Europe in an Indian Mirror : Comparing Conceptions of Civil Government in Abu Taleb’s Travels (1810)

Abstract

Chapter 9 centers on the Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan published in English in 1810. Abu Taleb was an educated Indian scholar of Persian descent and one of the earliest Indian visitors in Europe who provided a detailed description of Britain’s system of government and of European political conflicts in the period. The essay explores how Abu Taleb responded to British colonialist claims in South Asia and how he sought to grasp European political systems in the “age of revolutions.”