Like his predecessors, Babur’s lifestyle can be termed as primarily peripatetic and feasting with grandeur set-up and extravagant arrangements, was an established social practice within that peripatetic [and tribal] political culture. Shared meals or drinks were a well- established Middle Eastern/Islamic form of royal recognition. While ceremonies such as the exchange of gifts and robing of the elite guests were common features of Timurid court etiquette,⁵the sharing of food served to establish symbolic political relations with the aristocratic classes and local power holders.

The Mughal feasts and banquets were often arenas of public display. The use of grandiose and majestic tents, panels and drapery during their period seemed to have found inspiration from Timurid lavish parties which are described in such great detail by Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo. Two particular officers, yurtchi [camp maker] and the tovachi [troop inspector], were assigned the roles of setting up the camp, organizing and helping in the arrangements of feasts.⁶Apart from them, musicians, dancers and acrobats were also called for entertaining the guests.

Like the Timurids, it is believed that throughout the reign of Babur and his son, Humayun, ‘there seems to have been no distinction between the public and the private— in the sense of the physical separation of the court and the harem.’⁷Women of the early Mughal period displayed consistent involvement in political affairs, just like the Timurid senior women; senior Mughal women arranged banquets and feasts and found privilege to sit at the same pedestal with the king.

The influence of Timurids is also apparent among the early Mughals, when it comes to food symbolism and omens. Timur, in his Malfuzat, has described his dreams, of which he tried to find the meaning by construing the metaphor of food⁸and sometimes drew omens out of it.⁹

Feasts and Festivities among the early Mughals

Feasts and parties are means to celebrate any special occasion that calls for communal elaborate eating. The early Mughal rulers celebrated special occasions – victory in the war, to honour someone special, festivals, birth of a child, nuptials, etc., by hosting a feast or a banquet. Feasts on these occasions were charged symbolic events, and conveyed complex social and political meanings. Dietler, Hayden and Susan Pollock argue that feasts were important symbolic events where commensality was not just limited to eating and drinking together, but more than a physical act, they served to buttress social and political ties and promoted a competition to display one’s own wealth and higher social status.¹⁰Definitely, a feast or banquet brought about various groups of people together and its lavishness displayed the affluence of the dynasty. It has also been suggested that food and feasting played a significant role in the development of social hierarchy¹¹ and the exclusive privileges of the ruling class.¹² One could fruitfully apply these insights for the study of feasting practices in Mughal India, as well.

There are several references in the contemporary sources to the Mughal rulers and the nobles organising lavish feasts and banquets. Some of these descriptions appear to be exaggerated, such as, Abul Fazl’s description of Shah Tahmasp’s reception of Humayun¹³or Akbar’s birthday celebration.¹⁴During the time that Akbar was born, Humayun was on a run, and having lost the crown, was leading a nomadic life. Perhaps, it was to compensate the uncelebrated birth of Akbar that Humayun threw a seventeen days lavish party on his circumcision.¹⁵

We get to read about various other details in and around these feasts and banquets. Babur’s drinking and opium parties were communal events, and were marked by conviviality and excess; what mattered most in these events was the company. In a way, these parties served to strengthen bonds of friendship and were politically aimed at maintaining intra-community linkages. One the other hand, his successors, in particular Humayun and Akbar, maintained some distance and were accustomed to dine in private, except on a public banquet. We see a departure here, from the communal drinking parties held by Babur to a more clearly delineated and structured way of feasting and parties.

Feasts to display wealth

Indeed the pomp around these feasts and banquets was intended to highlight the wealth and prosperity of the kingdom.¹⁶There are accounts of jeweled thrones, gold hangings, ornamental tents, sometimes made of European velvet or silk of Tartary and Chinese brocade,¹⁷ gold embroidered cushion and fine draperies,¹⁸jeweled gold rosewater sprinklers, flower decorations, perfumes, special robe of honours, construction of barges and streets covered with silken embroideries and handicrafts.¹⁹The impressive variety of prestige food,²⁰ beverages, fruits, various kinds of meat and arrangement of music, tournaments for striking gourds and archery,²¹the munificence of the royal gifts, fine cloths and other magnificent articles²²were another way of highlighting the might and prosperity of the empire. These events were an affirmation of Mughal imperial power and a public display of imperial grandeur.

The extravaganzas, of these feasts held by the early Mughal rulers were often compared to banquets in heaven²³and were even represented as being the source of envy of the angels in heaven.²⁴In several early Mughal sources, the lavish feasts organised by the Mughal rulers were equated with those organised by the legendary Solomon,²⁵ Gayomars and Faredun.²⁷The generosity of the Mughal ruler was compared to that of Hatim²⁷and the imperial cooks were, in the words of Khwandamir, akin to cooks in the realm of divinity.²⁸The large quantity of dishes and variety of food were often compared to the ‘innumerable stars in the sky’²⁹ and quality and lavishness to the grandeur of the ‘garden of paradise.’³⁰The banquet was essentially an exhibition of the king’s power. As Schmandt-Besserat points out, ‘Feasts reinforced the king and the queen’s prestige and authority.’³¹While the overall objective was to highlight the authority and wealth of the Mughal sovereign, the symbolic meanings of these feasts were not just exhausted in the display of imperial grandeur.

Feasts to display power

We know that when people share food on an important occasion, they confer prestige on the host. All those who were invited to imperial feasts not only share food, but also symbolic resources of power and sovereignty. Likewise, all those who were excluded found themselves relatively excluded from resources in sovereignty. Who is, and who is not invited, who gets to sit next to whom, and what food are consumed are all questions that provide us important clues concerning the political culture of the imperial court. Hierarchy was quite evident during these banquets and feasts and seating arrangements were made according to rank and status. The physical and spatial arrangement of participants, the distance between them and the imperial sovereign were a function of their role and status in the political system. Power was spatially distributed and materialized.³³Given their strictly defined rules and conventions, feasts functioned as ritual theaters in which the participants were pushed up and down the social ladder, even as the participants similarly challenged these shifts in hierarchies by symbolic acts of imperceptible disobedience. The seating arrangements, norms of food sharing and consumption and gastronomical practices served to represent social and political hierarchies in the imperial court culture.³⁴

Feasts to depict generosity of the king

Feasts were repetitively used as an opportunity to create and strengthen social relations and food as a symbol could be manipulated in the negotiation of political relations.³⁵ In the articulation of imperial authority, feasts functioned in at least three symbolic realms. Early Mughal feasts were often used as occasions to demonstrate the kind hearted and generous image of the king. Almost every narrative of a feast highlights imperial munificence and the inclusion of common people with modest means, in the distribution of food. Sources have described these early Mughal rulers as benevolent kings who had no attachment to wealth and spent lavishly on their chiefs and subjects, granting them gifts, arranging lavish feasts and distributing food and money in charity.³⁶ Both Humayun and Akbar followed the tradition of being weighed against gold in the balance, and the entire cash or kind was distributed to needy people.³⁷

