The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c15.s1.26

c15.s1.26

Thus Pelsaert, after stating that the Mughal’s rule only extended over the plains and open roads, continues: “for in many places you can travel only with a strong body of men or on payment of heavy tolls to rebels. The whole country is enclosed and broken up by many mountains and the people who live in, or beyond the mountains know nothing of any king or of Jahangir; they recognize only their rājās who are very numerous. Jahangir, whose name implies that he grasps the whole world, must therefore be regarded as ruling no more than half the dominions which he claims.”