Francisco Pelasert (1595-1630) was a Dutch businessman and a representative of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He travelled in different parts of Mughal India, and stayed in Agra for seven years before departing to Java. He was also the commander of VOC-owned ship Batavia.

Dara Shukoh was the heir-apparent to the Mughal throne in 1659, when he was executed by his brother Aurangzeb. Today Dara is lionized in South Asia, while Aurangzeb, who presided over the beginnings of imperial disintegration, is scorned. Supriya Gandhi’s nuanced biography asks whether the story really would have been different with Dara in power.