On occasions, common people were indeed included in the feasts, as well. The sources of Babur’s reign do not mention any such event, but those of the reign of Humayun and Akbar mentions feast where people from all classes became a part of the celebration. A much-demarcated private banqueting hall was held open to the public hall of audience³⁸to highlight the benevolent and paternal attitude of the king where he did not select people for the invitation, but almost anyone could turn up to share in the festivities. Indeed, as Hirschman puts it, commensality actually ‘melds the public and private spheres.’³⁹Often, various amirs and nobles were praised for their open table.⁴⁰Repeatedly, we see that victory in a battle was celebrated with a lot of splendour, and this was another means of getting connected with the ordinary soldiers in the army who fought for the empire.⁴¹Dietler and Hayden talk about patron-role feasts, where asymmetrical social power of the king makes the expectation of equal reciprocation no longer necessary. Rather, the unequal relations of status and power were strengthened through the acknowledgment of a constantly imbalanced pattern of hospitality, which established it through repeated events of social debt. On the one hand, those who were continually in the role of guests symbolically accepted their subordinate status in relation to the constant host and on the other hand, the role of continual and generous host for the community was seen as a duty obligatory for a person who occupied a particular elevated status position or formal political role.⁴²According to Dietler and Hayden, institutionalization of authority relied on this binding asymmetrical commensal link between unequal partners in a patron/ client relationship. Hunter points out, ‘Generosity is a primary virtue and the mark of a chief.’⁴³This was something expected of a king - to regularly hold great feasts and give gifts to emphasize his generosity. These gifts demonstrated the giver’s social status and prestige and were an important means of creating and defining social hierarchy. ‘To give is to show one’s superiority [while to] accept without returning or repaying more is to face subordination, to become a client and subservient.’⁴⁴Marcel Mauss discusses that putting people under obligation through public spectacle of generosity was ultimately an important means of winning followers and establishing alliances with other groups.⁴⁵

With the consolidation of the Mughal Empire, Akbar realized that military consolidation was enough to get control over the area, but not enough to secure the acceptance of the subjects. As a means to secure their acceptance, he celebrated not just the Islamic festivals, but the festivals of the Parsis, Christians and Hindus, as well.⁴⁶Akbar gave orders in 1587-8 to celebrate Hindu feasts for which farmans were dispatched to Gujarat and Bengal.⁴⁷Presumably, the order was not immediately put into practice, but later in his reign, we get repeated references of Dushera celebrations, Lari festivals,⁴⁸etc. He also celebrated the feast of St John the Baptist in 1581.⁴⁹Likewise, the spring festival of Europe was celebrated by him with pomp and largesse. He also instructed his subjects to celebrate the festival with loud singing and dancing everywhere in the empire.⁵⁰

Feasts to enforce hierarchy

A get together, usually reinforces social and political ties, but as Dietler and Hayden points out, it also creates space for articulation of new identities and political negotiations.⁵¹ Further, they argue that feasts have a peculiar power in expressing social relations and the dramaturgical effects usually associated with feasting [e.g. singing, dancing, inebriation, oratorical displays] underline the ritual nature of these events and creates space for other important social transactions and alliances. There are many instances when a feast was held to reinforce an alliance, initially instituted by ties of friendship,⁵² matrimonial relations⁵³ or political negotiations.⁵⁴ Nobles held parties in honour of the king⁵⁵ and his presence at their parties increased their status and enhanced their chances of improving their position in the social and political hierarchies.⁵⁶ In fact, realizing the political significance of the feasts, Akbar instructed his nobles to arrange a sumptuous feast, Ash-i-hayat [Food of Life] on their birthdays.⁵⁷

As stated earlier, feasts create social ties and bonding. Celebrations periodically bring together friends and families in the course of life and momentarily reinstate loosened relations of kinship and amity. Feasts gathered people under one roof. Babur explain in his Memoirs, how communal parties were important to him because of the company and bonding he received with his begs and nobles.⁵⁸ Humayun too shared his meals and parties with his brothers,⁵⁹ once in a while. In fact, Humayun invited Timurid women to participate in the Mystic feast, creating a strong bond with the extended family.⁶⁰

One of the first scholars to articulate how feasts can lead to social hierarchy through unequal reciprocity was Mauss. The giving of a gift, Mauss argues, is more than a simple act of generosity. Gifts are about relationships between the gift-giver and the gift-receiver. The foundation of gift-giving is reciprocity, more like an obligation. The essence of the custom is that the receiver has to give a gift of commensal value, representing the same level of friendship with which the gift was given to him/her at the first place. The gift-giving generates a relationship of superiority over the gift-receiver till such a time when the gift can be returned. Therefore, we could say that another reason for Humayun to give a feast back ⁶¹ to Shah Tahmasp was to create a symmetrical relationship. In feasts, the gift of food is taken into the body through consumption and therefore the hospitality cannot be immediately returned, creating a delay between acts of reciprocity, if they can indeed be reciprocated at all.⁶² Also, unlike durable valuables, the food consumed cannot be re-circulated [or reinvested] in other gift-exchange relationships.The distribution and consumption of food and drinks, is a practise, which like the gift-exchanges, assisted in creating and reproducing social relations. This is why feasts were often regarded as devices of shared solidarity that served to create a sense of community.

According to Maurice Godelier, the gift-giver does not lose all rights to the gift through the act of giving. The right of the owner is felt by the receiver, creating an obligation to reciprocate.⁶³ When the original gift-giver receives a gift in return, it is not simply re-gifting as the act further strengthens the relationship between the two parties.⁶⁴ Even though the feasts do not have a physical form which we generally relate to a gift, to the food here is ingested and destroyed, they do create relations of reciprocity, and make it mandatory for the host to reciprocate, in one form or the other. For instance, in 1552, Humayun visited Qandhar to see if there was any truth in the rumour that Bairam Khan had turned into a rebel. To allay his apprehensions, Bairam Khan threw up a big feast, marked by excess and splendour, in his favour. This had the desired effect, and his apprehensions were removed. To reciprocate, Akbar [who had accompanied Humayun] organized a more lavish feast for him when he came down to visit him.⁶⁵

Food Symbolism

Food is often considered as a language that has underlying meanings of its own in all societies. Likewise, in the early Mughal era, the symbolic connotations of food and cuisine are visible in their histories, as well.

Salt

Often loyalty was equated with the symbolism of salt in the early Mughal era⁶⁶ which also find various mentions in the chronicle of Timur, as well.⁶⁷ Richard Eaton points out how from the emperor down to the lowest servant, parties were bound together by mutual obligations, articulated through the ideology of salt [namak] in the Mughal political culture.⁶⁸ Salt has always been one of the most necessary components in culinary use. Because of its powers of preservation, salt was considered a symbol of durability that led to its use in covenants and it symbolized an obligation to fidelity, friendship and loyalty.⁶⁹ Similarly, food symbolism was used to portray other kind of comportments such as cheating and treachery,⁷⁰ forgiveness⁷¹ and things like greed⁷² and luck.⁷³

Fruits

Fruits occupy a special mention throughout the early Mughal accounts. According to Howard Kaplan, for Mughals, fruit was ‘an edible yardstick of civilization, the cultivation and appreciation of which was a key indication of civilized culture.’⁷⁴ Kaplan states that they served not only as a food item, but also as an ever present statement of who the Mughals were and how they viewed their relationship with their Indian subjects. The sources of Babur’s period give elaborate descriptions of Hindustani fruits⁷⁵ and often found them wanting - and inferior in taste - in comparison to that of Central Asia. To the homesick Babur, the fruit was a means of connecting with his long-lost homeland; according to the emperor’s Memoirs, the Baburnama, he wept upon tasting one.⁷⁶ Above all other fruits, the melon was most prized by Babur’s people, for whom the fruit was synonymous to home.

Mughal upper stratums spent extravagantly to grow or import exquisite fruits. While Babur was conquering northern India, he lamented the paucity of the fruit available in his new kingdom. He had melons of Central Asia rapidly transplanted in India,⁷⁷ but during Babur’s lifetime, these had limited horticultural success. Gifts of fruit were a matter of protocol in the upper stratums of Mughal society, and was an implicit language of diplomacy. For example, Babur gave away oranges as gift; he bestowed the fruit of two trees on Shah Hasan, gave the fruit of one tree each, to several begs and to some, he gave one tree for two persons.⁷⁸

By the time Akbar ascended the Mughal throne, a great deal about the formerly nomadic conquerors had changed. The relatively austere fare of Babur and Humayun’s day had given way to exotic cuisines that drew from every corner of the vast Mughal Empire. Fruit still occupied a prized position at the table and in ceremonial exchanges, but the available produce had changed dramatically. Indeed, the melons over which Babur had wept were now forced to share the table with a variety of other fruits and food items. Akbar had become a native in his new homeland of India, no longer riding across the plains of Central Asia, but dining on the riches of the empire of Hindustan.

