India: The Mughal Emperors

      Commonwealth Day was celebrated March 9, and as promised in the previous column, this month begins a series on the former monarchies of British Empire and then Commonwealth countries. As India was the first to declare it was part of a Commonwealth, we’ll start with it. We’ll trace the careers of the first great Mughal Emperor Akbar, then how the British Empire builders set out to destroy the Mughal Empire, and finally the story of the last of the Mughal kings Shah Zafar, who lost the empire forever to the British Raj. 

      The first of the Medieval Mughal Emperors was Zahir al-Din Babur, succeeded by his son Nasir, Al-Din Humayun, then by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar (1556-1605), Nur Al-Din Jahangir, Shah Jahan (1627-58), Aurangazeb Alamgir, Bahadur Shah I, Jahandar Shah, Farrukh Siyar, Shah Jahan II, Rafi al-Darjat, Muhammad Shah, Ahmad Shah, Aziz al-Din Alamgir, Ali Gawhar Shah Alam II, Akbar II and Bahadur Shah Zafar (1837-58). 

      Babur traced his ancestry back to Central Asia to what is now Uzbekistan. Various historians attempted to write the history of the Mughal (this is the Indian pronunciation) lineage; one anonymous version from the 16^th Century tried to give them mythical origins, claiming that it began when a royal widow named Alanquwa was impregnated by the Sun. Immaculate conception is if course a common theme in Greek, Indian, Mayan, Japanese and Christian beliefs. 

      Babur was a practicing Muslim, but he was no zealot. Finding pleasure and enjoying it to the full was his credo. Wine, women, song, floral gardens and the occasional young boy drove his youth. But the removal of infidels and their buildings from India ruled his adult life. In 1527, a Muslim astrologer told him that if he went into battle with the much larger forces of the Hindu lion chief of battles called Rana Sangram Singh he would lose. A bad prediction, especially when up against an unbeaten foe like Singh, could really demoralize his much smaller army. So he invoked a jihad against Rana the infidel, very publicly gave up alcohol and turned himself into a holy warrior. And his army won. 

      One of his biographers elected to trace Akbar’s ancestry not from Mohammed but from Adam; therefore he being descended from the divine his rule was inevitable. Early in his reign Akbar decided to be all things to all his subjects and removed some discriminatory taxes from the Hindus. By 1579 he had divided his nobility into more or less equal parts of Iranis, his own ancestral Turanis, Hindus and others. No one group could then dominate the others. He was going for ‘absolute peace’. Although the ethnic composition of future reigns’ nobles changed this goal remained the same. His predecessors, though Muslim, had not sought to force Islam on their Indian subjects, looking to go for sharing their power and resources. Akbar’s grandfather had thought nothing of praying five times a day, and then going on a 30-day binge. Akbar was more into Sun worship. He began his day with the Yogic practice of greeting the rising sun. This worship habit was introduced into his harem, and the Sun was imprinted on his largest coin, which weighed about 1200grams. He was also a very informal King. He was seen wearing just the regulation white long skirt while flying kites off his balcony, usually wore nothing on his head, hung out with his gang in the crowded marketplace, worked side by side with his stone quarrymen, and paid scant attention to protocol or whether anybody respected him or not.  

      Reportedly so great were his divine powers that he his breath could cure illness. All he had to do was touch a rock in the desert and water would instantly gush from it. Droughts were ended by his prayers. So were floods. Even Europeans passing through credited him with numerous miracles; such as washing his feet in water, in which a sick child was then bathed and miraculously cured. More skeptical writers claimed such ‘miracles’ were simply ‘sorcery’. Of course even though they officially disapproved, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam had all assimilated such folklore into their own religious systems where Christ, Buddha and Muhammed were the only ones permitted to have divine powers. Unsurprisingly similar tales been assimilated into the court culture of the Mughal kings.  

      Akbar had another goal too. Babur had claimed that as India belonged to his ancestor, a Turk, he was entitled to conquer it. But as the people were already his subjects he had ordered his soldiers to leave them alone. But Akbar declared that his Indian people were being repressed by their current leaders and it was his duty to free them from this tyranny. Peace and justice had to be for all. For instance Bengal, which had its own legitimate ruler- it was necessary to depose that ruler and rescue the people from his ‘oppression’. 

