Jahangir as Francis Bacon's Ideal of the King as an Observer and Investigator of Nature

Abstract

The Mughal Empire is paradigmatic in many of its formulations, and it is epitomised in the persons of its first six padshahs or emperors. The Great Mughals, Grao Mogor, Grand Mogul, Großmogul or Groote Mogul, as the padshahs were known in Europe, have been considered as paragons of rulership. In critical appraisals, which were the prevailing view in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they were the quintessential Oriental despots, held up as a warning to those rulers in Europe with similar aspirations. One thinks here especially of Francois Bernier's letters of the Mughal court to his French contacts which included Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715). In more sympathetic (and more recent) eyes, such as those of the world-traveller, philosopher and enthusiastic inter-culturalist Count Hermann Keyserling, who was in India in 1911, they were “the grandest rulers brought forth by mankind”. Keyserling came to this conclusion because the Mughals “combined in their personalities so many divers talents: they were men of action, refined diplomats, experienced judges of the human psyche, and at the same time aesthetes and dreamers”. He felt that such a “superior human synthesis” (grossartige Menscheitsynthese) had not shown itself in any European king. Here I discuss to what extent the emperor Jahangir fulfilled Francis Bacon's ideal of the perfect ruler.

Emperor Jahangirs method of observation and approaches to investigation of Kashmir ecology: An appraisal of his deep sense of sensitivity towards nature

“…Indeed, the interdisciplinary discourse between natural scientists and art historians is brought about by Jahangir himself to explain the advantages of a combined method, written and visual, in representing natural phenomena, and sees in it an improvement of his ancestor Babur's approach (Koch, 2009, p. 298). Ebba Koch (2009) goes on to point out that: scientists have explored the Jahangirnama for its observation(s) on geology and biology (botany, ornithology and zoology). Whereas, art historians have analysed how Jahangir directed his artists to turn his observations of natural phenomena into nature studies (Koch, 2009, p. 297).…”

Setting the Game of Ferocity and Innocence: Hunts of Jahangir

“…The change in autobiographies from Babur to Jahangir was that Jahangir has explained with a 'combined method, written and visual, in representing natural phenomena'. 20 Another work of cursory attention exerted to credit Jahangir on and along the same lines. 21 Similarly, it gives a willing miss to the Jahangir's hunting expeditions.…”

“…Art historians have significantly acknowledged the same effort. 19 Art is a source to re-construct the cultural dynamism of history and associations of the empires. The change in autobiographies from Babur to Jahangir was that Jahangir has explained with a 'combined method, written and visual, in representing natural phenomena'.…”

The Emperor's Humbler Clothes: Textures of Courtly Dress in Seventeenth-century South Asia

“…In his first-person narrative, the Jahāngīrnāma, Jahangir demonstrated that he took delight in both natural and man-made wonder, praising the carpets of flowers that bloomed in Kashmir while also supporting a burgeoning carpet-weaving industry in Lahore. 70 Upon seeing a meadow of flowers in Kashmir, Jahangir composed a verse:…”