Mughals - How Tyrannic And Oppressive

**Hauma Hamiddha** · 03-02-2007, 08:04 AM

QUOTE(Bodhi @ Feb 28 2007, 06:50 PM)Hauma Hamiddha Ji, that is a very surprising and great information.Â How do we know it was indeed issued by Akbar?Â Are there inscriptions or date on these coins?Â Do you have the image of the other side of the coin too? 

I believe there are inscription of ilahi and ram-siyA. They have been found in securely dated Akbar hoards and are part of the ilahi coins that are specific to Akbar. So I am not in doubt about their issue by Akbar. A moslem author had once written an article about them where he claimed that the Mogol had read the rAmAyaNa translated into persian and inspired by it made these coins. He gave citation of a copy of an illustrated rAmAyaNa made for Akbar kept in some museum.

Some Moslem rulers stamped their name on Hindu coins, especially in the early Dilli sultanate period. While there were many Hindu kings using rama-sitA coins, the Akbari variety is distinguished by the ilahi mark they say and not corresponding to any earlier Hindu issues coin of this type.

**Hauma Hamiddha** · 03-02-2007, 08:10 AM

3 sweets popularized by the Mogols have an enormous fan-club in brahminical house holds of the drAviDa lands. They are:
1) jahAngIri
2) zilebia
3) bAdshAh.
The first was apparently introduced at the behest of tyrant Jahangir and the 3rd by Akbar.

These sweets and the other contributions to the cuisine may count as the only positive contributions of the monstrous Mogol occupation of India.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 03-12-2007, 01:22 AM by Bodhi.)

Mughals were persecuted and massacred in thousands themselves, by the Sultan of Delhi, until they converted to the religion of peace, and even later.

Writes Sir William Wilson Hunter in The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1886:
QUOTE...finally Mugals having failed in their repeated attempts to capture Punjab, took service in great numbers with Sultans of Delhi.Â Under slave kings, the Mugal mercanaries had become so powerful as to be required to be massacred in 1286.Â About 1291, three thousand Mughals, converted from their old Tartaric rites into Muhammedenism, received a suburb in Delhi, still known as Mugalpora, for their residence.Â Other immigrants of Mughal mercenaries followed.Â After various plots, Alauddin slaughtered 15000 of the settlers, and sold their families as slaves in 1311.


In Humayun's time they were forced to convert to Shiaite islam, at the behest of Iran's emporer, as a price to receive his military support in Humayun's campaign to re-capture Delhi.

ramana · (This post was last modified: 03-12-2007, 10:50 PM by ramana.)

H^2, The East India Company as late as 1818 has issued coins with Ram Darbar. One of our members has some coins. Will ask him to post the pictures. I think the Ram darbar coins were the only ones to be recognized thru the length and breadth of India. After the Crown took over after 1857, one can see Queen Victoria's pictures on the coins.

Meanwhile
QUOTE The Capture of Maryam-uz-Zamani's Ship: Mughal Women and European Traders

Can some one get hold of the full text of the article?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE
The early colonial period in India produced a rash of piracies by Europeans against indigenous trading ships. Although all attacks damaged Indian foreign trade, one attack in particular, in the autumn of 1613, precipitated an especially harsh response on the part of the Mughal government. The capture of the Rahimi by the Portuguese, even while she carried the necessary safe travel pass, proved especially odious to the emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) primarily because the owner and patron of the ship was his mother, Maryam-uz-Zamani. An investigation of the event reveals that most Mughal noblewomen of the period were unusually wealthy, and that a number of them were active in a new and highly risky business, investment in foreign trade. Moreover, these trading ships often carried pilgrims to and from Mocha, a seaport within easy reach of the religious trading center of Mecca. The capture of the Rahimi, then, was not only an illegal act by the Portuguese as well as an act of deliberate religious persecution, but an event which revealed the substantial involvement of women in the crucial beginnings of modern Indian foreign trade.

</div>

Who was Marayam Uz Zamani the Queen of Akbar? She is the mother of Jehangir. Is she the one called Jodh Bai?

bodhi, Those Mughals being referred to in Hunter's book are the original Mongols of Genghis Khan vintage. Balban of the Slave Dynasty fought against them.

Mughals are Mongols who became Moslems after the conquest of Persia by the Golden Horde. So its not correct to refer to the older version Mongols as Mughals.

03-31-2007, 12:23 AM

Islam and Shadow of Intolerance
Francois Gautier
March 28, 2007

Islam needs a moderate face with a reformist spirit as exemplified by the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh, not his antithesis, Aurangzeb.

The People's Democratic Party's demand of demilitarisation of Jammu & Kashmir, even though it has been temporarily dropped, is one more sign that the State is forsaking its Sufi inheritance and allowing Aurangzeb's spirit to take over. What will happen once the Army goes? Chaos, for sure - and Pakistan's gamble of a 20-year proxy war will have paid. The earlier sign of this drawing away from modern, secular, democratic India was the voting by the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly of the Shari'ah law, which surprisingly attracted no comment from the Indian media, quick to react when they feel the secular fabric of the country is threatened.

Aurangzeb's shadow is not only present in Jammu & Kashmir, his very name still triggers passion on both sides of the Hindu and Muslim community. The recent show of paintings, 'Aurangzeb As He Was According To Mughal Records", which Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism exhibited at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi, attracted thousands of visitors, some of whom had no idea about what Aurangzeb did to India.

The article I wrote on Aurangzeb for Rediff.com (rediff.com/news/ 2007/feb/16francois.htm) was the most commented ever in the history of Rediff.

Ultimately, Indian Muslims have to make today a crucial choice: Do they want Aurangzeb's shadow to prevail upon Islam, or will they invoke Dara Shikoh's spirit and bring the greatness of Sufism back to India? Two brothers, two different incarnations of Islam - and how different!

Aurangzeb (1658-1707) was a neither the eldest nor the favourite son of his father, Shah Jahan. To ascend the throne, he killed his two brothers, sent his father to jail and subsequently murdered him by sending him poisoned massage oil and later had his own son imprisoned. (In his will, he admonished: "Never trust your sons.") He was also very cruel to the majority of his subjects, Hindus, ordering temples to be destroyed, and making sure that Hindu gods and goddesses were buried under the steps of the mosques (like the Jama Masjid in Delhi) so that future generations of Muslims will trample on them.

