Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c15.5

c15.5

There are two authorities on Jahangir, his life and his times, from which it is possible to gain a clear idea of his character and its manifestations. Both have special merit because they are contemporary records, each is written from an entirely opposite point of view, and each with a very different object. One of these is Jahangir’s own *Memoirs*,¹ transcribed by himself, which is a full account of his doings during the most eventful years of his reign. In this entertaining diary of imperial events we see the king as he would like to be seen, carrying out, as faithfully as his volatile nature would permit, his obligations towards his subjects, taking his proper share in the duties of his high office, but at the same time enjoying his life to the utmost. As a whole it is a plain, straightforward story, without any very serious omissions or exaggerations, but full of incidents, interviews, and episodes, which throw considerable light on his personality and surroundings. The other authority is an Englishman, Sir Thomas Roe, who, as ambassador from the court of James I, spent four years at the court of the ‘Great Mogul’. His impressions are conveyed in his Letters,¹ which have been preserved, and are invaluable because of the effective picture they present to us, particularly frank in its treatment, of Jahangir and his mode of life. From these two entirely diverse sources it is not difficult to see, fairly clearly, what kind of man this monarch was. Incidentally these two authorities also contain many useful references to the subject of painting which help us not a little in following the course that the art took during this important period in its history.