The Mughal Era in India

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 05 Aug 2012 18:24

Virupaksha ji,
Jahangir laments for a long passage in his autobiography about the extreme rebelliousness of "Hindustanis". His description implies almost continuous uprisings and resistance. This was a key for me when I first started reading up on source material - that [even under Delhi sultanate] the inependent-India grand-golden-Mughal hagiography has suppressed the continuous struggle that was waged against the mughals.

The formal submission or claims of inclusion of territories under Mughal admin was more fluid that is represented. It was more a temporary compromise that worked more in Mughal favour near Mughal military camps, or when the army moves around in the locality. At the grassroots level non-Mughals dominated and reasserted control once the tax-collector had moved on, or the army has moved on.

There had always been survivors, and collaborators from among the Hindus - but some were pretending submission formally but protecting their own clans and dependents underneath. Many areas of Mughal India were much more forested than now, and in fact we know that gardually over the course of Mughal rule - forestation increased, villages were abandoned, people flew from cultivation because the Mughals were increasingly turned into desperation to maintain the tax collection, and had to increae the coercive measures.

One curious bit - Jehangir pierced his ears to become the murid of his favourite Sufi sheikh. His courtiers saw this and piereced their ears too. Of course p-secs would seize upon this "sufi" aspect - but they curiously remain silent. It baffled me when I was a teenager - but realized after I had gone through core Islamic texts, that this is against orthodox Sunni practice - which considers it as a sign of effiminacy in men, and hence the p-sec hagiographers of mughals keep silent about this.

Virendra · Post by **Virendra** » 07 Aug 2012 16:51

Military powers without bonds with the natives could not do more than that B ji.
They will show utmost influence and writ whereever and whenver their army boots stamp the land.
When their campaigning army is gone (regardless of their garrison holed up in a fort), its back to usual business.
They can't force their will on far flung areas and are limited to drawing some revenue and conversions mostly in the near by areas.
It is a very inconsistent system of ruling by force and terror. In a primitive style I would explain it as :
"You sweep in, loot, snatch, go to your lair, eat it and then come back for more".

Regards,
Virendra

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 07 Aug 2012 16:58

in short "kabila - a mobile armed camp"

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 07 Aug 2012 17:59

Isn't it true that Jahangir was also kidnapped for Ransom by some local ruler and was released after NurJahan decided to pay the ransom.
Who was the Ruler who achieved such a feat of Kidnapping the Sultan of Mughal dynasty. All we are told is that Noorjahan somehow got him released.

gunjur · Post by **gunjur** » 19 Jan 2013 22:48

Apologies if already posted.
This book contains a HUGE TROVE OF INFO on mughal times ;- The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age - Abraham Eraly

Certain excerpts

THE LAND

A surprisingly large number of mughal india lived in urban centres, about 15% which was higher than the urban population of contemporary Europe, and higher even than that of india in 19th century. 'In hindusthan hamlets and villages, towns indeed, are depopulated and set up in a moment,’ Babur notes. ‘If the people of a large town, one inhabited for few years even, flee from it, they do it in such a way that no signs or trace of them remains. On the other hand, if they fix their eyes on a place to settle, they need not dig water or construct dams, because their crops are all rain-grown’.

Typical was the fate of great city of fatehpur sikri that akbar built in height of his power. William finch who arrived in 1608, three years after akbar’s death, found fatehpur already a ghost city. Once the builder is dead, no one will care for the buildings; the son will neglect his father’s work, the mother her sons, brothers and friends will take no care for each other’s buildings; everyone tries, as far as possible to erect a new building of his own, and establish his own reputation.

THE PEOPLE
The term india was never used by Indian themselves. The alternate term, found in mughal chronicales, was Hindusthan, but this meant only indo-gangetic plains; the deccan was not part of it, noer the north-west, nor Kashmir. The term Bharat is not mentioned in any mughal work. According to Bernier, ‘to be considered a mogul, it is enough if a foreigner have a white face and profess mahometanism’.

If mughal india, or indeed the whole eastern muslim world, had a natural aristocracy, they were Persians. Everyone looked up to Persians and Persian looked down on everyone. It was from the Shah of Persia that the mughal emperor sought peer recognition.The sharpest division among muslims in india was north-south division. The north was predominantly sunnis while in south they were mainly shiahs. In north, india-born muslims and hindu converts were held in low esteem. In contrat, in south, native muslims held high postions. However, whether in north or south, a muslim, whatever be his race and sect, automatically belonged to ruling class.