Muslims suffered as much as Hindus: Ninety per cent of today's Indian Muslims should know that their ancestors were converted by force under Aurangzeb. Even his own brother, Dara Shikoh, was executed for taking an interest in Hindu religion and the Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded because he objected to Aurangzeb's forced conversions.

Sultan Mohammed Dara Shikoh (1615-1659), the eldest son of Shahjahan, was born in Ajmer. Dara was a patron of arts, architecture, and literature and was himself a skilled calligrapher, artist, poet, writer, and translator. He wrote, in 1640, four books on Sufism which dwelled on the doctrine of wahadat al-wajud (oneness of being) and advocated an inclusive approach towards other religions.

Dara Shikoh held a series of dialogues with a Hindu yogi, Baba Lal Das, and discussed with him various concepts of Hinduism, at times comparing them with Islam. As a result of his discussions with Baba Lal and other sufis, he translated all the Upanishads into Persian and wrote Majma' al-Bahrayn (The Mingling of the Two Oceans), which tried to reconcile Islam and Hinduism.

Dara Shikoh, who believed that there was one and the same absolute incarnated in different religions, was not an apostate, as claimed by hard-line Sunnis. Indeed, he regarded the prophethood of Prophet Mohammed as the ultimate, because he had harmoniously blended the absolute and the determined, the colourless and the coloured, and the near and the distant.

However, Dara, although brave, was not a very good warrior and he suffered his final defeat in 1659 at the hands of Aurangzeb in Deorai. Finally, he was paraded in disgrace through the streets of Delhi and beheaded in August 1659.

"As I did not look at this infidel's face in his lifetime, I do not wish to do so now," Aurangzeb is reported to have said when the decapitated head of Dara Shikoh was presented to satisfy him that no fraud or substitution had taken place. On Aurangzeb's order Dara's corpse was placed on an elephant, paraded through the streets of the city a second time, and then buried in a vault under the dome of the tomb of Humayun, without the customary washing and dressing of the body. Dara Shikoh was executed not only on the charge of heresy and infidelity, but also for the crime of calling Hinduism and Islam 'twin brothers'.

India - and indeed the whole world - today needs a Dara Shikoh, who can reintroduce an Islam which, while believing in the supremacy of the Prophet, not only accepts other faiths, but is also able to see the good in each religion. May the spirit of Dara Shikoh return to India and make Islam a tolerant faith. For that purpose, FACT, the Foundation that I head, has decided to hold an exhibition on Dara Shikoh: His life and what he stood for.

(The writer is the editor- in-chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l'Inde (lesbelleslettres.com)

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 04-15-2007, 12:30 PM by Bodhi.)

In Babarâs footsteps
M.H.A. Beg visits Central Asia to follow Babarâs passage from Amu Darya to Nilab (Sindh)

In the year 1504 after spending one year in the mountains of Farghana, where he could not make any headway, when relations and friends had all turned against him, the 22-year-old Babar took a bold decision. His book, Babarnama, gives all the details about his decision to leave his homeland in search of another kingdom.

Babarâs first intention was to go to Khurasan. His uncle, Sultan Husain Mirza, ruled Herat. So in Muharram of that year he camped in the green pasture around Hisar (near Doshanbay, Tajikistan). He was poor and destitute. He has described in Babarnama how he had âmore than 200 and less than 300 followers.â Most of them were on foot â they had no arms except for wooden staves. They wore loose slippers and were meagrely clad. Babar himself had only two tents which he shared with his family. At every camp he would sit under a hastily made âChapparâ.

But his luck was going to change soon. He was in the area ruled by Khusro Shah, known as a cruel and unfair ruler of Hisar, Qunduz and Afghan Turkistan. People would approach Babar and bring him stories that they were sick and tired of the Shahâs rule. It was their way of submitting to him. Khusro Shah used to be an ameer to Babarâs uncle Sultan Mahmud Mirza of Samarqand, who had gained strength at the expense of Babarâs cousins, killing one of them and blinding the other. The third cousin, Mirza Khan, had accompanied Babar to Hisar. From Hisar they took the road to Termiz (Uzbekistan) which was governed by Baqi, the younger brother of Khusro Shah. Baqi was clever. He realised the precarious state of affairs of his brother and tried negotiating between the two sides.

Amu Darya

Babar must have crossed the river Amu somewhere near Termiz. This is the famous crossing site of men and armies. The most famous in recent history being the Russian army of 1979 through the Bridge of Friendship, named in contrast to the act of invasion.

The bridge still stands. It is used by the trade traffic. Not only does it have a road but also a railway crossing from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan. To establish a station for unloading goods, they built a town named Hayratan, a dismal place with a railway yard and some houses belonging to the railway workers and army personnel. The town is so recent that it doesnât even show on some of the older maps of Afghanistan. These days you cannot go on the bridge directly, but a guard will direct you to a place from where the bridge and Amu Darya are within sight.

The bridge is a steel construction, painted pale yellow on the top. Amu is a big river in the region, made famous in Arabic historical writings as the âNeharâ. Arab historians have given the area beyond a name so beautiful and descriptive, âMavara-un-neharâ. The railway does not go beyond Hayratan. This is the only part of Afghanistan where there is a railway built by the invading Russians. It is their legacy.

Babar writes in his book that after crossing the Amu on a raft, he landed in Afghan Turkistan where he was greeted by vast flat grasslands.

The country is an open field, much warmer than the mountainous Afghanistan of the centre and the south. The land on the banks of the river was good for cultivation. The eastern part with open grass lands is horse country where horse raising is still practised.

As soon as Babar arrived here and the ameers of Khusro Shah started gathering around him, Babar decided to switch directions from Khurasan to Bamiyan. Another reason for this change was to leave behind his family in the mountainous castle âAjarâ for safe keeping.

Aibak

Two ameers of Khusro Shah who joined Babar have been particularly mentioned by him in Babarnama. Qambar Ali Sallakh and Yar Ali Bilal brought him strength. Yar Ali Bilal joined Babar at Aibak.

Aibak is a dusty town of Turkistan, which also boasts of a Buddhist stupa. Yar Aliâs joining Babar was not only a boost to his strength but the relation he established here proved to be historical and long lasting.

