Nizam's generous side and love for books

the books, letters, diaries and other assorted documents of the jesuit missionaries at the courts of akbar and jahangir is a unique source of information about the mughals. all of the information provided by the jesuits should be systematically and comprehensively analyzed by mughal historians. to the best of my knowledge this has not been done yet because many of these documents (written in different european languages) have still to be translated into english.

the strangest such document i have seen in english translation has got to be the letter written to Akbar, delivered to him by the jesuit missionaries who arrived at his court, which was written by the Pope of the time. The Pope urged Akbar to quickly convert to Christianity and not to allow for any delay in such a matter. The jesuits did all they could to convert Akbar (and also Jahangir) and were disappointed when their efforts did not produce the desired results.

A DISPUTE ON THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST (at the court of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir)

ONE evening, the King was looking through a port-
folio containing the piftures of which we have already
made mention, while the Fathers ftood by him ex-
plaining their meaning. Presently he came upon one
representing Jesus Christ crucified, which the Fathers,
when he handed it to them, adored with great reve-
rence, removing their caps and placing it on their
heads. After they had explained the pifture, a Moor
who was present asked them why, if they and the
Chriftians loved Chrift so much, they permitted him
to be represented thus dishonoured. One of the
Fathers replied, " By keeping Him before our eyes in
this form, we do Him the highest possible honour,
because He suffered thus not for His fault, but for
our sake, of His own free will giving up His life
to expiate our sins, and to teach us to give up our lives
for Him. Whenever we think of this, our hearts
are filled with gratitude to Him, and we are never
weary of gazing upon Him thus upon the cross.
For if," the Father continued, " one of your Majesty's
vassals, in order to preserve your life, voluntarily
submitted to torture and ignominy, you would con-
sider that you were showing him the higheft respeft
by recounting the sufferings he endured for your
protection; and the contemplation of them would
&ir you to gratitude and to honour him and his children.

How much more then ought we to be grateful to our
God and Lord who created us, that being God, He
became man and suffered persecution and shame to
save us who so little merit salvation. Are we not
bound to love Him with all our hearts, and to be ready
to lay down our lives for Him ? That such is our
duty there can be no question; and hence it is that the
moft beloved representation which we have of our
Lord in life is that which shows Him, as here, on the
cross ; and so highly do we esteem it, that if we were
to see, side by side, our Lady the Virgin Mary and the
image of Christ crucified, we should do reverence
to the latter before doing reverence to the Virgin."

" Do you mean," said a Moorish Captain, " before
doing reverence to an image of the Virgin, or before
doing reverence to the Virgin herself ?"

" Before doing reverence to the Virgin herself,"
replied the Father.

That is not reasonable," said the Moor.

44 Do not be astonished," said the Father, u for we
do not venerate these pictures because of the materials
of which they are made, which we know are nothing
more than paper or cloth and some colours, but
because of that which they represent, which is the
person of our Lord Jesus Chrift, In the same way
you do not place the firmans of His Majefty the King
on your head because they are sheets of paper with
ink on them; but because they represent the com-
mands of His Majesty and what it is his will that you
should do."

The King heard the Father quietly and with approval,

observing, when he had finished, that he had reasoned
very juftly. But the Moorish Captain said, 4t If Jesus
Chri& died on a cross with so much ignominy, how
can you say that he was God ?" This led to a dis-
cussion on the divinity of Chrift, a subjeft which
always provokes the Moors to anger. As the King
was as yet unable to comprehend such matters, lacking
the light of the true faith, and being anxious, as it
seemed, to explain or qualify the Christian doctrine,
said by way of defending it, " The Fathers, in calling
Chrift God, use, as it were, a figure of speech, meaning
thereby to show their great love for him. In just
the same way I may call any one of whom I am very
fond my brother, or my soul, though, in faft, the person
is nothing of the kind. In the same way the Christians
call Chrift God because they love him, though he
is not so in reality." This was his answer to all the
instances and proofs which the Fathers brought
forward. He held forth with so much impetuosity
that the latter could not get a word in, though they
repeatedly begged to be allowed to speak. At length,
to pacify them, he said, "Leave it to me, Fathers 1
I am on your side." 1 And continuing he said, "As
to their calling Chrift the Son of God, that is because
he had neither father nor country, and was miraculously
born of the Virgin Mary." Here one of his courtiers
interrupted him by saying, " In the same way, Sire,
we might call the worms that are engendered in the
flesh the sons of God, for they have no country."
44 That is unreasonable," said His Maje&y, 44 for these
are creatures which live only four days, and have no

qualities for which they can be called sons of God."
Then, evidently very proud of his oration, he asked
the Fathers if his explanation of their doctrine was not
correft. They told him that it was not, at which he
was a good deal annoyed, as he had been endeavouring
to speak in their defence. But the subjeft was a grave
one, and the Fathers could not dissimulate. He asked
them if they had under&ood what he had said. They
replied that they had, and repeated the words he
had used.

" Then what do you say to it ?" he asked.

" We say," replied one of the Fathers, " that Jesus
Chrift was the actual Son of God, and that He is in
very truth God."

" Is that in the Gospels ?"

"Yes, Sire."

At this point, one of the Moors said, 4C If Jesus
Chrift had done miracles which no other ever did,
one might say that he was God. But all the miracles
which he performed were also performed by others;
so you have no reason to call him God." The Fathers
disposed of this argument by instancing many miracles
which were performed by our Lord and by no others.

The King asked if, in the Gospels, Chrift said of
himself that he was God.

"Many times," was the reply; whereon the King
repeated his favourite argument, that the Fathers
said this because of their great love for him.

"Sire," said a courtier, "what you say is very
reasonable; but these people will never confess as
much. They do nothing but say that Chrift is adhially

God. Ask the Father, and Your Majesty will see
what he says."

"There is no need to ask them," said the King.
" They cannot help speaking of Chrift in this manner
because of their love for him. If they were threatened
with death they would ftill say the same, because they
have consecrated their lives to him."

" Sire, not only these who are consecrated to him,
but all the Christians say the same. How do you
explain this ?"

** It is," said the King, " because they are all, from
their infancy, brought up to love the Lord Jesus
ChriSl, and to believe that he is God. Nor is this
very Strange. Here in our own mountains there are,
as you know, certain Darures (a class of devotees who
profess to serve God) who, after drinking two cups of
Range? which is a kind of beverage that gives pleasure
while it destroys the senses), begin to perform such
feats and antics that all the people run after them and
acclaim them saints. If we were to see anyone raise
the dead as easily as did Jesus Chrift, there is no doubt
that we should call him a god. And if I who have
not seen the miracles which Chrift did, love him
much only because I have heard of them, and commend
all my affairs to him, 8 why is it surprising that those
who with their own eyes saw him raise the dead,
called him God ?"

All his nobles applauded these words, saying that
the King had spoken truly, and that they were heathens
\$em ley\ who did not believe in Jesus Chrift [que nao
criam a Jesu ChriSlo]. 4

http://archive.org/stream/jahangirandtheje035085mbp/jahangirandtheje035085mbp_djvu.txt

the close proximity the jesuit missionaries enjoyed with the mughal emperors Akbar and Jahangir gave them an opportunity to present historical facts of importance about the mughal kings and their kingdom. unfortunately their zeal for christianity means that they exaggerrate and even lie every now and then and the honest enquirer has to sift through their writings to separate their truths from falsehoods. for example, in the extract i gave in my earlier post the very last words say:

All his nobles applauded these words, saying that
the King had spoken truly, and that they were heathens
\$em ley\ who did not believe in Jesus Chrift [que nao
criam a Jesu ChriSlo].

but can we really believe that the nobility at Jahangir's court would declare themselves to be 'heathens who did not believe in Jesus'. We cannot. What is more probable is that the good Fathers are lying to us when they ascribe such words to Jahangir's nobles.

it is sometimes held by a few misguided or biased historians that Jahangir was a very cruel person. As evidence they give the example of when two of his men suddenly appeared on the scene and managed to scare away some animals which were being hunted--all this in the middle of a very elaborately prepared hunt--Jahangir lost his temper and inflicted physical punishment on the two men. This incident is described in Jahangir's own autobiography.

In his introduction to Jahangir's autobiography (Jahangirnama), Wheeler Thackston dispenses off this myth. Thackston explains that the above incident was an aberration and that on another instance when during a tiger hunt the tiger turned around and attacked the hunting party of Jahangir, Jahangir's men turned around and started running away in fear. Jahangir was knocked down in the stampede and several of his men actually trampled over his chest. Yet he took no action over this incident. This incident is also mentioned in Jahangir's autobiography.

Jesuit missionaries at Jahangir's court describe him as 'gentle, soft of disposition'; and also 'gentle and debonair'.

in another thread, Charvaka seems to question why i am writing about Jahangir in a thread on the Nizams. My response:

in a post on the Nizam thread (i.e. this thread) i wrote:

the reason why the Nizams exhibited religious tolerance is presumably because the first Nizam had been a governor of the mughals and religious tolerance was a quality deeply cherished by the mughals. the only mughal ruler who did exhibit religious intolerance was Aurangzeb, but it should be remembered that none of his other family members shared his narrow minded beliefs.

my claim is that the religious tolerance exhibited by the Nizams was a direct outcome of the fact that they had been mughal governors before they became independent. since Jahangir's religious tolerance was questioned by someone i proceeded to demonstrate that Jahangir was in fact liberal in his religious beliefs. Hence i started talking of Jahangir on this thread.