The degree of discrimination that hindus had to suffer varied from ruler and from province to province. A ludicrous case was that of governor of Lahore, Hussain khan, who once committed what he considered to be most awful faux pas, in greeting a hindu with civility, mistaking him to be a muslim, because he was dressed in muslim style. On realizing his mistake, khan was so thoroughly ashamed of himself that, to avoid similar blunders in future, he ordered that hindus thereafter’ should sew a patch of stuff of a different colour on their garments near the bottom of sleeve’ says badauni.

Euroepans in india were a motley lot – traders, professionals like doctors, jewellers , royal ambassodrs, missionaries, adventurers, as well as cheats, vagabonds and desperadoes. While Europeans swa themselves as major players inindia, the mughals regarded them as minor curiosities. Thus while Sir Thomas roe, the british ambassador claimed intimacy with Jahangir, and their journals are full of of lore about their relationship with emperor, there is not even a passing word about them in memoirs of Jahangir.

A MOVABLE CITY

The imperial capital was a movable city. Virtually the whole establishment, household as well as official shifted to camp with emperor, with staff, treasury. His harem moved with him and so did artisans, musicians, and dancers. According to bernier, mughal camp had about 100,000 horseman and 200,000 animals like horses, camels, elephants. Also traders had oxen.
When emperor moved camp, the first to move was royal kitchen. It consists of 50 camels, 50 well-fed cows to give milk. Manucci reports, ’Heavy artillery marches in front, with it went a handsome boat upon a large cart to ferry royal person across any river when necessary. In addition to other transport, went 200 camels, loaded with silver rupees, and each camel carrying four hundred and eighty pounds weight of silver; one hundred camels loaded with gold coins; fifty camels loaded with nets used in hunting tigers. The royal office of records also was there, loaded with registers and papers of account of empire. In addition there were fifty camels carrying water.’

Terry says: Emperor moved ten or twelve miles a day unless there’s a emergency. Jahangir notes that his journey from Lahore to agra, a distance of 600 kilometers, once took him two and half months ‘with forty-nine marches and twenty-one halts. No day day of either of marching or halting, on land or water, passed without sport’. The royal harem traveled by itself in a separate group, staying a kilometer behind the emperor.

The mughal camp was far better planned than most mughal cities, with zones precisely allotted for different services and grades of residence. Well-organized bazaars supplied all the necessities of camp. Manucci says ‘all that could be looked for in a city is to be found in camp.’ Confirms Monserrate: ‘These bazaars seem to belong to some wealthy city instead of camp.’ Standards of mughal camp fell sharply during second half of Aurangzeb’s regin.

THE EMPEROR AT PLAY

The royal household expenses were prodigious. Even under Akbar, a frugal manager, the household expenses towards ends of his reign came around 187.4 million dam (around 4.7 million rupees) a year, under following categories: harem 35 million; kitchen 13.65 million; wardrobe 17.73 million; books and paintings 6.75 millions; gems and jewels 44.32 million; hunting animals 13 million; cash allowances and alms 12.5 millions; and so on.

Even drinking water was a major item of expense in royal household, for mughal emperors drank water only from ganga, which had to be brought from a distance. Abul fazal says, ‘’ both at home and on travels he (akbar) drinks ganga water. For cooking of food, rain water or water taken from yamuna or Chenab is used, mixed with a little ganga water’. This practice was continued: Ovington says about Aurangzeb ‘He drinks from river ganges.’ A special department, abdar khana, was in charge of water supply to royal household.

Emperors dressed regally, for that was requirement of their office. Akbar maintained a wardrobe so large that it had to be classified and catalogued according to days, monbths and year of their entriers and according to colour, price and weight. A 1000 complete set were made every six months. All emperors, especially Jahangir and shahjahan were loaded with jewels. According to abul fazal, emperor’s jewels and weapons were also given names. The sabers of Aurangzeb bore names as lightning, conqueror of universe (alamgir, his favourite), and of course, kafir-kush(infidel slayer).

LORDLY FIREFLIES

Under Shahjahan, the average annual income of top 655 members was over 200,000 rupees. Prince Dara received 20 million rupees. Under akbar, a noble of highest rank (commander of 5000) drew a monthly salary of 30,000 rupees. Yet, for all their immense wealth and power, the mughal amirs were an insecure lot, for they, were not hereditary landed aristocrats, but merely officials. No amirs could bequeath his title, jagir. Amirs could not even save income and leave legacies for their children.

