Travels in the Mogul Empire

Title: Travels in the Mogul Empire

Author: Francois Bernier

Editor: Archibald Constable

Publisher: S. Chand, 1972 (First published 1891)

ISBN: 978-81-2061-169-6 (new edition)

Pages: 478

Travelogues were prominent attention-grabbers in ancient days when newspapers and television were not part of people’s everyday lives. Learned men craved for information on far away places and exotic kingdoms. Since Marco Polo’s famous travel, Europe was a fertile ground for books of such genre. Francois Bernier was medical practitioner from Montpellier University who undertook a 12-year travel through India at the time of Mogul succession war that was raging among the four sons of Emperor Shah Jehan. Bernier got assimilated among the courtiers attending Danechmend Khan, a noble in Aurangzeb’s court. The author had traveled through a number of Indian provinces and obtained a first-rate impression of the country’s wherewithal. The book covers all aspects of the country’s political, economic, social and religious lives, along with a dramatic presentation of the succession war in which Aurangzeb emerged successful. Plays had been created in Paris based on the text of this book. Such is the lucidity and drama with which Bernier tells the story. From 1656 to 1668, Bernier saw India emerging to a new era which sowed the seeds of destruction of the Mogul empire.

A first hand sketch of the tumultuous events that eventually led to Aurangzeb decimating all his brothers to ascend the Mogul throne is dexterously presented. There were times when Bernier also became a constituent of the storyline, as he worked as Dara Shukoh’s personal physician during his flight to Sindh after a heavy loss in his second encounter against his younger brother. Rejected by the governor of Ahmedabad of entry into the city, and plagued by thirst and robbers, Dara entrusted the treatment of his ailing wife to Bernier. Thereafter, we see the author forming part of the spectators in Delhi, when Aurangzeb paraded Dara ignominiously through the streets, after the unlucky prince was treacherously held and handed over by a tribal leader in Balochistan. Bernier is affected with pity at the misery of the most beloved of Shah Jehan’s sons. Again, he witnessed a similar parade of Suleiman Shukoh, Dara’s eldest son, who had sought asylum in the hills of Uttaranchal. He too was grabbed by his protector when it was clear that Dara’s battle was over and Aurangzeb would hold the throne for a considerable time in the future. Notions of honour in medieval times were very flexible as we see cases of Hindu rajas and Muslim sultans alike abandoning their friends or dependant fugitives to their own fates when imperial authority turned against them.

Another point we notice from the narrative is the villainous duplicity of Aurangzeb. Being the most religious of the siblings, he masqueraded a burning lust for power with his protestations of affection towards his brother Murad Baksh whose support he enlisted to defeat Dara’s army. Once Dara was subdued, Aurangzeb captured Murad after inebriating him with wine. His wicked cunningness is evidenced by his refusal to take wine himself as he was a pious fellow. After incarcerating his brother and nephews, this bloodthirsty and cruelest tyrant lost no time in finishing them off one by one. Aurangzeb was the master of lies and dissimulation and his stratagems didn’t end even with the murder of his brothers. After Dara was decapitated on Aurangzeb’s orders, his severed head was brought to him on a platter. Aurangzeb ordered water to be brought and the blood was then washed from the face. When it could no longer be doubted that it was indeed the head of Dara, he shed tears and said, “Ah, wretched one! Let this shocking sight no more offend my eyes” (p.103). If ever there was a comparison to crocodile more apt, it was on this occasion.

Bernier addresses one issue that comes to mind for those who study medieval history, that is, how did the Hindus manage to hold on to their religion, culture and customs in the face of despotic rule by absolute bigots like Aurangzeb. Thousands of temples have been destroyed in the medieval period, many of them during the Mogul era. But Hinduism kept its ground in an astounding spirit of resilience and lived to tell the tale. What was the reason behind this? We read from Bernier’s travels that the Muslims were anything but monolithic and were heavily outnumbered by Hindus, 1 to 100, as the author claims. There were Shias and Sunnis, who were in mortal dread of each other, and there were several factions like Moguls, Afghans, Turks, Uzbeks and other tribes among the Sunnis itself. All these groups plotted against each other for money and royal favours. Naturally the warring parties had to enlist support from whichever quarter it was offered, without regard to that person’s religion. We hear about even Aurangzeb addressing a Rajput king as ‘father’ in an affectionate way to use him against his enemies. Hindus fought in Mogul forces in an admirable way. Rajput princesses were supplied to Mogul harems as wives and concubines, but never the other way round. In this situation, it is normal that the ruler reached a symbiotic understanding with the followers of Hinduism. There was gross discrimination against those Muslims who were third or fourth generation descendants of Afghan or Persian nobles. When their skin tones turned brown, as an indication of mixed blood, they were eliminated from positions of higher responsibility (p. 209).

Bernier not just describes the court of Aurangzeb. He goes into details of polity, economy, religion, philosophy and literature. Even though his descriptions are always thrown in with a haughty comparison with French equivalents, his reviews carry with it elements of truth. He flays the Brahmin priests for their murderous ardour in the case of widow burning, for their lustful duplicity in clandestinely possessing virgins dedicated to the deity of Puri temple and the ignorant exhortations that drive people to rivers and ponds to recite chants designed to save the sun from the clutches of evil spirits at the time of solar eclipse, one of which was witnessed by the author.

Having visited Egypt on his way to India, Bernier expresses no doubt as how to characterize Taj Mahal, the mausoleum that was considered to be wonder of the world immediately after construction. Bernier notes, “the splendid mausoleum is more worthy of a place among the wonders of the world than the unshapen masses and heaps of stones in Egypt” (p.5).

Slavery was prevalent in all Islamic empires and so did the Mogul’s. The state itself bought, sold and gifted slaves to visiting dignitaries. Aurangzeb, though outwardly very pious, was an enthusiastic slave driver. He bought slaves cheap whenever there were famines in the empire. Bernier says about some of the slaves gifted to a Persian ambassador who visited Delhi, “It is certain that the number of slaves was not unreasonable; he had purchased them extremely cheap on account of the famine and it is also said that his servants had stolen a great many children” (p.51).

Bernier’s narration of his travels is the most objective that can be obtained from the medieval period. He is not swayed by considerations of business, as is the case with Tavernier’s memoirs compiled in the same period and reviewed earlier in this blog. He lavishes praise when it is due and don’t forget to heap contempt when the subject deserved it. Bernier’s account of the journey across the Punjab plains to Kashmir in the sweltering heat as part of Aurangzeb’s royal entourage brings out the candour of the author in the grueling journey. It also gives a fine description of the Mogul camp in motion which may contain up to 400,000 souls, but only a few were permitted to enter Kashmir valley as the resources were scarce.      

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star