Abstract This article seeks to explore aspects of human–animal–plant relations in Mughal India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by primarily undertaking a comparative study of the memoirs of the founder of the empire, Babur (r. 1494–1530 CE ), and his great-grandson, Jahangir (r. 1605–27 CE ). Historiographical trends have often emphasised the image of these two rulers as “naturalists”. This article aims to problematise the usage of such a term in this temporal and spatial context. The article relies on the memoirs of these two rulers along with another source, Majālis-i Jahāngīrī , to understand the complexities and varied aspects of the documentation of the flora and fauna of North India in these texts. It argues that there were different kinds of gazes or perspectives on the natural world, such as the gaze of an outsider, a local, and an imperialist, that need to be explored. The article also seeks to explore some of the ways in which flora and fauna figured in and shaped the emotional, creative, cultural, and aesthetic sensibilities as well as the imperial concerns of the two emperors and how this shaped their personal engagement with the natural world and further shaped their relationship with the region and communities under their ambit. Lastly, the article highlights that the varied gazes of these rulers were not devoid of action, rather their observations and documentation provide evidence of how the imperial gaze led to attempts at alterations in the imperial domain.

Abstract Rediscovered in 2011 within the collection of the Library of Congress, the Fusheng quantu 福省全圖 (Complete Map of Fuzhou), a delicate nineteenth-century Chinese map, had lain unnoticed for over a century. Its anonymous creator and lack of dating impede a direct tracing of its origins, and it is only known to have arrived through a donation of manuscripts by the American businessman and diplomat Thomas Dunn. The map, with its artistic qualities, provides a window into the seascape of Fuzhou and the Qing dynasty’s coastal defences and maritime strategies. This study transcends the map’s physicality, delving into its associated life histories, including Dunn’s, and the broader context of China’s coerced entry into global trade and diplomacy during the age of high imperialism ( c. 1850–1900). More than a long-forgotten illustrative account, the map is a piece of evidence that reveals much about the times and places in which it was drawn and viewed.

Abstract Regarding Sarai – the “capital” of the Jochid ulus (Golden Horde) and the “metropolis of the Qipchaq Steppe” – it is the established theory that Old Sarai was located at the Selitrennoe site, and New Sarai at the Tsarevskoe site, both on the Akhtuba River. However, new theories that disagree with this have emerged: these theories claim that there was only one Sarai, or that Sarai was located at different places. First, I examine these new theories, and show that, indeed, there may have been two Sarais, old and new. Next, I argue the following possibilities: the lower Volga valley between Sarai–Hajji Tarkhan as winter camp and Ukek–Bulgar as summer camp was the “capital region” of the early Jochid ulus; Saraijuq has been discussed as being the khans’ burial grounds (qoruq), however, from archaeological surveys and the “[dynasty] table” (jadwal) in the Paris manuscript of Muntakhab al-Tawārīkh-i Muʿīnī, Sarai (and its suburbs) also assumed that role.

Abstract The Vessantara jātaka (also called the Sudāna jātaka in its Chinese versions) is one of the most highly renowned and widely circulated jātakas, or birth stories of the Buddha, in the Buddhist world. During the fifth and sixth centuries CE, the story was frequently depicted in Chinese murals and reliefs. Among a few sixth-century reliefs, scenes showing Prince Sudāna in exile appear to have been selected to crystallise the whole story, replacing the focus on Sudāna’s gifting of his children in the previous tradition. This study integrates early Indian sources with other relevant scholarship to explore the reason why Sudāna’s exile was selected. I argue that the choice of depicting Sudāna’s exile was shaped by two historical contexts. The first relates to a specific rhetorical strategy of integrating indigenous Chinese accounts of immortals into the story’s textual tradition in the third century. The second refers to the underlying religious mentality that focused on the quest for transcendence in the mountains, an idea that grew more popular during the flourishing of Buddhist meditation practice in the early sixth century. This article provides further methodological reflections on the study of Chinese Buddhist art, focusing on how important it is to incorporate more Indian sources and scholarship. It therefore engages with ongoing methodological reflections on China-India studies.

Abstract The Manila galleon San Francisco sank off the coast of Japan in 1609 after almost two months of sailing through storms and hurricanes that damaged the ship to the point that it was carrying more than two metres of water in its hold. This article provides an account of the final journey of San Francisco according to primary and secondary sources. It also proposes a set of theoretical dimensions for the galleon based on its tonnage, contemporary vessels of similar tonnages, hull ratios provided in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century shipbuilding treatises and ordinances, and archaeological parallels. In addition, the authors estimate possible distances from the wreck of the galleon to the shore, using the distances provided in accounts of wreck and contemporary marine leagues, and the theoretical draft of the vessel.

This paper presents the results of an empirical study aimed at examining the extent to which software engineers follow a software process and the extent to which they improvise during the process. Our subjects tended to classify processes into two ...