LIFE AT BOTTOM

The life of common man was miserable; half-naked and illiterate, barely scraping out a living. He lived in a dingy, one-roomed hovel. It had no windows. If he had cattle, he shared his hut with it. ‘Pesants and people go about naked,’ notes babur. ‘They tie on a thing called languta’. Half a century later, Thomas stevens a Jesuit in goa wrote to his father; ‘They that be not of reputation, go naked, saving an apron a span long’. At close of seventeenth century, manucci found commerners in india dressed in about same manner as babur found. Little had changed in india over two centuries. As in dress, the food of commoners was minimal. They subsisted on rice, millets and pulses. Wheat was expensive even in wheat growing areas. Ghee and edible oils were cheap, but salt and sugar was expensive.

Yayavar · Post by **Yayavar** » 19 Jan 2013 22:54

Is it reality or impressions? I cannot tell. Going about bare chested or not fully covered in hot areas, especially for workers, might be of choice or it could be because they did not have the wherewithal. Food of rice, millets, pulses (they dont mention veggies) with ghee is not subsistence. That probably is the prejudice of Babur and the European Thomas Stevens.

gunjur · Post by **gunjur** » 20 Jan 2013 00:55

^^^

That probably is the prejudice of Babur and the European Thomas Stevens.

Might very well be the case.

More excerpts from the book

THE IMPERIAL HAREM

Traditionally, there was no purdah among indians, until rajputs adopted the custom ini imitation of muslim aristocracy. In deccan, even among muslims, except in leading families, few observed purdah. Lower class muslims nowhere observed strict purdah. Among poor, life was so minimal that it could not possibly be divided into separate sphere for men and women.

Outside the harem, women had to wear burka and had to travel in covered litters or howdahs. No structure that would overlook the harem would be permitted to be built. It would be divorce or death to any begum who even accidentally unveiled in public.

A blessed world of perfect contentment and happiness - this was how the royal harem would have seemed to outsiders. The begums were pampered with every material comfort a woman could dream of, had any amount of money to squander in any manner they fancied. Ye the harem was world of private misery and unspeakable loneliness.The deprivation in fact of all primary satisfaction of life - pleasure of sex, the happiness of love and family and children. The begums had everything but they missed life.

Under babur and humayun, the princesses were allowed to marry. But under akbar, though initially married one of his daughters, he decreed that princesses should not marry, as no man was considered worthy of mughal alliance. Also, it was feared that royal son-in-laws might become contenders for throne. The princesses (also neglected wives/concubines of emperors) were forced into a life of dreary, involuntary chastity - until aurangzeb repealed the rule and married his daughters.

THE POOR RICH COUNTRY

Nowhere in the world was there such a fabulous display of wealth as at the mughal court or such a lavish lifestyle as that of mughal amirs. The royal hoards at time of akbar consisted of 7 million gold mohrs, 100 million silver ruppes and 230 million copper daams and a vast treasure of gems, ornaments. Shah jahan according to manucci, had caves built under his palace to store huge bars of gold and silver. The monarchs of europe were destitute in front of mughals.

The court was unequal and pitilessly exploitative.In reign of shahjahan, 61% of revenue of 220 million rupees were taken by 68 princes/amirs and next 587 officers i.e. 655 people alone.

The people were poor, country was poor, only emperor and amirs were rich. Bullion flowed into country for there was little else that could flow into india, the common people being too poor to buy anything and aristocracy miniscule. In a sense bullion flow was irrelevant to the economy, for much of gold and silver lay stored or buried; it did not lead to any significant capital formation to fuel economic growth; nor to improvement of people's life.

The single most appalling aspect of life was famine, a spectre present at turn of every season. Writes van twist, a dutch merchant in deccan during famine, 'So little rain fell that seed sown was lost and no grass grew. Cattle died, in towns and villages, men lay dead in great numbers. Men deserted their wives and children. Women sod themselves as slaves. Mothers sold their children.Men lying on raod , not yet dead, were cut up by others.'
Productive work in agriculture, trade, industry was largely left to hindus. This was not a privilege but an onus laid on them, for productive class labored mainly to feed the ruling elite.

The common attitude of amir was as bernier puts it, 'Why should the neglected state of this land create uneasiness in our minds? and why should we expend our money and time to render it fruitful? we may be deprived of it in a single moment, and our exertions would benefit neither us nor our children. Let us draw from the soil all the money we can, thought the peasant should starve or abscond, and we should leave it when commanded to quit, a dreary wilderness.'