Yar Ali Bilal was the grandfather of Bairam Khan, of Akbar fame. The friendship between the two families here, as the ruler and the instrument to rule, lasted for seven generations, the last of which was known historically in the days of Aurangzeb when Muhammad Munim a descendent was still working as governor of Ahmad Nagar.

Babar remembers in his book that there was not a single day when people who were against Khusro Shah didnât come to join him. On learning these facts Khusro Shah was disgusted. Another turn of luck occurred through the intervention of kind of bully of the period, Shaibani Khan. Khusro Shah was based at Qunduz, which he strengthened to save from Shaibani. For 20 years, he collected arms and provisions to save the castle of Qunduz from him. As soon as Shaibani took Farghana and showed his intention to come to Qunduz, Khusro Shah was worried. He could not stay in Qunduz, so he moved out towards Kabul. It was better to surrender to Babar than get slaughtered by Shaibani. There is a saying still frequently quoted in Afghanistan, âAfghansâ anger and Uzbeksâ kindness are equivalentâ, and how true this is historically.

Qunduz

Qunduz today has a big army camp, which at present is occupied by American forces. The Americans here travel in convoys of big wheeled, gun transporters at a speed of around 50 kilometres per hour â they do not allow anyone to overtake them.

We followed them on the road to Qunduz for about 50 kilometres until they stopped near a mountain side and jumping out of their vehicles, stood on attention with their guns to let all the traffic at the back pass by. The American presence cannot only be felt on the roads, it is also there in the hearts and minds of the people. They publish a monthly newspaper Sada-i-Azadi, in Dari, Pushto and English languages, which is full of propaganda, singing praises of the good work that the Americans are doing.

We were able to see the mud castle of Khusro Shah. The place is unsafe as it is full of mines. A shepherd asked us to follow only the track made by sheep. With just the base and a few walls standing, the place is in a bad state.

Back to history and Babarnama. Khusro Shah sent his son-in-law Yakoob to Babar. Already present there was Khusroâs younger brother Baqi. Both Baqi and Yaqoob helped Khusro save his neck. A treaty was arranged for the surrender. Babar followed the direction in which the water flowed on the Surkhab and camped at the junction of the Andrab and Surkhab rivers. This is a delightful little town in Doshi with a small bazar with many âChaikhanasâ selling Qabli pullao and kebab. People laze around here even now.

Andrab is the bigger of the two rivers. Its clear water flows down from the east side of the mountains. Surkhab in contrast is smaller with muddy water flowing from the west. Andrabâs clear water and Surkhabâs reddish muddy water join at Doshi to form a bigger river which flows towards Qunduz to ultimately join Amu.

Doshi

Babar describes the meeting and the surrender in his book:

âThe next day, I crossed the Andrab and sat down under a big Chinar tree.â

Chinars are big, bushy trees with leaves as big as the palm of a hand. The leaves also have five corners just like our fingers. Many of the old Chinar trees of the area are still very much around.

From the other side came Khusro Shah with his entourage. The surrender ceremony took hours with Khusro Shah kneeling incessantly to Babar and all his ameers. Babarâs change of luck and good fortune came with this surrender and without a fight. He thanks his God:

âIt is He who gives kingship or takes it away.â

This was a remarkable event in Babarâs life, when he left his destitute past and gained strength every day, never looking back. The best part was that no fighting took place. He won it all by shear politicking and good luck.

At this time Babar observed the Sohail (Canopus), the brightest star in the southern constellation. This star is known for its good luck. Babarâs companion Baqi immediately quoted a Persian couplet meaning âTo see it is the sign of luck and wealth.â

Generosity

Babar kept his treaty to the word. He could have taken anything he wanted from the rich Khusro Shah but he would not do such a thing. Mirza Haider of Tarikh-i-Rashidi writes:

âKhusro Shah tried giving many presents to Babar. Though Babar at the time had only one horse, which was also being used by his mother, he did not confiscate anything from Khusro Shah. He allowed him to take away anything he wanted, before he was given leave to go to Khurasan.â

Babarâs movement until now had been from Amu to Aibak and from there to Ajar and Kahmard where he left his family and then moved eastwards to Doshi to accept the surrender.

It was now time to ponder over what to do next, and where the next movement should be. Kabul was not far away and Babar had a sort of claim on Kabul as it used to be ruled by his uncle Oolugh Beg. Oolugh Begâs son had recently been disposed of by his fatherâs courtier. Babar must have decided for it then. He moved to Gowrband.

Gowrband lies on the south of Hindukush. A lofty mountain range, it is so named as the Indians migrating here were not used to such snow covered peaks and passes and many were killed. (this one is standard leepa-poti of the history of Hindu genocide)

Babar does not mention the pass he used but the time of the year was summer. Later while describing the country around Kabul, he writes, âThere are seven passes in these mountains,â all of which must have been open in summer. The most frequently used one now is the Salang Pass build by the Russians.

We passed through it. It is 3,363 metres high and 2.7 kilometres long, and here it was even snowing in March. The mountains were covered with snow, the view was fantastic, and the road would not be open but for the tunnels and shoulders developed and the men and machines working to keep this road open. This was started in 1958 and was completed in 1964.

The next stage in the passage was Qarah Bagh, a small town about 35km north of Kabul.

At Qarah Bagh, Babar says that he sat down with his courtiers to decide whether to go for Kabul, which was ultimately decided. At that time Kabul was ruled by Muqim Arghun. Arghuns were distantly related to Taimuris, but Babarâs claim on Kabul was due to close relation with Oolugh Beg, his uncle who had ruled Kabul until two years ago. Muqim had taken over from Oolugh Begâs young son Abdur Razzaq Mirza. His claim on Kabul was more than that of the Arghuns, he must have thought.

On hearing of the approach of Babar, Muqim played on time. He sent information to his elder brother Shah Beg in Qandhar to get help and advice. Muqim soon realised that he was not going to get any help and decided to surrender to Babar. This second surrender without fight was another feather in Babarâs cap. This was a combination of politics and show of military strength as Babarâs forces came surrounded the castle at Kabul. A treaty was established and Kabul was left to Babar. Again history was repeated with Muqim being allowed to take whatever he could.