Jahangir's reverence for Jesus Christ (as narrated by the Jesuit Fathers at Jahangir's court):

-------

THROUGHOUT the discussions of which we have spoken,
the King always showed his deep regard for Chrift
our Lord. He also spoke very ftrongly in favour of
the use of pi&ures, which, amongft the Moors, are
regarded with abhorrence; and on coming from
Lahor, and finding his palaces at Agra very beautifully
decorated and adorned both inside and outside with
many pictures which had already been completed, and
others that were being painted, in a balcony \varanda]
where he sits daily to be seen by the people : l
nearly all these piftures were of a sacred charafter,
for in the middle of the ceiling there was a paint-
ing of Chrift our Lord, very perfeftly finished,
with an aureola, and surrounded by angels; and on
the walls were some small piftures of the Saints,
including John the Bapti&, St. Antony, St. Bernadine
of Sena, and some female Saints. In another part
were some Portuguese figures of large size, also very
beautifully painted. On the outside of the wall,
where is the window at which the King sits when he
shows himself to the people, there had been painted
life-size portraits of some of his favourites; but these
he ordered to be obliterated, and in place of them he
had painted a number of Portuguese figures, very well
arranged, and of huge Mature, so that they could be
seen from all parts of the maidan [for todo o terreird].

There were three figures on each side of the window.
Above those on the right was a representation of
Chrift our Lord with the globe of the world in His
hand, and on the left of our Lady the Virgin,
copied from a painting by St. Luke; and to the right
and left of these were various Saints in a po&ure of
prayer. The window where the King sits, being in
the form of an oriel [charola}, every part of which is
coloured, he had painted on the flanks of the same
wall life-size portraits of his two sons very splendidly
attired. Above one of them is a representation, on
a smaller scale, of our Lord and a Father of the Com-
pany with a book in his hand, and above the other,
of our Lady the Virgin, On the vault of the charola
are pidhires of St. Paul, St. Gregory, and St. Ambrose. 2

It is a great consolation to the Fathers, when they
come here to wait upon the King, to tell their beads
before the pifture of our Lady, and to commend
themselves to Chrift our Lord ; and they give constant
thanks to God that these sacred pictures, which fill
the Moors with astonishment every time they look
upon them, are thus publicly displayed in this infidel
King's chamber, which resembles the balcony [varan Jo]
of a devout Catholic King rather than of a Moor.

In the interior of the palace the walls and the
ceilings of the various halls are adorned with piftures
illuftrating the life of Chrift, scenes from the A&s
of the Apoftles, copied from the Lives of the Apoftles
which the Fathers had given him, and the Stories of
SS. Ana and Susana and many other Saints. All
this the King did of his own accord, without a sug-
ge&ion from anyone. He himself selefted, from his
own collection of piftures, the figures to be painted ;
and he ordered his artifts to consult the Fathers as
to the colours to be used for the coftumes, and to
follow their in&ruftions in every detail.

The King's way of decorating his palace was very
offensive to the Moors, who regard pidhires of all
kinds with such disfavour that they will not tolerate
portraits of their own saints, much less those of the
Christian faith, which they hate so bitterly. As they
deny altogether the passion of our Lord, they greatly
resented a large pifture, a copy of a painting of Chrift
a coluna, which the King had made at this time. It
was his intention that this should serve as a pattern
for a curtain [fano] which he had ordered to be made
of pure silk, and on which were to be woven, as on
arras, the same figure of Chrift a coluna, with the
inscription, worked in a like manner, in Persian
characters. 3 On a wall of one of the halls he had
painted figures of the Pope, the Emperor, King Philip,
and the Duke of Savoy, whose portraits he possessed,
all on their knees adoring the holy cross, which was
in their midft, as in a pidhire which he had.

The Father loao Aluares, Assistant of Portugal, sent
His Majefty from Rome a pifture of our Lady and the
Adoration of the Magi. It would be difficult to say
how greatly he prized this pifture. As it reached
him direft, without passing through the hands of the
Fathers, he sent for them as soon as he received it,
and having shown it to them in the presence of his
courtiers, asked them to explain its meaning. When


they had done so, he repeated what they had said to
those present, telling the Story of the birth of our
Lord and the Adoration of the Magi juSt as though he
were a preacher in a pulpit, holding up the picture
the while that all might see it. Afterwards he sent it
to the Fathers to be suitably adorned and mounted on
a board \sobre hua tauoa]f that it might not become
damaged by being constantly unrolled. The Fathers
decorated the border which surrounded the pidture
with ornamental designs in black and white, copied
from some of our books and paintings. The King
was delighted with their work, and had his own
portrait inserted in the design, himself choosing the
place for it.

By means of these piftures, and what the Fathers
have told him about them, the King is well versed in
moSt of the mySteries of ChriSt our Lord and our Lady
the Virgin, and openly prides himself on his know-
ledge. One evening when the Fathers were with him,
he took up a picture of the Circumcision of our Lord,
and making a sign to them not to speak, asked some
of his nobles if they knew what it meant; and when
they said that they did not, he explained it to them,
and then asked the Father if what he had said was
correct. On being told that it was, he was greatly
pleased, and said : " I understand these things very
well." In brief, so high is his eSteem for ChriSt and
our Lady, that all the orders and letters which he sends,
whether to Moors, Gentiles, or Christians, though
bearing on the inside the royal signet, are sealed on
the outside with their effigies. For he has an inStru-
ment like a small forceps made of gold, on the points
of which are set two emeralds, square in shape and as
large as the nail of the thumb, on which are engraved
the figures of our Lord and the Virgin, and these are
impressed on the wax with which the letters are
fastened. 6

By these and other signs one cannot but recognise
the sincere devotion of this King to ChriSt and our
Lady, for whom he himself confesses his great love.
And though the fruit the Fathers so earnestly desire
to gather has not yet matured, he daily gives them
new grounds for hoping that the good Jesus and his
moSt holy Mother will look with compassion upon
him, and beStow on him that which he lacks. More-
over, he is a man who, having once formed a resolution,
does not shrink from carrying it out before the whole
world; so that his determination to join our faith
would be a splendid consummation, for it would doubt-
less lead to the establishment of a great Christian
Stronghold in these parts.

But while he has so high a regard for ChriSt and
the holy Virgin, and for all that appertains to the
Christian faith, he is held back by the severe discipline
which our law imposes, and more than aught else
because it forbids a man to take more than one wift,
which is a Stumbling-block not only to the Moors,
but to all the Gentiles of the EaSt; indeed it is, as
they themselves say, on account of this prohibition
that they find our faith so hard to accept. The King,
who often discussed the subject with the Fathers,
mentioned it on one of those evenings when they were

disputing with the Moors. In reply to his remarks,
one of the Fathers said that to overcome the difficulty
of which he spoke, all that a man had to do was to
embrace the law of ChriSt ; for God would thereupon
endow him with such grace that what before seemed
difficult to him would be made easy.

" Sire," interposed one of the Moors, " the Father
speaks thus now; but a short while ago he proved the
contrary with the example of David, who though a
great prophet, and possessing so many wives, never-
theless sinned."

" The sin of David," said the Father, " is an example
of human frailty. Moreover, in David's day, the law
of ChriSt had not been established, and men had not
experienced the great Strength of the divine grace.
But since ChriSt came into the world, and gave us
His holy law, the efficacy of that grace has been proved
by the number of Christian kings, and the millions
of other Christians scattered over the whole world, who
have lived, or are Still living, content with one wife."

"What you say is very well," said the King; " but
allowing that this thing is difficult, and that if it were
not so we should all be ready to embrace your law, I
ask you If a King like me, who has many wives,
should desire to become a Christian, what would you
have him do ?"

" His MajeSty means, Father," interposed a Moorish
Captain, " any king whatsoever."

" I do not mean," His MajeSty said, " such a king
as I am; but one who like myself is a king. What
would you say to him ?"

"The firft thing I should say, Sire," replied the
Father, " would be that out of his many wives he muft
seleft one, and leave the reft."

44 That would not be an easy matter," said the King.
44 But supposing he is left with only one wife, what, I
ask you, is he to do if she is blind ?"

"Let him not marry the one who is blind; but
choose another."

" But suppose she becomes blind after marriage!"

4C That presents no difficulty; for blindness does not
prevent the aft of marriage."

44 That is true enough," said the King, " but the
heart would not be drawn to her."

44 And suppose," said one of the Moors, 44 that after
marriage she becomes a leper!"

44 Then," replied the Father, " it would be necessary
to have patience."

44 Oh, that would be impossible!" said the King.

44 It would be possible, Sire, with the aid of God's
grace, which makes all things easy."

44 1 do not doubt," the King said, " that to you, who
have been accuftomed from childhood to abstain from
women, it would be easy; but those who are not like
you what are they to do?"

44 Sire, even with cuftom such things are not without
difficulty; and amongft Chriftians, too, sins are com-
mitted. But for this, the law of Chrift our Lord
provides the remedy of penitence."

41 And what penitence," asked the King, 44 is re-
quired of those who sin against the law of chaftity ?"

This gave the Father the opportunity of discoursing

on the doftrines of penitence and grace, and the means
which Christians use to overcome the temptations of
the flesh. The Moors, being a carnal-minded race,
disputed with him at great length, but the Father
answered them in such a manner that though they
did not admit defeat, they were convinced and put to
shame by his words.

