Niccolao Manucci

Touted as a Pepys of Mogul India, Shrishti Publications published an abridged version of the autobiography of Niccolao Manucci years ago which I just came across. It says that in 1653, he ran away from Venice aged 14 as a stowaway on a vessel bound for Smyrna. Luck and his own resourcefulness seem to have stood by him though. The English Viscount Bellomont took him under his wing, and the young boy went with him from Asia Minor to India via Persia. The nobleman died near Hodal in 1656 though and left him alone in a foreign land. As usual though, luck and his own resourcefulness stood him in good stead and he became an artilleryman for Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of Shahjahan. He refused to work for Aurangzeb who succeeded Shahjahan and gradually began to practise medicine. He died in 1659.
He seems to have been an interesting person. I'm particularly intrigued by his refusal to work for Aurangzeb considering all that is said of the Emperor.