In what ways do these accounts show the flaws in the Mughal empire?

1. In what ways do these accounts show the flaws in the Mughal empire?

2. What was the human reality of the Mughal rule?

3. Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism focused on west’s perception of the east. Interpreting the east through the eyes of the west has become a major scholarly assault since Edward Said. Westerners visiting the ‘Orient’ have been accused of being agents of colonialism to demonstrate the superiority of western ways by ‘imagining’ the east as decayed and degenerate. Do any of these western accounts read as acts of western domination or as projecting western superiority on the Mughal landscape in India?

4. Can you draw any kinds of generalizations about European attitude towards Mughal India?

5. What do you think of the description of Jehangir appearing before his people (the second reading)? Does it sound like it achieved anything crucial for his kingship or does it merely sound like a performance he felt like he had to put up in front of his subjects?

6. From the account itself, what can you surmise about the state of Jehangir’s empire?

7. How do you compare and contrast the state of affairs between Jehangir and Shah Jahan?

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