AmongSt the Christians who are here, many things
have been done in the service, and to the great glory,
of our Lord. This is what befell a young Cafre
Christian who was in the King's service, and who, by
His Majesty's orders, lived in the house of an Abexim
[Abyssinian] Moor, who was one of the royal favourites.
One day the Moor sent for him and tried to make
him abandon his faith, and pay homage to Mafamede.
But the young man said he was a Christian, and that
he would never do such a thing. The Moor firSt
tempted him with soft words and fair promises, and
then, finding these unavailing, sought to overcome
him by blows, which were administered with such
fierceness that the Cafre's cabaia was rent in pieces.
He then attempted to seize the String of beads which
he saw about his vidtim's neck; but the latter gripped
them so tightly with his hands that he was unable to
succeed. He next ordered fire to be brought, saying
that he would burn the beads on his neck. " Do not
make too sure," said the Cafre; "you shall burn me
before you burn these," and when the Moor threatened
to throw him on the fire, which had already been
kindled, he answered : u You may do with me what
you will; but I will never become a Moor." All who

were landing by marvelled at his constancy, while his
sufferings excited so much compassion that a water-
carrier, indignant at what he saw, threw the water he
was carrying on the fire and extinguished it. As the
young man Slill showed no signs of yielding, the
Moor put iron chains on him, and shut him up in
his house like a prisoner.

When this came to the ears of the Fathers, one of
them went Straightway to the house. On entering the
courtyard he encountered a Gentile who had witnessed
all that had taken place, and who, on seeing the Father,
exclaimed : " How bravely your Cafre bore himself,
and what blows he endured in defence of his law 1
I swear that if they had done as much, or even less,
to any Moor or Gentile, they could have made him
submit to anything. What courage, what constancy
he showed 1" The Father then spoke to the Moor,
with the result that the latter handed over to him his
prisoner, who was in so weak and exhausted a Slate
that he had great difficulty in walking to the Father's
house. His tattered cabala, and the marks of the
Stripes on his flesh, gave him comeliness in the sight
of God, and in the eyes of the Fathers, who envied
him not a little his triumph. One of them went at
once to the palace to give an account of the affair to
the King. At the entrance, he encountered the Moor,
who, guessing the purpose that had brought him
thither, begged his forgiveness, making a thousand
excuses and apologies for his behaviour, and vowing
that he would never do such a thing again. He
pleaded so hard, while other nobles came up and

pleaded for him, knowing that it would go hard with
him if the affair came to the knowledge of the King,
that the Father could not help yielding to their en-
treaties. He refrained from speaking to the King,
and earned thereby the lading gratitude of the Moor.
An Armenian belonging to a certain village had
caused the death of a little Gentile girl. The father
of the girl took him before the officers of juftice and
charged him with murder, and as soon as he had been
put in prison, went his way. While he was in prison,
a Moorish Captain came to see him, and sent others
many times to him, promising him, in the King's
name, his life and many rewards and favours, if he
would abandon the Christian faith and accept the law
of Mafamede. But this good Christian paid no heed
to their allurements and remained true to his faith.
At length he, and four others who were prisoners with
him, were sentenced by the King himself to have their
right hands cut off. The Merinho Mor sent for him,
and he too promised to obtain his pardon if he would
become a Moor. But then was fulfilled the promise
of the Saviour of the world to those who, for His sake,
are arraigned before the tribunes of princes and kings,
" Dabo vobis os, &? sapientta, ifa"; for by no means
could the Merinho Mor persuade him. When the
hand of this brave soldier of ChriSt was placed on the
block, and the executioner was ready to sever it at a
blow, the Caciz even then offered to save him if he
would accept his law. But the Armenian answered
him angrily, and turning to the executioner, said:
" Do your office. My choice is made: though I lose


my life, I will not give up the faith which I profess."
Seeing that he was wafting his time, the Caciz ordered
the sentence to be carried out; and the Armenian's
right hand, and the right hands of the four others, were
cut off, after which they were taken back to prison.

As the Fathers were not allowed to enter the prison
themselves, they sent one of their servants to minister
to the brave Armenian. Such was the inhumanity of
the Moors, that they showed no kind of pity for these
mutilated viftims of the law. No surgeon was called
to ftanch the blood which was flowing from their
veins, and two of them bled to death. The Armenian
was carefully tended by the servant of the Fathers,
who made him plunge his arm in boiling oil, which
ftopped the flow of blood, after which he dressed it
as well as he could. A day or two later, Father
Xauier with great difficulty obtained his release from
prison, and took him to his house where he was well
looked after. The Father paid a surgeon to attend
him, and provided sustenance for his wife and children
as well as a house for them to live in; for when the
Armenian was sent to prison, his property was con-
fiscated by the State. But at this time he received
news that his brother had died at Chaul in the house
of the Santa Misericordia, 6 and had left him five
thousand larins* (a larin is worth four teflons of Por-
tugal), with which sum he was able to repair his
fortunes. Thus, by the death of his brother, our
Lord recompensed him for rejecting pardon, freedom,
and worldly honours, for His sake.

Another case was that of a Frenchman, a man of

many parts, who held an important ppSt in the gun-
foundry. Some years previously he had been cap-
tured by the Turcs in the Mediterranean Sea, not far
from Marseilles, and had been taken to Argel [Algiers],
where he was forced to become a Moor. Subse-
quently, while serving in the galleys of Argel, he was
made a prisoner by the Christians and was confined
in the convent of St. Francisco of Valenca, in Aragao.
From here he contrived to escape; and after traversing
Spain, Italy, Egypt, Ethiopia, and parts of India,
found his way with his wife and children to Labor
and Agra, and the King took him into his service and
made him a Captain of two hundred horse. He was
very fond of telling the Moors about the Christians,
and especially about the miracles of our Lady of
Monseratte. 8 He spoke with such affeftion of the
Christian faith that the Moors, amongSt whom he
had acquired considerable influence, were greatly im-
pressed by his words. At Agra he fell sick; and as
he had already become acquainted with Father Xauier,
he sent for him and told him that he was a Christian,
and that he had never found any satisfaction in the
law of Mafamede. The Father exhorted him to make
a general confession, telling him how this should be
done, at the same time giving him a book in which
he might Study the Christian doctrines. He spent
several days miniStering to the spiritual needs of his
patient, who was thus brought back to the holy
Mother Church. He received the sacraments with
devotion and tears of penitence, and passed from this
life with every hope of salvation.


http://archive.org/stream/jahangirandtheje035085mbp/jahangirandtheje035085mbp_djvu.txt

in a later post, i will analyze this (the above) portion of the book 'Jahangir and the Jesuits'

in forthcoming posts i propose to analyze Aurangzeb's religious policy at the insistence of Charvaka.

i want this thread to be a one-stop resource on the Nizams and also on the mughals.

Osmania biscuit' an all-time favourite

Nimra café near Charminar is busy as ever. Over the din and bustle, a man hollers –single chai aur Osmania lana. A few minutes later the waiter places a plate of biscuits and ‘chai' before him along with finger-dipped glasses of water. The guy takes time savouring the Osmania biscuits and then washes it down with ‘chai'.

In scores of hotels across the City, this is the favourite tea time snack. In bakeries too, Osmania biscuits are the fastest moving delicacy on the shelf. ‘Bun-maska', ‘dil-pasand' and ‘samosa' may be the typical local flavours, but Osmania biscuit is what Hyderabad is readily identified with. In fact the first thing many do on arriving in the City is to experience the ‘zaiqa' of Osmania.

Delicious and crispy, it simply melts into the mouth. Its taste is heightened when taken with authentic Irani ‘chai'. To many like Gaffar Qureshi, tea time is incomplete without the soft Osmania biscuits. Strangely, it is popular with adults and children alike and in many homes guests are treated to Osmania.

Subhan bakery in Nampally is the favourite haunt of Osmania lovers. “We deliver the biscuits to different parts of the State and sell about a tonne per day,” says Irfan of Subhan bakery.

Like other Hyderabadi cuisine, Osmania biscuit too is a princely legacy. The biscuit is named after Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam. He liked the biscuits made at Vicaji Hotel, a popular restaurant those days at Abids, so much that every evening a car from Nazari Bagh used to fetch the biscuits for him.

ROYAL PATRONAGE

Pleased with the royal patronage, the hotel named the biscuit ‘Osmania' and the name has stuck long after the Nizamian era is over. The hotel is believed to have worked out the biscuit taste to the Nizam's liking by reducing the salt content and making it slightly sugary.

FOR ALL SEASONS

Despite numerous mouth-watering cookies flooding the market, Osmania biscuit still holds its own. Whatever the season, it remains the most popular tea-time snack. Be it a private programme or official function, one can't do without this yummy stuff.

So, how about a cuppa with Osmania?




http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/article2657076.ece

Rashmun wrote:Osmania biscuit' an all-time favourite

http://samosapedia.com/entries/8117/Biscuit

Biscuit
Adjective.
used in hyderabad & telangana to make fun of some person who has gone wrong
mr.A:arre main aaj Rs.1000 khoya mamu...
(I lost Rs. 1000 today).

mr.B:aahhh... biscuit..

enjoying Osmania biscuits (named in honor of the last Nizam Osman Ali Khan who was very fond of them) and Irani chai before the Charminar:

in another thread Charvaka writes:

panini press wrote:Here is more proof of the secular ways of Aurangzeb the Great. In the library of the Benares Hindu University, in the great holy state of Uttar Pradesh, there is a firman (imperial edict) issued by Aurangzeb. The full text of the firman with English and Hindi translations are provided at this site: http://indianmuslims.in/aurangzeb-in-banaras-hindu-university/





---

In this firman, Aurangzeb directs his people to not harm brahmins or Hindu temples. This shows that Aurangzeb was secular.

notice that in Aurangzeb's firman he says that while ancient temples will not be destroyed, new ones will not be permitted to be built. This coupled with the fact that he re-imposed jaziya (special tax on non-muslims) which had been abolished by Akbar and which was abolished after his (i.e. Aurangzeb's) death means that we cannot consider Aurangzeb to be a secular person.

my understanding is that Aurangzeb was communal and for this we have the evidence of reimposition of jaziya, but he was not as communal as he is sometimes made out to be (and for this we have evidence of Aurangzeb giving funding to various temples).

