03-28-2006, 06:58 AM
Deccan Chronicle, 26 March 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->How weak are the powerful
Itihaas by Akhilesh Mithal
W ealth and power are heady intoxicants. Men and women who possess wealth and power are prone to suffer madness. When the 1975 Emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi âSatteeâ (the journalist Satinder Singh) quoted an Urdu verse:
Jinkoa hoa jaataa heiy andaazeiy
khudaaee paiydaa,
Humney Deiykhaa heiy who but
toard diyeiy jaateiy heiyn
(The ones deluded into believing that they are God Almighty have to, like the icons of the Kaâaba, suffer destruction.)
Urdu is not known in the White House and the President of the USA and his coterie are unlikely to be warned of the predicament they are in today. Perhaps a lesson from 17th century Indian history will help. <b>As India has been larger than life right until the entry of European businesses and their âcompaniesâ its rulers could easily get deluded. The feeling of omnipotence and Godhood is seen to occur fairly frequently in Indiaâs history.</b>
<b>Alauddeen Khilji (1290-1310) made his mark by conquering the fort of Deogir and looting the accumulated treasure of twenty-five generations of Yadava rulers. He then assassinated the reigning Sultan, his uncle/father-in-law, Jajaaluddin Firoz Khilji, and won adherents by broadcasting star shaped ingots of gold from gigantic catapults called manjaaniks at each stage in the journey all the way from Kara Manikpur (Pratabgarh) in East to the capital Dillee. He assumed the title âSikandar-as-saaneeâ â the equal to or second Alexander in his inscriptions and coins.</b> According to a near contemporary historian, Zia-ud-deen-Barani, Alauddeen wanted to establish a new religion with himself as its prophet/God and was dissuaded by his nobles with some considerable difficulty.
<b>India continued to be the richest country in the world and the desired destination for men of ambition and enterprise up until the 18th century. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1628-1658) was the richest and most powerful monarch on earth. </b>
<span style='color:red'>He looked upon himself as Zillay Ilaahee (shadow of God upon earth). The cathedral or congregational (jaâama) mosque he designed to tower above his new city in Dillee, called Shahjahaanaabaad, was named Masjideyjahaannumaa or the mosque of the manifest world. </span>
The allusion to the unseen mosque in heaven in which all Muslims believe was obvious to all. <b>Just as the Jaama Masjid of Shahjahaanaabaad, Dillee, was the shadow on earth of the unseen mosque of heaven so also was the Emperor Shihaabuddeen Muhammad Shah Jahan Saahibey Qiraan Saanee the Zilley Ilaahee or âshadow of God upon earthâ. And representative of Allah, the unseen ruler of heaven.</b>
<i>{Quasi/shadow Caliph. Interesting insight.}</i>
This pomp and pageantry bombast and bluster was put to test on March 26, 1644, when Begum Jahanara, eldest child from Shah Jahanâs marriage with Arjumand Bano Begum, Mumtaaz Mahal, got severely burnt as a result of her gossamer muslin oarhnee stole/scarf catching fire from a floor lamp lighting the palace. Shah Jahan immediately came down to earth. The daily ritual of holding court and dispensing justice like King Solomon was all but abandoned. Purses of gold were kept under the pillow of the ailing princess and the contents distributed to the destitute in order that their prayers help in the recovery. The Holy Quran was recited from beginning to end without interruption, and prayers offered round-the-clock near the sick bed of Jahanara by learned scholars and divines. Rewards amounting to a kingâs ransom and more were offered for anyone who would reduce the suffering and cure the princess of the damage caused by the extensive burns.
Jahanara recovered and Shah Jahan reverted to his Imperial destiny. In September 1657, fate struck again. It was the Emperor himself who fell ill this time. <i>{Note 100 years before Battle of Plasey and rise of East India Company}</i>Due to an obstruction in the bladder Shah Jahan passed no water for seven days. The resulting accumulation of undesirable elements caused loss of consciousness. <b>The news soon reached the princes, Sultan Shuja in Bengal, Awrungzeyb in Deccan, and Murad Bukhsh in Gujarat. Rebellion raised its ugly head and failed to subside with the recovery of the Emperor.</b>
<b>The generals of the empire, the Amber Raja Jaisimha and the Marwar Raja Jaswantsimha, were sent out to block the rebel princes. Although Jaisimha won against Shah Shuja in Bengal, the defeat of Jaswantsimha at Dharmat from the combined forces of Murad Bukhsh and Awrungzeyb proved disastrous.</b>
The fate of Shah Jahan was sealed when the eldest prince, Dara Shukoh, suffered defeat at Samugarh at the hands of Awrungzeyb and Murad Bukhsh. Shah Jahan was deposed and imprisoned in the palace fort of Agra where he died in 1666 (eight years later). The body was hurriedly interred in the mausoleum that Shah Jahan had created for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal (d 1631). The cenotaph of Shah Jahan is the only element which is out of place in the whole noble structure. Such was the fate of the man who thought he was the âshadow of God upon the earthâ. Power wielders beware!