Kabul

Babar writes in his book:

âKabul is a strong fortress, the enemy cannot invade easily. It has grasslands, rivers, flowing water and above all mountains all around. It is the centre of trade from the north as well as Hindustan. It has excellent weather and lots of fruit trees.

What is left of Kabul now is the barren dry mountains devoid of any trees or greenery. Even the river Kabul is no more than a big drain now. Over the years, this place has been inhabited by many people who spoke a number of languages. Babar, when he arrived here, had never come across a city where so many languages were spoken.

Babar lived in Kabul for 21 years. As usual he describes the city and the country, its roads, its passes, its birds, its animals, trees, flowers, etc. No king has ever written about Kabul as much as him. He loved the city and the country. He built gardens there, adding to the already present ones built by his uncle Oolugh Beg. In all Babar built 10 gardens in the country. Unfortunately none of these are left now. They have been destroyed by the incessant war going on since 1979 when the Russians invaded the country. The one that is left is also the one in which he himself lies buried. It is called Bagh-i-Babar, though there is not much of the bagh left there.

Bagh-i-Babar

This place is a walled enclosure with no grass and no evidence of Charbagh. There is no running water and no fountains. The only tree left is the dried stem of an old Chinar, which stands by the pavilion.

The present government is taking an interest in this bagh. The Aga Khan Trust has appointed a Hindustani architect to rebuild it. Still, the terraces are being laid out and fresh saplings planted. A wall has been constructed around the graves of Babar and his relatives who lie buried there. Fortunately the headstone placed by Jahangir has survived but the grave will have to be rebuilt. The small marble mosque, which was originally built by Shah Jahan has been rebuilt. The architect told me that before the work began the whole ground was to be cleared of mines.

While searching for the mines they were able to find pieces of marble that was enough to cover the mosque all over. Though the built up is shoddy and patchy. The talao (swimmimg pool) is being renovated too. The worst site in the complex is the pavilion built by Abdur Rahman in the 1880âs. Though he did order renovation, the pavilion is placed at a site that hides the mosque and burial site. It is now a modern building that does not match the period it represents. Still, one hopes that the garden will bloom again.

Ziarats

Babar has described three Ziarats in Kabul, which were places of pilgrimage in his days. All three are in poor state and need looking after. The best known is Chashma Khawaja Kizr. It is on the other side of Babar Mountain. There is a spring here too along with a place to sit and contemplate. Babar describes a Qadamgah as well but it is not there now. The second Ziarat is another spring, which Babar describes as the burial place of a âKhwaja Shammuâ, which according to other sources is Khwaja Shamsuddin Janbaz though there is no certainity about it. Raverty calls him Jahan Baz and local Kabul Professor Abdul Hai Habibi calls him Khawaja Hammu. The present local tourist books call this site the Ziarat Asheqan-o-Arefan.

The third Ziarat is another spring known as Khawaja Roshnai, quiet high up in the mountain in old Kabul, needing much care.

Takht-i-Babar

What Babar does not describe in Babarnama is his takht, which he got carved by the mountain side and a basin also in the stone where he used to sit and drink. His great-grandson Jahangir visited Kabul in 1607 and saw the takht which has an inscription dated 914AH (1508-9AD). Jahangir himself had another throne and basin built and had his name engraved on it too. Before the war started this throne was found by Abdul Hai Habibi and Nancy Dupree lying behind the Ibn Sina Hospital on the right bank of the river Kabul. Apparently it had fallen down from the mountain. (Didn't Awrangzeb visit Kabul and Bamiyan too, on his way to attempt and destroy Bamiyan Buddhas? He did destroy the legs of the pratimas, complete success of course his later incarnations accomplished 4 centuries later in the year 2001.)

Babar has also described the Shikargah in Kabul where they used to catch birds. We were taken to a lake, Kole Hashmat Khan, situated between two mountains, which could be what is described in Waqa-i-at as Aab-i-Baran, where I was told birds still flock though we never saw one in March.

Estalef

Babar also mentions Estalef and Estagrech as local beauty spots. Both these places are still there. We visited Estalef, which is 40km northwest of Kabul. It is a small hill station. The road leading to it is unmetalled. The whole area is more like a garden. At the hillside there is a flat area high up underneath which flows a small brook. The area has many Chinar trees. Babar used to sit under the snow capped mountains and enjoy the local scenery here. The town and the area were unfortunately destroyed by the English revenge Army which was sent after the killing of Alexander Burns in 1842 under leadership of General McCaskel.

Bagh-i-Wafa

The most beautiful of Babarâs gardens was in the Nangarhar province near Adinapur. Adinapur was the capital of Nangnahar province before Jalalabad. Adinapur is unidentifiable but the description of the way to Bagh-i-Wafa, given by Babar could be followed. We followed the main Jalalabad-Kabul road. About 30km off the main unmetalled road, a rough ride takes you from Surkhrud (river) to Balabagh.

The site Babar describes can be made out from the remnants of a mud castle . The area is now famous for growing citrus fruit. There were so many Narang (Chakootra) trees here that the area has a sweet and sour smell.

The Afghans

One of the honours which should also be bestowed upon Babar is the fact that when he reached Kabul he was the first in history to have gone into the details of Afghan tribes. The Afghans were mentioned earlier by Alberuni during the days of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi as inhibiting from Kabul to Sindh, but there was nothing more about them anywhere. Babar is the one who has given the names of the tribes and also written about there habitats and movements. Olaf Caroe has realised this and he pays tribute to Babar for it in his book, Pathans.

The Tropics

The power of observation that Babar possessed was extremely strong. Another excellent description he gives of this part of the world is the change of scenery that he experienced before reaching Adinapur. He also notices the sudden change from temperate to tropics here. The trees become more bushy, and greener, the environment is different as the weather changes. He even noticed the change of habits in people, and animals according to their surrounding.

During his 21-year stay in Kabul Babar was never idle. He was unhappy financially and mentions that taxes were difficult to collect and could only be obtained by the force of the sword.

The taxes were also not quite enough for him and his people. The year he came to Kabul, he realised this and crossed over the Khyber wandering into Kohat, Bannu, Dasht and reaching upto Sakhi Sarwar. This was a wasteful journey in an unknown, difficult to travel, dry and mostly barren land.

