216. Seeds of British India: England’s First Ambassador to the Mughal Court

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What do you buy for a man who has everything? Thomas Roe is tasked with wooing the Emperor Jahangir. On March 6th 1615, he sets sail from England on the 8 month voyage to the Mughal Empire, home to one fifth of the world’s population. He has been sent by James I and the East India Company on a diplomatic mission to improve trading relations. The English envy the fabulously rich Emperor Jahangir whose personal wealth is ten times that of the national revenue of England at the time. Expecting to be greeted as a diplomat, Roe arrives in India and is forced to undergo a customs check. He is ill and accompanied by a badly behaved cook and a drunk chaplain. He hasn’t even reached court in Ajmer and everything seems to be going wrong. Will he succeed in his mission to win over Jahangir? Listen as Anita and William are joined by Nandini Das, author of Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire, to discuss the grumpy ambassador’s stay at Jahangir’s court and how it shaped the East India Company. Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [email protected] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Alice Horrell Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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1:02.4	St. Stephen's Hall, the echoing reception area of the Westminster Parliament is decorated with a series of sprawling 1920s murals entitled The Building of Britain.
1:09.3	This sequence illustrates what was then regarded as the greatest
1:13.2	turning points of British history, such as King Alfred's defeat of the Vikings. One of these
1:18.2	murals, painted by William Rothenstein, contains a fresco that purports to show the beginning
1:24.0	of British diplomatic relations with India. The painting shows Britain's first
1:29.7	ambassador to India, Sir Thomas Rowe, being received by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1614.
1:37.0	The image depicts a meeting of equals. Roe is raffish, confident and self-possessed in his hose and Jacobian breeches, standing before the Emperor airily waving a letter from James I.
1:50.9	He's wearing theatrical buckled shoes and a dashing cape, and he looks Jahangir in the eyes as he trumpet blows and courtiers bow.
2:00.0	Jehungia looks dazzled.
2:01.7	As the caption puts it,
	...

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