and resolution’, dominated by his
wife Nur Jahan. As a heavy drinker and opium consumer, Jahangir is also seen of as an unworthy king
who was born into prosperity and discovered ‘a path strewn with roses’ only because he was the son
of Akbar, the ‘most glorious sovereign of the age’ (1556-1605). Recent scholarship, notably that of
Wheeler M. Thackston, Corinne Lefevre, and Ebba Koch, has attempted to look past the infamous
image of Jahangir, established by the European writings of the seventeenth century and the Mughal
chronicles written under Shah Jahan, by focusing on him as a political sovereign who also had a deep
interest in art and natural sciences. The art historians have added to this by highlighting the aesthetic
tactics used by Jahangir to support his imperial claims. The memoirs of Jahangir follow a
chronological sequence somewhat similar in orientation to Baburnama. They are extremely direct
and informal, devoid of any ‘professional’ characteristic and include a straightforward narrative of
the emperor's daily life in addition to administrative information and details about wars, conquests,
titles of imperial servants and official laws. The royal ideology of Jahangir's opinions on numerous
political, religious, and social matters is reflected in Jahangirnama. His scientific mind and
experiments, meetings with Sufis and his addiction to opium and wine also find detailed description
in his memoirs. Jahangir's prose with poetic quotations, which were often proverbial in nature, was
one of the distinctive features of his Persian literary writing style. He is also known for quoting
classical Persian authors like Firdawsi and Baba Ferghani. His sensitivity to Indian culture is evidenced
by the use of Turkish, Hindustani, or Kashmere phrases throughout his Persian memoirs and by the
fact that he was conversant with Hindustani poetry and its imagery. The imperial nobility is
highlighted the greatest in Jahangir's memoirs since they interacted with the monarch the most.
They had received a number of titles as a reward for their individual achievements. Titles like "Khan,"
"Mirza," "Shaykh," "Khwaja," and others appear frequently in Jahangirnama. The Rajput nobles of
the court were entitled as raja, Rao, rai, meaning sovereign. Sometimes, titles were given that were
especially related to a certain event, such as when Shamsi Toshakchi received the title of
Khoshkabhar Khan after receiving good news. Even Mihrunnisa, the wife of Jahangir, had titles like
Nurmahall and Nurjahan, which were named after her husband, Nuruddin. Each Mughal dynasty
emperor was granted a fixed posthumous Persian title, which Jahangir regularly used when referring
to them. The accounts of Jahangirnama are helpful in understanding the political culture under
Jahangir. He ruled the Mughal Empire when it was at the height of its power and prosperity,
modelling himself on the foundations of excellent military expansionist policies as well as religious
and administrative approaches laid down by his father. Considering Akbar's carefully thought-out
military expansion strategy, Jahangir saw conquering Transoxiana and Deccan as the main goal of his
future policy. Although some advancements were made in southern and eastern Bengal, Jahangir
achieved virtually little in the military sphere and is frequently mocked for his incapacity to be an
expansionist. Coming to the religious aspect, Jahangir presents his father's kingdom as a haven of
tolerance and thus approves his sulh-i kul policy and the working of ibadat-khana. His adoption of
the honorific title"nur-ud-din," or "light of religion," made it very evident that he adhered to the
illuminist philosophy of sovereignty, which was ultimately supported by Akbar. Jahangir actually
adopted a stance toward non-Muslims and their respective religions that was very similar to his
father's. He even banned the slaughter of animals on fixed days of the week. However, there were
times when he appeared to be appeasing the traditional Muslim elite and other times when he
displayed a limited level of tolerance for some well-known individuals. One such contentious matter
is his interactions with Sikhs and the murder of Guru Arjun Dev. As for administration, Jahangir
inherited the dual-ranking system of Zat and Sawar (personal and horseman rank respectively)
chalked out during Akbar’s reign with an addition of certain new features. The memoirs also provide
a fair idea about the division of the Mughal Empire, firstly into sixteen large administrative provinces
called soubas which were ruled by subadars or the provincial governors. These subas were further
divided into Sarkars, which were maintained by Fawjdars, and then into Parganas, which were
governed by Amil or agents, in charge of collecting taxes from all the villages within the pargana. In
this ostensibly highly centralised organisation, the ruler was the ultimate decision-maker in every
situation. In order to strengthen the legitimacy of his power, Jahangir made several references from
Chingiz Khan to Akbar in his memoirs, drawing dynastic legacies, a strategy that was typical of early
mediaeval India. Lefevre argues that the mentions of conquering Timurs aided in validating Mughal
claims on Transoxiana. A rigorous study of the Jahangirnama contradicts the widely held idea that
Jahangir showed little participation in the matters of kingship. He orders multiple copies of the first
volume of Jahangirnama to be sent across various parts of the empire as a ‘manual for ruling’. The
significance Jahangir places on the royal dispensation of justice is evident from the way he writes
about it in Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri- “After my accession, the first command issued by me was to have a
chain of justice hung so that if those charged with administering the courts were slack or negligent in
rendering justice to the downtrodden, those who had suffered injustice could have recourse to the
chain and pull it so that sound would cause awareness.” In order to implement justice and command
respect, three kinds of instruments were at the monarch's disposal: law, force, and symbol. Jahangir
was influenced by the Akhlaqi literature and its idea that justice should aim to keep the various
factions in society in a state of equilibrium while preventing the society from degenerating into
chaos. He paid close attention to the type and application of punishment in order to maintain justice,
as suggested by various passages of the memoirs, with the exception of a few cases of
disproportionate chastisements. Nevertheless, despite Jahangir's claims to the contrary, rigorous
courtly rituals and overly dramatized public chastisements created an impenetrable barrier between
him and his subjects. In addition to his primary responsibility as a protector, Jahangir also took steps
to ensure the wealth and welfare of his citizens by forbidding a number of taxes. His activities in the
domain of charity were also very active and wide-ranging. A careful study of the memoirs suggests
that the ladies of the imperial harem were highly active, in contrast to the widespread conventional
idea that they were isolated and rigidly domesticated and had little part to play in politics and
governance. In addition to accompanying the emperor on all of his journeys and hunts, imperial
women administered their own estates, issued paperwork, maintained communications, and
planned extravagant entertainments. ‘A woman shooting publicly was rare; a woman shooting with
such expertise was unheard of’, writes Ruby Lal about Nur Jahan. But Nur Jahan’s skill with a gun
wasn’t the only reason the empress stood out. Jahangir expresses his affection for Nurjahan, praising
her outstanding skills, shrewdness, and knowledge, as well as her actual involvement in the activities
of the court. Jahangir's forebears left him more than just administrative practices and methods.
Jahangirnama reveals his ‘naturalist bent of mind’, which was passed down to him as a dynastic
personality trait along with his intense interest and curiosity in flora, fauna, and minerals. Jahangir,
according to Thackston, was ‘a keen observer of the world around him’ who enjoyed ‘close
observation of animals’, best demonstrated in his in-depth account of a crane family. The
interdisciplinary discourse between natural scientists and art historians is brought about by Jahangir
himself - he explains the advantages of a combined method, written and visual, in representing
natural phenomena. The painter Ustad Mansur became one of the best artists to document animals
and plants which Jahangir either encountered on his military exhibitions or received as donations
from emissaries of other countries. His masterpieces earned him the title of Nadir-al-Asr, i.e.,
‘unequalled of the age.’ Mansur was the first to paint dodo in colours, apart from being the first to
illustrate the Siberian crane. His famous works include images of tulips, lilies and other flowers.
Jahangir also carried out a number of scientific experiments to broaden his knowledge, provide a
rational explanation for odd facts, or refute conventional wisdom. This includes testing of the efficacy
of bitumen for broken bones on a chicken or the relative salubrity of the air in Ahmadabad and
Mahmudabad. Jahangir also had a compulsive need to represent, measure, enumerate, and classify
everything in his realm in order to assert his supreme authority over everything. “From the beginning
of my twelfth year, A.H. 988 [1580-81], until the end of the present year (...) [March 1617], 28,532
animals were taken in my presence. Of this total, I shot with my own hand 17,16[7] animals…” 10
Jahangir was indeed a world-seizer, living up to his name by elevating the imperial collections, which
contained a wide variety of gems such as rubies, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, as well as objects of
natural curiosity like elephant tusks and fragment of a meteor. Along with his various commissioned
paintings, his large collections of elephants and horses, manuscripts, Chinese porcelains and books
are also very famous. There is an abundance of Mughal paintings during the regnal years of Jahangir.
The memoirs of Jahangir are also adorned with paintings of the major events of his reign, hunting
parties and court life, and several acts of the emperor’s generosity. Lefevre believes that these
depictions gave the viewer reader compelling pictures of Jahangir's privileged relationship with the
divine, his superiority over others as well as his control over every