Preserve the wealth of water

The lakes of Hyderabad were constructed by ancient rulers, who realised how precious water was and the need to preserve it.

With summer gone and the monsoon taking over, it is the season of rain.

This will fill our lakes that supply us our water every day . They are ideal picnic destinations as well.

“We visit the water bodies of the city on holidays. They teach us about the water ecosystem,” says Pravalika Rao, who regularly goes on picnics with her family and her friends.

Her neighbour, 12-year-old Ranganath, enjoys the boating and fishing facilities provided in some of these lakes.

Did you know that the lakes of Hyderabad are all man made?

Since the Deccan area receives heavy rain from the south west monsoon, the rulers here felt the need to store this precious liquid, so that they would have a constant supply of water through the year. Their planning and implementation, is the back bone of our lives too!

Hussainsagar lake

Built during the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah, by revered saint Hussain Shah Wali in 1562, this lake is situated between Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Tank Bund and Necklace Road, which skirt the lake offer various attractions to visitors. Boating is one of the most popular activities at this lake.

Osman Sagar

The dam was constructed on the Musi river in 1920 by Mir Osman Ali Khan, giving birth to the Osman Sagar Lake. This lake caters to the drinking water needs of the twin cities. To keep it clean, no activities are permitted on the clear blue water of this beautiful lake.

Himayat Sagar

Parallel to the Osman Sagar Lake is the Himayat Sagar Lake, which has been named after Himayat Ali Khan, the youngest son of the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad. The water of this lake meets the drinking and irrigational needs of the twin cities. This scenic lake offers an ideal picnic spot to visitors.

Durgam Cheruvu

Situated near the HITEC City, this lake was constructed during the reign of the Quli Qutb Shahs.

It was popularly known as the Secret Lake, which could be due to the concealed location of the lake. This picturesque lake was primarily constructed to provide drinking water to Golconda Fort. Later the water was used for irrigation purposes by the British. Presently the angling and boating facilities available at this lake attract visitors.

Mir Alam Tank

This small lake was built in 1806 by Mir Alam, the Prime Minister of Hyderabad State during that period. Completed in two years the unique feature of the tank is the mile long bund with 21 semicircular masonry arches. When the tank was built it provided portable water.

The water is said to be so pure that people going on long journeys took this water with them. Presently, apart from being a scenic place, this tank attracts many migratory birds during winter.

Shamirpet lake

North of Secunderabad is the pristine Shamirpet lake.

Due to its location, adjacent to the Shamirpet Deer Park, visitors can see plenty of deer going down to the water to quench their thirst. This lake also attracts plenty of migratory birds during winter month.

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/preserve-the-wealth-of-water/article2101027.ece

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

The enigma that was Mir Osman Ali Khan

J.S. Ifthekhar

Last Asaf Jahi ruler considered architect of modern Hyderabad The last Asaf Jahi ruler is best remembered as the architect of modern Hyderabad


Hyderabad: It was one of those chilly winter nights. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam, feels like acquiring a new blanket and calls his ADC and orders him to buy a blanket. But there is a rider - the price should not exceed Rs. 25. The ADC goes around the bazaar and comes back crestfallen. The minimum price of a blanket is Rs. 35. When the Nizam learns this he decides to make do with the old blanket.

A few hours later, he gets a request from the Maharaja of Bikaner for a donation for the Benaras Hindu University. Without thinking twice he orders the sanction of Rs. 1 lakh! Sounds incredible. But that was the last Nizam for you. He would use the 185-carat Jacob diamond as a paperweight and at the same time settle for a simple sherwani and pyjama for a dress. Stories of his frugal habits are dime a dozen.

Defies definition


Once he contributed gold coins worth crores of rupees to the National Defence Fund of the Government of India. When the trunks containing the coins were being loaded into vans, the Nizam told the officer in his characteristic style. "I am donating the coins not the trunk. See that they are returned."

Call him tight-fisted or open-handed, Osman Ali Khan defies definition. The last of the Asaf Jahi rulers, whose 124th birth anniversary is being observed today, he is best remembered as the architect of modern Hyderabad. His vision in developing a planned city couldn't be glossed over. The flash floods of 2000 submerged several posh localities in the new city while life in the old city went on unhindered. Old-timers recall how Hyderabad was one of the best-administered States under the Nizam. His 37-year rule saw the expansion of roadways, railways and postal services. Industries like the Shahbad cement factory and Nizam Sugar Factory were set up. The façade of Patharghatti underwent a change.

All the important buildings one can think of today were the result of his enlightened policies. The High Court, Assembly Hall, Osmania General Hospital, Nizamia Unani Hospital, Nampally railway station, Jubilee Hall, Osmansagar and Himayatsagar - the list is endless.

Biggest contribution


Osmania University remains the Nizam's biggest contribution to education. Another noteworthy aspect of his rule was communal harmony. After his death in 1967, his grandson, Mukkaram Jah Bahadur, was asked whether he planned to raise a monument for his grandfather. Pat came the reply: "Go around Hyderabad and you will find so many of them."


http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/27/stories/2006072723360200.htm

Not long ago there lived a king. His name was Mir Osman Ali Khan. The one thing that distinguished him from his many monarchical predecessors and also democratic successors was the immense love he showed for his city of birth, Hyderabad. When he became king on the death of his 'beloved' father Mahboob Ali Pasha in 1911, he decided to make Hyderabad a city which could be compared with the best of its times. It was sort of a dream city where he wanted to save the numerous lakes and gardens that were unique to Hyderabad and at the same time create public utility spaces. He visualised a balanced city that took care to preserve the dignity of the walled quarters and also move on to new areas with new structures.

He had seized the opportunity to rebuild the city that had been devastated by floods in 1908. Among his many landmark decisions was to invite a visionary engineer Vishveshwaraiah (who later become Dewan of Mysore) and arm him with necessary powers to improve the city. He ensured that the City Improvement Board plans were implemented bypassing the bureaucratic hurdles. The result was evident in less than 25 years. The city, while retaining its original character, had changed.

Close to Charminar was created Pathargatti, the boulevard constructed in stone. Again on the south of city was built a magnificent building to host Adalat-e-Aaliya or the high court. Next to the high court, City High School was built that in time to come grew into a college. The two banks of the Musi were given grand looks with dressed and chiselled stones lining up to Chaderghat. It was the tafreegah or a place where families came in hordes to spend time as the cool breeze floated over the river.

Moving towards the north of Musi, Osmania General Hospital was built to serve the poor as well as the rich. The newer parts of the city witnessed construction of a bazaar, Moazzam Jahi Market, Town Hall (legislative assembly) and a doll house (State Museum). Still farther from the main city, a beautiful campus was created from nothing where Osmania University had its first structure, the imposing Art College.

At a time when aping the British colonial masters in different walks of life was considered a sign of honour and status, he dared to create his own style of architecture. The Osmanian architecture is an amalgam of Indo-Islamic-Saracen elements with domes, arches and columns playing prominent roles. He built no mosque, no temple, no palace.

In September 1948 came a time where he was left with no option but to lay down his office. He was requested by the Government of India to become the Raj Pramukh or governor in the new regime. He accepted the offer gracefully and began building bridges with democracy. He wrote a poem eulogising the Republic of India. He had obviously changed with times. But when in 1956 the state of Hyderabad was trifurcated and Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions were merged to form the new State of Andhra Pradesh, he knew his time had come to walk into private life. He stayed in King Kothi as a private but royal citizen until death came calling in 1967.

The only politician who added value to Hyderabad after about 50 years of Mir Osman Ali Khan's rule was Chandrababu Naidu. He gave a new vision to Hyderabad, built Cyberabad and propelled it on to the world map.

The year 2011 marks the hundredth year of Mir Osman Ali Khan ascending the Asif Jahi throne. But there is silence everywhere. No one is willing to talk about the Seventh Nizam, much less celebrating his centenary. Politicians, neither those who claim Hyderabad to be the city of their ancestors nor those who migrated and settled down here in the past decades, would like to remember the king. The Telangana protagonists after suffering from inferiority complex for a long time did try to move away from the usual accusations that the Nizam was a tyrant or he had turned a blind eye when the Razakars were unleashing a reign of terror. They showed the signs of realising that with all mistakes, limitations and prejudices the Nizam also cared for his state, his city and the people living there. The reign of no king or ruler can be without blemish. The Seventh Nizam too had his follies, eccentricities and preferences. But shall we all remain mum to his achievements and what he did for the state of Hyderabad ? And not remember him during this momentous year?

http://www.siasat.com/english/news/ode-mir-osman-ali-khan

Returning to Jahangir, the fact that his favourite holy man was the hindu monk Jadrup with whom he would spend hours discussing the 'science of Vedanta' (as mentioned in Jahangir's autobiography) is indicative of the fact that Jahangir was not communal.

A good painting of Jahangir with Jadrup:

Jahangir preferring the company of a sufi to the king of england and the sultan of turkey:

Gold coin minted during the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir depicting the Emperor with his wine cup. Alcohol is forbidden in islam so even as his ancestors drank in private, Jahangir cannot be accused of hypocrisy on this account although he can certainly be accused of blasphemy.

One of the key features to be noted in Jahangir's autobiography is his passion for natural science. Several examples may be given to illustrate this point. It has rightly been said that Jahangir would have found himself at ease in the company of the distinguished gentlemen who founded the Royal Society exactly 30 years after his death. It is fitting that a scientific journal used a Jahangiri painting on its cover.

