Power, if you have it, means little if it is not projected in a manner that those over whom it is exercised are left in no doubt of its existence. This is a universal phenomenon; only its application changes to people and situations. One such arena, where this is profiled starkly, is the way the power game unfolded during the British colonisation of India.

When the East India Company was weak, and still remote from its later consolidation of power, its officials were treated as they later treated Indians. In 1614, King James I of England sent Sir Thomas Roe, an influential diplomat, as his envoy to the court of Mughal Emperor Jahangir at Agra. His first meeting was with Jahangir’s son, Prince Khurram (later emperor Shah Jahan), who was then the governor of Surat. The British envoy was received at the entrance of the royal camp by the kotwal, and escorted to the prince, who was seated on a raised platform under a royal canopy with rich carpets spread all around him. He was asked to take off his hat and instructed to touch the ground with his bare head. He asked for a chair but was told that no man could sit in court in the royal presence. A little later Roe called on emperor Jahangir himself at Ajmer. He gave the emperor some gifts........

© hindustantimes