Niccolao Manucci
Niccolao Manucci | |
---|---|
Born | 19 April 1638 Venice, now Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy |
Died | 1717 (aged 79) Monte Grande, Chennai, now Tamil Nadu, India |
Occupation | Physician, Historian, Geographer, Explorer |
Notable works | Storia do Mogor (1698) |
Years active | c. 1660 – 1717 |
Niccolao Manucci (19 April 1638–1717) was an Venetian writer, doctor and traveller, who wrote a first hand account of the Mughal Empire.[1] In 1653, he was recruited as a servant and guide by Henry Bard, 1st Viscount Bellomont, envoy from Charles II of England to Abbas II of Persia and Shah Jahan.[2]
After Bard died at Hodal on 20 June 1656, Manucci remained in India for the rest of his life and is one of the few first hand European sources for Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb, Shivaji, Dara Shikoh, Shah Alam I, Jai Singh I and Kirat Singh.
Storia do Mogor[]
Manucci is famous for his work "Storia do Mogor", an account of Mughal history and life. Manucci had first-hand knowledge of the Mughal court, and the book is considered to be the most detailed account of the Mughal court. It is an important account of the time of the later reign of Shah Jahan and of the reign of Aurangzeb.
He wrote about his work: "I must add, that I have not relied on the knowledge of others; and I have spoken nothing which I have not seen or undergone..." .
Manucci spent almost his entire life in India. He would then send home the manuscript for "Storia do Mogor" which was lent to the French historian François Catrou in 1707. Catrou wrote another version as Histoire générale de l’empire du Mogul in 1715. The original then emerged in Berlin in 1915 and was written in three different languages. This version was translated and then published.
Works[]
Some of Manucci's works, reprints, and translations include:
- Manucci, Niccolao (1913). A Pepys of Mogul India 1653-1708. Translated by Irvine, William. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company.
- Manucci, Niccolao (1826). History of the Mogul dynasty in India, 1399 - 1657. Translated by François Catrou. London : J.M. Richardson.
- Manucci, Niccolao (1907). Storia do Mogor; or, Mogul India 1653-1708, Vol. 1. Translated by William Irvine. London, J. Murray.
- Manucci, Niccolao (1907). Storia do Mogor; or, Mogul India 1603-1708, Vol. 2. Translated by William Irvine. London, J. Murray.
- Manucci, Niccolao (1907). Storia do Mogor; or, Mogul India 1653-1708, Vol. 3. Translated by William Irvine. London, J. Murray.
- Manucci, Niccolao. Storia do Mogor; or, Mogul India 1653-1708, Vol. 4. Translated by William Irvine.
See also[]
- Harem
- Mughal Era
References[]
- ^ Niccolò Manucci (1965). Storia do Mogor: or, Mogul India, 1653-1708. by Niccolao Manucci. Translated with introd. and notes by William Irvine. Editions.
- ^ Morgan 2004.
Sources[]
- Morgan, Basil. "Bard, Henry, first Viscount Bellomont [Bellamont](1615/16–1656)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1356. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Further reading[]
- Eraly, Abraham. The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age. (London: Penguin Books. 2007).
- Manucci, Niccolao, Storia do Mogor, Eng. trs. by W. Irvine, 4 vols. John Murray, London 1906.
- Lal, K.S. (1988). The Mughal Harem. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-85179-03-2.
- Lane-Pool, Stanley. Aurangzeb and the decay of the Mughal empire (Delhi: S. Chand & Co.1964)
- Ali, Sadiq. A vindication of Aurangzeb in two parts (Calcutta: New Age Press. 1918)
- Fasana-e-Saltanat-e-Mughlia. An Urdu Translation of Manucci diaries by Khan Bahadur Syed Muzaffar Ali Khan
External link[]
- Media related to Niccolò Manucci at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Niccolao Manucci at Wikiquote
- Italian travel writers
- Italian male writers
- 1639 births
- 1717 deaths
- 17th-century travelers
- Historians of India
- Mughal Empire
- 17th-century historians
- 18th-century Venetian writers
- 17th-century Venetian writers
- 17th-century travel writers
- Emigrants from the Republic of Venice