-------

Abu'l Hasan, Nadir al-Zaman (1588–c.1635) Squirrels in a Plane Tree with Hunter Attempting to Climb the Tree (1605–08) Gouache on paper (22 cm × 36 cm) British Library, London, UK
“On this date [in 1618] Abu’l Hasan the artist, who had been awarded the title Nadir al-Zaman [Wonder of the Age], presented a painting he had made …. Since it was worthy of praise, he was shown limitless favor. Without exaggeration, his work is perfect, and his depiction is a masterpiece of the age.” These were the words of Emperor Jahangir of the Mughal Dynasty of India. “Abu’l Hasan’s father,” Jahangir continued, “was Aqa Reza of Herat [in western Afghanistan], who joined my service while I was still a prince. Abu’l Hasan therefore is a khanazad [born in the household, a second generation painter attached to the court].” His earliest known work, executed at age 12, a drawing after Albrecht Dürer’s series the Apocalypse of St. John, already showed the promise of his mature work.

The Mughal Dynasty, known for its contributions in the political unification of India, also marked a golden age for the arts; particularly during the reign of Jahangir, when art intended to document the life and culture of the court flourished and a distinctive style developed known as Mughal painting. An opinionated collector and connoisseur, Jahangir was a literate and refined man. “I derive such enjoyment from painting and have such expertise in judging it,” he wrote in his Memoirs, “that, even without the artist’s name being mentioned, no work of past or present masters can be shown to me that I do not instantly recognize who did it.”

Also a writer and naturalist, this aesthete emperor housed and recorded flora and fauna from near and afar. He took pity on elephants in winter and provided heated water for them to bathe in; he had shawls made for jackals to shield them against the cold. He encouraged detailed depictions of these and other animals, which his court painters produced prolifically, along with faithful copies of art prints, brought to India by missionaries.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, trade and the movement of humans, animals, and plants increased around the globe. Italian Renaissance reached the Mughal court, and the representational realism of the court, shaped by Hindu, Persian, and Chinese influences, found its way into European painting as Dutch and other artists visited India. Rembrandt collected Mughal works, while artists of the court copied Dürer and English painters Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver. Still, Mughal painters treaded their own path, resisting such preoccupations as perspective and the use of chiaroscuro to create the illusion of depth. Instead, they painted flat patterns, which they burnished for a jewel-like effect.

Despite Jahangir’s far-sighted insistence that paintings be cataloged, dated, and even signed, little besides names is known about the artists who served in his and other courts or about their lives and status in society. Wages were roughly equivalent to those of soldiers, though bonuses were given for outstanding work, and artists traveled with the court to wars and hunts. Not many of Abu’l Hasan’s paintings have survived, though the few that have show a variety of subjects, among them scenes of everyday life. His portraits and religious paintings were displayed in public places and were preserved in albums made for the emperor.

Squirrels in a Plane Tree, on this month’s cover, the most famous painting associated with Abu’l Hasan, shows a naturalism that must have followed direct observation. And because the common red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) in it are European natives not found in India, the artist must have observed them either in Jahangir’s zoo or abroad during one of the emperor’s travels.

Backdrop for the gamboling creatures is the iconic plane tree (Platanus orientalis), a fixture of the Indian countryside and a royal tree to the Mughals. This was the Tree of Hippocrates, under which the sage physician taught medicine in Kos. With a range from Iberia to the Himalaya, it is known as chenar in Persia. Xerxes fell in love with it, his sentiment immortalized in the namesake opera by George Frideric Handel: “Never was there made/a shade of a plant/dear and loving,/or more gentle.” Iqbal, poet of the East, traced the warmth of Kashmiri soil to the “blaze of chinars it nurses in its bosom.”

Abu’l Hasan captured the five-lobed leaves, whose horizontal orientation accounts for the legendary shade of the tree. These leaves, which Kasmiris dry and turn into charcoal to fuel makeshift heaters (kangris) carried under their tunics in winter, change from deep green to bright red in the fall, their beauty continuing to ignite the artistic imagination.

Rightfully at center stage, Abu’l Hasan’s plane tree is rooted in the bottom edge, while its canopy brushes the top of the composition. A couple of adult squirrels rein in nearly a dozen young, who cluster playfully in and around the trunk. Birds fly by, perch on the branches, or pick at the greenery on the ground, while goats frolic in the glade. Near the base, a hunter begins to climb toward the furry creatures. Like the squirrels, he does not have native features but seems extracted from some European painting of the period. The squirrels are disproportionately large; the local landscape dwarfed and compressed awkwardly around the exotic central theme.

This composition, too large to have been illustration for a manuscript, was probably derived from more than one source, its topical meaning now unknown. Some have surmised an allegorical connotation, one perhaps alluding to the adversarial relationship between humans and nature. But current concerns involving human–animal interaction and its many foibles invite even more tangible interpretations.

Abu’l Hasan’s bucolic tree teeming with small mammals and birds and surrounded by wildlife seems pertinent to a topic in this issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases: Kyasanur Forest disease and the namesake mammalian tick-borne virus, enzootic to limited geographic areas of India’s Karnataka State. The virus is transmitted by ticks between ground birds and small mammals. The recently discovered common ancestry of the Indian and Saudi Arabian Kyasanur Forest disease viruses, despite their large geographic separation, indicates long-range movement of virus, possibly by birds.

While no one knows why Abu’l Hasan’s hapless hunter was climbing the plane, any modern viewer can surmise the futility of his bare-handed endeavor against acrobatic rodents and birds. Not to mention that, unbeknownst to him, along with other hunters of tree-dwelling creatures, he is at great risk for virus infection. Still, his predicament pales beside that of virus hunters, who know as in the case of Kyasanur Forest disease virus, that obscured by unrecognized disease or cryptic enzootic cycles, elusive viruses may exist in other geographic areas and ecologic niches.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819890/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819890/bin/Cover15No9-F.jpg

Preserve the wealth of water

THROUGHOUT the discussions of which we have spoken,
the King always showed his deep regard for Chrift
our Lord. He also spoke very ftrongly in favour of
the use of pi&ures, which, amongft the Moors, are
regarded with abhorrence; and on coming from
Lahor, and finding his palaces at Agra very beautifully
decorated and adorned both inside and outside with
many pictures which had already been completed, and
others that were being painted, in a balcony \varanda]
where he sits daily to be seen by the people : l
nearly all these piftures were of a sacred charafter,
for in the middle of the ceiling there was a paint-
ing of Chrift our Lord, very perfeftly finished,
with an aureola, and surrounded by angels; and on
the walls were some small piftures of the Saints.

The lakes of Hyderabad were constructed by ancient rulers, who realised how precious water was and the need to preserve it.

With summer gone and the monsoon taking over, it is the season of rain.

This will fill our lakes that supply us our water every day . They are ideal picnic destinations as well.

“We visit the water bodies of the city on holidays. They teach us about the water ecosystem,” says Pravalika Rao, who regularly goes on picnics with her family and her friends.

Her neighbour, 12-year-old Ranganath, enjoys the boating and fishing facilities provided in some of these lakes.

Did you know that the lakes of Hyderabad are all man made?

Abu’l Hasan’s bucolic tree teeming with small mammals and birds and surrounded by wildlife seems pertinent to a topic in this issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases: Kyasanur Forest disease and the namesake mammalian tick-borne virus, enzootic to limited geographic areas of India’s Karnataka State. The virus is transmitted by ticks between ground birds and small mammals. The recently discovered common ancestry of the Indian and Saudi Arabian Kyasanur Forest disease viruses, despite their large geographic separation, indicates long-range movement of virus, possibly by birds.

Since the Deccan area receives heavy rain from the south west monsoon, the rulers here felt the need to store this precious liquid, so that they would have a constant supply of water through the year. Their planning and implementation, is the back bone of our lives too!

Hussainsagar lake

Squirrels in a Plane Tree, on this month’s cover, the most famous painting associated with Abu’l Hasan, shows a naturalism that must have followed direct observation. And because the common red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) in it are European natives not found in India, the artist must have observed them either in Jahangir’s zoo or abroad during one of the emperor’s travels.

Built during the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah, by revered saint Hussain Shah Wali in 1562, this lake is situated between Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Tank Bund and Necklace Road, which skirt the lake offer various attractions to visitors. Boating is one of the most popular activities at this lake.

Osman Sagar

The dam was constructed on the Musi river in 1920 by Mir Osman Ali Khan, giving birth to the Osman Sagar Lake. This lake caters to the drinking water needs of the twin cities. To keep it clean, no activities are permitted on the clear blue water of this beautiful lake.

Rightfully at center stage, Abu’l Hasan’s plane tree is rooted in the bottom edge, while its canopy brushes the top of the composition. A couple of adult squirrels rein in nearly a dozen young, who cluster playfully in and around the trunk. Birds fly by, perch on the branches, or pick at the greenery on the ground, while goats frolic in the glade. Near the base, a hunter begins to climb toward the furry creatures. Like the squirrels, he does not have native features but seems extracted from some European painting of the period. The squirrels are disproportionately large; the local landscape dwarfed and compressed awkwardly around the exotic central theme.

Himayat Sagar

Parallel to the Osman Sagar Lake is the Himayat Sagar Lake, which has been named after Himayat Ali Khan, the youngest son of the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad. The water of this lake meets the drinking and irrigational needs of the twin cities. This scenic lake offers an ideal picnic spot to visitors.