Apart from this, fruit was often considered as a symbol of foreseeing the future. When Babur was praying for his victory in Hindustan, he asked for a sign in the form of a gift of fruits of Hindustan, which indeed occurred. Daulat Khan had sent him, as a present, half-ripened mangoes preserved in honey; he accepted them as the sign and prepared for the invasion.⁷⁹ Abul Fazl narrates another incident where an inclination for sub-acid drinks and for sour-sweet fruits by Miryam Makani while travelling to Amarkot, sent the message across of her being pregnant [with Akbar].⁸⁰ He further mentions another incident where the pregnant Miryam Makani had a longing for a pomegranate. Miraculously, in that waterless and grain-less Sahara where it was difficult to find any trace of corn, a large, juicy pomegranate emerged from the bag of a seller who was selling millets.⁸¹ The pomegranate was a symbol of fertility and prosperity.⁸² So through this reference to the fruit, Abul Fazl wanted to highlight the foreseeable shift in the future of the empire, with the impending birth of Akbar.

Milk

We see milk as a symbol in the early Mughal narratives, where Mirza Kamran, for the sake of ‘milk brotherhood’, asked Hindal for mercy and to let him escape from Humayun after committing a lot of cruelties and murders.⁸³ The symbolism of milk kinship was used as a mechanism for developing sentimental alliance. Abul Fazl used the symbolism of milk to symbolize divine protection. He states that Mirza Kamran designed an evil plan by which he made Akbar wean⁸⁴ when he was still very young, oblivious of the fact that Akbar ‘drew milk from the breasts of the Divine favour and obtained nutriment from a celestial nurse’⁸⁵ and hence nobody was capable of harming him.

Hunt

Lisa Balabanlilar argues that early Mughals’ passion for hunting could have been a result of the influence of Timurid-Mongol political traditions, where the hunt was considered as a universal prerogative.⁸⁶ Besides, the practice of hunting had symbolic connotations as well. Lisa Balabanlilar and Rosalind O’Hanlon point out that hunting was one of the most powerful and evident manifestations of political authority and legitimization in the Mughal empire.⁸⁷ Hunts marked territorial domination. It helped Mughal court in keeping vital frequent contact with its far-flung areas and peripheries and networks of servants and supporters.⁸⁸ Hunts were used as campaigns to keep the rebellion-prone chiefs in check, and facilitated in limiting the political disorder⁸⁹ and sometimes camouflaged a war.⁹⁰According to O’Hanlon and Anand S. Pandian, hunting, parallel with battle, was also an occasion to discover the inner qualities of imperial servants and allies. As a form of paternal control over the whole kingdom, testing its men and discovering their qualities, hunting was a means of divine worship.⁹¹ In addition, these perpetual travels undertaken in the company of large and spectacular moveable court complex and innumerous courtiers, officers, soldiers and assistants indicated that the empire was not limited by any particular geographic setting but revolved around the sovereign.⁹²

In the Ain-i-Akbari, Abul Fazl stresses that hunting for Akbar was a lot more than the pursuit of pleasure. In his own words, ‘His Majesty [Akbar] always makes hunting a means of increasing his knowledge, and besides, uses hunting parties as occasions to inquire, without first having given notice of his coming, into the condition of the people and the army. He lifts up such as are oppressed, and punishes the oppressors.’⁹³ According to Pandian, the imperial hunt worked in a variety of ways to re-establish order to subjugate potential recalcitrant chiefs and communities. As a military tactic, the hunt enabled the pursuit and punishment of disloyal officers and chiefs and as a ritual form, the hunt staged the forgiveness and assimilation of these rebels into the hierarchical order of empire.⁹⁴

The Mughal theory of kingship symbolized the hunt by the ruler, as his victory over the evil forces, which was, occasionally, conducted as a lucky premonition before a campaign.⁹⁵ Also, the early Mughals and retinue valued the hunt for its atmosphere of intimate socializing and informality. Decorum was seldom an essential concern in the hunt, the hunting parties were, in particular, infamous for their hard drinking atmosphere.⁹⁶

Pandian points out that as a metaphor for power, the hunt conveyed the courageous magnificence of the emperor, and his ability to capture and pacify lesser predators.⁹⁷ The chroniclers have often eulogized the fearlessness, courage and grandeur of the Early Mughals while hunting.⁹⁸ The presentation of Akbar’s personality by Abul Fazl, demonstrated a balanced and self-controlled person with elements of courage and unrestrained martial rage, when required. Abul Fazl described Akbar’s tiger hunting, where he hunted seven tigers once⁹⁹and the other time, brought a tiger to recoil and shudder before his divine glance and furious gaze,¹⁰⁰ and many such narratives.¹⁰¹Abul Fazl also narrated an incident, when the emperor and his party met landowners bearing a remarkable tale. A traveller suddenly threatened by a famished tiger as he passed through these forests immediately drew a line around himself and called out the name of Akbar: ‘On hearing the honoured name the beast stood still, and the man escaped from his mortal danger.’¹⁰²This account evokes the circle of sovereignty, forged by the imperial hunt. Symbolically, it might represent imperial domination of not just of Hindustani politics, but also of its natural environment. Anyway, it was also hunting, by which, the emperor appeared in closest communion with the north Indian landscape.

Further, Abul Fazl suggested how qamargah¹⁰³ was sometimes stopped by gestures of Akbar’s majestic compassion. In the Ain-i-Akbari, Abul Fazl attributes the following words to Akbar: ‘Although hunting suggests analogies of state policy, nevertheless the first consideration is to be sparing in the destruction of life.’¹⁰⁴ Animals caught within the qamargah were often set free with a mark on their bodies suggesting a privileged relation to the emperor.¹⁰⁵

O’Hanlon highlights how hunting was a major form of self-expression for Akbar himself, in which outer bodily action was the voice and instrument for inner spiritual purposes of many different kinds.¹⁰⁶ Hunting provided a prospect to hold direct association with wandering hermits and puritans.¹⁰⁷ It followed on from these connections as Abul Fazl described, that Akbar experienced his great moment of spiritual enlightenment while he was hunting. In May 1578, Akbar was hunting along the banks of the Jhelum River in Punjab. As the circle of beaters were closing around the Game, Akbar was suddenly filled with a mystical delight and drawn by a sense of divine unity. In appreciation for his mystical radiance, he ordered that the hunt be stopped and the thousands of animals caught up by the beaters be set free.¹⁰⁸

Women, Feasts and Food

Throughout the period of Babur, Memoirs and histories mention no banquets and feasts, which were adorned by the presence of women or in fact, organized by them. Women participating in the organization of feasts, parties and dinner as well as their role in maintaining cordiality among men has been recorded during Humayun and Akbar’s period.¹⁰⁹