day life. One means of showing his divinity was the use of "halo" around him. The popular image of
‘Jahangir embracing Shah Abbas’ clearly portrays the hierarchical relationship between the Mughal
emperor and Shah Abbas. While Jahangir was supported by a lion, Shah Abbas was supported by a
lamb. In the picture ‘Jahangir shooting the head of Malik Ambar’ by Abul Hasan, Jahangir is meant to
be seen as symbolising the forces of goodness and light while Anbar, those of darkness and evil.
Jahangir's use of imagery, both in this painting specifically and generally, shows his affinity with
Salomon, especially in light of the latter's function as a just law-giver who rules over the animal realm
and makes peace with nature's adversaries. In ‘Jahangir killing poverty’, Jahangir's depictions of the
lion and lamb coexisting peacefully on the same plain or the black shadow symbolising "poor" being
eradicated under his rule reflect some of his ideals. The emperor was also keen on using his
illustrations as a way of establishing a link with the great spiritual leaders of the time. Several of his
paintings show Jahangir visiting the Muslim shrine at Ajmer as well as conversing with Hindu sages
like Sanyasi Jadrup. The paintings of Jahangir and the stories narrated through them are significant in
understanding his life and character more clearly. Jahangir's life and reign have been the subject of
numerous narratives, the majority of which paint a picture of an unworthy ruler who is alcoholic and
addicted to drugs. However, recent and more in depth- analyses of ‘Jahangirnama’ present a
multifaceted portrait of Jahangir as a king, naturalist, hunter, aesthete, patron of the arts, and
collector, making him appear to be a deserving monarch, if not the most illustrious one. Moreover,
from a thorough understanding of Jahangir's memoirs, it is clear that he was more than just "the son
of Akbar" or "the father of Shahjahan," and that there are other significant aspects to his identity and
existence. He comes across as a thoughtful, compassionate, and artistic leader whose leadership was
marked by outstanding cultural accomplishments. As Lefevre puts it, ‘Jahangir was not the founding
father of canonical Mughal ideology, but he certainly has to be given credit for being one of its
master-craftsmen’.

CITATION:

 Koch, Ebba. 2009. “Jahangir as Francis Bacon's Ideal of the King as an Observer and
Investigator of Nature.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 19:293-338.
 Thackston, Wheeler M., ed. 1999. The Jahangirnama. New York, Oxford: Freer Gallery of Art,
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.