The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri: or, Memoirs of Jahangir

Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan, 1569-1627Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.3
Word count
916K words
Chapters
92

Tags

English Originals World History Historical ReappraisalImperial MemoirPower GameStatecraftAutobiographicalSouth Asian CulturePalace LifeExotic CultureMughal Empire

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri: or, Memoirs of Jahangir (Volume 1 of 2) by JahangirAuthor: Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan, 1569-1627,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Dec 6, 2016

Editor's review

This is the first volume of the English translation of the autobiography written by the Mughal emperor Jahangir himself, a rare specimen of first-person royal historiography. Unlike court histories compiled by later generations, it preserves the monarch's own first-person record of governance, tours, hunting, the handling of rebellions, and daily court life, interwoven with his curious observations of natural seasons, exotic animals, and local customs, and thus holds dual value as both political history and a source on material culture and customs. The prose carries the solemnity of court language while retaining personal temper and humor, so that one senses the rhythm of life of a concrete individual at the center of power. As a public-domain ebook, it is easy to search and excerpt, suitable as primary material for the study of South Asian history and the Mughal Empire, and also for general readers interested in the genre of royal autobiography who wish to browse selected passages. Note that this is the first of two volumes and is an English translation, so it should not be read straight through as a complete biography.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and chronological clues first, then skip-read chapters on themes such as tours, rebellions, and court ceremony.
  2. Keep a chronology of major events in the Mughal Empire and a list of figures on hand to cross-check names of people and places.
  3. Excerpt passages on products, climate, and animals separately and organize them into a separate volume as material on customs.
  4. After finishing the first volume, continue with the second, so as not to mistake a partial account for a complete life.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

Is this book written by Jahangir himself? Yes. The book is a memoir written by Jahangir in the first person and is a first-hand imperial historical source. Note that the surviving text has been edited and translated into English, and some passages may bear traces of editorial intervention; when citing, it is advisable to check the edition and translator's notes.
Will reading only Volume One be incomplete? Yes. The work was originally in two volumes, and this entry is Volume One. Volume One covers certain years of the early part of his reign; to understand the complete account, one should continue with Volume Two, otherwise it is easy to mistake partial content for the whole life.
Can I read it without knowing Persian or Urdu? Yes. This edition is an English translation, so readers need not know the original languages. However, the book is dense with personal names, place names, and official titles; it is recommended to read alongside a chronological table and glossary notes, marking uncertain translated names first and checking them consistently later.

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About the author

Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan, 1569-1627 Author · Indian · 1569–1627

Jahangir, Emperor of Hindustan (1569–1627), was the fourth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from 1605 to 1627. He was a keen patron of painting, and the imperial workshop flourished under him, producing many fine miniatures. He wrote an autobiography, The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, or Memoirs of Jahangir, which recounts in the first person his reign, court life, and travels, along with observations on nature, art, and the regions he knew; its style is distinctly personal. The library holds two works by him, both versions of these memoirs. Public information is limited, and his literary profile rests mainly on this autobiography, which remains an important primary source for the politics and court culture of the Mughal Empire.