The Mughal period from Babur to Aurangzeb always intrigued me; being a student of alcohol I always wanted to know about their indulgence with wines and spirits. Here, I share my readings about intoxication and the first six Mughal emperors.
Zahir-ud-Din Muhammed (Babur)
It was said his caravan during his conquests would be full of alcohol and his writing material.
Babur was the first Mughal Emperor. A man of many trades, who loved nature, to write, a diplomat, a strategist, a general and a successful emperor. Babur is a descendant of Chenges Khan Mongol (Ghengis Khan) and Taimur-e-Lang (Tamerlane) and rulers of both the dynasties are famously known for throwing wine parties and socializing with wine.
Babur is known to be one of the most prolific drinker of the generation (till then). It is said that he was introduced to alcohol somewhere around the age of twenty three. Babur and alcohol is a rather complex affair from lavish wine parties to temperance and instances of missing alcohol; it has been an important part of his lifestyle.
The actual circumstances of Babur getting introduced to alcohol is unknown. Alcohol was always around him in household, but personally he chose to stay away. He was often offered but he kept denying, so much that people stopped asking him. The first time he consumed alcohol was due to his sheer interest in experiencing alcohol. He planned to take a drink at the house of a friend Muzaffar Mirza, but the problem was that he had denied Mirza’s elder brother Badi’uzzaman Mirza’s offer of wine and agreeing to join younger brother will unwantedly display a personal disrespect. He asked both the brothers to host him a wine party and enjoyed wine, as it was late in night and he felt intoxicated he spend the night there and did not go home.
Other than his stories of drinking with men, he also recounts an instance where he allowed a woman to join one of his wine parties. The woman was Huhlul Anika, who wanted to join Babur and his companions for drinks; as Babur had never seen a woman drink, he invited her to his party. Everything was going well until Huhlul Anika got drunk and started making offensive requests to Babur; this is when he started acting drunk and decided not to invite women to drink wine with him ever. This instance is the oldest reference of women intoxication during Mughal period.
In his lifetime he hosted and participated in many drinking parties, he believed in respecting an individual's choice. He advocated a policy since his childhood of not "forcing drink on anyone who was sober. After jokingly offering a temperate friend wine he acknowledges that even this simple joke is out of character for him as it was "not my way to offer wine to someone who did not drink."
One evening when Babur was north of Kabul in Bihzadi, there was a call for a party whilst he and his men were staying at a qadi's house. The qadi (a Muslim judge who follows sharia laws) protested, saying such parties and gatherings including alcohol were not allowed at his home but will allow the same as it was for the Emperor. Although Babur was the ruler and could have done as he pleased, out of respect he decided to cancel the party even though all the preparations for it had been made.
His accounts of events in Kabul in 1919-20 mention endless streams of wine and ma’jun (a mixture of opium, ghee and sugar). Other than wine he was also known to have araq. He loved drinking so much that once he had wrote a verse saying:
Only the drinker knows the pleasure of wine.
What enjoyment thereof can the sober have?
It was his conscience and questions to self that led to his sobriety. After thinking of quitting alcohol for some time, he finally gave up alcohol in 1527. Some say he gave up due to faith and some say it was to cement his image as a moral leader before the war with Rajputs.
It was his personal decision and he never wanted others to follow; but he was pleased when 300 of his men pledged to join him to follow temperance. It was the time when they had just received three camel trains of wine at the camp. All of it was poured and the place where it was poured, he ordered construction of a charitable building. The gold and silver goblets that held wine were broken and the metal given to poor.
He formalized his pledge with a verdict, stating his reason for sobriety but did not ban the production, sale and consumption of alcohol. Although he never broke his pledge, there were moments were he mentioned his occasional regret to temperance. In a letter to his friend Kwajah Kalan he writes about the appreciation he found in fruits but sometimes also craves for alcohol. In the end of his letter, he talks about being committed to his vow of temperance and the extreme struggles associated with it; he says:
I am distraught to have given up wine.
I do not know what to do, and I am perplexed.
Everybody regrets drinking and then takes the oath,
But I have taken the oath and now regret it.
