Articles by Ruby Lal

Is the making of a national identity a clear-cut, well-defined task that happens once and for all? In seeking to understand the complex genealogy of 'America', one has to consider how amazingly diverse the make-up of American society has come to be over time; how extraordinary the different presences, in terms of colour, religion, and ethnicity, are and have been; the incredible contributions of the marginalised - such as the gospel music, blues and jazz, developed by the African-Americans, or the Tex-Mex cuisine, the pizzas and pastas, the medical and computer wizardry, and the alternative medical and spiritual therapies offered by other 'immigrants'. But alongside the space for these unusual new cultural achievements, there has been an insistence on one way of being, one road to progress, and one manner of being 'civilised'.

Even as Mughal historians remain engaged with the political and economic bases of Mughal power, the study of gender relations at the Mughal court and the rethinking of political, social and cultural milieu in light of new questions that might arise in the domestic sphere is a task that has scarcely begun. Sources where such alternative history exists - visual materials, accounts of women and servants - have been rendered peripheral by existing historiography because they are thought to address trivial matters. But as this paper suggests, it is accounts like Gulbadan Banu Begum's Ahval-i Humayun Badshah that reveal the fluidity and contestation that accompanied the foundations of Mughal rule - its new power and grandeur as well as the hierarchies and traditions that accompanied it.