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Introduction > Page1
Like his father Akbar, Jehangir was a vicious ruler. The Memoirs that he is supposed to have written of his reign are designed to mislead posterity. Underlining this aspect of his Memoirs, the late British historian Sir H.M. Elliot says that despite Jehangir's claim to that effect it has been too hastily assumed that Jehangir wrote the Memoirs with his own hand, for he was hardly the man to have taken upon himself such hard labor (Pg. 255, Vol. VI, Elliot & Dowson).
About Major Price's edition of the Memoirs (one of the many fraudulent versions of the concoction) Sir H.M. Elliot says that it "seems to have been written rather by a jeweler than by an emperor, and the pretended accuracy and minuteness with which the value of gold and silver and precious stones is given, and the astounding exaggeration displayed in enumerating sums 'which far outshine the wealth of Orms and Ind', convey to the mind strong internal evidence of fabrication."
Sir H.M. Elliot illustrates his remarks with many instances of Jehangir's fabulous claims. In one, Jehangir says that he demolished a temple constructed by Raja Mansingh and on the same place erected a mosque which cost him Rs. 5,40,00,000. Another version says it was only Rs. 8,00,000. The reality which escaped even Sir H.M. Elliot, is that Jehangir did not spend even a single pie. He merely massacred the priests, slaughtered the temple cows, threw out the image and ordered the temple to be used as a mosque. The only expense incurred was to uproot or deface the idols. And even that was made good by taxing the terrorized Hindus themselves.
Author : Shri Purushottam Nagesh Oak
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