Public-domain ebook
by Emperor of Hindustan Jahangir
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In: Biographies·History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)·History - Royalty
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #53716.
The Tuzuk‑i‑Jahangiri, or Memoirs of Jahangir, is the second half of the emperor’s own chronicle, translated by Alexander Rogers and issued by the Royal Asiatic Society. This volume covers the final six years of Jahangir’s twenty‑two‑year reign, concentrating on court ceremonies, military appointments, and occasional natural phenomena such as comets, plagues, and elephant hunts. The opening pages outline the work’s scope, note its comparative brevity, and list the kinds of material a reader will encounter, details of zodiacal coinage, a “pretty story” of a king and a gardener’s daughter, and vivid descriptions of Kashmir. The editor’s prefatory remarks also situate Jahangir among his ancestors and European monarchs, offering a candid appraisal of his temperament, his devotion to nature, and the political setbacks that marked his rule.
Written in a formal, first‑person style that mirrors the emperor’s own courtly diction, the memoirs blend administrative records with personal reflections. The prose is dense with Persian titles, mansab ranks, and ceremonial language, making it a rewarding read for scholars of Mughal history, students of early‑modern South Asian politics, and anyone fascinated by the inner workings of an imperial court. Those who appreciate detailed archival material, cultural anecdotes, and the occasional lyrical observation of nature will find Jahangir’s voice both instructive and evocative.
The opening · free to read
After an interval of about five years, the second volume of Mr. Alexander Rogers' translation of Jahangir's Memoirs has been published by the Royal Asiatic Society. It is a smaller work than the first volume, for it only extends over six years of the reign, as against the twelve years of its predecessor. Even then it does not include the whole of the reign, for that lasted twenty-two years. The two volumes, however, contain all that Jahangir wrote or supervised. It will be found, I think, that the present volume is fully as interesting as its predecessor. The accounts of the Zodiacal coinage (pp. 6 and 7), and of the comet, or new star (p. 48), the notice of the Plague in Agra (pp. 65-67), and the elaborate description of Kashmir, under the chronicle of the 15th year, are valuable, and a word should be said for the pretty story of the King and the Gardener's daughter (p. 50), and for the allusions to painters and pictures.
If Babur, who was the founder of the Moghul Empire in India, was the Cæsar of the East, and if the many-sided Akbar was an epitome of all the great Emperors, including Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Julian, and Justinian. Jahangir was certainly of the type of the Emperor Claudius, and so bore a close resemblance to our James I. All three were weak men, and under the influence of their favourites, and all three were literary, and at least two of them were fond of dabbling in theology. All three were in their wrong places as rulers. Had James I. (and VI. of Scotland) been, as he half wished, the Keeper of the Bodleian, and Jahangir been head of a Natural History Museum, they would have been better and happier men. Jahangir's best points were his love of nature and powers of observation, and his desire to do justice. Unfortunately, the last of these merits was vitiated by a propensity for excessive and recondite punishments. Like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, he was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and he shortened his life in this way. He made no addition to the imperial territories, but, on the contrary, diminished them by losing Qandahar to the Persians. But possibly his peaceful temper, or his laziness, was an advantage, for it saved much bloodshed. His greatest fault as a king was his subservience to his wife, Nur-Jahan, and the consequent quarrel with his son, Shah Jahan, who was the ablest and best of his male children. The last years of his reign were especially melancholy, for he suffered from asthma and other diseases; and he had to endure the ignominy of being for a while a captive to one of his own servants--Mahabat Khan. He died on the borders of Kashmir, when on his way to Lahore, in October, 1627, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and was buried at Shahdara, near Lahore, where his widow, Nur-Jahan, and her brother are also interred. At the time of his death his son Shah Jahan was at Junair in the Deccan, and there the news was conveyed in a wonderfully short time by a Hindu courier. Jahangir was succeeded by Shah Jahan, who lost no time in getting rid of his relatives, for, like the Turk, he bore no kinsman near the throne. Indeed, he is strongly suspected of having killed his elder brother, Khusrau, several years before.
