Starting from 1526, the Mughals ruled over much of India for three centuries. This period saw the production of a fascinating variety of “ego-documents” – texts in which residents of the empire reflected on their own lives, on Islam in a Hindu context, and on the relationship of individual subjects to their new rulers. Memoirs by the Mughal royalty – specially Babur and Jahangir – are well known. Less known and analysed are the writings of diverse others, from the poet-laureate Faizi to the lowly envoy Asad Beg, to characters like Mirza Nathan and Abdul Latif who lived dangerously on the Bengal frontier.