Jahangir
Jahangir (born August 31, 1569, Fatehpur Sikri [India]—died October 28, 1627, en route to Lahore [now in Pakistan]) was the Mughal emperor of India from 1605 to 1627.
Prince Salim was the eldest son of the emperor Akbar, who early marked Salim to succeed him. Impatient for power, however, Salim revolted in 1599 while Akbar was engaged in the Deccan. Akbar on his deathbed confirmed Salim as his successor. The new emperor chose the Persian name Jahangir (“World Seizer”) as his reign name.
Jahangir continued his father’s traditions. A war with the Rajput principality of Mewar was ended in 1614 on generous terms. Campaigns against Ahmadnagar, initiated under Akbar’s rule, were continued fitfully, with Mughal arms and diplomacy often thwarted by its able leader Malik Ambar (Anbar), a formerly enslaved Abyssinian (Habshi) who had attained high military rank. In 1617 and 1621, however, Prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan) concluded apparently victorious peace treaties. Jahangir, like his father, was not a strict Sunni Muslim; he allowed, for example, the Jesuits to dispute publicly with Muslim ʿulamāʾ (theologians) and to make converts.
After 1611 Jahangir accepted the influence of his Persian wife, Mehr un-Nessa (Nur Jahan); her father, Itimad ud-Daulah; and her brother Asaf Khan. Together with Prince Khurram, that clique dominated politics until 1622. Thereafter, Jahangir’s declining years were darkened by a breach between Nur Jahan and Prince Khurram, who rebelled openly between 1622 and 1625. In 1626 Jahangir was temporarily placed under duress by Mahabat Khan, another rival of Nur Jahan’s group. Jahangir died while traveling from Kashmir to Lahore.
Jahangir, a heavy drinker and opium eater—until excess taught him comparative moderation—encouraged Persian culture in Mughal India. He possessed a sensitivity to nature, an acute perception of human character, and an artistic sensibility which expressed itself in an unmatched patronage of painting. Mughal painting reached a high level of elegance and richness during his reign.
Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (1605–24; “Memoirs of Jahangir”) is the autobiographical memoir of Jahangir, composed in Persian. Unlike the official court chronicles commissioned by his predecessors, the first 17 years of the memoir were written in the emperor’s own hand. Accounts up to the 12th year of Jahangir’s reign were compiled and distributed, with one copy given to his son Shah Jahan. Jahangir abandoned writing in the 17th regnal year as his health declined, entrusting continuation to his court historian Muʿtamad Khan, who extended the narrative to Jahangir’s 19th regnal year. Muḥammad Hādī subsequently continued the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri to Jahangir’s death, in 1627. The memoirs are valued above all for their candor, though Jahangir chose to avoid writing about his earlier rebellion against his father, Akbar. The work moves easily between administration and personal observation. Jahangir describes ordering the establishment of bulghur-khanas (public kitchens providing free food) across some 30 districts from Ahmedabad to Lahore (now in Pakistan). He also mentions banning a long-standing practice as part of which some families in Bengal castrated their sons, turning them into eunuchs and surrendering them to officials in lieu of tax payments. The memoir records the workings of Mughal rule, describing dealings with courtiers and envoys. It also offers personal reflections on Jahangir’s relationships, including those with his wife Nur Jahan.