Even though he is never said to be addicted to alcohol, it was much of the social gatherings and events he missed mentally. So much that he mentioned that shortly after making the vow, “craving for a wine party was so overwhelming that many times out of longing for wine I was on the verge of weeping." Despite of all these difficulties he maintained his sobriety.
Babur’s daughter Gulbadan also makes a mention of her Father’s strong will of maintaining sobriety. She talks about a construction of a pool (octagonal pool) made of single large piece of stone, commissioned by Babur when they were in Dholpur, India. The idea was of it to be filled with wine, while it was completed her father vowed sobriety and the wine was replaced by lemon sherbet; which was thoroughly enjoyed by them as kids.
Octagonal Pool in Lotus Garden, Dholpur.
Image credit: gardenvisit.com
Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad (Humayun)
Image credit: today.salamweb.com
Born in Kabul in 1508, he was the most loved son of Babur. He served as the Governor of Badakshan till the age of twelve and after many military and personal rivalries he retook Delhi in 1555, which restored Babur’s empire and bought some stability in his life.
There is not much mention of alcohol consumption with regards to Humayun. He is someone who is said to savor opium more than anything else. Opium is also said to be his reason of inactivity.
The only few mentions of alcohol are that he used to consume his opium with wine; one instance being when he had a glass of wine as he was upset to know that his brother Kamran was leading a rebellion against him.
Humayun was not someone who appreciated alcohol or being drunk, but was known as a consumer of Opium. He was known to consume opium generally mixed with rose water.
Jalal-ud-Din Muhammed Akbar
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While Babur’s period was known for wine parties and social gatherings including alcohol; by the time Akbar became emperor alcoholism was much of a social taboo.
The mentions of Akbar’s alcohol consumption are very contradictory, while Abu Fazal’s Akbar Nama does not relate alcoholism with Akbar. On the other side, Jahangir in his memoir talks about Akbar’s drinking.
As drinking had become more of an activity in the private sphere, there is a high possibility that people outside didn’t know about his drinking habits rightly. The emperor once told his son that he once consumed several cups of wine before he proceeded to get on an elephant.
Ridolfo Aquaviva a Jesuit missionary recalled that Akbar.” went to such excess in drinking that the merit of fasting was lost in the demerit of inebriation." He also mentions Akbar’s use of opium via a drink called “post” made of Opium diluted with a mixture of various spices.
This concoction was discovered by Shaikh Kipur of Gwalior; a safer and less intoxicating way of consuming opium. After a poppy's juice has been extracted to make opium, the seeds are removed and the head of the flower is soaked in water. After the water has turned the color of wine, the poppy heads are removed, the liquid is strained to remove impurities, and the drink is ready for consumption. Akbar was also known for consuming kuknar - a drink made with liquor and opium. Opium was one of the most important crops during his period.
On one hand, there are stories of a son about his father and on the other hand there are stories by Abu Fazal in Akbarnama, that start looking like an attempt to project Akbar as an admirable emperor.
Akbar lost two of his son’s Murad and Daniyal to alcoholism. Murad used to consume alcohol but the magnitude increased after the death of his son Rustum, soon he got sick, and even after the assistance of the best physicians Akbar could not save him.
After this incident, he insisted Daniyal to follow temperance like his great grandfather. He agreed to his father, took the oath, and destroyed the vessels like Babur. Soon the prince was not able to curb the habit and started consuming alcohol again. Akbar tried to get the prince back to court to keep him occupied but failed.
Akbar appointed guardians to make sure that Daniyal cannot access alcohol. But Daniyal convinced few of his servants to get the distilled spirit in gun barrels. Alcohol mixed with iron rust and gunpowder residue became slow poison for him and eventually killed him.
Seven months after this Akbar succumbed to dysentery.
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (Jahangir)
Image credit: epicworldhistory.blogspot
Jahangir was already having troubles with alcohol and drug addiction before he became the emperor. At a point Akbar had locked him in a closet for 10 days to keep him away from wine.