For all practical purposes, there was in mughal india no avenue other than imperial service for a man to get ahead in life. Moreland writes 'Men and women, living from season to season on verge of hunger, could contented as long as food held out; when it failed, as often it did, their hope was slave-trader, starvation or suicide.' a poverty so oppressive that people had given up struggling against it. In such a situation, there could be no enterprise, and trade and industry, even agriculture, could hardly endure, barely flourish.

Yayavar · Post by **Yayavar** » 20 Jan 2013 01:28

Dismal reading but also confusing. At other times I read about the prosperity of the average Indian. There are descriptions of 18th century Bengal (now WB and Bangladesh and Bihar) being very prosperous and the people doing very well, eating and clothing well. The British, after Plassey, sucked it dry by high taxes and no services or upkeep. Which is true?

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 20 Jan 2013 05:51

Well there are also descriptions of Bengali peasants being taken to the market - together with their family, wives and children - to be sold as slaves for not being able to pay the benign Mughal taxes. These come from very Christian foreign travelers - and therefore acceptable and reliable as per sikular standards. The great icon of family love - Shahjahan had specifically ruled that the defaulting peasants, especially the women of the family must be be sold exclusively to Muslim buyers.

There are stories of husbands and wives being separated because of this. Mughal court also took supplies of castrated boys from Bengal for their harems [and direct ahem ahem]. A source or region that often crops up is Sylhet, now in BD. Even in early 19th century, long after slavery was offcially banned - there exists records of cases where inability to pay taxes/dues/debts were being used to demand and get the women of the defaulting household as slaves and concubines by Muslim officials descended from traditional Mughal admin ancestors.

The regional literature also shows - the Mangal-Kavya genre - the extreme poverty of Bengal. It was more prosperous than other parts - so one can be dazzled by the relative prosperity. Compared to medieval Europe, we should understand that the natural fertility and productivity of the land and the people would seem luxurious.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 20 Jan 2013 09:42

by Virupaksha
He was happy with the hindus giving women to the converted. But he puts paid to the practice of the converted giving women to hindus.

That's classic islam coming straight from the founder!! What is mine is mine what is yours is also mine when treating women just like money/gold/water/goats/camels/etc!! Women are too be treated just like property!!

gunjur · Post by **gunjur** » 21 Jan 2013 23:23

One more excerpt on the bureaucracy.

The procedure for appointing a new official. When the emperor made an appointment, it was first recorded in the dairy of court, in which all transactions has to be made. After the dairy was checked and verified, an extract of imperial appointment order was made, which had to be authenticated by three officials. The extract was then handed over to copying office, where an abridged order was prepared, which in turn had to be attested by four officials and sealed by ministers.

The order was thereafter dispatched to military office, which then called for estimates and descriptive rolls of the troops to be furnished to newly appointed official. When these were submitted, a salary statement was prepared, which, after having been entered into various records, was forwarded to to finance department. The finance department then made necessary entries in its records and submitted a report to emperor, who had to finally approve the payment allowance to official. A pay voucher was then prepared, which again had to b cleared by finance, the paymaster-general and military accountant. The military accountant then prepared the pay order, which in turn required signatures form three different departments, before it would be accepted by treasury as authorization for the payment of salary.

The emperors order had to pass through some nineteen stages, requiring innumerable signatures and entries into records, before it could be put into effect. Aurangzeb often wailed that his orders were not being carried out. They could not be. There were procedures to be followed.

No wonder bureaucratic red-tapism is very much in our blood having been there as part of system from generations.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 23 Jan 2013 01:19

We should see how and why the Sultanate ended in 1526 at Panipat.
There is a difference between the ealrier Muslim sultanate of Delhi and the Mughal Sultanate.

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 23 Jan 2013 04:05

Yesterday, Tarek Fatah was pedaling kind of William Darlymple's line about Moghul India on twitter. And after hammering from IHs he cried like this:

Can some one provide me the link to Jihadi dreams of Bahadur Shah Zafar expressed in one of his Shayari?. It used to be available here http://vinodkumar.voiceofdharma.com/ but this link is dead.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 23 Jan 2013 13:40

Sushupti wrote:Can some one provide me the link to Jihadi dreams of Bahadur Shah Zafar expressed in one of his Shayari?.