During their reign, we see heterosocial co-mingling and this is evident from the various feasts that were arranged during their reign; during the Mystic feast and Hindal’s nuptial banquet, all Begums, Begas, Aghas and Aghadhar were present.¹¹⁰ Interestingly Gulbadan Begum, writing of the Mystic Feast in her Memoirs, documented the names of thirty-six of the ninety-six women who attended the accessional celebration; all were members of the extended royal family. Lisa Balabanlilar states, how among the attendees, Gulbadan Begum’s attention was drawn to a startlingly unconventional couple.¹¹¹ She describes the two women, Shad Begum and Mihrangaz Begum, who had a great friendship for one another, and they used to wear men’s clothes and were adorned by various accomplishments, such as the making of who wore thumb-rings and arrows, playing polo and shooting with the bow and arrow. The details given by Gulbadan Begum, about these two particular women suggests that they did not represent the social norm. Balabanlilar highlights how Gulbadan Begum specifically remembered these two women even when she was documenting her Memoirs years after the Mystic feast. Yet it is striking that these uncommon women were not treated as unconventional social outcasts, but were, as Gulbadan lucidly describes, honoured guests at the imperial family’s Mystic Feast. Listed as honoured guests at various royal banquets, their position within the family seems to reflect a high degree of respect for long years of loyal service and their willingness to immigrate to India among the Timurid exodus. According to Balabanlilar, these refugee women, the guests at the Mystic feast were essential presence in the formation of the new Mughal royal court, expressing and implementing a particularly Timurid view of gender, power and family.¹¹²

We have an elaborate description by Gulbadan Begum of the Mystic feasts, which reveal important aspects of the society and lifestyle of Humayun’s period. Even though, Hindal was married before the coronation of Humayun, the feast for the former was held much later at the insistence of Khanzadeh Begum,¹¹³ and this highlights her important position in Humayun’s household. It was only the senior women of means that organised the feasts. They had the authority to determine hierarchies- in what order the feasts would take place [Humayun’s to be celebrated before Hindal’s] and what might be the most proper contribution at the time of the festivity [e.g. jewelled throne], who to invite, the order of seating, serving etc. We see the importance given to seniority in early Mughal imperial households. The arrangements and execution of celebrations by senior Mughal women was a demonstration of the ritualized hierarchy as the principle of the domestic universe.¹¹⁴

The particular rights and roles of the elite women of Timurid Central Asia—their political and cultural participation, literary and artistic production, and the access to power and their participation in dynastic survival and success—have been described by many scholars as unique to the Timurid Mongol elites of Central Asia.¹¹⁵ The Chingizid and Timurid tradition, it seems, continued under the Mughals who robustly followed [and reinforced] the norms and values under these traditions.¹¹⁶

In her analysis based on the dichotomy between power through influence and power through coercion, Counihan argues that in a state society, while women are locked out of coercive [public] power, they gain [private] influence through giving.¹¹⁷ Senior Mughal women enforced their power and established their identity owing to their control over the organization of feasts, dinners and festivities. Similar to what Bynum said about medieval female saints, senior Mughal women carved out spaces for themselves within the various edifices that controlled them, and contested these structures in subtle and unanticipated means.¹¹⁸ Maham Anaga held a significant position of a regent during Akbar’s reign as she acquired power by nursing him. Soraya Altorki writes that Islamic law defines three types of kinship: relationship by blood, marriage and milk.¹¹⁹ Nursing is considered as a binding tie, and in her case, ensured Akbar’s immense attachment to her. It was the bond of milk that actually explains her domineering influence at his court. R. Ensel argues, ‘Colactation links two families of unequal status and creates a durable and intimate bond; it removes from ‘clients’ their outsider status, but excludes them as marriage partners…it brings about a social relationship that is an alternative to kinship bonds based on blood.’¹²⁰ Through wet nursing, Maham Anaga was able to develop a deeply intimate – and politically influential – bond with Akbar. Referring to Akbar’s attachment to her, Abul Fazl mentions that women at the imperial court believed – and even informed Humayun – that she was practicing magical incantations to ensure that Akbar accepts only her milk, and no one else’s!¹²¹

Even though imperial women derived power through the organization of feasts and parties and milk symbolism, the gendered spaces were evident during Akbar’s reign. The chronicles in Akbar’s time inform us that imperial feasts were homosocial events marked by the exclusion of women. Women in the harem were supplied food within their restricted domestic spaces,¹²² and during the feasts and festivals, senior woman were provided with sumptuous meals, but within their quarters of residence.¹²³

CONCLUSION:

The study of early Mughal feasts reveals that they were symbolic events with multifaceted social and political implications. Commensality and sharing of food produced bonding and relations of companionship. Moreover, feasts were used as manifestations of authority, hierarchy, opulence, and sovereign’s paternal and generous role. The grandeur and power of the dynasty was displayed through lavish arrangements of the feast and large moveable court complex for hunts. Power was buttressed through the practices of importing and gifting foodstuff. Often, the food symbolisms were appropriated by the state to legitimize- and symbolically deepen – their authority over the subjects.

Also, we observe the influence of Turko-Mongol culture in the the food practices of the early Mughals. These food practises were not uniform and static, but dynamic and ever-changing. The informal food practices in the nomadic life of Babur gave way to a sense of inclusiveness in food practices, with the consolidation of the Mughal Empire under Akbar, even as the change becomes perceptible even under his predecessors, Humayun.

Even though women were a part of the peripatetic entourage of Babur, their participation in the feasts remains largely undocumented. However, we find women under Humayun and Akbar, playing a significant role in the organization of feasts and parties. Indeed, Mughal women created a position of power for themselves within the Empire, by organizing feasts and parties but just like the senior Timurid women, this function was a privilege, limited to the senior Mughal women.

REFERENCE:

1. Vooght Danielle De and Scholliers Peter. Royal Taste: Food, Power and Status at the European Courts after 1789.Ashgate Publishing. 2013: p. 2.

2. Kertzer DL. Ritual, Politics and Power. Yale University Press, New Haven. 1988: p. 9.

3. Dietler Brian and Hayden Micheal (eds.). Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC. 2001.

4. Mongol theory of Kingship. Medieval India: A Miscellany. Vol. II. Bombay; 1972: 8–18; Habib Irfan.Timur in the Political Tradition and Historiography of Mughal India. Cahiers d'AsieCentrale. Nos 3–4; 1997: pp. 297–312; Haider Mansura. The sovereign in the Timurid State (XIV–XV centuries). Turcica. Revue d’Etudes Turques. VIII 2; 1986: pp. 61–82.

5. For the elaboration of these practices in Mughal India, See Richards JF. Norms of Comportment among Imperial Mughal Officials. in Barbara D. Metcalf (ed.). Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian Islam. California Press, Berkeley. 1984: pp. 255–89; Stewart Gordon. Robes of Honour: Khilat in Pre–colonial and Colonial India. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2003.

6. It mentions an army of men, whose responsibility it was to set up tents, spread carpets, etc. Sharaf al din Ali Yazdi. The Zafarnama. II. Muhammad Iiahdad (ed.). Asiatic Society Bengal, Calcutta. 1887 cited in Beatrice Forbes Manz. The rise and rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1989: p. 424 at 174.

7. Lal Ruby, Domesticity and Power in the early Mughal world, Cambridge University Press, New York. 2005: p. 29; Balabanlilar. The Begims of the Mystic Feast. pp .132–134.

8. Timur. The Mulfuzat–i–Timury/ Autobiographical Memories of the Moghul Emperor Timur. (Trans.) Major Charles Stewart. Holborn; 1830: pp. 24, 38.

9. Ibid., pp. 17, 18.

10. Dietler and Hayden (eds.). Feasts; Pollock Susan (ed.). Between Feasts and Daily Meals: Toward an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces. Journal of Ancient Studies. Special Volume 2; 2012: pp. 1–20.

11. Dietler and Hayden (eds.). Feasts; Goody Jack. Cooking, Cuisine, and Class: A Study in Comparative Sociology (Themes in the Social Sciences). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 1982; Gummerman IV George. Food and complex societies. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Vol 4, No 2. Arizona, 1997: pp. 105–139; Dietler Michael. Culinary Encounters: Food, Identity, and Colonialism. in K. Twiss (ed.), The Archaeology of Food and Identity. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 2007: pp. 218–242.

