Ebba Koch, the planetary king: Humayun Badshah, inventor and visionary on the Mughal throne
By: Anooshahr, Ali
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: The Indian Economic and Social History Review Description: 60(4), Oct-Dec, 2023: p.477-478.
In:
The Indian Economic and Social History ReviewSummary: The volume under review is the outgrowth of its author’s involvement with the site museum at Humayun’s tomb in Delhi starting in 2014. The purpose of the book is to shed light ‘on this still-enigmatic and least-understood figure’ (p. 8) of Mughal history. The study begins with a survey of scholarship on Humayun’s reign, and then proceeds to narrate the basic outline of Humayun’s life. The narrative does not make much use of secondary sources and mainly relies on the well-known Persian historical compositions of Khwandamir, Abul Fazl, Jawhar, Gulbadan and Bayazit Bayat. However, Koch expertly illustrates the various episodes in this section by making extensive use of the visual record, including images from a number of Akbarnamas, reproductions of some inscriptions and photographs of architectural remains, many of which have been unpublished or difficult to access until now. The next section covers Humayun’s ‘inventions’ and ‘interests’. These pages rely primarily on Khwandamir and Abul Fazl but again greatly move our knowledge forward through the incorporation of images, both those of a historical provenance as well as modern drawings, maps and models that help us envisage the emperor’s creations. A description of court ritual follows (pp. 153–76). By this point, the author has begun to project forward and show similarities between the rituals of the 1530s and the practices of the future centuries. This trend is discussed in terms of ‘influence’ and ‘continuity’ and is pursued further in the next unnumbered chapter ‘Humayun and the construction of the Mughal myth: The emperor as Sun King’. The three subsequent chapters describe in wonderful detail painting, architecture and gardens that were crafted under Humayun’s patronage. Koch’s examination of these topics is again enhanced by essential and quite stunning images. A discussion of the mausoleum closes the analysis. – Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00194646231203725
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | 60(4), Oct-Dec, 2023: p.477-478 | Available | AR130853 |
The volume under review is the outgrowth of its author’s involvement with the site museum at Humayun’s tomb in Delhi starting in 2014. The purpose of the book is to shed light ‘on this still-enigmatic and least-understood figure’ (p. 8) of Mughal history. The study begins with a survey of scholarship on Humayun’s reign, and then proceeds to narrate the basic outline of Humayun’s life. The narrative does not make much use of secondary sources and mainly relies on the well-known Persian historical compositions of Khwandamir, Abul Fazl, Jawhar, Gulbadan and Bayazit Bayat. However, Koch expertly illustrates the various episodes in this section by making extensive use of the visual record, including images from a number of Akbarnamas, reproductions of some inscriptions and photographs of architectural remains, many of which have been unpublished or difficult to access until now. The next section covers Humayun’s ‘inventions’ and ‘interests’. These pages rely primarily on Khwandamir and Abul Fazl but again greatly move our knowledge forward through the incorporation of images, both those of a historical provenance as well as modern drawings, maps and models that help us envisage the emperor’s creations. A description of court ritual follows (pp. 153–76). By this point, the author has begun to project forward and show similarities between the rituals of the 1530s and the practices of the future centuries. This trend is discussed in terms of ‘influence’ and ‘continuity’ and is pursued further in the next unnumbered chapter ‘Humayun and the construction of the Mughal myth: The emperor as Sun King’. The three subsequent chapters describe in wonderful detail painting, architecture and gardens that were crafted under Humayun’s patronage. Koch’s examination of these topics is again enhanced by essential and quite stunning images. A discussion of the mausoleum closes the analysis. – Reproduced
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00194646231203725
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