Of the first six Mughal emperors—from Babar to Aurangzeb—almost each has acquired a distinct position in the popular imagination. Babar is the conqueror, Humayun the conquered, losing his throne before getting it back years later—only to fall spectacularly down a staircase and die. Akbar is the liberal and progressive empire-builder. Shahjahan is, all said and done, the builder of the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb is a bigoted, austere tyrant.
But what of Jahangir? Sandwiched between a remarkable father and a dazzlingly opulent son, Jahangir is the one Great Mughal whom few people know about. And yet, this is probably the most interesting, the ‘warmest and most emotional’ (as Bamber Gascoigne describes Jahangir) of the early Mughals. This is the man Parvati Sharma sets out to explore in her biography of the fourth Mughal emperor.
Jahangir: An Intimate Portrait of a Great Mughal spans the emperor’s lifetime, with a little before and a little after. Divided into seven parts, each dealing with an important aspect or phase of Jahangir’s life, the biography starts with Akbar’s desperate need for an heir, which led him to Sheikh Salim Chishti—resulting in the birth, in 1569, of a son who was named after the saint. It follows Salim’s early life, first as the darling of his father, and later, as an adolescent and a young man, the rebel.
The friction between Akbar and Jahangir, Jahangir’s rebellion, his ascension to the throne in 1605, his marriage to the woman he titled ‘Nurjahan’, and who became one of the most powerful women in Indian history—these are covered in the next few parts of the book, while the last couple of parts focus on the disintegration of the relationship between Jahangir and his son Khurram, with Khurram—already named ‘Shahjahan’ by his father—succeeding Jahangir.
In between are chapters that focus on Jahangir, the man. A keen observer, inquisitive, a lover of natural history and wine. Occasionally horrifyingly cruel, often warm and thoughtful. A man devoted to his wife. A man who loved mangoes, who took delight in watching the parenting habits of a pair of saras cranes—yet who could, with no compunctions, order a man flayed alive.
Sharma draws extensively from various sources, including Jahangir himself, whose personality comes so vividly alive in his autobiography, the Jahangirnama. There are the accounts of other Jahangir-era chroniclers (foreign travellers like Thomas Roe and William Hawkins provide interesting ‘outsider’ views), as well as those of more modern historians like Beni Prasad. Sharma admits that she herself is no historian, which accounts for the lack of original research, as also perhaps for the somewhat high-flown conjectures that at times crowd the narrative.
Sharma’s biggest strength lies in her storytelling skills: writing style is fluid, readable, occasionally humorous, and with so many interesting snippets of trivia scattered through that this book would appeal to even the average lay reader. An entertaining and worthy introduction to Jahangir for anyone interested in Mughal history—and incentive, perhaps, to read the Jahangirnama?
QUICK TAKES
How would you describe Jahangir’s 22 years on
the throne?
Enjoyment, for the most part.
what next?
My incomplete novel
that I had put aside.
What are you
reading now?
Daughters of the Sun by Ira
Mukhoty and Rebel Sultans
by Manu S Pillai
One book you
would recommend.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
‘Jahangir Lies Forgotten’
Author Parvati Sharma tells Medha Dutta how her book on Emperor Jahangir happened by chance and how she discovered a different man.
Why Jahangir?
I had done a children’s book on Babur a couple of years ago. I was working on a novel that was nearing completion, when the Juggernaut people suggested that I take a break and write something on history for adults—like, a book on Jahangir. I immediately said yes.
Jahangir is portrayed as a weak monarch and is remembered as a drunk. How difficult was it to bring the real Jahangir?
In fact, this is the only portrayal one finds of him. There is no other image available. Also, Jahangir lies forgotten among the Mughals. And that is actually not surprising. He was Akbar’s son. He would forever be in the shadows of his father. And then he was Shahjahan’s father, who again was this great ruler remembered for the Taj Mahal. Jahangir was sandwiched between the two. But if you start reading about him, you realise he was much more than all this. Of course, he did drink a lot, but he also had a very strong will because that allowed him to rise above his addiction and become the emperor. For him, becoming the emperor was not easy. It did not fall into his lap. There were constant comparisons with his own son and of course, he had to contain the different factions in the court.
People speak of him as a henpecked husband who let his wife Nurjahan rule.
In my first draft, this is the impression even I had. But then I read other writings that questions this and makes very persuasive arguments. He was king for six years before he married Nurjahan, and he managed pretty well. Also, the idea of Nurjahan as a vamp has come from two main sources. One, the historians in Shahjahan’s time. Shahjahan hated Nurjahan and he had rebelled against his father. To justify all that this propaganda was created by the historians. The other one was the English diplomat Thomas Roe’s version. He had wanted to approach Shahjahan for trade concessions and decided to go through Nurjahan. But he couldn’t crack the situation and so he also writes very bitterly of her.
So what was Nurjahan really like?
I would say the relationship between Shahjahan and Nurjahan was that of an equal partnership. He writes fondly of her, proving that he trusts her and even admires her. There is equality.
Jahangir was not militarily inclined. Was he more interested in art and culture?
He had a very deeply developed sense of aesthetics and visual beauty. Even in his writings, his description of flowers or streams or even Kashmir, it’s so beautifully done that you can almost feel it. He had a sharp sense of observation.
Why did Akbar want Jahangir’s son as his heir?
In the Mughal system of succession, any male heir from the family could lay claim to the throne. Akbar was crowned king at a very young age and he went on to rule for a long time. So, by the time Jahangir got anywhere near the throne, he was already in his 30s and his eldest son was also old enough to appear as a contender. And if Akbar thought Khusro would make a better ruler, there was nothing logically wrong with it.