I am indebted to Mr. Ellis, of the India Office, for revising the proofs.
NOTE.
In the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, p. 416, mention is made of a history of Hindustan during the reign of Jahangir, in two volumes, with paintings (Ouseley MSS.). I have recently ascertained that the MS. is only a modern copy of the Iqbal-nama.
H. Beveridge.
On the eve of Wednesday, the 23rd Rabi`u-l-awwal, 1027 (March 10, 1618), after the lapse of fourteen and a half gharis, the entrance of the Sun--that is, H.M. the Great Light--the Benefactor of the Universe, into the constellation of the Ram, took place. Twelve years had now passed from the august Accession of this suppliant at the throne of God, in prosperity, and the New Year began in joy and thanksgiving. On Thursday, 2 Farwardin, Divine month, the festival of my Lunar weighment took place, and the fifty-first [1] year of the age of this suppliant at God's throne began with rejoicings. I trust that my life will be spent in the doing of God's Will, and that not a breath of it will pass without remembering Him. After the weighment had been finished, a fresh feast of joy was arranged, and my domestic servants celebrated the day with brimming cups.
On this day Asaf K. (Nur-Jahan's brother), who held the rank of 5,000 with 3,000 horse, was favoured by the grant of 4,000 two-horsed and three-horsed troopers, and Sabit K. was raised to the office of Examiner of Petitions. I bestowed the post of the Artillery on Mu`tamid K. A Kachh (Cutch) horse had been brought as an offering by the son of Dilawar K. No horse so good as this had come into my establishment till I encamped in Gujarat, and as M. Rustam showed a great liking for it, I presented it to him. On the Jam were conferred four rings--viz., diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire--and two hawks. I also gave four rings--viz., ruby, cat's-eye, emerald, and sapphire--to Raja Lachmi Narayan (of Kuch Bihar). Muruwwat K. had sent three elephants from Bengal, and two of them were included in my private stud. On the eve of Friday I ordered lamps to be placed round the tank, and this had a very good appearance. On Sunday Haji Rafiq came from `Iraq, and had the good fortune to kiss the threshold, and laid before me a letter which my brother Shah `Abbas had sent with him. The aforesaid person is a slave of Mir Muhammad Amin K., the caravan leader, and the Mir had brought him up from his childhood. In truth, he is an excellent servant. He frequently visited `Iraq, and became intimate with my brother Shah `Abbas. This time he had brought tipchaq [2] horses and fine cloth-stuffs, such that of the horses some were put into the private stables. As he is a skilful slave, and a servant worthy of favour, I honoured him with the title of Maliku-t-tujjar (King of Merchants). On Monday I gave Raja Lachmi Narayan a special sword, a jewelled rosary, and four pearls for ear-rings. On Mubarak-shamba (Thursday) I increased by 500 horse the mansab of 5,000 personal and 1,000 horse held by Mirza Rustam; I`tiqad K. was promoted to a mansab of 4,000 and 1,000 horse; Sarfaraz K. was promoted to a mansab of 2,500 and 1,400 horse; Mu`tamid K. to the rank of 1,000 with 350 horse. On Anira'i Singh-dalan and Fida'i K., horses worth 100 muhars were conferred. As the guarding and administration of the Punjab had been entrusted to I`timadu-d-daula, I, at his request, promoted to the government (hukumat) of the said Subah, Mir Qasim, the Bakhshi of the Ahadis, who is related to him, and bestowed on him a mansab of 1,000 personal with 400 horse and the title of Qasim K. Before this I had given Raja Lachmi Narayan an `Iraq horse. On this day I conferred on him an elephant and a Turki horse, and gave him leave to go to Bengal. The Jam was dismissed to his native country with a present of a jewelled waist-sword, a jewelled rosary, two horses, one from `Iraq and the other a Turki, and a dress of honour. Salih, brother's son of the deceased Asaf Khan, [3] was promoted to a mansab of 1,000 with 300 horse, and allowed to go to Bengal, and a horse was conferred on him. On this date Mir Jumla [4] came from Persia, and had the good fortune to pay