Durgam Cheruvu

Situated near the HITEC City, this lake was constructed during the reign of the Quli Qutb Shahs.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, trade and the movement of humans, animals, and plants increased around the globe. Italian Renaissance reached the Mughal court, and the representational realism of the court, shaped by Hindu, Persian, and Chinese influences, found its way into European painting as Dutch and other artists visited India. Rembrandt collected Mughal works, while artists of the court copied Dürer and English painters Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver. Still, Mughal painters treaded their own path, resisting such preoccupations as perspective and the use of chiaroscuro to create the illusion of depth. Instead, they painted flat patterns, which they burnished for a jewel-like effect.

It was popularly known as the Secret Lake, which could be due to the concealed location of the lake. This picturesque lake was primarily constructed to provide drinking water to Golconda Fort. Later the water was used for irrigation purposes by the British. Presently the angling and boating facilities available at this lake attract visitors.

Mir Alam Tank

Also a writer and naturalist, this aesthete emperor housed and recorded flora and fauna from near and afar. He took pity on elephants in winter and provided heated water for them to bathe in; he had shawls made for jackals to shield them against the cold. He encouraged detailed depictions of these and other animals, which his court painters produced prolifically, along with faithful copies of art prints, brought to India by missionaries.

This small lake was built in 1806 by Mir Alam, the Prime Minister of Hyderabad State during that period. Completed in two years the unique feature of the tank is the mile long bund with 21 semicircular masonry arches. When the tank was built it provided portable water.

The water is said to be so pure that people going on long journeys took this water with them. Presently, apart from being a scenic place, this tank attracts many migratory birds during winter.

Shamirpet lake

Returning to Jahangir, the fact that his favourite holy man was the hindu monk Jadrup with whom he would spend hours discussing the 'science of Vedanta' (as mentioned in Jahangir's autobiography) is indicative of the fact that Jahangir was not communal. North of Secunderabad is the pristine Shamirpet lake.

Due to its location, adjacent to the Shamirpet Deer Park, visitors can see plenty of deer going down to the water to quench their thirst. This lake also attracts plenty of migratory birds during winter month.

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/preserve-the-wealth-of-water/article2101027.ece

A famous Jahangiri painting depicting Jahangir along with Jesus Christ:

Why Jehangir here?

Hellsangel wrote:Why Jehangir here?

i have already responded to this question. See here:

https://such.forumotion.com/t5819p600-nizam-s-generous-side-and-love-for-books#66925

jahangir


and

jangiri

are jahangir and jangiri related? i don't know, but this problem is for the future tenuous connectionists to solve. here is a possible connection. the indian sweet jangiri was probably invented in jahangir's court where it came to be known as jahangiri. with the passage of time, the pronunciation of this word took on a new life. to saoothhhindians (to whom incidentally jahangiri became known due to the travels and conquests of one mr. malik kafur) who were unable to expirate, jahangiri became jangiri.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:are jahangir and jangiri related? i don't know, but this problem is for the future tenuous connectionists to solve.

a quick google search reveals that jangiri is named after jahangir who was a a lover of this sweet.

Max i was about to post something on jahangir but your jangiri distraction means that i have lost my chain of thought.

oh goodie. you can make up any tenuous connection and i am sure someone has already thought of it. that's the beauty of the internets and the googles.

ok i remember now what i wanted to say:

in another thread Charvaka has been posting paintings of Aurangzeb. Just compare them to the Jahangiri paintings and you will find the Aurangzebi paintings to be inferior in comparison. Why is this so? It is because Jahangir was a great patrons of artists, particularly painters, and Aurangzeb was not. For this reason the quality of mughal paintings declined slightly during Shah Jahan's time and considerably during Aurangzeb's time.

The emperor Jahangir struck a remarkable series of figural type rupees and mohurs, unprecedented for a Muslim prince. Besides extremely rare portrait pieces, he instituted a series of Zodiacal types, each one to be struck in the corresponding month. The obverse dies were reused from year to year, new dated reverses being produced for each subsequent issue. In addition, special specimen strikes were apparently produced for important visitors to the Mughal court, each receiving a coin with his Zodiac symbol. These Zodiac presentation coins continued to be struck for the Mughal emperors until the final dissolution of the empire in the 19th century. It is important to distinguish the early restrikes, which were official issues of the Mughal court, from the later imitations, which are private strikes made for purposes of bullion accumulation, or for the deception of collectors. Many of the official court types, both Jahangir's originals and the restrikes of his successors, are extremely rare, with no known complete set of the mohurs in private hands.



INDIA, Mughal Empire. Nur al-Din Muhammad Jahangir. 1605-1628. AV Zodiac Mohur (11.00 g, 12h). Taurus. Agra mint. Dated AH 1028; RY 14 (1618/19 AD). Bull standing left within radiate circle / "The money of Agra gave ornaments to gold by Jahangir Shah, of Akbar Shah"; AH date and regnal year. Wright 571; Hull 1381; BMC 324; KM 180.4. Somewhat careless engraving suggests a court presentation piece subsequent to Jahangir's reign.

http://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/711696.jpg

we must remember that paintings and drawings of any living creature are forbidden in islam. the fact that Jahangir minted these coins depicting the zodiac animals, which could be and in fact were circulated and easily passed around (unlike a royal painting) would mean that the minting of these coins could be considered to be even more blasphemous than a royal painting depicting the king and his courtiers.

Sep 29, 2010 — CANADA (SUN) — A serial presentation of the Mughal effect on Vaisnava society.


As previously mentioned, Jahangir's two-year stretch of close association with the Vaisnava sadhu, Gosain Jadrup, was summarized by the Mughal emperor's philosophical conclusion that Jadrup "is not devoid of learning and has studied well the science of the Vedanta, which is the science of Sufism". Jahangir quoted passages from the Persian poetry of Rumi and Sana'i to describe Jadrup, relying on the same literary material his father Akbar had used. Both father and son appreciated poetry that expressed the sorts of nonspecific, secular yet mystical ideals they were attracted to.

Both Akbar and Jahangir had an affinity for the mystical, preferring to adopt it outside of the bounds of strict Islamic tradition. We find this predisposition expressed in their speeches, in their writing, and in the philosophical positions they promoted, which academics today often characterize as 'benevolently embracing all religions'.

The reader will recall that in several past segments, we described how the Mughal emperors became attracted to Hindu religious practices and to various sadhus and ascetics, seeking relief from their anxiety about health issues, impending death, etc. The same is true of Jahangir, who at the time of his meetings with Jadrup, was struggling with serious alcoholism and addictions. His brother Daniyal was fighting a similar battle and like Jahangir, he too died from his substance abuse.

So the proclivity for things mystical on the part of the Mughal rulers can be considered an expression, in many instances, of their search for relief from suffering. Given all that we know about their warlike pursuits and the indifference with which they destroyed countless temples, deities, and lives of devotees, it seems likely that their spiritual explorations were driven more by fear than by some high philosophical ideal, or actual attraction to the Supreme.



By the time Prince Salim stepped onto Akbar's throne in 1605, he had already developed the same sort of inflated sense of self-worth his father had. The name chosen by the Prince – Jahangir – means "seizure of the world". Because Akbar's reign had been so successful, conquering much of North India and spreading into the central regions, the fame of the Mughal Empire was by now spread far and wide. Jahangir was left with a rather hard act to follow.

While pockets of resistance always existed, Akbar had settled many of the political rebellions in his various territories, deputing governors and generals like Raja Man Singh, and bringing the Rajput presence to bear in quieting and controlling the Hindu population. Jahangir saw as his personal challenge the extension of Mughal might and the fame of the empire throughout the world. He married well, and his wife, Nur Jahan, became the most active political agent in his court. Jahangir, meanwhile, attempted to bolster his own fame in various ways, one of which was the minting of high quality coins, many bearing his picture.

The minting of coinage was not Jahangir's innovation – various Mughal rulers before him had done the same. But in Jahangir's case, we see how he blended his penchant for the sentimental and mystical, which were combined on a number of coins. One series bore fragments of mystical poetry that hinted at Jahangir's fame – these were produced even before Akbar's death. In later years, Jahangir minted a series of coins with his image on the face, and the astrological signs on the verso. Both the emperor and the zodiac symbols are framed against the sun, making the coins very beautiful.

As we'll discuss more in the segments to come, Jahangir sought refuge from various forms of suffering in his life by fleeing to Kashmir. There, he took shelter amongst the beautiful scenery and enjoyed the sweet-natured Kashmiri people, while trying to overcome political subterfuge in his court and in his family, and trying to heal his body, mind and spirit from the destructive force of his addictions.

During one of his numerous journeys back and forth to Kashmir, Jahangir was returning to Agra when he was struck with severe stomach pain, which seemed unbearable. He sent one of his allies, Chidrup sannyasi, ahead to Agra with a quantity of gold coins to be distributed to the Vaisnava brahmanas and the poor. Jahangir was seeking blessings, and hoping his pious act of distributing wealth would get him relief from his suffering but unfortunately, the sannyasi proved to be a rascal, who distributed only some of the coins and kept the rest for himself. It was Jahangir's wife, Nur Jahan, who discovered the subterfuge, reporting it to her husband.

Jahangir then called on all sorts of Hindu saints and Sufi hakims (physicians), trying to get relief from his pain. He was eventually told about a Vaisnava preacher – a Pushtimarg devotee named Shri Gokulesh – and was encouraged to appeal to him for purification of the sinful activities which resulted in his suffering. Jahangir sent his messenger to deliver a letter to Shri Gokulesh, in which he begged for forgiveness. The Bhakti preacher then traveled to Agra to meet with Jahangir, and gave his blessings for the recovery of the emperor's health.