The next important journey he took was in 1519AD when he went to Bajaur and crossed Nilab, the ghat(river crossing) of Sindh for the first time. This time he went up to Bhira, which at the time was at the border of Hindustan. I have already described this journey in a separate article (Books & Authors, June 20, 2004). The last and final crossing of Nilab was in 1525AD when Babar left Kabul for good to take over Hindustan.

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/books/archive...books3.htm

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 05-03-2007, 02:13 AM by Bodhi.)

Abdul Rahim Khankhana or Rahim was the son of Bairam Khan, the caretaker-guardian of Akbar. Soon after Akbar took the reins of Mugal empire, Bairam Khan died in strange circumstances. His camp was trampled upon by the elephants. Mysteriously this had happened before to his camps a few months earlier but that time he had survived. Anyways, Akbar who was in his early 20s, took very attractive widow of Bairam Khan, mother of Rahim, to his harem as his wife. (some have directly blamed Akbar to have inspired the event of Bairam Khan's death)

Rahim, this way a stepson of Akbar, was a very able administrator, and a brilliant poet. Of a Persian stock himself, he had an excellent command over Farsi, but since childhood had learnt Sanskrit and Brajbhasha, and had mastered both. He was a devotee of Krishna, who spent days dwelling in Mathura and Vrindavan. A very rich businessman too, and spent a lot in generous charities at the pilgrim places like Vrindavana.

He is best known for his poetry, and had championed the classical Doha: two-step style of Hindi poetry, while his contemporary Tulsidas can be said to be master of Chaupai style: the four-legged. While some say Rahim and Tulsi were even friends, and met several times, that although not recorded is not impossible.

Anyways there is recorded one short correspondence between the two. Tulsidas was traveling to Vrindavan when he noticed Rahim to be donating a lot of his wealth to poor and pilgrims there. He wrote a doha (which was Rahim's specialty) and sent for him:

Seekhe Kahan Nawabjoo aisee deni dain
Jyon Jyon kar oopar uthat neeche neeche nain

[Where did the dear Nawab learn such giving
Arms are raised up (for giving) and the eyes are lowered?]

Rahim, wrote back to Tulsi:
Dainhaar koi aur hai det rahat din-rain
log bharam ham par dharain ta te neeche nain

[The giver is someone else who keeps giving day and night
People think it is me, so the eyes are lowered in embarrassment]

Rahim created a volume of literature. His sayings are so popular and deep rooted in Hindu psyche, that even today in the villages of North India, the idioms and phrases attributed to him can still be heard. His sayings reflect the classical nIti sayings / subhAshitAni from Sanskrit in plain Hindi and brajbhasha, very beautifully rhyming, easy to remember, and therefore so popular.

05-03-2007, 12:18 AM

Bodhiji: I think Bairam had a rebelious/independent streak which must have bothered Akbar. If I'm not mistaken, Akbar had refused to kill Hemu when Bairam seized the sword and beheaded Hemu himself.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 05-04-2007, 12:28 AM by Bodhi.)

Viren, it is entirely possible (and in my opinion more probable) to be true, what you said.

And yet, there are others (like PN Oak, JM Eliott) who see a very strange pattern repeated several times in the life of Akbar. The pattern surely existed.

- a hight profile courtier of Akbar
- an allegedly attractive wife of his
- courtier sent on a mission by Akbar
- untimely, intriguing and mysterious death meets him there
- widow married or simply accepted to Harem by Akbar

At the very least, it is very very interesting. Worth a plot for mystery novel. (I had come across one such novel, which dealt with the event of the murder of Attilla the Hun - the tyrant of Hungary, who was mysteriousely killed on his wedding night after marrying the daughter of his defeated German foe. The novel dealt with investigating the murder, centuries later. Very interesting read.)

Husky · (This post was last modified: 05-04-2007, 04:15 PM by Husky.)

QUOTE(ramana @ Mar 12 2007, 10:30 PM)Meanwhile
The Capture of Maryam-uz-Zamani's Ship: Mughal Women and European Traders
[...]
Who was Marayam Uz Zamani the Queen of Akbar? She is the mother of Jehangir. Is she the one called Jodh Bai?
[right][snapback]65539[/snapback][/right]Ramana, here you go. With some extra information just before the relevant section, which I thought was interesting enough to add here.