his respects. The aforesaid is one of the respectable Sayyids of Isfahan and his family have always been held in honour in Persia, and now his brother's son, Mir Riza, is in the service of my brother, Shah `Abbas, and has the rank of Sadr, and the Shah has married him to his own daughter. Mir Jumla had left Persia fourteen years before this, and gone to Golconda to Muhammad Quli Qutbu-l-mulk. His name is Muhammad Amin. Qutbu-l-mulk gave him the title of Mir Jumla. For ten years he had been his Mudar `Alaihi (Centre of Affairs) and his Sahib Saman (factotum). After Qutbu-l-mulk died, and the rule came to his brother's son, the latter did not treat the Mir properly, and so he took leave and hastened to his native country. The Shah, on account of his connection with Mir Riza, and the respect which he had for men [5] of merit, showed much consideration for and kindness to him. He (the Mir) also presented fitting offerings, and passed three or four years in Persia, and amassed properties (estates?). [6] As he several times represented that he wished to enter the service of this Court, I sent a farman and invited him. Immediately the farman arrived he severed his connections there, and set the face of loyalty towards this Court. This day he attained the honour of kissing the carpet, and produced as offering twelve horses, nine tuquz [7] of silk cloths, and two rings. As he had come with devotion and sincerity, I conferred favours and kindness on him, and presented him with 20,000 darbs (Rs. 10,000) for his expenses and a dress of honour. On the same day I gave the post of Bakhshi of the Ahadis to `Inayat K. in place of Qasim K. I honoured Khwaja `Aqil, who is one of the old servants, with the title of `Aqil K., and presented him with a horse. On Friday, Dilawar K., coming from the Deccan, had the good fortune to kiss the threshold, and presented an offering of 100 muhars and Rs. 1,000. Baqir K., Faujdar of Multan, was promoted to a mansab of 800 personal and 300 horse. Tijarat K. and Bahu'i, [8] Zamindar of Multan, were honoured with the gift of elephants. On Saturday, the 11th, marching from Dohad with the intention of hunting elephants, I pitched at the village of Kara Bara (Garbara ?). On Sunday, the 12th, the village of Sajara (Sajwara ?) became the place of alighting. It is 8 koss from this place to Dohad, and 1 1/2 koss to the hunting-ground. On the morning of Monday, the 13th, I went to hunt elephants with a body of my private servants. As the grazing-place of the elephants is in a hilly country, with elevations and depressions, a passage is obtained with difficulty by one on foot. Before this, a large body of horse and foot had surrounded the jungle after the manner of a qamurgha, and outside the jungle, on a tree, they had prepared a wooden platform for me. On all sides of this they had arranged seats on other trees for the Amirs. They had got ready 200 male elephants with strong nooses, and many female elephants. On each elephant there were seated two elephant-drivers of the tribe of Jarga, [9] whose special employment is the hunting of elephants, and it had been arranged that they should bring the wild elephants from the jungle into my presence, that I might witness the hunt. It happened that at the time when the men from all sides entered the jungle, in consequence of the thickness of the forest and the heights and hollows, the chain was broken, and the order of the qamurgha did not remain perfect. The wild elephants in bewilderment turned in every direction, but twelve male and female came to this side (where J. was). As the fear was that they might escape, they drove in the tame elephants and tied them (the wild elephants) up wherever they found them. Although many elephants were not caught, at least two excellent ones were captured, very handsome in shape, of good breed, and perfect marks. As there is a hill in the jungle in which the elephants were, called Rakas (Rakshas) Pahar, [10] or demon hill, I called these two elephants Ravan Sar and Pavan Sar, these being the names of two demons. On Tuesday, the 14th, and Kam-shamba (Wednesday), the 15th, I halted.
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