While Jahangir's gold coins were very beautiful and valuable, it was ultimately the emperor's humble prayers that purchased relief from his pain – albeit temporary. The gold coins were sought after during Jahangir's reign, sometimes being mounted with loops and worn as a medallion, or hung from turbans. They are highly prized by collectors to this day, but are in very short supply. Not surprisingly, after Jahangir's death, his successor, Shah Jahan had the coins withdrawn from circulation, announcing the death penalty for anyone caught using them. Many were melted down, replaced with coinage that glorified the new emperor.

http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/09-10/features1869.htm

There is an interesting hindu ritual called Tula Daan. It consists in weighing yourself against food grains (rice, daal, etc.) if you are middle class or it can also consist of silver, gold or silver coins, other jewellery, other expensive items if you are very wealthy. These items that you are weighted against are then donated, typically to brahmins.

it could be that this hindu ritual is region-specific and that it is not undertaken all over India.

The purpose of the Tula Daan is to ward off bad luck, bad vibes and essentially usher in good luck and good fortune.

It is interesting to note that from the time of Akbar the practice of Tula Daan was followed religiously by every mughal emperor including Aurangzeb. Twice an year, at the time of the solar and lunar eclipse, the mughal emperor would undertake the hindu ritual of Tula Daan.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:are jahangir and jangiri related? i don't know, but this problem is for the future tenuous connectionists to solve. here is a possible connection. the indian sweet jangiri was probably invented in jahangir's court where it came to be known as jahangiri. with the passage of time, the pronunciation of this word took on a new life. to saoothhhindians (to whom incidentally jahangiri became known due to the travels and conquests of one mr. malik kafur) who were unable to expirate, jahangiri became jangiri.

malik kafur preceded jahangir, and even babur. he was a general of alauddin khilji.

Rashmun wrote:There is an interesting hindu ritual called Tula Daan. It consists in weighing yourself against food grains (rice, daal, etc.) if you are middle class or it can also consist of silver, gold or silver coins, other jewellery, other expensive items if you are very wealthy. These items that you are weighted against are then donated, typically to brahmins.

it could be that this hindu ritual is region-specific and that it is not undertaken all over India.

The purpose of the Tula Daan is to ward off bad luck, bad vibes and essentially usher in good luck and good fortune.

It is interesting to note that from the time of Akbar the practice of Tula Daan was followed religiously by every mughal emperor including Aurangzeb. Twice an year, at the time of the solar and lunar eclipse, the mughal emperor would undertake the hindu ritual of Tula Daan.

i wish to know whether the Nizams and Nawabs of Arcot were carrying out the practice of Tula Daan.

photo of nawab of arcot:

different forms of birth control used during nizam's days:

Propagandhi711 wrote:different forms of birth control used during nizam's days:

I wish to know if jahangir knew or used any of these for birth control.

different types of beers jahangir wished he could drink but nizam did:

Rashmun wrote:Returning to Jahangir, the fact that his favourite holy man was the hindu monk Jadrup with whom he would spend hours discussing the 'science of Vedanta' (as mentioned in Jahangir's autobiography) is indicative of the fact that Jahangir was not communal.

A good painting of Jahangir with Jadrup:

Who is Jadrup? He was a Hindu ascetic from Ujjain, whom both Akbar and his son Jahangir liked. Akbar met him, and, according to Jahangir, always remembered the meeting fondly. Jadrup is listed (among nearly only Muslim teachers) in the Ain-i-Akbar as one of the contemporary sages who “understand the mysteries of the heart” and who “pay less attention to the external world, but in the light of their hearts have acquired vast knowledge.” Jahangir took a special liking to Jadrup, and visited him often. He is often mentioned in Jahangir’s memoirs. Below are a few passages about him from the Jahangir-nama bout the emperor’s meetings with this ascetic.

March 1616-March 1617

It has been repeatedly heard that near the town of Ujjain an ascetic sannyasi named Jadrup Ashram had been living for several years in an out-of-the-way spot in the country far from civilisation, where he worshipped the true deity. I very much desired to meet him and had wanted to summon him and see him while I was in Agra, but in view of the trouble it would have caused him I didn’t do it. Now that we were in the vicinity, I got out of the boat and went an eight of a kos on foot to visit him.

The place he had chosen for his abode was a pit dug out in the middle of a hill. The entrance was shaped like a mihrab, one ell tall and ten girihs [1 girih is about 2 inches] in width. The distance from the entrance to the hole in which he sat was two ell three girihs high from the ground to the roof. The hole that gave entrance to his sitting place was five and a half girihs tall and three and a half girihs wide. A skinny person would have great difficulty getting in. The length and width of the pit were the same. He had neither mat nor straw strewn underfoot as other dervishes do. He spends his time alone in that dark, narrow hole. In winter and cold weather, although he is absolutely naked and has no clothing except a piece of rag with which he covers himself in front and behind, he never lights a fire. As Mulla Rumi says, speaking in the idiom of dervishes: “Our clothing is the heat of the sun by day, and moonlight is our pillow and quilt by night.”

Twice a day he goes to make ablutions in the river nearby, and once a day he goes into Ujjain, enters the houses of only three Brahmins out of the seven married persons with children he has chosen and in whose asceticism and contentment he has confidence, takes in his hand like a beggar five morsels of food they have prepared for themselves, and swallows them without chewing lest he derive any enjoyment from the taste—this provided no calamity has occurred in any of the three houses, no birth has taken place, and there be no menstruating women. This is how he lives.

He desires no intercourse with people, but since he has acquired a great reputation, people go to see him. He is not devoid of learning and has studied well the science of Vedanta, which is the science of Sufism.

I held conversation with him for six gharis [i.e. 144 minutes], and he had such good things to say that he made a great impression on me. He also liked my company. When my exalted father had conquered the fortress of Asir and the province of Khandesh and was on his way back to Agra, he also paid him a visit in this place and often mentioned it with fondness.


Jahangir returns to visit him many times in the following years. Here are two more passages from his memoirs that give a little more information about Jadrup:

On Saturday the second [November 13 1618] I had a great yearning to converse with Jadrup again. After performing my noontime devotions I got in a boat to go see him. Toward the end of the day I hastened into his corner of retirement and talked with him. I heard many lofty statements about gnostic truths, and he explained the fundamentals of mysticism without obfuscation. One can really enjoy his company. He is over sixty years old. He was twenty-two years old when he severed his ties to material things and set out on the highway of renunciation, and he has been in the “garb of garblessness” for thirty-eight years now. As I was leaving he said, “How can I express my gratitude for this God-given occasion? I have occupied worshiping my deity with ease of mind and freedom from concern during the reign of such a just monarch, and never has any worry come to my doorstep.”
Later, Jadrup moves to Mathura:

March 1619-March 1620


There are more passages in the Jahangir-nama about Jadrup, but all are more or less like the above. We don’t get a very clear picture of his religious background or commitment. He seems to have been a Advaitin sannyasi (as the title Asrama indicates), who studied Vedanta. The Dabistan-i Mazahib does not consider Jadrup to be a follower of Sankara (see Moosvi 2002, 16-17). He could have been a Vaisnava, as many Advaitin sannyasis were in those days, but this is a little unlikely, given that his theological views are considered by contemporary accounts to be very close to the rather monistic Sufi teachings.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/vrindavan?before=1349414655

Rashmun wrote:There is an interesting hindu ritual called Tula Daan. It consists in weighing yourself against food grains (rice, daal, etc.) if you are middle class or it can also consist of silver, gold or silver coins, other jewellery, other expensive items if you are very wealthy. These items that you are weighted against are then donated, typically to brahmins.

gotta love the brahmins of yore for making rules than suited themselves well.

Propagandhi711 wrote:different types of beers jahangir wished he could drink but nizam did:

there is a common misconception that Jahangir was an alcoholic. he was not. i give below what i had written earlier with one correction:

In his autobiography, Jahangir informs us that as a young man he had fallen into frivolous company whereupon he had started drinking twenty cups of double distilled spirits every day. It had reached a stage where his hands used to shake and somebody had to help him gulp down the liquor. The family doctor had subsequently adviced Jahangir that if he did not change his ways, he would die within six months. This had the necessary effect on Jahangir, and he decided to cut down on his alcohol intake to eight cups of a mixture of wine and spirit taken on alternate days thrice a week. This clearly shows that Jahangir was a man of will power and the assumption in some quarters that he was a habitual drunkard is a mistaken notion.

Natalia Romanova wrote:

Rashmun wrote:There is an interesting hindu ritual called Tula Daan. It consists in weighing yourself against food grains (rice, daal, etc.) if you are middle class or it can also consist of silver, gold or silver coins, other jewellery, other expensive items if you are very wealthy. These items that you are weighted against are then donated, typically to brahmins.

gotta love the brahmins of yore for making rules than suited themselves well.

as per the dharmasastras (like the Manu Smriti) only the brahmins could carry out the following ritual:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyoga

Many contemporary Vaisnavas will instantly identify the person in this image as Sri Rupa Gosvami, one of the principal disciples of Sri Krsna Caitanya, and one of the most influential theologians of the Caitanya tradition. It has been used widely in print and online publications as a painting of Sri Rupa, and has been the inspiration of many contemporary depictions of him (like this one). It was also obviously the model of the murti that has, in rather recent years, been placed on top of his tomb (samadhi) in the Radha Damodara temple in Vrindavan.

But is this really a picture of Rupa Gosvami?