Following excerpts from
The Capture of Maryam-uz-ZamAni's Ship: Mughal Women and European Traders, Ellison B. Findly, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 108, No. 2. (Apr. - Jun., 1988), pp. 227-238.
QUOTEThe capture of the Rahimi was not unusual, then, in that it revealed the involvement of Indians in overseas commerce. Despite the prohibition against Hindus taking to the seas,8 they appear from various sources to have signed on in good numbers for the journeys required by foreign trade.
Nor was the event unusual because the ship belonged to Mughal nobility. It is true that trade and commerce of the Mughal period were generally conducted by the business community, especially by the traditional merchant classes of Muslims along the coast, the Hindu banias of Gujarat,9 and the Hindu chettis of the Coromandel coast. There were, however, a number of instances of royal family members and nobles of the state who took a strong interest in commerce,10 and who even eagerly oversaw their own commercial ventures.Associated footnote 8:
QUOTE8. Sea voyage (samudrasamyAna, samudrayAtrA) is an example of a kalivarjya, a practice which was once allowed but is now forbidden in the Kali age, owing to the current spiritual decline of man. See NAradIya-mahApurAna XXIV. 13-16; BaudhAyana-dharmasUtra I. 1.22, 11.1.51; Manusmrti 111.158; and Aushanasasmrti IV, pp. 525-26.
Now this bit answers your question (blue) above, discusses Jodh Bai aspect too:
QUOTEInstead, the conspicuousness of the event lies in the fact that the owner of the ship was a woman, a Hindu princess from Amber who had married the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) in 1562 as part of a political alliance between her father RAja BihAri Mall Kachhwiiha and her new husband." Maryam-uz-ZamAni (d. 1623), the "Maryam of Eternity," was now mother of the current emperor Jahangir,13 and the capture of her ship was a major insult to the reigning Mughal family.Associated footnote 13:
QUOTE13. Although the background of Maryam-uz-ZamAni is controversial, many agree on the following: that Jahangir's mother was a Hindu by birth, that she was the elder daughter of RAja BihAri Mall of Amber (Jaipur), and that her name has been suppressed by Muslim historians out of prejudice. By and large, the "general native belief" that she was a "Jodh BAi," a lady from Jodhpur, as suggested by Tod above, is not fully substantiated. (Jahangir himself, however, married a Jodh BAi and named her Jagat GosAIn. She was mother to the future Shah Jahan and died in 1619.)
And this bit near the end also seems a little related:
QUOTEThe liberal courts of Akbar and Jahangir provided a supportive context for apostasy on the part of their pilgrims. Although we do not have any clear evidence of the specific views on apostasy at Jahangir court at the time of the Rahimi's capture, we do know that at his court, like his father's, Sunni and Shiite religious officials mixed freely and that Jahangir, though himself nominally a Sunni, encouraged, at least by policy if not by his own religious persuasion, an atmosphere of religious leniency, pluralism, and even syncretism. Despite the suspension of the obligation of hajj by more orthodox Sunni scholars, the lenient attitude of the emperors themselves, along with the enticing opportunities for trade with pilgrimage, served to encourage large numbers to make the trip. That pilgrimage was a regular part of court life, then, only exacerbated the outrage at the Rahimi's capture. Maryam-uz-Zamani herself, however, remained untouched by the apostasy issue. There is no record of any question being raised about her position as a ship's owner under the Portuguese pass; neither her religious status as a wife then mother of a Muslim emperor nor the Hindu tradition of her birth 100 seem to have been jeopardized by her involvement in sea trade in Christian waters. Rather, her position as a sequestered financier allowed her both the adventure of foreign trade and the protection from the religious restrictions such an enterprise might entail.QUOTE100. Akbar's principle of universal tolerance provided the contextual foundation for his many marriages to non-Muslim women as well as his encouragement to them to practice their own religion in the women's palaces. See A?in-i Akbari, I, 214-17, and the discussion in Beveridge's introduction to Gulbadan's Humayun-nama,pp. 67-69. Marriage between Muslim rulers and Hindu women was not an Akbari innovation, however, for such had been common ever since the arrival of the Arabs in India; his allowing them to practice their own religion, however, was. Aziz Ahmad, Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964), p. 176. That Jahangir maintained his father's tolerant attitude toward religious practice in the women's palace is evident from a painting in the Chester Beatty Library depicting Jahangir celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi with the women of his harem (Minto Album, fol. 4). Both Hindu and Muslim women appear to be participating in the festival. Some scholars maintain, however, that it was impossible for a Hindu woman to remain a Hindu after having married into a Muslim environment. See ShyAmal DAs, p. 7311.
Something else that caught my eye:
QUOTEFinally, and most troubling, the Portuguese used their trading activities as a vehicle to carry out an extensive missionary front amongst both Hindu and Muslim Indians. The real reason for their presence was, at least ideologically, a zeal for Christian converts, and their proselytizing vigor was nowhere more obvious than in a 1594 papal bull commanding the forcible conversion of all Hindus. This missionary agenda was, in fact, set forth by Albuquerque himself upon his arrival in India in 1509 when he called for, among other things, the expulsion of Islam from India.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 06-12-2007, 03:30 AM by Bodhi.)

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 07-05-2007, 08:18 AM by Bodhi.)

07-05-2007, 08:51 AM

QUOTE(Bodhi @ Jul 5 2007, 08:08 AM)à¤¶à¤¹à¤° à¤ªà¥à¤°à¤¤à¤¿à¤¨à¤¿à¤§à¤¿, à¤à¤à¤°à¤¾: à¤à¤à¤°à¤¾ à¤à¤¿à¤²à¤¾ à¤®à¥à¤ à¤à¤² à¤°à¤¹à¥ à¤¸à¤à¤°à¤à¥à¤·à¤£ à¤à¤¾à¤°à¥à¤¯ à¤à¥ à¤¦à¥à¤°à¤¾à¤¨ à¤®à¤à¤à¤²à¤µà¤¾à¤° à¤à¥ à¤¤à¥à¤ª à¤à¥ à¤à¥à¤²à¥ à¤®à¤¿à¤²à¥à¥¤ à¤ªà¤¾à¤à¤ à¤à¥à¤²à¥ à¤ªà¥à¤°à¥ à¤¤à¤°à¤¹ à¤¸à¤¾à¤¬à¥à¤¤ à¤¥à¥, à¤à¤¨à¤®à¥à¤ à¤¸à¥ à¤¤à¥à¤¨ à¤¬à¤¡à¤¼à¥ à¤à¤° à¤¦à¥ à¤à¥à¤à¥ à¤à¤à¤¾à¤° à¤à¥ à¤¹à¥à¤à¥¤

Live cannon-balls found in the excavation around Agra fort, at a depth of 5 feet, near the inner defense wall.Â Weight ranges from 3 to 8 KGs.Â

The hindi term "sAbut" should be translated as "whole" or "intact" and not as "live", since those cannon-balls probably didn't carry any gunpowder with them. They were just solid iron balls. All the gun-powder was used merely to launch them at high speed at the enemy. Large cannon-balls were useful in breaking down fort-walls etc.

Bombs/shells, with gunpowder inside them, arrived much later.

07-05-2007, 08:12 PM

Thanks Ashok ji, thats right.

ramana · 07-05-2007, 09:27 PM

The cannon ball posts should be in the medieval India thread. Its fascinating as to how they cast the cannon balls. Did they make them in the molds and how did they ensure that the gates and sprues were machined of to provide the perfect shape? Fascinating stuff. Looks like India was adequate in production of solid shot during Mughal times. It was the bursting charge that was the next innovation. And mobile cannon.

There is a link on the www about Mughal artillery.

Bodhi · (This post was last modified: 07-05-2007, 09:47 PM by Bodhi.)

They must have moulded the balls in probably an earthen die-cast, and then machined off the gates on a small mobile lathe. That is easy. They might even have acheived some buffing/polish-milling.

What would be even more wondrous is how did they do the buffing/polishing on the inside of the cannons (did they?). Certainly that will be needed for the guns if not cannons. Was boring operation/machine known to them? Or did they just hand-polish?