      Polygamy was the rule of the Mughal world, and the larger the number of women in your harem the greater one’s power, and the larger your family. The King was the only adult male allowed into the harem without permission, but it was the King’s mother who ruled there. Akbar’s mother, Hamida Banu (called Mariam Makani or’ like Mary’), was 15 years older than her son. Akbar denied her nothing, and treated her like a goddess. That reverence didn’t apply to his children though. When he was much older and found out that his own son Salim had declared himself king of the Mughals, because he had decided that his father had lived too long, and he was just going to take over, Akbar wanted him executed. But when the grandmother pleaded for Salim’s life Akbar had no choice but to let him off, with numerous restrictions, like not being accompanied by more than four men when visiting Akbar, and was forbidden to draw the sword Akbar had given him within the palace grounds.  

      Marriage, as it was for European sovereigns, was generally contracted for political reasons. In this case though several wives were permitted, not all were on an equal footing, depending on the reasons for the marriage. To keep the peace between the rulers and the Rajput families Akbar and his predecessors had contracted numerous marriages with their Princesses.

Love however did play a big role in some cases. Akbar’s father had fallen in love with Hamida, who had no high status. Reportedly she held out for 40 days before finally saying yes. His grandparents had married for love. Akbar himself fell in love with a nobleman’s wife, so the poor noble had no choice but to divorce his wife so she could move, with virtue, into Akbar’s harem.

His son Salim supposedly fell hard for one of his father’s harem ‘wives’, a situation that did not sit well with Akbar .When he succeeded as the new king Salim did not forget his courtesan Anarkali, and built a sumptuous tomb for her in Lahore in 1598, still a major tourist attraction today. A poem of longing which he composed was carved into it, which reads, “To the end of the world I shall express gratitude to my Creator if only I could see the face of my beloved once again”. 

      Shah Jahan had several wives but loved Mumtaz of the Taj Mahal. Jahan’s successor himself had a major thing for a probably Hindu dancing girl. Although with several wives and several children already, he spent most of his time listening to music and drinking wine with her. When she died he renounced wine and music forever. Although the women were not supposed to have any say in these matters, there are cases where some of them used their beauty and talents to attract a royal husband. In turn there are cases, like Hamida’s, where they resisted. She was only 14 and a member of King Humayun’s brother’s harem. The brother, Hindal, wasn’t happy about this. For several days Hamida refused Humayan’s invitation to parties. The King and Prince’s mother got into the battle, but it took her the whole 40 days to persuade Hamida that since she had to marry someone it might as well be the Emperor. Hamida was holding out for a husband she could actually get close to. Although she gave in eventually, she was admired by royal Mughal mothers ever after for her wisdom and courage. 

      Akbar had three sons, and three daughters, all the children of concubines, although Salim’s mother was popularly claimed to be a Rajput Princess named Jodha Bai. There are no paintings or images of royal relatives, as their bodies were considered chaste and unseeable to any male. Any existing portraits of royal women mean they were of a lower rank and their bodies held in not such a high degree of sanctity.  

      Akbar was married to his cousin Salima sultan Begum, 12 years his senior, who had previously been married to his Regent Bairam Khan. Ever after he disapproved of relationships between women and males 12 years younger than them. He also censured older women taking younger husbands. Competition, rival pregnancies, jealousies and other conflicts in the harem led Akbar to decide that these tensions ‘brings ruin to [the man’s] health and woes to his home’ 

      Aunts and sisters were also held in high esteem. For Akbar his father’s sister Gulbadan Begum held just as much importance as his mother. The story is told that when his aunt returned from her pilgrimage to Mecca Akbar had the streets covered in silk shawls as her splendid litter bore her to her palace. The families were manageable in size, particularly in Akbar’s case as he was the only surviving son of an only surviving son. After him there were living sons, with the youngest surviving his two elder brothers and becoming king. Later it was younger brothers getting rid of the competition. But in all cases all the wives, harem members and children of all were under protection of whoever was ruling. Akbar had been raised in his uncle’s household, and it was Uncle Kamran who performed the first-step ritual for his nephew. When an infant took his first steps his father threw his turban at him, knocking him down. Perhaps this was symbolic that his life would be trouble-free from then on. 

