jahangirnama-ans.pdf

Jahangir Nama Ba Jon’s history

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Jahangirnama ans
History Of Modern China (1840-1960) (University of Delhi)
Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university
Jahangirnama ans
History Of Modern China (1840-1960) (University of Delhi)
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2. HISTORY OF INDIA-V 1600-1750
Cri�cally analyse the use of Persian Autobiographical/Biographical sources (Jahangirnama or Ma'asir-i
Alamgiri), in construc�ng narra�ves around 17th century Mughal monarchs
The Mughal dynasty (1526-1857) was one of the longest reigning dynas�es in India before the
colonisa�on by the Bri�sh. Historians have always been fascinated by the Mughal Empire's complex
history. They can examine di�erent aspects of Mughal history with the aid of a wide range of imperial
discourse encompassing the �elds of chronicle, pain�ng, architecture, and numisma�cs. 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 �rst Mughal ruler, narrated extensively about the places he conquered, military
ma�ers, family chronicles, plants and animals in his autobiographical account ‘Baburnama’ wri�en in
Turkish, later translated in Persian by Akbar. Following his great-grandfather’s tradi�on of wri�ng
imperial memoirs, Abu’l-Muza�ar Nuruddin Muhammad Jahangir penned down his autobiography or
the ‘Jahangirnama’ providing a substan�al narra�ve of his reign and his personal re�ec�ons on various
facets of life including art and poli�cs. This essay focuses on cri�cally interpre�ng Jahangirnama and
using it as a historical account for crea�ng narra�ves 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 inspira�on from the beyond suggested to me
that the labour of the emperor is world domina�on (jahangiri), so I named myself Jahangir.”
1
- 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 regula�ons of
Jahangir) since they were considered to be the emperor's own guidelines for the maintenance of the
empire
2
. Although it was originally wri�en in Persian, Western academics with an interest in Mughal
history have translated it mul�ple �mes up to this point. The most well-known of these are James
Anderson and Francis Gladwin's ini�al transla�ons and the full transla�on done by Alexander Rogers
and Henry Beveridge. Beginning with his accession in 1605, Jahangir wrote the memoirs personally un�l
his illness in his 17th year of rule forced him to hand over the wri�ng du�es to Mutamid Khan, who
carried them un�l Jahangir's 19th year of rule (1624).
The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri stands as the most signi�cant source for reconstruc�ng Mughal history in the
1 (Lefevre 2012, 256)
2 (Thackston 1999, 9)
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3. reign of Jahangir, who had been derided, for very long, as a ‘poli�cal lightweight’ ruler with ‘weakness
of will and resolu�on’, 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)
3
. Recent scholarship, notably that of Wheeler M. Thackston, Corinne Lefevre, and Ebba
Koch, has a�empted to look past the infamous image of Jahangir, established by the European wri�ngs
of the seventeenth century and the Mughal chronicles wri�en under Shah Jahan, by focusing on him as
a poli�cal sovereign who also had a deep interest in art and natural sciences. The art historians have
added to this by highligh�ng the aesthe�c tac�cs used by Jahangir to support his imperial claims.
The memoirs of Jahangir follow a chronological sequence somewhat similar in orienta�on to
Baburnama. They are extremely direct and informal, devoid of any ‘professional’ characteris�c and
include a straigh�orward narra�ve of the emperor's daily life in addi�on to administra�ve informa�on
and details about wars, conquests, �tles of imperial servants and o�cial laws. The royal ideology of
Jahangir's opinions on numerous poli�cal, religious, and social ma�ers is re�ected in Jahangirnama. His
scien��c mind and experiments, mee�ngs with su�s and his addic�on to opium and wine also �nd
detailed descrip�on in his memoirs. Jahangir's prose with poe�c quota�ons, which were o�en
proverbial in nature, was one of the dis�nc�ve features of his Persian literary wri�ng style. He is also
known for quo�ng classical Persian authors like Firdawsi and Baba Ferghani. His sensi�vity 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
4
.
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 �tles 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 en�tled as raja, rao, rai, meaning sovereign. Some�mes, �tles were
given that were especially related to a certain event, such as when Shamsi Toshakchi received the �tle
of Khoshkabhar Khan a�er receiving good news. Even Mihrunnisa, the wife of Jahangir, had �tles like
Nurmahall and Nurjahan, which were named a�er her husband, Nuruddin. Each Mughal dynasty
emperor was granted a �xed posthumous Persian �tle, which Jahangir regularly used when referring to
them.