Bahadur Shah Zafar seemed to be a cartoon if I read William Dalrymple's book correct

. He had become such a senile person that he was blabbering or singing hymns/poems when the East Indian Company was trying him in a court

. And I really liked the way Capt. Hodson (of Hodson's horse) finished off the youngsters of Mughal Dynasty. Pulled them out of their hiding place (when Hodson's troops were outnumbered by the mutineers), stripped them naked and shot them dead.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 23 Jan 2013 13:50

The religious persecution in Aurangzeb's policies and the resulting Maratha war destroyed the Mughal empire. Many officers refused to engage the enemy, and others paid cash or offered services to the Hindus. Peasants were driven off the land as villages were burned, and merchants and caravans suffered from banditry. The Mughals had an imperial army of 170,000 men, but they still could not make the empire of mostly Hindus submit. The imperial treasure was exhausted, and salaries for soldiers and officials were three years in arrears. The religious zeal of Aurangzeb had been intolerant of other cultural activities, and historians regretfully recalled the better eras of Akbar and Shah Jahan. Hindus were disadvantaged economically and had little personal freedom. The elite Mughals were often arrogant and morally degenerate. The prime minister's grandson Mirza Tafakhkhur with ruffians would plunder shops and kidnap Hindu women with impunity. They lived in luxury, but their education in harems was meager. Although Aurangzeb did not drink alcohol, most Muslims secretly did so. Slaves and peasants did the hard work while the surplus produce went to the Muslim aristocrats. Administration of the empire depended on the Mughal military; offices were sold, and corruption was rampant. Aurangzeb worked hard at administration, but his meddling in every aspect of government discouraged initiative. Queens were jealous of each other's sons, as they prepared for the next succession struggle. Islamic government by conquering Muslims was failing badly in the proud and wealthy land of India.

http://www.san.beck.org/2-9-MughalEmpire1526-1707.html

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 23 Jan 2013 14:56

Mugual forces were 600000 and Maratas 1/4 of the same in 27 year war. In the end Aurangajeb could not return to Delhi and died as half mad man. After him delhi has to make peace with Maratas.

Virendra · Post by **Virendra** » 30 Jan 2013 16:10

The pompous blood sucking administration staff of Mughals (feudal leaders etc) cannot be maintained without a well balanced fiscal health and good feed from the ground zero.
Once they broke the back of ground zero India, there was less pie to share between more hungry egoistic tummies and a cumbersome machinery which stopped getting oiled.
Result is for all to see. They evaporated like some plague hit the entire Govt. itself.
Thanks to Aurangzeb for trying his luck too much for too long.

Regards,
Virendra

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 30 Jan 2013 17:57

correctly put sir. They also met heir match in Maratas who really understood what Muguls are and what are their own strenths and weaknesses. They fought to their strenghts and exploited Mogul weakness. They even attacked his tent one time. As you very well the loot amount must have been zero in the end.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 01 Apr 2013 04:33

Aurangzeb, as he was according to Mughal records: An Exhibition mounted by fact, India

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 25 Apr 2013 22:36

The so called "Great Mughals" Plight : (click the link to see picture of Shah Jahan III's coin and its significance)

http://coinindia.com/galleries-latemughals.html

Shah Jahan III was the great grandson of Aurangzeb, who ruled for less than a year during 1759-60. This coin has a fascinating history. Shailendra Bhandare (Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 209) discovered that it was almost certainly struck on 6 August 1760 on the orders of the invading Maratha general Sadashiv Rao, known as Bhau. Bhau had been ordered by the Peshwa to journey north to provide aid to the beleagured Mughal state in defense against the invading Afghan armies, but he arrived in Delhi short of funds and in arrears to his troops. Accordingly, he ordered the silver lining on the roof of the Diwan-i-khas, the "Hall of Private Audience" in Delhi's Red Fort to be stripped off and converted to coin. Apparently 900,000 coins were struck from that silver and this coin is one of those. Bhandare was able to figure this out by looking at the placement of the AH date on the coin. Note that it is placed here on the second line of the obverse (only the 3 is visible on the coin), a practice followed by the Marathas while they occupied Delhi. Shah Jahan III's original rupees placed the AH date on the third line of the obverse. So the silver in this coin at one time adorned the roof of a major hall at the Red Fort!

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Apr 2013 01:23

Nirad C Chaudhri on the subject

http://www.rediff.com/news/nov/22nirad2.htm

...The Muslims, in contrast, brought historical knowledge and memory to India, but this did not create a political life which impinged on the life of the people. They brought into existence only a lasting relationship between the ruling order and the general mass of the people created by Muslim rule through the system of revenue collection introduced during the reign of the Mogul emperor Akbar by his Punjabi Khatri revenue minister, Todar Mal....