      Akbar also had some pretty modernizing ideas about women. He celebrated the birth of two grand-daughters to his son Salim, against the custom. He objected to the inequality of women to men in Islam, and although he only made the statement they should get a bigger share as they were ‘the weaker ones’ he didn’t actually give his daughters a bigger share. He also asked that no girl be married until age 14 and age 16 for boys. He attempted to make it law that no child could be married until the Chief of Police confirmed their ages, but this system became so corrupt it couldn’t work. He also wished that the couple and their parents all consented to any marriage, because in India a woman could not marry again once widowed. He was horrified by the custom of Sati, where the widow was burned alive on her dead husband’s funeral pyre. So concerned was he for the chastity of his female relatives that they were no longer referred to by name, or allowed them a public identity.  

      It is with Akbar’s reign that the idea of women’s chastity became mixed up with sex. Somehow the female’s body became a symbol of her purity. No harem woman could be seen by any man, unless they were designated as Mahram, a blood relative. These were the only other men besides the King allowed in the harem. Before him nobody thought much about chastity, but after him female members of the royal family were never even mentioned. This was more a Hindu influence than a Persian. One story goes that when Akbar found out that a son of the ruler of Marwar snuck into his harem to visit one of his girls, by disguising himself as a woman, Akbar posted him to some backwater outpost and then instructed the local shaikh to dispense with him. He did, but there’s no mention of what happened to the girl. Another story goes that when his mother went to Mecca, accompanied by one of his favourite nobles, she was informed that she could not enter the Ka’aba unless she was with her husband. On the spur of the moment she indicated that the noble, one Mirza Sharf al-Din., was her husband, and went in. When they got home Akbar was so furious that Mirza had allowed it to be implied that he could be Akbar’s father that he ordered him to be beheaded. However Mirza managed to escape   

      It was with Akbar that the massive harem morphed into a prison. Inside each of the 5000 women had separate apartments; each apartment section was guarded by the most trusted of females and outside by an army of eunuchs. It was then circled by a group of Rajput faithful, and then further out were gate porters. Any visitor had to check in there first, ask to see an inmate (because technically they were prisoners). The request was passed back through lines, eventually reaching the lady, who was asked if she wished to see this visitor. Visitors were then allowed in for a specific period of time, which in the case of a very high ranking member could be a month or more. 

      No one has been able to explain why Akbar went so far opposite to the way things had been done before. Was it the culture of the people of his Rajput wife who he married in 1562 that influenced him? Although homosexuality was openly practiced in his own court, he was personally against it. To him any form of adultery or other forms of debauchery were so wrong that the guilty party was executed. But he also felt, against the Islamic custom, that a bath should be taken before sex, rather than after it. Apparently he did not consider the legitimate act filthy enough to require a ritual cleansing after.  

      Akbar’s harem girls were also his wives; although of a lower rank than the royal versions, he often treated them like queens. Their children were usually treated with the same regard as royal-born children. As reported before, two of his youngest sons had concubines for mothers, as did his three daughters.  

      By Akbar’s time the Persian marriage custom of the ceremony always taking place at the groom’s home was being interchanged with the Hindu custom of a massive pilgrimage by the groom and retinue to the bride’s home. In 1584 Akbar led his son Salim to the house of Raja Bhagwan for his wedding to his daughter. Gradually the Hindu custom of including music in the magnificent wedding ceremonies was brought in. Gift giving between the two families got more lavish as well.  Akbar is credited with sending “bridal presents’ to Salim’s bride, while he received from her father as dowry hundreds of horses, 100 elephants, slaves, jeweled vessels, gold and silver utensils, saddles and other precious things befitting her rank. 

      Akbar credited his major victories to a five-centuries-dead saint named Shaikh Muin al-Din Chishti, and made the pilgrimage to walk around his tomb. However a ruler himself could be a saint too. Worshipping Akbar was a sect called Dasaniya that began their day with a mere glimpse of Akbar. Akbar read omens and predicted victory or death. He could make it rain to block out the damage from a solar eclipse, or make it stop for an outdoor banquet. Emperors before and after him were credited with many such ‘miracles’. The occult became more and more of an influence in everyday life, and even in 21^st  century India, it still is.