A portable hand lathe in ancient India:

<img src='http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jeharr/indlathe.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

QUOTEturner sitting down and guiding the turning tool across the tool rest with his toes while controlling the tool at its handled end with his hands. An assistant provides power by alternatively pulling on each end of the cord wrapped around the workpiece. (From Holtzapffel, vol. IV)

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/j...history.htm#h1a

ramana · 07-05-2007, 10:38 PM

Jaipur Museum

Drilling of cannon described.

07-06-2007, 02:43 AM

World's largest wheeled Cannon is in India, called "Jaivana" built in 1720, owned by Sawai Jai Singh II. Before the British.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaivana_cannon
<img src='http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Jaivana.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
QUOTEIt was cast in 1720, during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur, Jaivan rests on a high 4 wheeled
...
The length of the barrel of the cannon is 20 feet 2 inches and it weighs 50 tons. The circumference near the tip of the barrel is 7 feet 4 inches and that of the rear is 9 feet 4 inches.
...
About 100 kg of gun powder fired a shot ball weighing 50 kg.

Some say the the Jaivana Cannon was only fired once by the Maharaja Jai Singh, as a test-fire in 1720, and that the cannon ball landed 40 km away.


Also, the cannons in battlefield were not used the same as today. Nowadays, cannon's barrel points at an angle, and an explosive shell lands at a point causing local damage. Use of traditional cannons in the battlefield was different. They used to be fired with barrels in horizontal positions, directly at a column of enemy infantry in close proximity, killing a large number of people by the sheer impact of the straight moving cannon-ball.

ramana · 07-06-2007, 03:27 AM

In the medeival age cannons were used to blow up fortress walls. The high angle fire is called howitzer and is used to lob shells over high fortifications.
Sweden was the first European country to emphasize mobile artillery and rationalized its cannons to 7 categories.

Bodhi · 03-01-2008, 12:44 PM

Cross posting from other threads, relevant stuff:

QUOTEAurangzeb as he was
according to Mughal Records

Aurangzeb, Emperor Shah Jahan's sixth son, was born on 24th October 1618 at Dohad in Madhya Pradesh, and wrested India's crown from his father before the end of June 1658, after defeating his brother Prince Dara Shukoh's armies, first at Dharmat near Ujjain (15th April 1568) and the second, led by Dara himself, at Samugarh on 29th May 1658. The War of Succession to the richest throne in the world was practically over with this victory, and Aurangzeb secured his position by making Murad, his brother and accomplice in his impetuous pursuit for power, his prisoner, by treachery, on 25th June. He had already made his old

father Emperor Shah Jahan a prisoner in the Agra Fort (8th June 1658). Shah Jahan survived his confinement by nearly eight years and the disgraceful manner of his burial (Exhibit No.5) will ever remain a stigma on this unscrupulous son Aurangzeb's advent to the throne in his father's life time was not welcomed by the people of India, because of the treacherous manner it was achieved; , but public

opinion became all the more hostile towards him when Prince Dara Shukoh, the favourite son of Shah Jahan, the translator of the Upanishads (Exhibit No.2), and a truly liberal and enlightened Musalman, was taken prisoner on the Indian border, as he was going to Persia. Dara was paraded in a most undignified manner on the streets of Delhi on 29th August 1659. The French Doctor, Bernier, was an eye-witness to the scene and was deeply moved by the popular sympathy for Dara (Exhibit No.3) which so much alarmed Aurangzeb that he contrived to have a decree from his Clerics announcing death- sentence for his elder brother on the charge of apostasy (Exhibit No.4).

Throughout the War of Succession, Aurangzeb had maintained that he was not interested in acquiring the throne and that his only object was to ward off the threat to Islam, which was inevitable in case Dara Shukoh came to power. Many, including his brother Murad, were deceived by this posture. After his formal accession in Delhi (5th June 1659) he posed as a defender of Islam who would rule according to the directions of the Shariat, and with the advice of the Clerics or Ulama for whom the doctrines, rules, principles and directives, as laid down and interpreted in the 7th and 8th century Arabia, Persia and Iraq, were inviolable and unchangeable in all conditions, in all countries, and for all times to come.

One of the main objectives of Aurangzeb's policy was to demolish Hindu temples. When he ordered (13th October 1666) removal of the carved railing, which Prince Dara Shukoh had presented to Keshava Rai temple at Mathura, he had observed "In the religion of the Musalmans it is improper even to look at a temple", and that it was totally unbecoming of a Muslim to act like Dara Shukoh (Exhibit No.6, Akhbarat, 13th October 1666). This was followed by destruction of the famous Kalka temple in Delhi (Exhibit No.6, 7, 8, Akhbarat, 3rd and 12th September 1667).

In 1669, shortly after the death of Mirza Raja Jai Singh of Amber, a general order was issued (9th April 1669) for the demolition of temples and established schools of the Hindus throughout the empire and banning public worship (Exhibit Nos.9 & 10). Soon after this the great temple of Keshava Rai was destroyed (Jan.-Feb. 1670) (Exhibit No. 12) and in its place a lofty mosque was erected. The idols, the author of Maasir-i-Alamgiri informs, were carried to Agra and buried under the steps of the mosque built by Begum Sahiba in order to be continually trodden upon, and the name of Mathura was changed to Islamabad. The painting (Exhibit No.13) is thus no fancy imaginationof the artist but depicts what actually took place.

This was followed by Aurangzeb's order to demolish the highly venerated temple of Vishwanath at Banaras (Persian text, Exhibit No. 11), Keshava Rai temple (Jan.-Feb. 1670) (Persian Text, exhibit No.12 and Painting, Exhibit No.13), and of Somanatha (Exhibit No.14). To save the idol of Shri Nathji from being desecrated, the Gosain carried it to Rajputana, where Maharana Raj Singh received it formally at Sihad village, assuring the priest that Aurangzeb would have to trample over the bodies of one lakh of his brave Rajputs, before he couldeven touch the idol (Exhibit No.15)

Aurangzeb's zeal for temple destruction became much more intense during war conditions. The opportunity to earn religious merit by demolishing hundreds of temples soon came to him in 1679 when, after the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur in the Kabul Subah, he tried to eliminate the Rathors of Marwar as a political power in Rajputana. But Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar, in line with the great traditions of his House, came out in open support of the Rathors.. This led to war with both Mewar and Marwar during which the temples built on the bank of Rana's lake were destroyed by his orders (Exhibit No.23, Akhbarat 23rd December 1679) and also about three hundred other temples in the environs of Udaipur. (Exhibit No.25, Text), including the famous Jagannath Rai temple built at a great cost in front of the Maharana's palace which was bravely defended by a handful of Rajputs (Exhibit Nos.20, 21).

