The Mughal History for Beginners
Last day, my sister was reading Mughal History out loud from her textbook. When I returned after an hour, I found her asleep on her book. Shaking her awake (while making sure that none of the gross drool actually comes in contact with my body), I asked her why she had fallen asleep while reading one of the most interesting subjects out there. She told me that it was because she did not understand it and that it was none of my business. So obviously I HAD to make it my business. I decided to write down a brief article on what actually happened in India... Or at least my version of it.
Turns out that it all started when one Mister Babur (who was a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan) decided that India was a decent enough place to start practicing his conquering skills with. So guess what he did? Yep, he conquered it. From the Lodhi dynasty which was under one Mister Ibrahim Lodhi. In a battle called the First Battle of Panipat (Yes there was a second and third. And yes, it took place in Panipat.)Babur decided that Agra was a good enough headquarters and proceeded to rule amidst the great instability of the empire. After Babur, his son Humayun(who was named after his grandfather-Humayun) decided to continue the Mughal rule. He was exiled for a brief period of time following a war which he (drum roll) lost. But he regained the empire(obviously). However he got a bit carried away in building libraries and other architectural stuff that one fine day he fell down the stairs of an unbuilt library and-
Died.
(Dramatic Pause)
But of course Humayun had a son. The so called son was the famous Akbar (from Akbar and Birbal). He was a pretty chill dude despite the fact that he was STILL A KID and had recently lost his dad. He took some really good decisions and used tactical "warfare and diplomacy". He also did some pretty good stuff for the people like being religiously tolerant and reducing taxes. He also put forward this new religion called "Din-i-ilahi" which was the Mughal version of Monotheism. Perhaps he was one of the few Indian rulers who actually cared for their subjects.
But of course like good rulers do, he too died eventually, thereby extending the throne to his son- Jahangir.
This Jahangir guy had good beginnings. He was initially named Salim Chishti after an Indian Sufi saint called Chishti. Jahangir was even bought up by said Chishti's daughter. But it turned out that the guy preferred opium(DRUGS) to ruling a country. He was brash and aggressive and addicted and neglected the matters of the state. Jahangir decided that being religiously tolerant was too much for his tolerance. He also executed (the word exeCUTE has cute in it!?) some pretty important people from other religions, causing a lot of conflicts of interests. Dark, isn't it?
Jahangir was succeeded by one Mister Shah Jahan.
Shah Jahan. The romantic ruler. The soft hearted poet. The artist.
Turns out that it all started when one Mister Babur (who was a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan) decided that India was a decent enough place to start practicing his conquering skills with. So guess what he did? Yep, he conquered it. From the Lodhi dynasty which was under one Mister Ibrahim Lodhi. In a battle called the First Battle of Panipat (Yes there was a second and third. And yes, it took place in Panipat.)Babur decided that Agra was a good enough headquarters and proceeded to rule amidst the great instability of the empire. After Babur, his son Humayun(who was named after his grandfather-Humayun) decided to continue the Mughal rule. He was exiled for a brief period of time following a war which he (drum roll) lost. But he regained the empire(obviously). However he got a bit carried away in building libraries and other architectural stuff that one fine day he fell down the stairs of an unbuilt library and-
Died.
(Dramatic Pause)
But of course Humayun had a son. The so called son was the famous Akbar (from Akbar and Birbal). He was a pretty chill dude despite the fact that he was STILL A KID and had recently lost his dad. He took some really good decisions and used tactical "warfare and diplomacy". He also did some pretty good stuff for the people like being religiously tolerant and reducing taxes. He also put forward this new religion called "Din-i-ilahi" which was the Mughal version of Monotheism. Perhaps he was one of the few Indian rulers who actually cared for their subjects.
But of course like good rulers do, he too died eventually, thereby extending the throne to his son- Jahangir.
This Jahangir guy had good beginnings. He was initially named Salim Chishti after an Indian Sufi saint called Chishti. Jahangir was even bought up by said Chishti's daughter. But it turned out that the guy preferred opium(DRUGS) to ruling a country. He was brash and aggressive and addicted and neglected the matters of the state. Jahangir decided that being religiously tolerant was too much for his tolerance. He also executed (the word exeCUTE has cute in it!?) some pretty important people from other religions, causing a lot of conflicts of interests. Dark, isn't it?
