The Mughal Empire – Episode 3: Loot and Legacy
The Mughal Empire was one of the great Islamic Empires that dominated Central Asia and beyond in the late medieval period, matching the territorial conquests of the other great Islamic “gunpowder” empires of the era-the Ottoman and Persian Empires.
It’s conquest of India lasted more than three centuries. The Mughals’ architectural and cultural legacy in north west India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and their ancestral roots in Persia and Central Asia remain to this day.
Descended from Central Asian warlords Genghis Khan and Timur, the first of 20 Mughal Emperors was Babur who invaded India in the early 16th century.
The militaristic Mughals were capable of great violence but for most of their reign were also tolerant of the other religions and cultures which were in a majority in their realm.
A golden age saw them become one of the world’s leading trading powers mining India’s riches and producing a quarter of the world’s textile goods. This era saw the construction of many of their greatest architectural creations which included the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Red Fort in Delhi. Then the Mughal Empire, like so many before and after them, over reached and suffered a series of invasions and occupations which resulted in the weakening and ultimate fall of their Empire.
In this 3 x 1 hr mini-series, we explore the legacy of the Mughals in the great buildings they left behind – including their forts in Delhi and Lahore, the great administrative former capitals such Agra and the great mausoleums of their leaders.
Episode 1: Building an Empire
Episode 2: The Golden Age
Episode 3: Loot and Legacy
Episode 1: Building an Empire
The barren landscapes of Central Asia have long been at the crossroads of civilizations. Its ancient cities were born out of Silk Rd trade and its vast landscapes witnessed the clash of civilisations.
Mongol warrior Genghis Khan swept through here killing hundreds of thousands and levelling cities. Later the equally violent Tamerlane of the Timurid dynasty did the same.
It was in 1526 when Babur, a Central Asian prince descended from these warrior kings,
founded the Mughal dynasty. Ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia., Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul .and then pushed steadily southward into India through the Khyber Pass. which was a key route through the Hindu Kush Mountain Range – the name given to it by the Persians meaning Killing of Hindus.
The Hindus were an ancient adversary on from the other side of the Pass – known as Hindustan – and would remain so for centuries to come.
Arriving in Hindustan Babur would lay the foundations for the great Mughal cities in Lahore, in Pakistan, and Delhi and Agra in North West India.
India today is the world’s second largest country with a population of over a billion-it’s a bewildering array of peoples and cultures living side by side in the countryside and in its large, crowded and often chaotic cities.
Now, as then, it is a country of extraordinary palaces, fortresses, temples and monuments. This is home to three religions- Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism – which had all expanded east into South East Asia and Buddhism throughout north and central Asia as well.
But some of the grandest temples still standing today are those belonging to the Mughals, who were the dominant force here for three centuries.
Babur’s son Humayun was the architect of a strong Persian influence which would become a cultural hallmark of the Mughals and is still influential in Indian culture today
But it was Babur’s grandson, Akbar, who built on the foundations of the empire and created a great one. Akbar erected great forts, palaces and mosques in Agra, and Lahore and even his own city at Fatehpur Sikri. He formed relationships with the powerful Rajput dynasties of Rajasthan, reached out to all religions and even attempted re-create his own incorporating beliefs from all of them.
In this episode we explore the legacy of Akbar, arguably the greatest of all Mughal emperors, and what he left behind.
Episode 2: The Golden Age
Akbar was keen to absorb the great elements of Hindi and Rajput culture within his Empire. The mother of his son who succeeded him – Jahangir – who reigned for more than 20 years from 1605 to 1627, – was the Indian Rajput princess, Mariam.
Jahangir was addicted to opium, neglected the affairs of the state, and came under the influence of rival court cliques. But it was his wife, Noor Jahan, who took control, ensuring another smooth succession and playing a key role in running the empire.
Jahangir was a great patron of the arts and left many great buildings behind particularly in Lahore, where he is buried. Noor Jahan is buried next to him
The Lahore Fort, still here today, was the centre of Mughal power and culture in Pakistan. And Jahangir’s grand picture wall in the Lahore fort is possibly his greatest contribution.
The son of Jahangir was probably the Mughals most famous Emperor. Shah Jahan reigned for 30 years from 1628 to 1658. His mother, Jahangir’s wife Jagat Gosia, was another Rajput princess.
Shah Jahan’s reign ushered in the golden age of Mughal architecture. During this time the splendour of the Mughal court reached its peak, as exemplified by the many grand buildings erected during his reign
Shah Jahan’s most famous building was of course the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum
he constructed for his wife across the river from his palace in Agra.
Repeatedly damaged and looted the first major restoration of the Taj only happened in 1908 ordered by British viceroy, Lord Curzon.
Shah Jahan also built the Red Fort in a new city he founded. It was called Shahjahan Abad, but it’s now known as Delhi, the Indian capital. Its most famous building is the Red Fort also built by Shah Jahan.
Shah Jahan loved gems and he even had them embedded into the facade of his buildings including the Taj Mahal. The famous Peacock Throne was the jewel and gem encrusted giant throne built for his palace in Agra.
Shah Jahan’s end was tragic. His son, Aurangzeb, overthrew and then imprisoned him, and killed his own brother as well who was Shah Jahan’s favoured successor.
Aurangzeb’s rule ushered in a more austere, less artistic and inclusive era where Islamic orthodoxy prevailed. He built some great mosques including a giant one in Lahore, the biggest in the empire at the time and still the third largest in Pakistan.
Although he ruled for 50 years and grew the empire to its greatest extent, Aurangzeb’s death in the saddle of battle aged 90, sparked the beginning of the end of the empire which began to break up.
Less than a century after his rule ended the Peacock Throne would be among the Mughal riches looted, as Delhi, the capital built by his father Shah Jahan, was sacked by new invaders
Episode 3: Loot and Legacy
In the 18th century the Mughal Empire was subject to invasions from a new Afghan Empire and Persia’s violent and mercurial Nader Shah which resulted in the pillaging and loss of huge quantities of gold and precious stones including the famous Kur-I Nor diamond.
The Mughals relationship with the Sikhs disintegrated leading to numerous bloody battles, massacres, assassinations and executions. The uneasy and often fractious relationship with the Rajput dynasties splintered.
The British East India Company which had steadily increased its commercial interests and territorial control in India over a period of 200 years, took advantage and presided over the remnants of the Empire until the overthrow and exile of the last Mughal Emperor in 1857. The transfer of wealth from the Mughals to the British is regarded by some historians as the greatest ever until the coming of the Nazis.
The British inherited much of the imperial structures established by the Mughals over three centuries but in the 20th, century were unable to restrain ethnic tensions which exploded into the open with partition and the establishment of a separate Moslem state in Pakistan after the Second World War. In this final episode we look at how the British took over, turning India into the jewel of the largest empire the world had ever seen. We explore what they left behind and the legacy of the great Mughal Empire they replaced.