Mirza Sheikh I’tesamuddin’s Wonder of Vilayet

This is the first book-length account of the West by an Indian. Mirza Sheikh I’tesamuddin, a munshi who had served the East India Company before becoming a Mughal courtier, was entrusted by Emperor Shah Alam II with a diplomatic mission to the British Court. He set sail in January 1766, and though the mission was aborted, the journey of nearly three years resulted in a remarkable memoir. Written in Persian, ‘Shigurf Nama-e-Vilayet’ or ‘Wonderful Tales about Europe’ is a unique historical document and a vastly entertaining travel narrative. Though never published in the original, an abridged and flawed English version, the Mirza was enchanted by Britain, but he was not a colonial subject. A highly educated and curious observer of alien cultures, he wrote about his visits to the theatre, the circus, freak shows, the ‘madrassah of Oxford’, the Scottish Highlands and at a more serious level the factors that had led to India’s decline and Europe’s ascendancy, and the socio-political system of Britain.