In his memoir Tuzuk-e-Jahangiri, he mentions of a period when he “drank 24 cups of doubly distilled spirit” per day. He was the first Mughal emperor who had affinity towards distilled spirit; he took up drinking spirits after he build up such tolerance against wine that no amount of wine will give him high.
Mentioned by many European visitors, as a result of heavy drinking his hands would shake so heavily that he would have his attendants pick up cups for him. He was also known for having a mix of wine and opium foe an effective intoxication as he had attained tolerance for wine.
We cast the heart's core into the limpid tears
The wine was without effect; we threw opium into it.
In contradictory terms, in his early reign production and selling of wine and intoxicating drugs was prohibited as a part of his “rules of conduct”.
Captain William Hawkins, who led the first outing of east India Company in India mentions an incident from Jahangir’s court. After eating the emperor only took one glass of wine; retired to a private room where he took five more glasses of wine and ate opium. After that he took a two hour nap and was fed by his servants as he was too intoxicated to eat himself.
Jahangir's Emerald Wine Cup.
Image credit: youandi.com
This and many other incidents show that he was able to separate his public and private lives well. Jahangir’s period was one after Babur’s where wine parties and gatherings were back. Even though he was a drunk and intoxicated, he was a successful emperor under whom the empire prospered.
Before his death his appetite reduced, developed an aversion from opium and limited himself to only few cups of wine.
Sahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram (Shah Jahan)
Image credit: tajmahal.gov.in
Shah Jahan grew up around his father engaged in alcoholism and drug abuse. He lost two of his uncles and his brother Parvez, who died even before Jahangir. These incidents in his lifetime created a certain aversion to intoxication.
Shah Jahan's Weighing Ceremony
Image Credit: mygoldguide.in
While his father was exposed to drinking in his late teens, Shah Jahan did not even try wine until he was twenty-four. It was basically forced upon or encouraged by his father on his weighing ceremony, who told him that even doctors say that wine is beneficial in moderation.
To support his point he also quoted few lines by a Persian physician Avicenna;
Wine is a raging enemy, a prudent friend;
A little is an antidote, but much is snake's poison.
In much there is no little injury,
In a little there is much profit.
Wine Cup made for Shah Jahan.
Image credit: historyofasianart2.wordpress.com
Even though wine was given to him, he was much reluctant to alcoholism throughout his life. He was not a regular drinker but he never stopped others from it. The consumption had increased during his regime.
Muhi-ud-Din Muhammed (Aurangzeb or Alamgir)
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Aurangzeb was a strict and religiously devout Sunni Muslim, who opposed intoxication by alcohol or any other means. He also attempted to prohibit drug and alcohol consumption within the empire.
Apparently while he was still a prince and governor of Deccan, he fell in love with a dancing girl, with whom he would often drink wine. Following her death, he vowed never to drink again and thanked God for taking the girl's life, as it removed his temptation for alcohol. Sounds sadistic.
The more restriction he would put the harsher the punishment would become, the drinking circle started becoming smaller; noblemen started distilling in their homes. Whatever he did, he was not able to stop or control people from drinking.
His son Shah Alam (Bahadur Shah I), when started indulging with alcohol in Kabul; he was asked to return. This did not stop him as he would get wines from Europe and Persia secretly delivered.
Not only he was incapable of curbing alcohol drinking of men in his family, Alamgir was not able to stop alcohol from entering his private Harems as well.
Aurangzeb’s sisters Jahanara and Roshanara were also fond of their tipple. When Jahanara came to know that mullahs were going to extend prohibition and include women as well; she invited the mullah’s wives for a wine party. When Aurangzeb came to inform the news to Jhahnara, she took her inside to show the drunk lying wives of the mullahs and said that the mullahs should first look into their own houses.
Mughals were flamboyant and shaukeen, while some were loud about it some tried to keep it as secret. One can conclude that drinking and intoxication had been a part of the Mughals regime. As we spoke about the time period from Babur to Aurangzeb, we can see that alcohol consumption started from being a widely accepted social element to, smaller circles to a time when it was tried to wipe out from the entire empire; but nothing works against the will and choice of people.
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