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 May 2013 23:40

X-Post......
[quote="kmkraoind"

Jahanara’s tale well told

Jahanara’s tale well told
Darshan Singh Maini

Jahanara
by Lyane Guillaume Translated by Uma Narayanan & Prema Seetharam. East-West Books, Madurai.
Rs 295. Pages 299.

Jahanara gives a vivid account of Shahjahan’s life

JAHANARA, a historical novel translated from the French language, is based upon the memoirs of the Mughal princess, written in Persian. Yane Guillaume who had spent several years in India and Afghanistan has brought her imagination of fabulation and sense of history into full play. Written in an elegant style and translated by the Indian scholars felicitously, it abounds in picturesque imagery, chromatic landscapes and poetic flourishes.

A first-person narrative, it has all the charm that characterises a long confessional poem. Jahanara, being a poet of considerable weight, has put her muses to good use, and the poetic prose of the novelist has a matching metaphorical richness and elegance.

The historical novel is a time-honoured genre, and requires great skill to work out its dialectic and aesthetic. Since various skeins are to be woven to effect a striking pattern, the narrator can often slip into solipicism, philosophically speaking. That’s why Henry James, the great American novelist and theorist, was averse to the use of the first person in a novel which he considered the ultimate form of artistic expression. These caveats, notwithstanding, Jahanara remains a work of great virtuosity and power.

Jahanara is 67, just a couple of years away from her cease when she begins to tell her tempestuous story in a reflexive mode. Memories of a childhood in royal palaces, humming with harem politics, intrigues, familial feuds, princely philandering and furtive scenes of love, dalliance and sex, give Guillaume a platform from where to launch her crowded narrative.

If the palace scenes are gripping in their luxuriant frames, the scenes of battles, sieges, marches, of caparisoned elephants and of the royal howdahs studded with jems and gold are equally splendid and colourful. Both the glory in arms and the trauma of defeats and tragedies en route heap upon the reader’s imagination to carry him along the effortless flow of the narrative. In between, we find the portraits of the monarchs and princes, of the queens and princesses emerging gradually to become compelling, each in its own way. The pressure of art creates a dense and compact picture, and this kind of aesthetic economy remains in place for the rest of the narrative.

The fabulous, romantic story of Jahangir and of Nur Jahan with whose stunning beauty and endless charms the Emperor remains infatuated, is meant to serve as “a prelude to the swelling theme” (Shakespeare’s words in Macbeth) of this novel — the theme of dynastic crises, manipulations, murders and usurpations. It’s really a tortured tale of the two contenders for the throne in the end, though at the commencement of the long struggle, it’s chiefly a narrative with two pivotal protagonists, the Emperor Shah Jahan and his rebellious, bigoted son, Aurangzeb, described as “the white serpent” by Jahanara throughout this novel. Meanwhile, Nur Jahan fades into obscurity and isolation.

Guillaume, however, turns, once again, to the royal harem where queens and princesses, concubines and courtesans, slave girls and hand-maidens — and the watchful enuchs and Negro guards are seen enacting their own muslin dramas. Scenes of orgies of sex and concupiscence, of reckless profligacy and drunkenness, involving princes and the victims of their lasciviousness, are, then, a story within a story. It’s the hedonistic side of the Mughals, and little is spared where their empire of appetite is concerned. This is an imperium at work behind the veils, matching the Mughal predators’ unappeased hunger for more and more territories.

If we find the royal seed scattered promiscuously on the one hand, we see the grand armies in awesome action, on the other. All manner of sexual depravities, from formications to incest show the deep Freudian “fixations” of the Mughal offspring and their “by-blows”. However, Guillaume does not get down into “the shaggy undergrowths” after the style of the modern psychological novelists, and is content to keep the narrative on the descriptive level. So far as the princesses are concerned, their illicit affairs are understandable, for Emperor Akbar, otherwise a God-fearing ruler, had prohibited the marriage of royal princesses for fear of dynastic ambitions of sons-in-law. This cruel and dangerous firman could not but create tragic and disasterous consequences.

Jahanara, a humanist and broad-minded person in deep despair — turns now to mysticism, and to a life of the spirit and of the imagination. Her dreams of love soon became oppressive enough to make her brood continually over her two first loves — Najabat Khan, the commander-in-chief of the Mughal armies, and later, a young Persian steward of her household. Both these loves are soon nipped in the bud, and all she is left with are the ashes of those nubile dreams. She is just beginning to feel like a girl tuning into a woman with the needs of the body becoming compelling.