12. Kirch PV. Polynesian Feasting in Ethnohistoric, Ethnographic and Archaeological Contexts: A Comparison of Three Societies cited in Dietler and Hayden (eds.). Feasts. pp. 168–184.

13. When we look at two narratives about feast organized by Shah Tahmasp for Humayun, account by Jauhar seems more realistic [maybe because he was a witness himself] than Abul Fazl’s who as usual eulogizes the whole incident with his metaphorical and lavish use of words. Abul Fazl pays more attention to the hospitality provided by Shah such the lavish tents of silk and velvet and food [500 varied dishes], drinks [sherbet, lemonade cooled with ice and snow, other beverages with flavour of rosewater and grey ambergris], various fruits [maskan apples, grapes, melons etc]. He also mentions desserts such as comfits [made from candy and refined sugar] and vermicelli [Chinese threads] be partaken. Presents such as Khilats of satin and brocade, silk, and velvet cloaks were given. Jauhar Aftabchi. Tazkirat–al–Waqiat, or Private Memoirs of the Emperor Humayun. (Trans.) Charles S. Stewart. Cleveland Row, London. 1972: pp. 62–75; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. (Trans.) H. Beveridge. Baptist Missionary Press, Calcutta, 1897 – 1939: pp. 417–425.

14. Abul Fazl gave a detailed account of Akbar’s birth and the generous feast given by Humayun. He states that the feast was much more lavish and delightful than the feast of Gayomars and Faredun. [They were early Persian kings. Gayomars is supposed to have been the first man who exercised regal powers]. He wrote two verses by which he is trying to state that it was the most splendid feast, incomparable to any other feast, in fact so much so that, Messiah and Elijah grew envious. Important to note is that it was a feast to celebrate the birth of Humayun’s heir maybe that’s why Abul Fazl is trying to depict it in this manner. He wanted to present the birth of his patron as the biggest and most grandiose event of all time. Beveridge himself wrote ‘it is unfortunate that our author did not for once leave grandiloquence and describe to us in simple language, the hardships and privations amid which his hero was born. Abul Fazl turgid descriptions of the magnificence of the natal celebrations at Amarkot and the camp are as unpoetical as they are false and the one touch of nature he gives is the horror of the young mother at the hideous features of the village midwife. Abul Fazl’s acquaintance with the gospels and his manifest desire to liken Akbar to the Messiah might have taught him that the solemnity of the birth hour would have been deepened by surrounding it with images of distress and poverty. Abul Fazl, The Akbarnama, I, pp. 62–63; Jauhar tells us that when the news of the birth was brought to the camp, there was no money to give away in presents and Humayun sent for a pod of musk and broke it among his followers, saying it was all he had to bestow.’ Jauhar. Tazkirat–al–Waqiat. p. 45.

15. The feast of the circumcision of Akbar was a lavish affair which was celebrated for seventeen days. The bazars were decorated. Mirza Hindal and Mirza Yadgar–nasir, and the sultans and amirs decorated their quarters beautifully, and so did the begims and ladies in Bega Begam’s garden. All the sultans and amirs brought gifts to the Audience Hall Garden. There were many elegant festivities and grand entertainments, and costly khi’lats and head–to–foot dresses were bestowed. Peasants and preachers, the pious, the poor and the needy, noble and plebeian, low and high, everybody lived in peace and comfort, passing the days in amusement and the nights in talk. Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. (Trans.) Mrs A.S Beveridge. The Royal Asiatic Society, London. 1902: p. 179.

16. Dietler and Hayden (eds.). Feasts. pp. 65–114.

17. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. pp. 4–5.

18. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. I. (Trans.) H. Blochmann and Colonel H. S. Jarrett. Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta. 1873 – 1907: p. 88.

19. Khwandamir. Qanun–i–Humayuni. (Trans.) Baini Prashad. The Asiatic Society, Calcutta. 1940: pp. 37–38.

20. Pollock Susan (ed.). Between Feasts and Daily Meals: Toward an Archaeology of Commensal Spaces. Journal of Ancient Studies. Special Volume 2; 2012: pp. 1–20.

21. Khwandamir. Qanun–i–Humayuni. p. 63.

22. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 272.

23. Khwandamir. Qanun–i–Humayuni. pp. 41, 66, 71–73, 75; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. pp. 4–5.

24. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. pp. 62–63.

25. The biblical King Solomon, who lived around 970–931 BC was the wealthiest person in the world at his time. Religious text make many statements on Solomon’s wealth such as all of the goblets and household articles in his palace were pure gold, that his throne was greatly expansive, and that his immense wealth in gold caused silver to be devalued. Bible: The Book of Kings: 1 Kings: pp.1–11; Book of Chronicles: 1 Chronicles: pp. 28–29; 2 Chronicles: pp. 1–9; Scott Steven K. The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: King Solomon’s Secrets to Success, Wealth and Happiness. Crown Publishing Group. 2006; This comparison between Humayun and Solomon was mentioned in Khwandamir. Qanun–i–Humayuni. pp. 8, 9, 17, 31, 40, 57, 65, 82.

26. Gayomars and Faredun were legendary Persian kings, known for their generosity. This comparison between Gayomars and Faredun to Akbar was mentioned in Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. pp. 62–63.

27. Hatim was a famous Arab Christian poet, and the father of the Sahaba Adi ibn Hatim and belonged to the Tai Arabian tribe. Stories about his extreme generosity have made him an icon to Arabs up till the present day, as in the proverbial phrase ‘more generous than Hatim’ Beale Vide. An Oriental Biographical Dictionary, 1894: pp. 158, 159; He was traditionally the most finished example of the pre Islamic knight, always victorious in his undertakings, magnanimous towards the conquered, and proverbial for his generosity and hospitality. Lewis B et al. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Islam. Vol. III. H– Iram. Brill, 1998: p. 270.

This comparison between Humayun and Hatim was mentioned in Khwandamir. Qanun–i–Humayuni. pp. 41, 68.

28. Ibid., pp. 39–40.

29. Muhammad Arif Qandhari. Tarikh–i–Akbari. (Trans.) Tasneem Ahmad. Delhi. 1993: p. 177.

30. Ibid.

31. Schmandt–Besserat D. Feasting in the Ancient Near East in Dietler and Hayden (eds.). Feasts. p. 401.

32. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. I. p. 167.

33. Claude Fischler. Commensality, Society and Culture. Social Science Information. 50; 2011: pp. 528–548.

34. ‘Every day his Majesty Jahanbani (Humayun) came and adorned the banquet, and he distinguished everyone by sympathetic expressions suitable to their rank and condition.’ Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. p. 484; During a feast it has been mentioned how Babur exercising his grace and beneficence, summoned men of gaiety and his boon companions and all these who were connected with the foot of the Caliphate; and each of them was assigned a proper place, suited to his rank and position. Zain Sheikh Khan. Tabaqat–i–Baburi. (Trans.) Sayed Hasan Askari. Idarah–i Adabiyat–i Delli. Delhi, 2009: p. 146; Even during Mystic feast, according to seniority Khanzada Begum and Humayun being the king sat on the gold embroidered divan, according to importance and rank the rest of the guest were made to sit at the places assigned. Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. pp. 118–124.

35. Turner Victor. Symbolic Studies. Annual review of Anthropology. 4; 1975: p. 157.

36. Khan. Tabaqat–i–Baburi. pp. 254, 416; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 256.

37. Khwandamir. Qanun–i–Humayuni. pp. 74, 75; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 412; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 801.

38. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 102; Khwandamir. Qanun–i–Humayuni. p. 44.

