In the Name of the Fathers: Mughal Genealogical Strategies from Bābur to Shāh Jahān
Modern South Asian Seminar Series. Lecture by Dr Corinne Lefèvre.
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 Chingīz Khān and Tīmūr. 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 Chingīz Khān and his successors nor Tīmūr 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.
Corinne Lefèvre is Research Associate at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at Paris. She is a member of the Center for South Asian Studies and has previously taught at the National Institute of Oriental languages and Civilizations, Paris. Dr. Lefèvre completed her Ph.D. in history and civilizations under the supervision of Sanjay Subrahmanyam at the EHESS. She has re-examined conventional historiography on the Mughal Empire. Her aim has been to provide a renovated account of the construction of the Mughal Empire in the long time span (16th-18th c.) and to highlight the role played in this process by Asian connections.
Free Entrance, Reception Afterwards