ffipipBi LIBRARY UNIV£!<SITY OF CALIFORNIA LESLIE WALKER . SAN DIEGO .,_<i H k i^ ,. \ THE MOGUL EMPERORS THE MOGUL EMPERORS OF HINDUSTAN A.D. I398-A.D. 1707 BY EDWARD S. HOLDEN, LL.D. Often art action of small tiote, a short saying or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real character more than the greatest sieges. —Plutarch. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ^895 Copyright, 1895, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Press of J. J. Little & Co. Astor Place, New York INTRODUCTORY NOTE A COLLECTION of miniatures of the Mogul emperors, some of which are copied in this book, came into my hands many months ago. The accounts of these unfamiHar personages which are given in the ordinary books of reference I found to be inadequate and fre- quently incorrect. Accordingly, I devoted the spare hours of a long and harassing win- ter to reading the original memoirs of the native historians of India and the accounts of early ambassadors and travellers to the court of the Great Moguls. A few of these I wrote out in brief, and they were printed in various periodicals. I have been asked to reprint them in a more complete form, which I am very glad to do, as I know of no one volume which contains the information here collected. To those who have lived or travelled in India, the subject of this book will be more vi Introductory Note or less familiar, since the jurisprudence, cus- toms, and architecture of the Mogul em- perors have left remains which still serve to recall their authors. Yet I think that even this class of readers may find it convenient to have many scattered fragments of biog- raphy and history brought together in one place. To the majority of persons, however, the Mogul period is a closed one ; it is hardly more than a name ; its impulses are alien, its note is foreign, and its history seems remote. But even to us, who are so far re- moved in time and in temper, it is not with- out interest to study the characters of the kings who ruled India for three eventful centuries ; and it is chiefly to the latter class of readers that this book is addressed. I wish to emphasize the fact that its chap- ters are not intended to give the history of the reigns in question, but rather to present such views of the chief personages involved as an intellieent reader of the histories themselves might wish to carry away. The materials which I have used are to be found in all great libraries, although they are dispersed in Introductory Note vii very many different volumes. Moreover, the writings of Oriental biographers require to be worked over into a new shape before they are acceptable to Western readers. I have not encumbered these pages with the host of foot-notes which would be neces- sary had I referred by work, volume, and page to their sources. It may suffice to say that the chief authorities consulted have been the Memoirs of the emperors them- histories of Persia, selves ; the standard India, and Tartary, by Elphinstone, Malcolm, Erskine, Price, Hunter, Howorth, and others; the records of early missions and voyages; and, more especially, the invaluable transla- tions of the native historians, by Sir Henry Elliot, Professor Dowson, and Professor all the works that I Blochmann ; in short, was able to find which treat of the subject in hand. The very interesting lives of Akbar, by Colonel Malleson and Comte F. A. de Noer, and of Aurangzeb, by Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, came into my hands after this book was finished. I have carefully com- viii Introductory Note pared Chapters IV and VII with these, the latest authorities, but I have seen nothing to change. As a matter of fact, all histories of the Moguls must depend upon the same originals. The interpretation of these origi- nals rests with the reader. I have attempted to present them so fully as to make the interpretation easy. Whenever it was pos- sible, I have used the very words of the various chronicles ; and this must be my excuse for some inconsistencies in spelling, etc. I have also chosen to retain the spell- ing of the word Mogul, which a usage of more than two centuries has made familiar to English readers, rather than to introduce the more correct form, Mtighal. I count myself particularly fortunate in that I have the permission of Sir William Hunter to reprint (in Chapter VIII) his masterly picture of the downfall of the last of the great Mogul emperors. I have been able to find nearly all the orieinal authorities for this book in the libraries of the Pacific Coast, which seems to be not a little remarkable when it is Introductory Note ix considered how far removed our American interests, literary and otherwise, are