39. Fischler. Commensality, Society and Culture. pp. 528– 548.

40. Babur. Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur). I. (Trans) A. S. Beveridge. Lusac & Co., London. 1970: pp. 39, 45, 49, 277.

41. We saw how Babur after the invasion of Hindustan, to revive the zeal of the exhausted and homesick army celebrated the victory with so much of pomp. Abul Fazl, The Akbarnama, I, p. 254; Or for that matter, as a good ruler and strategist Akbar recognized the fact that declaring the victory over Bengal and spreading the shade of justice over Fathpur the capital was necessary because the general public were troubled by a distant expedition at such an unfavourable season. Great feasts were given, and there was much rejoicing and waves of largesse quenched the thirst of the needy. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 256.

42. Dietler and Hayden (eds.). Feasts. pp. 82–83.

43. Ibid.

44. Mauss Marcel. The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies. Norton, New York. 1967: p. 72.

45. Ibid.

46. On 21st Mihr, Divine month, October, 1603, which was the feast of the Dashara, he sent him off after giving him weighty counsels. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 1233.

47. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. p. 205.

48. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 1093.

49. Monserrate. Commentary of Father Monserrate: S.J, On His Journey to the Court Of Akbar. (Trans.) J.S Hoyland and S.N Banerjee (ed.). London. 1922: p. 125.

50. Ibid., p. 175.

51. Dietler and Hayden (eds.). Feasts. pp. 29–30, 69.

52. Bairam Khan ordered a grand assembly to be arranged. The amirs and the servants [of the empire] who were present in this expedition too, at their stations at the proper places in accordance to their conditions and ranks, and stood in lines in handsome array at the door and in front of the pavilion. Daud Khan also with the Afghan amirs and great sardars came out of the fort of Katak Banaras, and came to Bairam Khan’s camp. When they arrived near the pavilion, Bairam Khan got up with great courtesy to show his respect and esteem for Daud Khan, and walking across the floor, met and welcomed him. When they came face to face, Daud Khan took his sword off from his belt and held it before himself. He said ‘When an esteemed person like you receives wounds, I’m vexed with soldiering.’ Bairam Khan took the sword from his hand and made it over to one of his bodyguard. He caught Daud Khan’s hand with kindness; and gave him a place by his side, and made affectionate and fatherly inquires. The butlers brought various kinds of food and drinks and sweets. Bairam Khan very delighted [with what was happening], repeatedly pressed Daud Khan to partake of the food and drinks. After the viands had taken away a conversation about the promises and engagements took place. Daud Khan entered into an agreement that as long as he lived he would not transgress from the path of loyalty and he confirmed this agreement with strong and solemn oaths. Qandhari. Tarikh–i–Akbari. p. 480; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 185;

In 1575, Muhammad Quli and his brethren out of wickedness behaved harshly to the Mirza Sulaiman’s men, and M. Shahrukh suitably rebuked some of them. He also gave a great banquet, and in the banqueting–hall promises and oaths were interchanged. It was determined that Shahrukh M. would never leave the highway of doing what was well–pleasing to M. Sulaiman. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 220;

In 1596, Dai Sadiq K. embraced on horseback and there was a banquet of friendship. Afterwards the Rajah went to his quarters, thinking that he would then treat the chief with honour. On the way he observed that the latter was distressed and so he dismissed him with respect. After some time he [the chief] gave his sister to the Rajah. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 1068;

In 1575, Mirza Sulemain received a wondrous banquet along with various favours as big as getting governance over Badakhshan. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 222;

In Bengal, 1576, on the day of Marisfand 29 Tir, Divine month [10 July], the armies of Bihar and Bengal joined. The Khan Jahan met the chief officers [of the Bihar force] and treated them with honour. He brought them into his quarters and gave them a great feast. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 252;

In Lahore, 1584, When M. Shahrukh crossed the Indus this good news was a happy presage to him. The fief–holders everywhere gave him a warm welcome, and when he came to Lahore, Rajah Bhagwant Das held a great feast. Abul Fazl, The Akbarnama. III. p. 671.

53. In 1562, Marriage of Akbar with Raja Bhagwan Das’s daughter for great connection. The marriage assembly was held there in the presence of Qazis and the other noble persons. Grand assemblies and royal festivities were arranged. Nizamuddin Ahmad Haravi. Tabaqat–i–Akbari. II. Bibliotheca Indica. Low Price Publications, Delhi. 1992: p. 599; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 496;

In Badakhshan in 1575, the Mirza and Haram Begam came there and held a friendly banquet. In order to strengthen the foundations of concord the Khanim (Khanim is a mistake here for Haram. The Khanim (Mutharima) had not Rustaq in her gift. However it would appear from the sequel that the term Khanim is also applied to Haram) married her eldest daughter to Abu S'aid Sultan and gave Rustaq as her dowry. When the friendship had been cemented, Cucak Khanim made over her son [Abu S’aid] to the Mirza and went off to Kashghar. Or sometimes references are made of feasts of reconciliations– Daud Khan, whose affairs were in extremis, gladly accepted everything. On 3 Ardibihisht, Divine month, corresponding to Muharram (12 April, 1575), there was a celebration. The banquet of reconciliation was prepared. Previous to this a pleasant spot had been chosen outside of the camp, and been adorned to the admiration of beholders. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 214;

In 1604, one of the occurrences was the marriage of Prince Daniel with the daughter of Adil K. of Bijapur. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 1240;

At Delhi, Akbar, in order to soothe the minds of the zamindars, he entered into matrimonial relations with them. Among these, Jamal Khan, the cousin of Hasan Khan of Mewat, who was one of the great zamindars of India, came and did homage. He had two daughters. Akbar himself married the elder sister, and gave the younger in marriage to Bairam Khan. Bairam Khan prepared a grand feast. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 76.

54. In 1544, For instance Humayun enjoyed a lavish feast by Shah Tahmasp. This created better relations between two important contemporary rulers of that time. Abul Fazl also states, lavish preparation for Humayun…and escort [his Majesty] up to Herat. On the first day he invested all his [Humayun’s] troops with handsome Khil‘ats of satin and brocade [kamkhab] from Yezd, and of silk [daraiha] of Mashhad and Khaf, and let them all have velvet cloaks [balaposh], [cloak or upper garment] and let there be given to every soldier and servant two Tabrizi tumans for his daily expenses; and provide varied food in accordance with the rules already prescribed. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. p. 425;

Humayun once called the Turki and Indian nobles and had a splendid feast and held a consultation about the settlement of the eastern districts and ending the rebellions. It could be a diplomatic step to appease the nobles and to make them feel important. This created loyalty and demonstrated the king’s great power and standing. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. p. 269.

55. Marriage of Bairam Khan and Salima Sultan Begam in Jalandhar in accordance with Akbar’s order. Bairam Khan arranged a royal feast and asked Akbar to honour it with his presence and the latter made to the assembly. Bairam Khan spend lavishly and made the people happy and prosperous. Badauni. Muntakhab–al–Tawarikh. II (Trans.) Ranking. Lowe and Haig, Delhi. 1980: p. 13; Nizamuddin Ahmad. Tabaqat–i Akbari. II. p. 224;

Akbar in the course of his journey to Lahore accepted Azim Mirza Kokaltash’s invitation to Dibalpur ennobled his house by his presence. He spent a few days in the festivity. Nizamuddin Ahmad. Tabaqat–i Akbari. II. p. 365; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 529;

Splendid Banquet was arranged in the honour of Akbar by Asaf Jah in Fatehpur Sikri in 1572. Qandhari. Tarikh–i–Akbari. p. 177;

In 1579, Qutbuddin was appointed as Ataliq, or tutor, of the prince Jahangir, and received the robe of honour called a duqu. Qutbuddin in gratitude for this great gift resolved upon holding a splendid banquet, and begged for Akbar’s presence at it. He granted his wish. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 401.