And then in “a vision” during her sleep, she sees the Prophet Mohammed, though she cannot hear the voice clearly. The message, nonetheless, she feels, is from Allah Himself, telling her to regard his created creatures on earth as worthy of love, irrespective of their religion, creed or colour. This is a decisive moment of her life, and now for salvation and peace of mind, she follows her brother, Dara, who had earlier turned towards the Sufi saints like Mian Mir. Dara had in his spiritual quest even written a book called Paths of Truth.

The most painful period of her troubled life begins when soon enough her aged father, Emperor Shah Jahan forces her into a sexual relationship with him, for in his young daughter he finds the image of his dead wife, Mumtaz Mahal. In sheer pity and love, she does submit to this ugly assault on her dignity. In reality, this is an act of displacement and perverted nostalgia. Meanwhile, Aurangzeb, a Machiavellian of the deepest dye, full of vile thoughts, masquerading as a pious Muslim and wrecking the lives of his own brothers and sisters to further his evil designs, succeeds in poisoning the atmosphere around, and overthrows his own father to become the emperor of the vast empire. He captures his brother Dara, parades him in chains in the streets of Delhi, arousing a feeling of revulsion amongst the capital’s citizens who have all along adored Dara for his sterling qualities of character, for his visionary philosophy.

Now, the deposed emperor and his favoured daughter Jahanara are imprisoned in the Agra Fort, and humiliated in all possible ways. These seven long years, spent in imprisonment, are spent by both in an uneasy silence, precipitated by their mutual sense of sin and guilt. Their fate, they know, is sealed, and to dispel the resultant darkness, Jahanara spends most of her time in prayers, in writing poems and her memoirs.

As for Aurangzeb who assumes the name of Alamgir or “One Who Holds the Universe”, his true character now becomes transparent when “the White Serpent” razes several hundred Hindu temples to the ground, imposes the Jazia tax on them, forbids music and dance as vices condemned by the Muslim divines and theologians. He is set upto a course of fanatical lines of thought, and puts all those to the sword whom he considers “infidels”.

And it’s thus that he commits a most heinous crime when he treacherously calls the Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, to Delhi and beheads him in Chandni Chowk when he is found pleading the cause of Kashmiri Brahmins. It’s a pity, Guillaume disposes of this horrendous event in a page or so, for the banner of revolt which the Tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, unfurls, and a relentless war he wages against the Mughal armies, results in giving a disasterous damage to this empire of loot and aggrandisement.

The concluding paragraph of the novel sums up the entire world-view of Jahanara:

“Dara, you were right, our Sufi masters were right, Mohammed and Buddha were right, Christ was right, and these words inscribed at the entrance of Fatehpur Sikri by my great grandfather, Akbar, resound in any memory” ‘The world is but a bridge, cross it without pausing, without building a shelter.... Pass your life in prayer, the rest lies in the domain of the unfathomable.”

A beautiful book to be pondered and cherished as a minor classic.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 17 May 2013 06:13

^ after reading that jahanara story,

If it is true, hOw can any rational person claim that Shajahan's love for Mumtaj is so "pure" that Taj Mahal became "Symbol of love" for future generations?

Was Shajahan thrusting Jahanara while he was building Tajmahal for 16 years? Why would he need a lifeless Taj Mahal when he has a live image of Mumtaj?

Is it possible for Taj Mahal to be a quick renovation/reshaping project?

Truth is stranger than fiction. Who is going to tell all those love birds around Taj Mahal about Shajahan's forced incest relationship with his own daughter?

I miss Shivji. He could have explained it from human psychology perspective

BTW, what about other Mughal rulers?

Added later: Realized that she "saw" Prophet Muhammed in dream. This makes all this a YYY conspiracy.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 May 2013 06:45

Other than aurangzeb all the mughals were keen on pleasures of the flesh.
As for aurangzeb the world awaits an unmasking of his austerity and so called piety.

Predictably it is aurangzeb and not akbar or humayun who is the role model and hero for rabid sections of indic muslims.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 17 May 2013 08:11

Aurangzeb not indulging in pleasure sof the flesh? !!!!