Jahangir was succeeded by one Mister Shah Jahan.
Shah Jahan. The romantic ruler. The soft hearted poet. The artist.
The "Taj Mahal" guy.
The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan to be built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth to their 14th child. The imperial court documenting Shah Jahan's grief after the death of Mumtaz Mahal illustrates the love story held as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan to be built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth to their 14th child. The imperial court documenting Shah Jahan's grief after the death of Mumtaz Mahal illustrates the love story held as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.
In short, she dies, he turns sad; Instead of writing a song about it and eating tubs of Ice-cream, HE BUILDS A MONUMENT.
Cool guy, this Shah Jahan.
Soon after the Taj Mahal was built, Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb put him under house arrest where he ended up- you guessed it- dying. Aurangzeb was just like his grandfather Jahangir, only worse. It was by his time that the Mughal empire wholly started to decline. Under his rule, the Mughal empire started to spiral into what can be described as a state of dictatorship.
Soon after the Taj Mahal was built, Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb put him under house arrest where he ended up- you guessed it- dying. Aurangzeb was just like his grandfather Jahangir, only worse. It was by his time that the Mughal empire wholly started to decline. Under his rule, the Mughal empire started to spiral into what can be described as a state of dictatorship.
It was terrible. Like the chicken fell on the floor-level terrible.
Aurangzeb had a son, naturally, but he was different from his father (a rather recurring trend if you observe the pattern). But unlike the others, Bahadur Shah Zafar (the aforementioned son) could not exactly bring the empire fully under control as it had already sunk into chaos with all thanks to his father. The fact that the British also had a strong hold on the Mughal empire by that time was certainly not helpful. It was in such a bad state that in 1719 alone, four emperors successively ascended the throne, following the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1712. Precisely why no one even remembers Farrukhsiyar.
Things just went downhill after that.
And by downhill, I mean they really lost it. The excrement hit the air conditioning.
Aurangzeb had a son, naturally, but he was different from his father (a rather recurring trend if you observe the pattern). But unlike the others, Bahadur Shah Zafar (the aforementioned son) could not exactly bring the empire fully under control as it had already sunk into chaos with all thanks to his father. The fact that the British also had a strong hold on the Mughal empire by that time was certainly not helpful. It was in such a bad state that in 1719 alone, four emperors successively ascended the throne, following the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1712. Precisely why no one even remembers Farrukhsiyar.
Things just went downhill after that.
And by downhill, I mean they really lost it. The excrement hit the air conditioning.
It was that bad.
Google it.
But that is it for today, folks. When I said I loved History I meant I loved parts of it. Like for example the fact that The Sepoy Mutiny that took place in Meerut was on my birthday but only two centuries earlier. Almost 6,000 Europeans died in the fighting. The death toll of the native population was much, much higher, primarily as a result of a famine that resulted in part from all of the fighting. Estimates are that as many as 800,000 Indians died directly or indirectly because of the Sepoy Rebellion. Much of that number of dead was due to the British practice of not always discriminating between soldiers and civilians. The rebelling sepoys had done the same sort of thing when they had seized cities, but the number of Indian civilians was much higher than the number of British civilians. In the province of Oudh, the death of 150,000 Indians included 100,000 civilians.
A lot of people died.
But that is it for today, folks. When I said I loved History I meant I loved parts of it. Like for example the fact that The Sepoy Mutiny that took place in Meerut was on my birthday but only two centuries earlier. Almost 6,000 Europeans died in the fighting. The death toll of the native population was much, much higher, primarily as a result of a famine that resulted in part from all of the fighting. Estimates are that as many as 800,000 Indians died directly or indirectly because of the Sepoy Rebellion. Much of that number of dead was due to the British practice of not always discriminating between soldiers and civilians. The rebelling sepoys had done the same sort of thing when they had seized cities, but the number of Indian civilians was much higher than the number of British civilians. In the province of Oudh, the death of 150,000 Indians included 100,000 civilians.
A lot of people died.
This is why I love History. Dark, isn't it?
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