2024: The Ceremonial of Power. The Mughal Empire under Shah Jahan

Indian Historical Review, 2007

Khoj, 2021

Abstract: Interpretation of Muslim state in India is always remaining a colonial scholarship. Muslim rule in India is narrated as "Oriental despotism" in which a large number of Hindus were the victim of genocides. Monolithic agenda of religious confrontation was introduced by commissioned historians who organized and re write the scattered past of oriental worlds. James Mill divided Indian past into Hindu, Muslims and modern British India. Hindus were the custodians of the Vedic culture. Muslim conquered this land by force and ruins the temples and worshipping places. Muslims permanent hostility towards other communities was not possible in medieval times. After many shocks of conquest Muslims prepared to find a via media for those who were living around them. Muslim interacted with other communities like Hindus, Buddhist even Christian and create a congenial environment. Muslims and Hindus had closer relation as compare to other communities. It is hardly impossible to exaggerate the extent of Muslim influences over Indian life in every sphere. From state formation to the selection of nobility- from economic life to domestic one, even in the marriages, foods, festivals and fairs, Muslim shared their cultural Influences with other communities. This paper is an effort to dilute this image that Mughals were more orthodox towards other communities in India and developed a theocratic state. This research will also highlight the Mughals sense of "Unity in diversity".

Indian Historical Review, 2017

The celebration of Nauroz, being one of the most well-defined events of the Mughal Court, finds ample space in their records. Yet, its story was not just about grandeur and magnificence, but touches several aspects of what made and sustained the empire. Building on the multiple identities of the festival, which emerges from a brief overview of its antecedents, this article examines the ways in which the sources have presented each of the emperors to have negotiated with it. However, it is on stringing them together and noting the changing nature of references that the layers begin to reveal themselves, discerning not only what the sources voiced but also may have attempted to suppress, in our endeavour to understand the cultural functioning and articulation of power in the Mughal Empire.

For the first time in India, Mughal regime succeeded in establishing a single political authority. Akbar the Great, who is conventionally described as the glory of the Mughal Empire, reigned in the last half of the sixteen century from 1556 until 1605. During this period, he succeeded to extend the empire he inherited to Afghanistan in the west, and to the Godavari river in the south. Akbar was assisted by Abul Fazl, the chief advisor who helped him enormously in formulating the wise policies of governing from 1579 until he was murdered du in 1602. Abul Fazl composed “Akbarnama” a masterpiece of the Mughal literature, describing the History of Mughal ancestors and focusing on Akbar’s own reign. Based on Abul Fazl’s composition Akbarnama, we will discuss in this paper how the Great Mughals were dealing with the West or with “Faringis” as the Mughals called them.

Journal of The Economic and Social History of The Orient, 2007

This article argues against the common view according to which the Mughal emperor Jah®ng¬r was a political lightweight who was dominated by his famous spouse N‚r Jah®n. Beginning with a discussion of the historiographical processes which presided over the construction of such a negative image, the essay continues with a thorough re-examination of the emperor's memoirs entitled Jah®ng¬r N®ma. This text brings out a coherent and original political voice, in which Jah®ng¬r skilfully connects his identities of sovereign, naturalist, and collector. The conclusion evaluates the impact of this discourse through a brief analysis of the reaction of the Mughal political and religious elite.

isara solutions, 2023

This research paper re-examines the multifaceted aspects of Emperor Akbar's reign, exploring the intricate dynamics of his authority and the symbolic strategies he employed to solidify his position as the Mughal sovereign.

Building on the literary traditions of munāẓ ara (disputation) and malfūẓ āt (teachings of a Sufi master), the Majālis-i Jahāngīrī (Assemblies of Jahāngīr) constitute a fundamentally dialogical work, in form as well as function. An account of the night-time sessions presided over by Emperor Jahāngīr from 1608 to 1611, this source highlights the Mughals' will to assert their power on a Eurasian scale and the central role played by Iran, Central Asia, and Hindustan in the elaboration of imperial ideology and identity. It thus opens a new window into the mental representations and hierarchies that underlay the much celebrated Mughal cosmopolitanism.

This article examines practices of international diplomacy at the Indian Mughal court as a crucial intercultural contact zone; in particular, various perspectives on greeting ceremonies are discussed. In the early 17th century, various European powers were interested in India as an important trading place. Ambassadors from different countries met at the court of the powerful Islamic empire, among them British, Dutch and Portuguese representatives as well as Persian and Uzbek diplomats. As a consequence, situations of multi-sided encounters emerged; symbolic language was at the centre of diplomatic entanglements. However, since early modern Islamic diplomatic practices differed from European customs, transcultural knowledge was significant and European ambassadors had to find a balance between preserving their rulers' honour and adapting to Indian diplomatic standards. Investigating more closely the English East India Company's ambassador and his positioning within the court's internal hierarchy, this contribution analyses the development of transcultural procedures, dealing with the ambassador's problem of how to translate foreign symbolic language. Travel reports and diplomatic manuals show that an ambassador's position was not only measured according to the way he was allowed to greet the emperor, but that it was also compared to other ambassadors' status and prestige. Generally, concessions and flexibility with regard to ceremonial practices have to be assessed against the backdrop of asymmetrical power relations and India's general superiority over European rulers.

2021

Library and Research Institute, the Telangana State Archives, and the Salarjung Museum. Special thanks to the archivists, Fatima Tanveer, Mohammad Fareedullah Shareef, and Bharat for their valuable support in Hyderabad. I thank the Rampur Raza Library, Rampur, the Director, Syed Hasan Abbas, and the staff for their valuable assistance in accessing manuscripts. In Bikaner, I thank the Rajasthan State Archives and its director, Mahendra Khadgawat as well as the Ganga State Museum. In Srinagar, I thank the Oriental Manuscript Library, the Libraries Directorate, and the Sri Pratap Singh Library as well as the entire administrative staff for their valuable assistance and warm reception despite the intractable challenges imposed by the curfew when I visited Kashmir.

A great amount of information about the Mughal Empire is relayed through the eyes of European visitors to the Mughal realm, be it those on diplomatic missions to the Imperial court or those who travelled the length and breadth of the empire for trade, proselytising or leisure. Evaluating this information is at times problematic as questions can arise as to the authenticity of what details are being relayed back to us, the modern-day reader. Are these contemporary accounts accurate presentations of what these travellers are seeing around them? Or have their perceptions been coloured or altered by circumstances- good or bad- which have resulted in skewed visualisations of what they experienced and noted in their writings? How did the Europeans’ reflections of the ‘locals’ differ depending on their class, living situation and material wealth? This contribution will seek to address these questions by focusing on the writings of a few European visitors to the Mughal lands during the reign of Jahangir (r.1605-27), the fourth Mughal emperor, and evaluating what external factors may have influenced their perceptions of what they saw before discussing how these same perceptions were then presented as facts in their later writings, in the form of either letters written to Europe or later published travelogues. Amongst those whose writings will be examined are Sir Thomas Roe, the English ambassador to Jahangir’s court in the early 17th century, and William Hawkins and William Finch, sailors who then travelled around India on their arrival there.

caa.reviews, 2013

Contributions to Indian Sociology, vol. 57, issue 3, 2023