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So in other words the rise of Aurangazeb sowed the seeds of destruction of the Mughals. He was a reactionary person and there was wide spread disaffection to his rein. His wars impoverished the treasury and made the Empire weak. His successors could not hold the center strong and led to centrifugal forces that the English exploited.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->How weak are the powerful
Itihaas by Akhilesh Mithal
W ealth and power are heady intoxicants. Men and women who possess wealth and power are prone to suffer madness. When the 1975 Emergency was declared by Indira Gandhi âSatteeâ (the journalist Satinder Singh) quoted an Urdu verse:
Jinkoa hoa jaataa heiy andaazeiy
khudaaee paiydaa,
Humney Deiykhaa heiy who but
toard diyeiy jaateiy heiyn
(The ones deluded into believing that they are God Almighty have to, like the icons of the Kaâaba, suffer destruction.)
Urdu is not known in the White House and the President of the USA and his coterie are unlikely to be warned of the predicament they are in today. Perhaps a lesson from 17th century Indian history will help. <b>As India has been larger than life right until the entry of European businesses and their âcompaniesâ its rulers could easily get deluded. The feeling of omnipotence and Godhood is seen to occur fairly frequently in Indiaâs history.</b>
<b>Alauddeen Khilji (1290-1310) made his mark by conquering the fort of Deogir and looting the accumulated treasure of twenty-five generations of Yadava rulers. He then assassinated the reigning Sultan, his uncle/father-in-law, Jajaaluddin Firoz Khilji, and won adherents by broadcasting star shaped ingots of gold from gigantic catapults called manjaaniks at each stage in the journey all the way from Kara Manikpur (Pratabgarh) in East to the capital Dillee. He assumed the title âSikandar-as-saaneeâ â the equal to or second Alexander in his inscriptions and coins.</b> According to a near contemporary historian, Zia-ud-deen-Barani, Alauddeen wanted to establish a new religion with himself as its prophet/God and was dissuaded by his nobles with some considerable difficulty.
<b>India continued to be the richest country in the world and the desired destination for men of ambition and enterprise up until the 18th century. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1628-1658) was the richest and most powerful monarch on earth. </b>
<span style='color:red'>He looked upon himself as Zillay Ilaahee (shadow of God upon earth). The cathedral or congregational (jaâama) mosque he designed to tower above his new city in Dillee, called Shahjahaanaabaad, was named Masjideyjahaannumaa or the mosque of the manifest world. </span>
The allusion to the unseen mosque in heaven in which all Muslims believe was obvious to all. <b>Just as the Jaama Masjid of Shahjahaanaabaad, Dillee, was the shadow on earth of the unseen mosque of heaven so also was the Emperor Shihaabuddeen Muhammad Shah Jahan Saahibey Qiraan Saanee the Zilley Ilaahee or âshadow of God upon earthâ. And representative of Allah, the unseen ruler of heaven.</b>
<i>{Quasi/shadow Caliph. Interesting insight.}</i>
This pomp and pageantry bombast and bluster was put to test on March 26, 1644, when Begum Jahanara, eldest child from Shah Jahanâs marriage with Arjumand Bano Begum, Mumtaaz Mahal, got severely burnt as a result of her gossamer muslin oarhnee stole/scarf catching fire from a floor lamp lighting the palace. Shah Jahan immediately came down to earth. The daily ritual of holding court and dispensing justice like King Solomon was all but abandoned. Purses of gold were kept under the pillow of the ailing princess and the contents distributed to the destitute in order that their prayers help in the recovery. The Holy Quran was recited from beginning to end without interruption, and prayers offered round-the-clock near the sick bed of Jahanara by learned scholars and divines. Rewards amounting to a kingâs ransom and more were offered for anyone who would reduce the suffering and cure the princess of the damage caused by the extensive burns.
Jahanara recovered and Shah Jahan reverted to his Imperial destiny. In September 1657, fate struck again. It was the Emperor himself who fell ill this time. <i>{Note 100 years before Battle of Plasey and rise of East India Company}</i>Due to an obstruction in the bladder Shah Jahan passed no water for seven days. The resulting accumulation of undesirable elements caused loss of consciousness. <b>The news soon reached the princes, Sultan Shuja in Bengal, Awrungzeyb in Deccan, and Murad Bukhsh in Gujarat. Rebellion raised its ugly head and failed to subside with the recovery of the Emperor.</b>
<b>The generals of the empire, the Amber Raja Jaisimha and the Marwar Raja Jaswantsimha, were sent out to block the rebel princes. Although Jaisimha won against Shah Shuja in Bengal, the defeat of Jaswantsimha at Dharmat from the combined forces of Murad Bukhsh and Awrungzeyb proved disastrous.</b>
The fate of Shah Jahan was sealed when the eldest prince, Dara Shukoh, suffered defeat at Samugarh at the hands of Awrungzeyb and Murad Bukhsh. Shah Jahan was deposed and imprisoned in the palace fort of Agra where he died in 1666 (eight years later). The body was hurriedly interred in the mausoleum that Shah Jahan had created for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal (d 1631). The cenotaph of Shah Jahan is the only element which is out of place in the whole noble structure. Such was the fate of the man who thought he was the âshadow of God upon the earthâ. Power wielders beware!
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So in other words the rise of Aurangazeb sowed the seeds of destruction of the Mughals. He was a reactionary person and there was wide spread disaffection to his rein. His wars impoverished the treasury and made the Empire weak. His successors could not hold the center strong and led to centrifugal forces that the English exploited.