Not only this, when Aurangzeb visited Chittor to have a view of the famous fort, he ordered the demolition of 63 temples there which included some of the finest temples of Kumbha's time (Exhibit No.22). From Marwar (in Western Rajasthan) alone were brought several cart- loads of idols which, as per Aurangzeb's orders, were cast in the yard of the Court and under the steps of Jama Masjid (Exhibit No.19). Such uncivilized and arrogant conduct of the Mughal Emperor alienated Hindus for ever, though they continued to be tolerant towards hiscreed.

In June 1681, orders, in a laconic two-liner, were given for the demolition of the highly venerated Jagannath Temple in Orissa (Exhibit No.24, Akhbarat, 1st June 1681)., Shortly afterwards, in September 1682, the famous Bindu-Madhav temple in Banaras was also demolished as per the Emperor's orders (Exhibit No.27, Akhbarat, Julus 26, Ramzan 20). On 1st September 1681, while proceeding to the Deccan, where his rebel son Prince Akbar, escorted by Durga Das Rathore, had joined Chhatrapati Shivaji's son, Shambhaji, thus creating a serious problem for him, Aurangzeb ordered that all the temples on the way should be destroyed. It was a comprehensive order not distinguishing between old and newly built temples (Exhibit No.26, Akhbarat, Julus 25, Ramzan 18). But in the district of Burhanpur, where there were a large number of temples with their doors closed, he preferred to keep them as such, as the Muslims were too few in number in the district. (Exhibit No.28, Akhbarat 13th October 1681). In his religious frenzy, even temples of the loyal and friendly Amber state were not spared, such as the famous temple of Jagdish at Goner near Amber (Exhibit Nos.30, Akhbarat, 28th

March and 14th May 1680). In fact, his misguided ardour for temple destruction did not abate almost up to the end of his life, for as late as 1st January 1705 we find him ordering that the temple of Pandharpur be demolished and the butchers of the camp be sent to slaughter cows in the temple precincts (Akhbarat 49-7).

The number of such ruthless acts of Aurangzeb make a long list but here only a few have been mentioned, supported by evidence, mostly contemporary official records of Aurangzeb's period and by such credible Persian sources as Maasir-i-Alamgiri.

I In obedience to the Quranic injunction, he reimposed Jizyah on the Hindus on 2nd April 1679 (Exhibit No.16), which had been abolished by Emperor Akbar in 1564, causing widespread anger and resentment among the Hindus of the country .A massive peaceful demonstration against this tax in Delhi, was ruthlessly crushed (Exhibit No.17), This hated tax involved heavy economic burden on the vast number of the poor Hindus and caused humiliation to each and every Hindu (Exhibit No.18). In the same vein, were his discriminatory measures against Hindus in the form of exemption of the Muslims from the taxes (Exhibit No.31, Akhbarat 16th April 1667) ban on atishbazi and restriction on Diwali (Exhibit No.32), replacement of Hindu officials by Muslims so that the Emperor's prayers for the welfare of Muslims and glory of Islam, which were proving ineffective, be answered (Exhibit Nos.33, 34). He also imposed a ban on ziyarat and gathering of the Hindus at religious shrines, such as of Shitla Mata and folk Gods like Pir Pabu (Exhibit No.35, Akhbarat 16th September 1667), another ban on their travelling in Palkis, or riding elephants and Arab-Iraqi horses, as Hindus should not carry themselves with the same dignity as the Muslims! (Exhibit No. 36). In the same vein came brazen attempts to convert Hindus by inducement, coercion (Exhibit No.41) or by offering Qanungoship

(Exhibit No.44, 45, 46) and to honour the converts in the open Court. His personal directions were that a Hindu male be given Rs.4 and a Hindu female Rs.2 on conversion (Exhibit No.43,Akhbarat 7th April 1685). "Go on giving them", Aurangzeb had ordered when it was Reported to him that the Faujdar of Bithur, Shaikh Abdul Momin, had converted 150 Hindus and had given them naqd (cash) and saropas (dresses of honour) (Exhibit No.40, Akhbarat, 11th April 1667). Such display of Islamic orthodoxy by the State under Aurangzeb gave strength and purpose to the resistance movements such as of the Marathas, the Jats, the Bundelas and the Sikhs (Exhibit No.46).

On the 12th May 1666, the dignity with which Shivaji carried himself in the Mughal court and defied the Emperor's authority, won him spontaneous admiration of the masses. Parkaldas, an official of Amber (Jaipur State) wrote in his letter dated 29th May 1666, to his Diwan. "Now that after coming to the Emperor's presence Shivaji has shown such audacity and returned harsh and strong replies, the public extols him for his bravery all the more ..." (Exhibit No.37). When Shivaji passed away on April 1680 at the age of 53 only, he had already carved a sufficiently large kingdom, his Swarajya, both along the western coast and some important areas in the east as well.

Aurangzeb could never pardon himself for his negligence in letting Shivaji escape from his well laid trap and wrote in his Will (Exhibit No.48) that it made him "to labour hard (against the Marathas) to The end of my life (as a result of it)". He did not realize that it was his own doing: the extremely cruel manner - even for those times - in which he put to death Shivaji's son, Shambhaji (Exhibit No.38) made the Maratha king a martyr in the eyes of the masses and with that commenced the People's War in Maharashtra and the Deccan which dug the grave of the Mughal empire.

Till the very end Aurangzeb never understood that the main pillars of the government are the affection and support of the people and not mere compliance of the religious directives originating from a foreign land in the seventh-eighth centuries.

His death after a long and ruinous reign lasting half a century, ended an eventful epoch in the history of India. He left behind a crumbling empire, a corrupt and inefficient administration, a demoralized army, a discredited government facing public bankruptcy and alienated subjects.


Akbar The Great : A Tyrannical Monarch

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