from those of India, especially of mediaeval In- dia. Other works I have consulted by the courtesy of Dr. Justin Winsor, Librarian of Harvard University. There was every reason to expect that no complete series of entirely authentic por- traits of the Mogul emperors could be obtained. So far as I have been able to discover, there is no such series in America. By the liberal action of the authorities of the British Museum, and through the very kind offices of Dr. Richard Garnett, keeper of its printed books, and of Professor Robert K. Douglas, keeper of Oriental Mss., I received permission to copy the portraits of the Mogul kings from a col- lection of rare and exquisite Indian draw- ings by contemporary artists, which consti- tutes one of its many treasures. The group of four emperors — Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir—which is given at the beginning of Chapter II, is reproduced from a Ms, of the Shah-Jahan-Nameh (British Museum X Inh'odtictory Note Add., 20,734), ^vhich was formerly in the possession of Akbar II, King of Delhi. The portrait of Shah Jahan as an old man (page 270), and of Aurangzeb (page 309), are from Ms. Add., 18,801. These plates were kindly selected for me by Mr. H. Arthur Doubleday of London, publisher to tliC India Office, who also was good enough to superintend their photo- graphic reproduction from the original Mss. The portraits are entirely authentic ; with one exception they have never before been printed ; indeed, their existence was only known to a few Oriental scholars ; and they have the additional advantage of exhibiting Indian portraiture at its best, in everything but color. The frontispiece of this book, from an exquisite miniature on ivory, is a copy of a picture given to my son by Sir Edwin Arnold. The plate of Akbar, Nur-Mahal, and Shah Jahan (as a young man) is repro- duced from other miniatures in my collec- tion. They purport to be copies of original portraits. How faithfully, even slavir-hly, Introductory Note xi such originals are copied and recopied I have learned by comparing two photographs of Nur-Mahal in my possession. One of these is after a miniature now in London, the other after a miniature now in Delhi. The two miniatures were copied from the same orig- inal. The closest scrutiny fails to detect any difference whatever in any part of the two photographs. The very pattern of a rug is absolutely identical in the two copies of copies. Hence it is that one comes to have confidence in such reproductions by Indian artists. The spirited design of two Asiatic warriors used as a stamp on the cover, is after a Persian painting of the time of Marco Polo, circa a.d. 1300, and it is reproduced from Colonel Yule's remarkable life of the great traveller. The portrait of Nur-Mahal (Nur-Jahan) at the beginning of Chapter VI, is copied from an eng-ravinof which bears the title " Noor Jehan, or the Light of the World, after an original drawing from the library of the. Great Mogul, and now in the pos- session of the Publishers," which is further xii Introductory Note marked " P. 185." I do not know to what work this belongs, but this rare portrait is evidently a faithful copy of some Indian original, and is extremely interesting. The view of the tomb of Tamerlane, in Samarkand, is redrawn from a photograph which I owe to the kindness of Professor D. Gedeonof, Director of the Observatory of Tashkend. From Rousselet's India and its Native Princes the following cuts are taken (by permission of the publishers) : The Tomb of Humayun, the Mosque of Aurang- zeb at Benares. The view of the Taj-Mahal is made from a negative by Mr. Frederick Dlodati Thompson of New York, and first appeared in his book, In the Track of the Sim. It is printed by permission of Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. These characteristic views of famous buildings illustrate the prog- ress (and decay) of Mogul architecture from the time of Tamerlane (1400) to the reign of Aurangzeb (1700). Finally, the drawing of the lotus (page 356) is reduced from a native Indian picture, in colors, in the collection of Miss Olive Risley-Seward of Washington. Introductory Note xiii Professor Gedeonof, Director of the Imperial Observatory of Tashkend, Professor C. Michie Smith, Director of the Observatory of Madras, Mr. Thomas G. Allen of New Jersey, and, especially, Mr. H. Arthur Doubleday of Lon- don, have been most kind in procuring for me miniatures and photographic copies of portraits and views. I have to express my grateful thanks to Miss Agnes Gierke for researches made in the collections of the British Museum, and to Miss Sara Carr Upton for similar researches made in the Library of Congress and elsewhere.