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 May 2013 08:25

^ pls educate us Bji. looking forward to it

I thought he was a uber-pious ghazi with a 24 inch long orange beard.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 17 May 2013 08:27

Start with how he acquired his central-Asian/Caucasian concubine, and why she turned to alcohol so much.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 17 May 2013 08:30

By the way, Jahanara does not actually complain of "rape" by dad - there is just a passing hint of the possibility in her autobiography. What if the feelings were mutual? However the possibilities were noted by Shah Jehan the lover boy himself - and he forced her to give her nips to Dara in a ritual from the Arabic lunacy of 7th century hadith lore - she becomes technically a mom to Dara, and hence cannot have ahem ahem with him.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 17 May 2013 08:47

Auranga's austerity was like that of Prophet who also denied himself the pleasures of flesh, flask and food.. It saddens me that now Auranga's name is in the process of rehablitation through Bollywood of Bombay.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 May 2013 09:00

There is a new film aurangzeb with two warring brothers starring the same guy as ishqzaade in a double role.

Nice modern retelling of the tale..badshahat bhaichare ko nehi dekhta
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QOetjv5ezMM

Should be a pacy and fast paced film and sums up aurangzeb biousness nicely lol

Anand K · Post by **Anand K** » 17 May 2013 11:17

Aurangzeb had fewer women in his harem.... IIRC 4 concubines + Biwi No. 1. Quite celibate considering he could be neck deep in all the tail he wanted.

There was a saying about Akbar's roving eye.... "If you make friends with the mahout, you have to make space for the elephant too". Apparently didn't spare the wives and daughters of even his pals. Jahangir swung both ways and his resort had quite a collection of peach-pottomed carnation-eared youths. But none came close to Muhammed Shah Rangila apparently..... this one was a real Sardanapalus. And AFAIK it was Humayun and Dara who were the not "amorous" type....

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 17 May 2013 14:08

^^^ difficult to say no to the emperor... i believe this was common for a lot of kings around the world

Atri · Post by **Atri** » 17 May 2013 14:35

brihaspati wrote:Aurangzeb not indulging in pleasure sof the flesh? !!!!

Apparently, there was this Hirabai Zainabadi whom he was extremely fond of. he even drank wine and was fond of her music. legend goes that after her death, he started becoming more vicious.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 May 2013 14:48

there is a series of novels called Empire of the Moghul which claim to document the life of these people.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 17 May 2013 20:03

Calculating actual access to women within the harem - is a risky task. Practically not much records exist that are publicly available. Its premature to claim that Aurangzeb had less women to indulge in. There was a lot of propaganda around hims from his mullah buddies - and this has been the stuff on which most of his histories have been written for public image building.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 17 May 2013 20:05

The central Asian - both Persian and Turkic as wellas Afghan component would have string tendencies of homosexualism. It was there in the Mughal circles too - although they write more about the Sultanate time homosexual lore. But that could be pitching for historical "revisionism" under the Mughals.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 17 May 2013 20:21

Can we get back to more non harme scarem topics and bring back the focus?

How about how the Mughals entrnched the looteras as the zamindars and jagirdars in the UP-ihar belt and made that a jahilya which persists even now?

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 17 May 2013 21:29

Sushupti wrote:Yesterday, Tarek Fatah was pedaling kind of William Darlymple's line about Moghul India on twitter. And after hammering from IHs he cried like this:

Can some one provide me the link to Jihadi dreams of Bahadur Shah Zafar expressed in one of his Shayari?. It used to be available here http://vinodkumar.voiceofdharma.com/ but this link is dead.

I have this one (not related to Jihadi dreams but considering himself gaazi)

आगरा में पले-बढे उर्दू-पसंद और शायरी में हाथ आजमाने वाले अँगरेज़ सार्जेंट फिलिप ने परास्त बहादुरशाह ज़फर से कहा :-

"दमदमे में दम नहीं अब खैर मांगो जान की...
ऐ ज़फर ठंडी हुई शमशीर हिंदुस्तान की"

इसपर बादशाह (?) ने फिलिप की ओर शेर लौटाया :-

"गाजियोंमें बू रहेगी जब तलक ईमान की,
तख़्त-ए-लन्दन तक चलेगी तेग हिंदुस्तान की"

Atri · Post by **Atri** » 17 May 2013 21:33

His today's FB post...

https://www.facebook.com/tarekfatah/pos ... 7509980012

Tarek Fatah wrote:In the Indian Subcontinent it is very easy to distinguish between a Muslim and an Islamist. While Muslims love the poet Prince Dara Shikoh, Islamists adore his the prince's murderer, Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb. You cannot love both.

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 17 May 2013 21:34

ramana wrote:Can we get back to more non harme scarem topics and bring back the focus?

How about how the Mughals entrnched the looteras as the zamindars and jagirdars in the UP-ihar belt and made that a jahilya which persists even now?

watch those movies gangs of wasseypur to get some gist. the movies are quentin terentino type heavily violence laden