The above painting is a depiction of a gathering of Sufis, in Ajmer at the tomb of Mu’in ad-Din Chishti, a Sufi saint who was instrumental in spreading Sufism in India. It was painted between 1650-1655, probably in the atelier of Dara Shikoh, son of the emperor Shahjahan. In the top of the painting, there is a row of Sufi saints some of which are identified as great Sufi masters of the past, including Mu’in ad-Din Chishti himself (centre, wearing a red cloak and holding a book), looking on while contemporary Sufis dance themselves into ecstasy in the centre of the painting. (Note also the two very European looking men in the top left corner!).

But the most interesting part is the bottom of the painting, where twelve figures are seated. They are influential Hindu saints, and are all identified in Persian. The first nine, from left to right, are: Ravidas, Pipa, Namdev, Sena, Kamal (Kabir’s son), “Aughar” (a general name for an uninitiated Nath ascetic), Kabir, Pir Muchhandar (the Panjabi name/form of Matsyendranath), and Gorakh.

And then we come to the crouched figure many might immediately identify as Rupa Gosvami. The figure is identified as Chadrup or Jadrup. After Jadrup is Lal Swami or Babalal das Vairagi, a teacher of Dara Shikhoh. Of the last figure’s name only the title “Swami” is legible; this could be Chitan Swami, Lal Swami’s guru.



http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/jadrup

if you wish to see the amusing spectacle of Charvaka (panini press) criticizing and attacking people who were opposed to my view of Jahangir, see this thread:

http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/coffeehouse/jahangir-emperor-of-india.htm

if you can't find his posts it is because he is posting using the handle 'Carvaka'.

Rashmun wrote:Jahangir preferring the company of a sufi to the king of england and the sultan of turkey:

By B.N. Goswami
The king and the ascetic

IN our own benighted days of strife and divisions; it is good sometimes to retreat into the past and feel its texture.

While working on an essay on Mughal painting recently, I was struck by the fact of how often, and with what sympathy, the painters of the Imperial ateliers rendered encounters between kings and ascetics, even specific encounters between their own royal masters and men of God. When one sees this from the Akbari period, it comes as no great surprise, for such was the nature of that emperor. But it is what one sees from the succeeding reign that comes as a surprise.

Jahangir is not seen by most of us in the same light as his father. His many personal failings and his political vacillations apart — and his great aestheticism notwithstanding — one does not associate with him an inwardly turned nature, a true inclination towards leading what is well described as an ‘examined life’. And yet there are extraordinary paintings from his reign in which one sees him in the company of holy men, in which one does not get the feeling that these were made only for projecting an image which found favour with the Muslim clergy.

Among the best known of the works from his reign is the allegorical painting by Bichitr which shows the emperor, seated on a magnificent hour-glass throne, while several men — powerful men — wait upon him , eager to receive his attention: the king of England, James I, stands at the side, well below the throne; so does a heavily turbaned man who is seen sometimes as the Sultan of Turkey.

But the emperor’s attention, not even his gaze, is directed towards these men of the world: he stretches his long arm, on the other hand, to hand over a book to a simple Shaikh, a holy man in the Islamic tradition, as a mark of respect and favour. The image is completed by the addition to the painting of some verses in Persian which speak of his being a true “padshah”, both in surat and ma’ani — in an outward appearance and inward feeling. It is an affecting work, sumptuous in execution but, more than that, reaching out well beyond its surface.

Jahangir was given to unpredictable conduct sometimes, even to sudden acts of bigotry. But what I find irresistible in his autobiography, the celebrated “Tuzuk,” are passages where he speaks, as if articulating his innermost thoughts, of his responses to holy men. There are two such passages which I wish to cite here, and both of them, interestingly, relate to his encounters with Hindu ascetics.

The first of these took place close to home, in the region of Pindori in Gurdaspur district where an important Vaishnava establishment is located. The followers of this gaddi of Bhagwanji, the founder, and his chief disciple, Narayanji, in fact speak repeatedly of the emperor’s visit to the place, thus establishing both its antiquity and its sanctity.

Here, according to the Vaishnavas’ version, the emperor saw Narayanji perform a miracle. The emperor’s version is somewhat different, and one should hear it in his own words. He was at that time travelling through these parts. “At this time”, he says, “it was reported to me that there was a sannyasi Moti (mauni, one under a vow of silence, is what he meant) in the neighbourhood who had entirely gained control over himself. I ordered them to bring him so what I might ascertain the real state of affairs.

They call Hindu devotees sarb basi; by usage the word has become sannyasi (renouncing everything). There are many degrees among them, (one of which) ... is the Moti (mauni) order. They put themselves in the figure of a cross and ‘surrender’ themselves.

For instance, they never speak. If for 10 days and nights they stand in one place, they do not move their feet forwards or backwards, in fact, make no movement at all, and remain like fossils. When he came into my presence I examined him, and found a wonderful state of persistence.”

Jahangir’s putting the sannyasi — evidently Narayanji — to rigorous test of his powers follows. But onemust turn to the other passage which is truly moving. He speaks in it of Jadrup Gosain, a Hindu ascetic, who used to live at Ujjain and from there moved later to Mathura.

“On Monday, the 12th”, the emperor writes in his 14th year, “my desire to see the Gosain Jadrup again increased, and hastening to his hut, without ceremony, I enjoyed his society.

Sublime words were spoken between us. God Almighty has granted him an unusual grace, a lofty understanding, an exalted nature, and sharp intellectual powers, with a God-given knowledge and a heart free from the attachments of the world, so that, putting behind his back the world and all that is in it, he sits content in the corner of solitude and without wants.

“He has chosen of worldly goods half a gaz of old cotton, like a woman’s veil, and a piece of earthenware from which to drink water, and in winter and summer and the rainy season lives naked with his head and feet bare. He has made a hole in which he can turn round with a hundred difficulties and tortures, with a passage such that a suckling would hardly be put through it.”

An exquisite painting showing the emperor visiting Gosain Jadrup is in the Musee Guimet in Paris.

A sage answers

Jahangir’s account of Jadrup concludes with a poem in Persian:

“Luqman had a narrow hut/Like the hollow of a flute or the bosom of a harp/A rake put the question to him/’What is this house — two feet and a span?’/Hotly and with tears the sage replied:/’Ample for him who has to die’.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/1998/98sep25/art-trib.htm#art

it is sometimes wrongly thought that women at the mughal court were helpless, subjugated, with no voice of their own, and commanding little respect. This is far from the truth.

From 'The Great Moghuls' by Bamber Gascoigne, publisher: Constable London, pg 165

The princesses were well aquainted with the character and appearance of the various nobles because there were many court functions which they could watch through their protective grilles, as usual seeing but unseen. From their hidden position they even sometimes exerted direct political pressure during a debate in council. On one occasion Jahangir and his advisers were discussing what should be done about Aziz Koka, the father-in-law of Khusrau. He had worked against Jahangir's succession and more recently had behaved with open insolence in the emperor's presence. Some of the nobles now advised Jahangir that he should be executed, others recommended mercy. Then the voice of Salima, one of Akbar's senior widows, was heard from behind the screen. The women, she said, wanted mercy. Jahangir must come into the harem to hear their case; if not, they would come out to him. He went inside, their voice prevailed and Aziz Koka was pardoned.

while taking a course on mughal india i recall one of the questions in an exam asked the student to write a note on Noor Jahan. One of the things i wrote was that she is a symbol of female emancipation in India since she was not living in the palace like a gilded lily but was physically very active. Her great love was hunting. Jahangir writes in his autobiography that on one occasion she shot four tigers with six bullets while seated on top of an elephant. Note that the attitude towards hunting in the early 17th century when Jahangir ruled was very different from the attitude towards it today. When Mahabat Khan, Jahangir's general, revolted and managed to confine Jahangir it was Noor Jahan who managed to deceive Mahabat and through intrigue and deception managed to isolate the rebellious general in such a way that he had to flee for his life and Jahangir was back being king.

in the good old days Charvaka used to be a great admirer of Akbar and Jahangir. For instance:

carvaka posted Re: Conspiracy theory? on 5 yrs ago
i know that under the mughals (particularly Akbar and Jahangir), the Jesuit missionaries from Europe had been given permission to make converts to their religion and the Fathers have reported the conversions of quite a few muslims to Christianity.Allowing another religion to convert Muslims away from the faith is pretty much unheard of in Islamic history AFAIK. In fact, no major kingdom of the day would allow conversions from the religion of the king to another upstart religion; protestants were being burnt at the stake at that time in Europe. This is yet another sense in which Akbar and Jahangir were ahead of their times.

http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/coffeehouse/a-query-to-telugus.htm

Rashmun wrote:in the good old days Charvaka used to be a great admirer of Akbar and Jahangir. For instance:

carvaka posted Re: Conspiracy theory? on 5 yrs ago
i know that under the mughals (particularly Akbar and Jahangir), the Jesuit missionaries from Europe had been given permission to make converts to their religion and the Fathers have reported the conversions of quite a few muslims to Christianity.Allowing another religion to convert Muslims away from the faith is pretty much unheard of in Islamic history AFAIK. In fact, no major kingdom of the day would allow conversions from the religion of the king to another upstart religion; protestants were being burnt at the stake at that time in Europe. This is yet another sense in which Akbar and Jahangir were ahead of their times.

http://forums.sulekha.com/forums/coffeehouse/a-query-to-telugus.htm

Why Charvaka keeps changing his views on certain people is beyond me. For instance, even though earlier he praised Jahangir, more lately he has taken a 360 degree turn and has become critical of Jahangir. It seems that his whimsical and fickle mindset do not permit him to hold consistent views about certain historical personalities.

this whole thread can be summarized by this excellent quote i found upon rereading midnight's children by salman rushdie recently.

sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts.
-- sir salman rushdie (midnight's children)