Ottoman knowledge of Mughals began with refugee princes and rival embassies

Evidence

The first reference to the Mughals in Ottoman sources dates from the year 1536 when, according to the chronicler Ferdi, the Lodi prince Burhan Bey, the son of Sikandar Shah, arrived in Istanbul. Fleeing before the invasion of the Chaghatayan armies, he sought refuge at the Ottoman court. “He was granted the privilege of kissing the Imperial hand and allowed a daily pension of 300 aspers.” At about the same time, an embassy from King Bahadur Shah of Gujerat arrived in Istanbul, to ask for help against the encroachments both of Humayun and of the Portuguese. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 599

Categorization

• XREF: Shows how Istanbul first learned of the Mughal world only indirectly, through displaced Lodis and rival Gujarati embassies — legibility produced by political exile, echoing reader’s interest in mediated knowledge.