From Jahāngīr to Shāh Jahān: (dis)continuities

International audienceIn what ways, if any, were Jahangir’s political memory and legacy relevant to Shah Jahan? In approaching this question, the essay opens with a brief survey of Jahangir’s representations in Shah Jahani chronicles and shows that the former was excluded from the new imperial model crafted by his son’s historians to the benefit of more prestigious forebears such as Akbar and Timur. However, Shah Jahan’s selective genealogy may in itself be seen as part of Jahangir’s legacy and it is argued that, far from being an isolated case, such a pattern of “hidden indebtedness” is quite emblematic of Shah Jahan’s relationship to Jahangir’s heritage. This is especially true of two areas in which Jahangir did not simply follow in the steps of his father Akbar but pioneered new ground for the Empire: the ideology of universal rule and its visual translations; and Mughal mercantilism