The accounts of Jahangirnama are helpful in understanding the poli�cal culture under Jahangir. He
ruled the Mughal Empire when it was at the height of its power and prosperity, modelling himself on
the founda�ons of excellent military expansionist policies as well as religious and administra�ve
approaches laid down by his father.
3 (Lefevre 2007, 452)
4 (Lefevre 2007, 461)
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4. Considering Akbar's carefully thought-out military expansion strategy, Jahangir saw conquering
Transoxiana and Deccan as the main goal of his future policy
5
. Although some advancements were
made in southern and eastern Bengal, Jahangir achieved virtually li�le 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 adop�on of the honori�c �tle"nur-ud-din," or "light of religion," made it
very evident that he adhered to the illuminist philosophy of sovereignty, which was ul�mately
supported by Akbar
6
. Jahangir actually adopted a stance toward non-Muslims and their respec�ve
religions that was very similar to his father's. He even banned the slaughter of animals on �xed days of
the week. However, there were �mes when he appeared to be appeasing the tradi�onal Muslim elite
and other �mes when he displayed a limited level of tolerance for some well-known individuals. One
such conten�ous ma�er is his interac�ons with Sikhs and the murder of Guru Arjun Dev.
As for administra�on, Jahangir inherited the dual-ranking system of Zat and Sawar (personal and
horseman rank respec�vely) chalked out during Akbar’s reign with an addi�on of certain new features.
The memoirs also provide a fair idea about the division of the Mughal Empire, �rstly into sixteen large
administra�ve 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 collec�ng taxes from all the villages within the
pargana. In this ostensibly highly centralised organisa�on, the ruler was the ul�mate decision-maker in
every situa�on.
In order to strengthen the legi�macy of his power, Jahangir made several references from Chingiz Khan
to Akbar in his memoirs, drawing dynas�c legacies, a strategy that was typical of early mediaeval India.
Lefevre argues that the men�ons of conquering Timurs aided in valida�ng Mughal claims on
Transoxiana.
A rigorous study of the Jahangirnama contradicts the widely held idea that Jahangir showed li�le
par�cipa�on in the ma�ers of kingship. He orders mul�ple copies of the �rst volume of Jahangirnama
to be sent across various parts of the empire as a ‘manual for ruling’. The signi�cance Jahangir places
on the royal dispensa�on of jus�ce is evident from the way he writes about it in Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri-
“A�er my accession, the �rst command issued by me was to have a chain of jus�ce hung so that if those
charged with administering the courts were slack or negligent in rendering jus�ce to the downtrodden,
those who had su�ered injus�ce could have recourse to the chain and pull it so that sound would cause
awareness.” In order to implement jus�ce and command respect, three kinds of instruments were at
5 (Lefevre 2007, 469)
6 (Lefevre 2007, 463)
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5. the monarch's disposal: law, force, and symbol. Jahangir was in�uenced by the Akhlaqi literature and its
idea that jus�ce should aim to keep the various fac�ons in society in a state of equilibrium while
preven�ng the society from degenera�ng into chaos. He paid close a�en�on to the type and
applica�on of punishment in order to maintain jus�ce, as suggested by various passages of the
memoirs, with the excep�on of a few cases of dispropor�onate chas�sements. Nevertheless, despite
Jahangir's claims to the contrary, rigorous courtly rituals and overly drama�sed public chas�sements
created an impenetrable barrier between him and his subjects. In addi�on to his primary responsibility
as a protector, Jahangir also took steps to ensure the wealth and welfare of his ci�zens by forbidding a
number of taxes
7
. His ac�vi�es in the domain of charity were also very ac�ve and wide-ranging.
A careful study of the memoirs suggests that the ladies of the imperial harem were highly ac�ve, in
contrast to the widespread conven�onal idea that they were isolated and rigidly domes�cated and had
li�le part to play in poli�cs and governance. In addi�on to accompanying the emperor on all of his
journeys and hunts, imperial women administered their own estates, issued paperwork, maintained
communica�ons, and planned extravagant entertainments. ‘A woman shoo�ng publicly was rare; a
woman shoo�ng with such exper�se 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 a�ec�on for
Nurjahan, praising her outstanding skills, shrewdness, and knowledge, as well as her actual
involvement in the ac�vi�es of the court.