56. Arthur JW. Brewing Beer: Status, Wealth and Ceramic use alteration among the Gamo of South–Western Ethiopia. World Archaeology. 34(3); 2003: pp. 516–28.

57. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. I. p. 167.

58. Babur used this line, ‘That would be far from a man's act, quite another matter than comradeship! Whatever hardship and wretchedness there is, I will face; what strong men stand, I will stand; for, as the Persian proverb says, to die with friends is a nuptial’ when he was inside the cave and his men were out in the storm. He asked everybody to come inside. Later he said how inclusion of all made the place, ‘from such cold and tumult to a place so warm, cosy and quiet.’ Babur. Baburnama. I.p. 310;

Babur’s letter to Khwaja Kalan, stated how much he valued the company of his allies and begs. Babur. Baburnama. II. p. 647.

59. Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. pp. 42, 187; Jauhar. Tazkirat al–Waqiat. p. 92.

60. Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. pp. 118–124; Lisa Balabanlilar. The Begims of the Mystic Feast. : Turco–Mongol Tradition in the Mughal Harem.The Journal of Asian Studies.69; 2010: pp. 123–147.

61. Jauhar. Tazkirat–al–Waqiat. pp. 73–74.

62. Mauss. The Gift.

63. Godelier Maurice. The Enigma of the Gift. University of Chicago Press, 1999: p. 72.

64. Ibid., p. 26.

65. Ibid., pp. 613–14.

66. Reference of salt symbolism in early Mughal chronicles: Babur. Baburnama. I: pp. 26, 50, 87, 125, 193, 277, 325, 397, Babur. Baburnama. II. p. 535; Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. pp. 42, 73; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. pp. 320, 365; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. pp. 341, 392; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. pp. 76, 289; Nizamuddin Ahmad, Tabaqat–i Akbari. II. pp. 43, 295, 417, 541.

67. Timur. The Mulfuzat–i–Timury. pp. 54, 71, 77, 83, 109, 110, 111, 150.

68. Eaton Richard Maxwell. The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press, 1996: p. 162.

69. MacGregor Graham and Wardener Hugh Edward De. Salt, Diet and Health: Neptune's Poisoned Chalice: the Origins of High Blood Pressure. Cambridge University Press, 1998: p. 15.

70. ‘sold barley while passing it off as wheat’, Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. pp. 37–38; ‘these deceitful friends, whom you see, are but flies about a sweetmeat’, Badauni. Muntakhab. II. p. 223.

71. ‘took pleasure in tasting the sweets of forgiveness’, Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 308.

72. ‘They have a dog's hunger and in pursuit of their desires and for want of bread have thrown all honour in the dust’, Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 457.

73. ‘his loaf fell into the butter’, Badauni. Muntakhab. II. p.178.

‘Before I have received a single cup from the hand of the cup–bearer of fate, The stone of reproach strikes my wine–jar. What can I do?’ Badauni. Muntakhab. III. p. 255.

74. Kaplan Howard. Food for Thought: Melons, Mangoes, and Mughals. Available on http://bento.si.edu/a–closer–look/food–for–thought–melons–mangoes–and–mughals/

75. Babur. Baburnama. II. pp. 503– 696, Appendices; Khan. Tabaqat–i–Baburi. pp. 119– 124.

76. Babur. Baburnama. II. p. 646.

77. Ibid., p. 686.

78. Babur. Baburnama. I. pp. 414–15.

79. Ibid., p. 397.

80. However the translator mentions that it might be an exaggeration to eulogize the circumstance around the birth of Akbar, firstly because it wasn’t a season of mangoes and unlikely that there were any mango trees near Amarkot. Secondly, Abul Fazl goes on further describing how Miryam Makani’s forehead was shining by light of God and the glory of the divine light was such that nobody had the strength to gaze steadily at it. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. p. 44.

81. Ibid., p. 375.

82. Amjad Hassan. Pomegranate: Anatomy of a Divine Remedy. Lulu.com. 2005: p. 45; Staub Jack. 75 Remarkable Fruits for Your Garden. Gibbs Smith. 2009: p. 189; Hann Michael. Symbol, Pattern and Symmetry: The Cultural Significance of Structure. A and C Black. 2013: p. 189.

83. Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. p. 41.

84. Akbar must have been two or three and it was time to wean a child who could lift up another child older and bigger than himself and cast him to the earth. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. I. p. 456.

85. Ibid.

86. Balabanlilar. Imperial Identity. p. 89.

87. Balabanlilar. Imperial Identity. p. 88; Balabanlilar. Lords of the Auspicious Conjunction. pp. 1–39; O’Hanlon Rosalind. Kingdom, Household and Body History, Gender and Imperial Service under Akbar. Modern Asian Studies. 41; 2007: pp. 889–923.

88. For a general discussion of hunting in Mughal court culture, See Pearson M.N. Recreation in Mughal India. The International Journal of the History of Sports. Vol 1. Issue 3; 1984: pp. 335–350.

89. This argument was made by Blake Stephen. Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India 1639–1739. Cambridge University Press, 2002: p.145. Instances: In 1567, Akbar embarked on a hunting expedition with the dual political purpose of suppressing a rebellion by the sons of Muhammad Sultan Mirza – petty potentates who held domains in the Sarkar of Sambhal – and of conquering the fort of Chittor. Srivastava AL. Akbar the Great: Political History, 1542–1605 AD. Shiva Lal Agarwala and Company, Agra. 1962: p. 113.

Akbar went to Sarangpur in Malwah, on a sudden hunting expedition, with the purpose to get hold of Abdullah Khan Uzbak. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. I. p. 353.

Hunting forays were also transformed quickly into military ventures. On a hunting expedition to the forests near Sakit in modern Uttar Pradesh, Akbar learned of the ‘insolence, robbery, manslaughter, boldness and turbulence’ of ruffians in eight local villagers. Beseeched by a local Brahman headman – via the imperial huntsmen – to redress their plunder of property, the emperor led the 200 horsemen and fighting elephants in his company to storm and torch the garrison where they had gathered. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 207; Srivastava AL. Akbar the Great: Political History, 1542-1605 AD. Shiva Lal Agarwala and Company, Agra. 1962: p. 66.

Two complete chapter ‘Expedition of the Shahinshah to the Eastern Provinces, the Submission of the Khan Zaman, and the Return to Agra’, ‘The Battle of Paronkh which his Majesty, the Shahinshah personally conducted ’ which deals with a battle on the pretext of hunting expedition, Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. pp. 227– 237, 251–254 respectively.

In 1567–68, Sakat Singh, son of Rana Udai Singh met Akbar in Dholpur and informed him that his father haven’t accepted Akbar’s sovereignty as yet and proposed to march against his own father, on behalf of Akbar. However later, in his folly, he ran away from apparent dishonour, and fell into real disgrace. For he imagined that Akbar was meditating the punishment of Rana under the pretense of hunting, and that he himself would get a bad name to the effect that he had gone and brought Akbar against his own father. Ibid., p. 441.

90. Monserrate narrated about an expedition that Akbar initiated against his half–brother, Mirza Hakim Muhammad, the ruler of Kabul, in 1581. Akbar declared that he was going hunting and prepared to lead an army to Kabul, though Mirza Hakim betook himself to flight. Nonetheless Akbar with continued onwards probably to display his might, hunting along the way. Monserrate. Commentary. pp. 72, 74.

