“The World the Mughals Made”

We read that the various influences on India, the most incredibly diverse land, can be considered “movements of peoples seeing new opportunities,” and the particular peoples we encounter here are the Mughals, descendants of Central Asian Turks who moved east and established a rather short lived dynasty. Literature of the period. Enabled in part by the peace that flourished during this time of absolute control. And there is the movement of languages along with the movements of peoples—the Mughals bring with them the Persian language, and with more interaction with Hindustan, the language of Urdu is developed from the Hindi language along with the Persian style of script. Urdu has evolved into the official language of Pakistan today. Odd that the Hindi language, named after the Indus river, and the Indus is primarily in Pakistan.

Babur—descendent of both the Turkish Tamerlane and the Mongul Ghengis Khan, brought his armies into South Asia to help quell an uprising for a fellow ruler, and decided after victory to stick around.
An early effort at autobiography. His preface not unlike that of Rousseau, although it is more outward looking than the latter.
We find it odd that he complains so mightily about India, its gardens, etc.
Another section finds him exhorting his troops to courage using the Koranic message of the afterlife for warriors.
Another section finds us witness to his pledge to give up the booze. Compare to Jehangir’s own battle with the bottle, his victory over the vessel, grapple with the goblet.
In the letter to Humayun we get instructions to the eldest son/ next emperor on how to be a better ruler, put in writing. One such message—don’t be so complex and obscure in your writing. Akbar, the son who would become the third emperor and under whom The Mughal dynasty flourished mightily.

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Jahangir is the fourth of the Emperors, and ruled from around 1605-27. During his and subsequent reign religious tolerance prevails, which allows strength in diversity of the population. (Note that he spoke Hindi, wrote in Persian. There are in these excerpts much attention placed on the holy men, whom he calls dervishes (after the Sufi Muslim tradition). First there is Shayk Salim, for whom he is named (a name which he exchanges for Jahangir (world domination) Nuruddin (light of religion). Compare the different strategies for giving up alcohol. The shooting of the elephant. The painting of the dying dude. Finally, the tragic advice given to the love-sick blacksmith.

“Sauda” writes as the empire is in decline. Part of cause for the decline is the ascension of Aurangzeb, who replaced the religious tolerance with a more fundamental Islamic sensibility. There was also the kinds of cultural achievements of Jahangir’s son, Shah Jahan, whose great projects (i.e. The Taj Mahal) required immense wealth which meant inordinate taxation, and put a strain on the relations with the common p[eople, particularly at the far reaches of the Empire. The Empire was also in the transition to British Rule, and thus there is the complaints from “Sauda” about the material and spiritual conditions of his time.