Jahangir is the least mentioned Mughal emperor in postmodern history. Babur is known for his conquest of Delhi; Humayun is known for reclaiming the throne; Akbar is known for his secularism and patronage of the arts; Shah Jahan for the prosperity he brought to his kingdom; and Aurangzeb for his ruthlessness. What are Jahangir’s accomplishments?
There aren’t many. That’s because, for most of his reign, he did not handle the affairs of the court. The Emperor stayed behind the curtains, indulging in opium, while his wife Nur Jahan managed the affairs of the court. Jahangir loved drinking opium in liquid form. In his book Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, he wrote:
The entertainment of Thursday was arranged for use in that flower-land, and I was delighted at drinking my usual cups.
Emperor Jahangir, who was known as Prince Salim, was a drunkard even when he was a young adult. When his father, Emperor Akbar, was alive, he spent his days in vain with moonshine. Eventually, however, Salim started replacing alcohol with philonium, a mixture of opium, saffron, euphorbium, henbane, spikenard and honey. The soon-to-be king made it a habit to only drink in the evenings (barring Friday, as it was a holy day). Slowly, over a few years, opium replaced alcohol. His regular potion: “Two and a half grams of opium mixed into six cups of wine.”
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