91. Rosalind O’Hanlon and Anand S. Pandian in their work. O’Hanlon Rosalind. Kingdom, Household and Body History, Gender and Imperial Service under Akbar. Modern Asian Studies. 41; 2007: p. 902; Pandian Anand S. Predatory care: The Imperial Hunt in Mughal and British India. Journal of Historical Sociology. Vol 14. no. 1; March. 2001. p. 93.

92. Richards JF. The formulation of Imperial Authority under Akbar and Jahangir’ in J.F. Richards (ed.). Kingship and Authority in South Asia. Centre for South Asian Studies. University of Wisconsin. Madison. 1978 cited in Pandian. Predatory care. p. 93.

93. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. I. p. 282.

Abul Fazl narrates an event, how when on a hunt, in the neighbourhood of Mathura, it was brought to his notice that for a long time it was the custom in India for the rulers to take sums from the people who came to sacred spots to worship, proportionate to their rank and wealth. This [worship] was called Karma. Akbar remitted all these taxes, releasing people from this obligation. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 295.

94. Pandian. Predatory care. p. 90. Instance: In 1578, Akbar went on a qamargha hunt in the neighbourhood of Bhera, Shahpur district of Punjab. At this time Haji K. and the other Biluci leaders came with feelings of shame and did homage. Akbar forgave their offences and gave them a place in the company [for hunting]. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 345.

95. When Akbar campaigned against Muhammad Husain Mirza in Surat in 1573, and states that if one of the imperial hunting cheetahs caught a buck this would be a sign that victory over Muhammad Husain would follow. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. pp. 63.

96. Balabanlilar. Imperial Identity. p. 88; Instances in Babur. Baburnama. I. p. 424.

97. Pandian. Predatory care. p. 90; Babur gave elaborate hunting expeditions where he and his retinues chased after wild asses and deer. Babur. Baburnama. I. pp. 325, 424; Humayun with his attendants went for hunting of deer. Jauhar. Tazkirat–al–Waqiat. p. 36.

98. ‘He slays lions, but would not hurt an ant.

He girds himself for the fray; but the lion drops his claws from fear.’ Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. I. p. 283.

99. Incident: Akbar went to the neighbourhood of Mathura with a select party, where he hunted seven tigers. Five were levelled with the dust by arrow and bullet, and one was caught alive. The other one, was caught by the united efforts of a number of helpers. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 294.

100. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. pp. 284–85.

101. Similar instances: Akbar was hunting on the territory around the fort of Narwar, a tiger with five cubs came out of the forest on to the track by which the cavalcade was proceeding. Akbar went alone and without hesitation in front of the wild animal. Everybody else was frightened and tensed but Akbar attacked the brute and killed it by one stroke of his sword. Ibid., p. 222.

In 1572, Akbar proceeded on foot to circumambulate the shrine of Muinuddin Chishti. On the way the scouts reported that there was a powerful tiger in the vicinity that always lay in wait for travellers and killed them. So, Akbar, to accomplish his role as the true sovereign and protector of his subjects, went forward to destroy him. Ibid., pp. 539;

A caught leopard, without previous training, on a mere hint by Akbar, brought in the prey like trained leopards. A leopard once followed Akbar without collar or chain, and like a sensible human being, obeyed every command, and enjoyed every leopard chase. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. I. p. 285;

Another tiger hunt in detail, Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 482.

102. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 404.

103. Ring–hunt, mostly Timurid form of hunting. Qamargah is half Arabic and half Persian, qamar being Arabic for the moon, and gah, which is Persian for place. Explained by Henry Beveridge (translator) in Ibid., Introduction.

104. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. III. p. 380.

105. Pandian. Predatory care. pp. 79–107. Persian kings often free captured animals after branding them or fitting them with earrings display the royal seal. Anyone who killed or captured such animals was subject to death by command of the king. See Hanaway William L. Concept of the Hunt in Persian Literature. Museum of Fine Arts Boston Bulletin. 69; 1971: pp. 21–34.

106. O’Hanlon. Kingdom, Household and Body. p. 902; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 241; Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. p. 238.

107. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. II. pp. 134–135.

108. In May 1578 and the 23rd year of the reign, 14 Safr 986 A.H. he had a strange experience, described by Abul Fazl. Akbar had arranged to hold a great circular hunting–drive near the river Jhelam in a place called Nandana in the Pind Dadan Khan tahsil of the Jhelam district of the Punjab. Suddenly, a change came over Akbar and he ordered every bird and beast to be released and the hunting arrangements to be abandoned. What exactly had caused this change was unknown, but was considered to be a case of jazba or spiritual attraction. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. pp. 345–347.

109. Miriam Makhani prepared feast of joy in Fathpur in Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 644.

Dildar Begum convinced Hindal to approve the marriage between Humayun and Hamida Bano Begum and organised a nuptial feast. Jauhar. Tazkirat al–Waqiat. p. 31.

110. Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. pp. 117–124.

111. Balabanlilar. The Begims of the Mystic Feast. p. 125.

112. Ibid.

113. Gulbadan Begum. Humayunnama. pp. 117–118.

114. Lal. Domesticity and power. p. 118.

115. Balabanlilar. The Begims of the Mystic Feast. p. 124.

116. The travel Memoirs of a Castilian envoy to Timur’s court, Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, confirms as with the amirs and princes of the court, and Timur himself, the women resided in pavilions of silk and embroidered tapestry, and ‘all of these enclosures aforesaid were occupied either by the wives of Timur, or by the wives of his grandsons, and these princes and princesses have their abode therein, as does also his Highness likewise, both summer and winter.’ Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. Embassy to Tamerlane 1403–1406. Harper, New York and London. 1928. p. 243.

In their luxurious garden encampments, and later in their own garden palaces, women of the Timurid court entertained their own guests, feasted and drank alcohol in mixed groups with men, and seem to have veiled with the thinnest of gauzes that allowed the observer to see their features clearly. Ibid., pp. 244– 248;

Timurid women were responsible for arranging major dynastic events, such as marriages and royal welcoming committees, and participated in diplomatic exchanges alongside amirs and princes. Manz. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. p. 124.

117. Counihan Carole M. The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning, and Power. Routledge. New York, 1999: pp. 43–60; Counihan, Carole M. Female Identity, Food and Power in Contemporary Florence. Anthropological Quarterly. Vol. 61, No. 2; April, 1988: pp. 51-62.

118. Bynum Caroline. Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women. University of California Press, California. 1987.

119. Altorki Soraya. Milk–Kinship in Arab Society: An Unexplored Problem in the Ethnography of Marriage. Ethnology 18. no. 2; 1980: pp. 233–245.

120. Ensel R. Colactation and fictive kinship as rites of incorporation and reversal in Morocco. Journal of North African Studies. 23; 2002: p. 93.

121. Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 384.

122. Abul Fazl. Ain–i–Akbari. II. pp. 57–59; Badauni. Muntakhab. II. pp. 16–17.

123. On the 28th Bahman the lunar weighment took place, and there was a great feast in the quarters of Miriam Makani. H.M. was weighed against eight articles, and various conditions of men obtained their desires.’ In Abul Fazl. The Akbarnama. III. p. 1101; ‘There was a great feast in the house of Maryam Makani, and there was a presentation of gifts, and there was largesse.’ Ibid., p. 747; ‘The beginning of this year was on Sunday the 24^th Jamadi ul Akhir 968 (10^th march 1561). The marriage of Muhammad Baqi Khan, the son of Maham Anka, an account of the proximity of which chaste lady (to the emperor) has been described in pervious pages took place. His Majesty at her request went to her house, and arranged a royal feast and for some days occupied himself in pleasure and enjoyment.’ Nizamuddin Ahmad. Tabaqat–i Akbari. II. p. 225.

Received on 15.11.2015

Modified on 22.11.2015

Accepted on 26.11.2015

Research J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 6(4): October- December, 2015, 255-268

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2015.00034.0