Emperor Jahangir

Jahangir was the fourth of the six “Great Mughals,” the oldest son of Akbar the Great, who extended the Mughal Empire across the Indian Subcontinent, and the father of Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal. Although an alcoholic and opium addict, his reputation marred by rebellion against his father, once enthroned the Emperor Jahangir proved to be an adept politician. He was also a thoughtful and reflective memoirist and a generous patron of the arts, responsible for an innovative golden age in Mughal painting. Through a close study of the seventeenth century Mughal court chronicles, The Emperor Jahangir sheds new light on this remarkable historical figure, exploring Jahangir’s struggle for power and defense of kingship, his addictions and insecurities, his relationship with his favourite wife, the Empress Nur Jahan, and with his sons, whose own failed rebellions bookended his reign.

Jahangir, the fourth Mughal emperor of India, who ruled from 1605 to 1627, has long deserved an up-to-date, scholarly biography in English. The emperor’s political struggles, opium addiction and love for nature and art come to life in this sensitive study by Lisa Balabanlilar, a Rice University specialist on early modern Asian history., This is a new and welcome study of the Mughal emperor Jahangir who until recently stood in the shadow of the more famous Mughal dynasts Babur, Akbar and Aurangzeb. Through Jahangir’s autobiography Lisa Balabanlilar unfolds the emperor’s life and kingship and takes a holistic view by considering not only politics but also the social, cultural and religious aspects of his rule. It is the special merit of the fluently written book to draw attention to Jahangir as the first Mughal emperor being born in India with which he acquainted himself through continuous journeys. This, as the author argues, led to his intellectual and emotional response to the landscape, nature and people of his territories, he viewed ‘Hindustan as a paradisiacal land of marvels and wonders., The genre of royal biography has fallen into relative disuse among professional historians over the last few decades. In this evocative book, Balabanlilar provides us with a richly textured account of the life of the fourth Mughal emperor, Jahangir, as revealed in contemporary sources from his own time in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries — including his own royal memoir, the Jahangirnama. The author narrates with deep empathy the life and preoccupations of an early modern Mughal Emperor. Building on the insights of the new social and cultural history of Central and South Asia, Balabanlilar also outlines for us the norms, values, and tastes of a Mughal emperor and his court in the early seventeenth century. The result is a royal biography that is also a rich socio-cultural history of an entire court at a distinct historical moment.

Lisa Balabanlilar is Associate Professor of History and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Rice University, Texas, USA.