Niccolao Manucci: Venetian Traveller to Mughal Court

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He was an Italian traveler whose voluminous memoirs entitled Storio Dor Mogor is one of the most invaluable sources of history of Mughal India. Running away from his hometown Venice at the age of 14 he travelled to Asia Minor and Persia before reaching India in 1653.

Manucci, who was a mercenary soldier, joined the services of Dara Shikoh, eldest son of Shah Jahan. He worked as an artilleryman in his army. After the defeat of Dara Shikoh in the war of succession to the Mughal throne by his brother Aurangzeb who put him to death in 1659, Manucci adopted medicine as his profession.

Manucci gives an eyewitness account of the Mughal Court.


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