In the Name of the Fathers
Mughal Genealogical Strategies from Babur to Shah Jahan
Keywords:
Chingīz Khān, dynastic genealogy, iconography, legitimacy, Mughal empire, TīmūrAbstract
Genealogy has always been a kingly preoccupation, especially in the Indic world where ksatriya status (whether genuine or fabricated) was a sine qua non for the exercise of legitimate power. It was no less true of the Turco-Mongol dynasty known as ‘Mughal’ which came to dominate vast expanses of the subcontinent from the sixteenth century onwards. True, the Mughals could boast of such illustrious ancestors as the world-conquerors Chingiz Khan and Timur. Yet, from the moment they set foot in India, they became aware of the limited legitimacy they would be able to derive from such genealogical credentials in a region where neither Chingiz Khan and his successors nor Timur had left very good memories. On the other hand, their descent from such famous figures constituted a real asset vis-à-vis their Ottoman, Safavid and Uzbek competitors and among the Turco-Mongol and Iranian elements of their nobility. The fact that the Mughals could afford neither to alienate their Indian subjects nor to dispense with the international prestige they derived from their lineage explains to a large extent the fluctuating genealogical strategies they adopted during the first century or so of their dominance.
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