Moghuls in India and the Indianisation of the moghuls

Usha Ekanayake

India is equal in size to Europe and cut off from the rest of Asia by the Himalayas and from other land masses by the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. This isolation has resulted in the growth of a distinct culture. Most influences that reached the Indian land mass came via the Khyber pass. The culture of India, 4,000 years old, was last influenced largely by the forces that came overland.

The Western powers that came by sea conquered India but the Indian people did not absorb Western culture.

The first monument built by the Muslim conquerors was the Qutb Minar in 1199. The moghuls brought to India, Muslim as well as Persian and Chinese art and culture which were absorbed by India and is now uniquely Indian. We see a fusion of Jain, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim culture and art when we visit this wondrous country India.

Arab traders carried back tales of great wealth, extravagant living and of a people devoted to a peaceful way of life. Naval expeditions from Western Asia to plunder and carry away riches continued, but in 712 an army led by Mohod ibn Qasim marched up the Indus valley to Multan.

The Moslem troops, for the first time faced a large army which used elephants in battle but the battle hardened troops led by Qasim managed to get a foothold, and they lived in scattered communities in the arid North West.

In 986, a Turkish adventurer settled in the mountains in Ghazni, invaded the Ganges valley and gained control of the Khyber pass. Muslim invaders now moved in and out of the Indo gangetic plain.

Mohommad Gazni sent 17 military expeditions, took the title of Sultan and occupied the Hindu city Madura, in 1018, but Ghazni returned to the mountains taking with him plundered wealth and thousands of Indian slaves.

In 1151, Mohd of Ghor takes power and appoints Qutub Din Aibak (an Indian slave who proved to be a warrior and administrator) as governor of Delhi, Ghors dies and Qutub becomes the first Muslim emperor taking the title of Sultan of Delhi and founds the ‘slave dynasty’. To mark Muslim ascendancy he builds a mosque the Quwut al Islam. The might of Islam.

From this period India loses the great feature of tolerance. Hindus, Jains and Buddhists had lived as peaceful communities. The destruction of Hindu temples begins. However, these rulers are threatened by the ‘Mongol Hordes’.

The forces of Jengis Khan appeared in Samarkand, moved to Kabul and then through the Khyber Pass swoops down the Ganges plain. It is said that Tammerlane, in 1397 brought 90,000 mongol horsemen.

Indian historians say “From Multan to Delhi left pyramids of heads in the cities and trails of blood.” Next the Lodis, an Afghan dynasty rules North India. In 1526 the great Babur descendant of Tammerlane and Genghis Khan wins the battle of Panipat and becomes the Paridishah “His son next ascends the throne and the Great Akbar in 1556 becomes king when 15 years old.”

Though illiterate Akbar took a great interest in art, music, literature, religion and administration. The Moghul rulers brought the best architects and scholars to their court. Akbar who conquered land from the Himalayas to the Deccan wished to bind an consolidate his empire and in doing this the Indianisation of the moghuls took place.

Babur brought Persian influence to India and an indelible cultural growth takes place. The beauty and grandeur of North India which we so admire begins with these rulers Persian troops, artists, architects, builders and craftsmen moved to and lived in India and they became one with the local population who appreciated the delicate beauty of the inlay and carvings and painting that were introduced.

Together they executed works of exquisite beauty. They were artists and craftsmen as before not Moslem or Hindu, and this is what created a synthesis of Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain, art which we distinguish as Indian.

The flowering of Arab and Persian culture was never abandoned even when the Mongol hordes led by Gengis Khan swept through Europe. The Islamised Central Asians brought expressions and traditions from Turkey, Persia and Balkh to India. India was fortunate that Babur, a bold adventurer fond of art, literature and good living came to India.

India was even more fortunate that his grand son Akbar, a conqueror as well as an idealist, dreamer and a leader who aroused passionate loyalty ruled India for fifty years. He married a Rajput princess and employed Rajput chiefs as his officials in matters of finance and State administration.

He made alliances with many Rajput princes, with Moghul-Rajput cooperation the Moghuls became more and more Indian. Akbar had a son Jehangir from his Rajput wife and Jehangir had a son Shah Jahan from a Rajput wife thereby the Turk Mongolian dynasty became more Indian through the influence of Indian mothers.

Arab Persian culture spread with these Moghul Rajput alliances, when a moghul Indian lifestyle was readily accepted by the upper classes the rest of the population too embraced this mixed culture and eventually it became the way of life throughout India.

The red sandstone forts and palaces in Delhi and Lahore, the white marble Taj Mahal, the pearl mosque at Agra, the Jodh Bai palace, Fateh Pur Sikr palaces the Red Fort and the exquisite lace trellises of marble can never be forgotten.

Some Indian historians say that Akbar created a religion of his own ‘tauhid i ilahi’ which conciliates the best elements of all faiths. May be of all Akbars creations this is the only thing that has not lasted.