According to Dr. V.A. Smith, Jahangir was “a strong compound of tenderness, cruelty, justice and caprice, refinement and brutality, good sense and childishness.” He wrote his Memoirs known as Tuzk-i-Jalan giri. The Emperor possessed plenty of intelligence and ability but his habit of excessive drinking completely ruined him.

He was not cmel by nature, but he behaved cruelly on certain occasions. He loved justice and was always ready to give the same to the people. He possessed very liberal views on religious matters. He possessed a fine critical taste in matters of dress and pleasures of the table. He designed new fashions. He relished fine fruits.

Jahangir was not in the morning what he was in the evening. “By day he was the picture of temperance at night he became exceedingly glorious in the company of his nobles”. He possessed a violent temper and there was every possibility of his behaving in a very cruel manner. Excessive drinking was responsible for his fits of violent temper. When he was sober, he was magnanimous and forgiving. He gave gifts to the needy.

Jahangir was a typical autocrat, a warm-hearted friend and a generous patron. He was a lover of nature and loved ease and indolence. He was “a lover of things Indian, and feels delight in Indian surroundings. There is much in his character that deserved to be commend, but there is a great deal that entitled him to be placed among the most fascinating personalities of Indian history.”

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According to Jaffar, “Jahangir was a great ruler, capable of enormous energy. If he had not allowed himself to be dominated by the Nur Jahan clique, he would have proved himself an excellent administrator, worthy to be placed by the side of his father. It must, however, be pointed out that the real glory of his reign has been greatly eclipsed by the splendour of the two reigns that followed and preceded his, and he himself has suffered much on accocit of the coming between two illustrious sovereigns-Akbar, the Great and Shah Jahan, the magnificent.”

According to Sir Richard Burn, “He stands in the roll of Indian monarchs as a man with generous instincts, fond of sport, art and good living, aiming to do well to all, and failing by the lack of the final intellectual qualities to attain the ranks of great administrators.'”

According to A.S. Beveridge, “Jahangir was indeed a strange mixture. The man who could stand by and see man flayed alive could yet be a lover of justice and could spend his Thursday evenings in holding high converse. He could procure he murder of Abul Fazal and avow the fact without remorse, and also pity the royal elephants because they shivered in winter when they sprinkled themselves with cold water. One good trait in Jahangir was his hearty enjoyment of nature and his love of flowers.”

According to Dr. A.L. Srivastava, “Jahangir cannot be called a great king, nor can he be described as a statesman and administrator of outstanding calibre. He was by no means a first rate general or diplomat. But it must be admitted that he was a successful and benevolent ruler who cherished the well-being of his subjects and was deservedly popular with thiem. Like most rulers, he had his virtues and faults.”

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Again, “Jahangir was fairly a successful ruler and administrator. He had the capacity of appreciating the needs and circumstances of the age and the good sense to continue the administrative system and policy devised by Akbar. But he was nor a constructive statesman who could initiate great administrative reforms and legislate for the good of the generation yet to be born. He did not possess high idealism and genius of Akbar.”

According to Dr. Beni Prasad, Jahangir was “a sensible, kind-hearted man, with strong family affection and unstained generosity to all, with a burning hatred of oppression and a passion for justice. On g, few occasions, in his career as prince and emperor, he was betrayed, not without provocation, by fits of wrath into individual acts of cruelty. But as a rule, he was remarkable for humanity, affability and an open mind.” According to Francis Gladwin, “From the beginning to the end of his reign, Jahangir’s disposition towards his subjects appears to have been invariably humane and considerate.”

However, as Dr. R.P. Tripathi points out, the seed of religious persecution was sown in the reign of Jahangir. Guru Arjun and the Seora Jains suffered not on account of treasonable activities, but because Jahangir had developed hatred against their religions. Jt is also pointed out that Kaukab, son of Kamar Khan, Abdul Latif, son ofNaqil Khan, and Sharif were thrown into prison and flogged on account of their opinions. It was under the orders of Jahangir and also in his presence that a bullock was killed in the temple of Kangra. It was Jahangir who gave orders for the desecration and destruction for the temples near Pushkar in Ajmer.