Jahangir's forebears le� him more than just administra�ve prac�ces and methods. Jahangirnama
reveals his ‘naturalist bent of mind’, which was passed down to him as a dynas�c personality trait along
with his intense interest and curiosity in �ora, fauna, and minerals. Jahangir, according to Thackston,
was ‘a keen observer of the world around him’ who enjoyed ‘close observa�on of animals’, best
demonstrated in his in-depth account of a crane family. The interdisciplinary discourse between natural
scien�sts and art historians is brought about by Jahangir himself - he explains the advantages of a
combined method, wri�en and visual, in represen�ng natural phenomena
8
. The painter Ustad Mansur
became one of the best ar�sts to document animals and plants which Jahangir either encountered on
his military exhibi�ons or received as dona�ons from emissaries of other countries. His masterpieces
earned him the �tle of Nadir-al-Asr, i.e., ‘unequalled of the age.’ Mansur was the �rst to paint dodo in
colours, apart from being the �rst to illustrate the Siberian crane. His famous works include images of
tulips, lilies and other �owers.
Jahangir also carried out a number of scien��c experiments to broaden his knowledge, provide a
ra�onal explana�on for odd facts, or refute conven�onal wisdom. This includes tes�ng of the e�cacy
of bitumen for broken bones on a chicken or the rela�ve salubrity of the air in Ahmadabad and
7 The proscrip�on of a number of taxes was the object of the �rst of the twelve decrease Jahangir promulgated right a�er
his accession; (Lefevre 2007, 471)
8 (Koch 2009, 298)
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6. Mahmudabad
9
. 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 twel�h year, A.H. 988 [1580-81], un�l 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 eleva�ng the imperial collec�ons, 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
pain�ngs, his large collec�ons of elephants and horses, manuscripts, Chinese porcelains and books are
also very famous.
There is an abundance of Mughal pain�ngs during the regnal years of Jahangir. The memoirs of
Jahangir are also adorned with pain�ngs of the major events of his reign, hun�ng par�es and court life,
and several acts of the emperor’s generosity. Lefevre believes that these depic�ons gave the viewer-
reader compelling pictures of Jahangir's privileged rela�onship with the divine, his superiority over
others as well as his control over everyday life
11
. 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 rela�onship 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 shoo�ng 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 pain�ng speci�cally and
generally, shows his a�nity with Salomon, especially in light of the la�er's func�on as a just law-giver
who rules over the animal realm and makes peace with nature's adversaries. In ‘Jahangir killing
poverty’, Jahangir's depic�ons of the lion and lamb coexis�ng peacefully on the same plain or the black
shadow symbolising "poor" being eradicated under his rule re�ect some of his ideals. The emperor was
also keen on using his illustra�ons as a way of establishing a link with the great spiritual leaders of the
�me. Several of his pain�ngs show Jahangir visi�ng the Muslim shrine at Ajmer as well as conversing
with Hindu sages like Sanyasi Jadrup. The pain�ngs of Jahangir and the stories narrated through them
are signi�cant in understanding his life and character more clearly.
Jahangir's life and reign have been the subject of numerous narra�ves, 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 mul�faceted 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
9 (Thackston 1999, 24)
10 (Lefevre 2007, 477)
11 (Lefevre 2007, 483-84)
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7. that he was more than just "the son of Akbar" or "the father of Shahjahan," and that there are other
signi�cant aspects to his iden�ty and existence. He comes across as a though�ul, compassionate, and
ar�s�c 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-cra�smen’.
References:
Koch, Ebba. 2009. “Jahangir as Francis Bacon's Ideal of the King as an Observer and Inves�gator of
Nature.” Journal of the Royal Asia�c Society 19:293-338.
Lefevre, Corinne. 2007. “Recovering A Missing Voice From Mughal India: The Imperial Discourse Of
Jahangir (R. 1605-1627) In His Memoirs.” Journal Of The Economic And Social History Of The Orient 50
(4): 452-489.
Lefevre, Corinne. 2012. “The Majālis-i Jahāngīrī (1608-11): Dialogue and Asia�c Otherness at the Mughal
Court.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 55:255-286.
Thackston, Wheeler M., ed. 1999. The Jahangirnama. New York, Oxford: Freer Gallery Of Art, Arthur M.
Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Ins�tu�on.
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