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Paper short abstract:

Considering characters like the English pirate Henry Avery, I seek to explore how the Mughal imperium was being assailed by sea through acts of aggression on the part of so-called European pirates who, incidentally, were simultaneously defying the strictures of their own state-sponsored colonialisms.

Paper long abstract:

The vast Mughal empire that spread over much of South Asia was politically anchored in capital cities like Agra and Delhi, deep in the interior of the subcontinent and far from the realm's oceanic coastlines. Nonetheless, maritime connections constituted an important part of the Mughal economy of goods and people, and therefore became a expedient locus to contest imperial authority. In the context of practices of defiance, I seek to explore how the Mughal imperium was being assailed on the Indian Ocean through acts of aggression on the part of so-called European pirates who, incidentally, were simultaneously defying the strictures of their own state-sponsored colonialisms. In particular I wish to consider characters like the English pirate Henry Avery who in 1695 captured the famous Ganj-i-Sawai trading dhow that belonged to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. The rich booty onboard, along with the many Haji pilgrims returning from Mecca, were bound for Gujarat, specifically the port of Surat, a critical entry point that connected the Mughal empire to the western Indian Ocean. By attacking an imperial convoy of some twenty-five Mughal ships, Avery and his six-ship pirate coalition were directly challenging Mughal authority by disrupting the empire's essential maritime connections to the west. In the context, I hope to interrogate the notion of piracy and the label of being a pirate, as well as the ways in which multiple social, economic, religious and political agendas intertwine in specific acts of imperial defiance.