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BOOK
REVIEW
Delicious details
from Mughal history
The Mughals of
India
by Harbans Mukhia
Reviewed by Piyush Mathur
In
The Mughals of India, Harbans Mukhia - a
celebrated historian from the prestigious Center
for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU), New Delhi - may well have
crafted his most successful claim to popularity
outside the academy. In addition to thorough
research - Mukhia regrets having had to remove
"some 90% of the references" he had put in his
first draft  to the publisher -
the book is notable for its wit, its gusto, and a
freedom of expression increasingly missing from
contemporary academic writing (p xii).
For
a book delivered "more than a decade" after
originally planned, there could not, ironically,
have been a more appropriate time for publication
(p 1). Although Mukhia stays conspicuously clear
of the current political context, we cannot help
but note the significance of this publication
against the backdrop of the heightened Hindu
nationalism within India, on one hand, and the
enhanced global curiosity about the history of
Islamic cultures in the wake of September 11,
2001, on the other. For all that, while the
outstanding merit of this book lies in its address
of key gaps in information and popular confusions
about the so-called Mughal period, its topical
importance rests on its implications for
contemporary India's understanding of itself as a
culture, society and nation.
Centered on
the dynasty and the court, the book forays into
Indian - in many ways subcontinental - culture at
large as it evolved through the rise and fall of
the Mughal Empire (1526-1858). The scope of the
book is roughly reflected in the titles of its
four chapters: "For Conquest and Governance:
Legitimacy, Religion, and Political Culture";
"Etiquette and Empire"; "The World of the Mughal
Family"; and "Folklore and the Mughal Court
Culture". The book includes a chronology of all
the emperors' reigns (which also tells us the full
names of emperors conventionally known to
non-historians by singular names); an
introduction; a glossary; an extremely useful
annotated bibliography of selected books; and a
very careful, descriptive index.
Unfortunately, the book cannot lay claim
to meticulous proofreading (contrary to what
Mukhia himself would have us believe) - a problem
only compounded by freelance proofreader Helen
Gray's apparently thin knowledge of South Asian,
Persian and Islamic cultures or histories. I will,
however, squarely blame Blackwell Publishing
(rather than Gray) for its neglect of such
fundamentals as proofreading and copy-editing: The
trail of typos begins right from the last line of
the first page of "Acknowledgements" (p ix); both
the acknowledgement section and the introduction,
incidentally, also deserve serious copy-editing
for clarity and lucidity.
The
highlights
Those hoping for a tight topical
focus within the Mughal period or a coherent
political angle on the part of the author are
bound to be disappointed by Mukhia's freewheeling
descriptions. Academic readers habituated to
looking for clear ideological frameworks or
articulate methodological standpoints are likewise
fated to get lost. While Mukhia provides a useful,
often eye-opening, introduction to the history of
historiography in India - making passing
references to influences upon himself as a
historian - he does not claim to commit to any
particular scholarly frame of reference (and the
narrative that follows also shows that he is free
from the fetish of methodology). In light of all
that, Mukhia should be credited, first and
foremost, for being honest and deferential to the
messiness of history; indeed, he has taken pains
to highlight exceptions and contradictions within
the history at every level.
That entails, for a start,
throwing light on the term "Mughal" itself.
Contemporary South Asians have little confusion as
to whom that term refers - but the early rulers of
the Mughal dynasty, Mukhia points out, did not
consider themselves Mughals. This Persian term -
"pronounced 'Mughul' in Iran" - was insulting to
the early rulers as it referred to Central Asians
who spoke Mongol languages and dialects and were
considered barbarians by a range of other Central
Asians including "Turkis, Uzbegs, Kirghizes,
Kazaks, Kipchaks, Keraits, and Naimans" (pp 1, 2).
These latter tribes nevertheless exempted Chingiz
Khan - the Mughal par excellence - from being considered a barbarian
(p 2).
"The dynasty in India," Mukhia
points out, "proudly traced its lineage from both
Chingiz and Timur, the former as ancestor of
Babur's mother and the latter as the paternal
progenitor, initially with greater emphasis on
Chingiz, later on Timur. In Babur's home in
Uzbekistan, the dynasty proclaimed its identity as
Chaghtais, descended from Chaghta, son of Chingis"
(p 2). Over the centuries, however, the term
"'Mughal' earned respect, dignity and, not least,
pride, in its Indian association" (p 5).
Hereafter, the book captures:
the inner fluidity of the various emperors'
personalities and their distinctive characters;
key distinctions among the political, personal,
social and religious priorities of the different
emperors; the historical status of many festivals,
customs and etiquettes traceable to the Mughals
and still in currency in much of South Asia; the
milieu and outstanding peculiarities of the Mughal
and "medieval" Indian families as well as courts;
the relationship between Islam and Hinduism in the
region - but especially the complex relationships
of major historical characters with their own and
other religions; the co-evolution of the court,
the bazaar and other public spheres; and a lot of
juicy historical gossip about sexuality,
relationships and interpersonal rivalries among
members of the dynasty and medieval Indian
noblesse generally (with enough forays into
the life of the commoner).
Mukhia's
investigations confirm certain popular assumptions
- such as the fanaticism of Emperor Aurangzeb
(reigned 1658-1707), who justified his
imprisonment of his father and killing of his
brothers by invoking "his concern for Islam" and
blaming it on "their neglect of it" (p 22).
Aurangzeb also gave a "general command to demolish
temples of the Hindus and at times erect mosques
on their debris" (which included the temples at
Kasi and Mathura; p 22).
Mukhia's general portrayal of
the dynasty is also not far from the popular
assumption in contemporary India about Mughal
polity's Islam-based evangelical overtones. "If
the intellectual and cultural ambience at the
court bore the impress of Islam's considerable
presence," Mukhia points out, "the rulers
themselves frequently invoked Islamic idiom and
jargon to legitimize their actions" (p 17). As
such, "'the waging of wars against kafirs
(infidels), 'elimination of kufr
(infidelity) from the land' at the hands of the
'armies of Islam', etc, remained strongly
expressed sentiments by most Mughal rulers", even
as "one strand of Muslim thought did emphasize a
'Hindu wielding the sword of Islam' as evidence of
glorification" of Islam (pp 17, 19).
The
rhetoric and specific actions aside, there were
exceptions among the rulers - and the rulers made
exceptions even within their own rules and lives.
For instance, Babur, the first Mughal emperor,
"saw himself at times as a practicing Muslim" -
but "his practice ... was ... lightened by his
search for the pleasures of the senses: wines,
composing of some very sensual poetry, music,
flowers and gardens, women, even a young boy at
one time in his youth" (p 18). Akbar, the third
emperor, "had turned a devotee of the Sun,
beginning his day with Surya Namaskar ... an
important Yogic practice" - and he also founded "a
new order of faith" called the Din-I-Ilahi (p 47).
Jahangir, the fourth emperor,
"was not eager to demonstrate his devout Islamic
profile, much less in opposition to kufr" (p 19).
Niccolao Mannucci, an Italian traveler to India
(1656-1717), observed that "of all his subjects,
[Jahangir] was kind to everyone except the
Muslims" (p 19). Mannucci also reported
"Jahangir's fondness for pork and wine growing
more intense during the holy month of Ramazan" -
and his resolve to turn to Christianity upon
implorations by the theologians to abstain from
pork as a Muslim (p 20). While the emperor never
acted upon his resolve, he did "let three of his
nephews" convert to Christianity - and "there was
a public procession through the streets of Agra to
celebrate their baptism" (p 20).
In
addition to providing the above details and such,
Mukhia severely undercuts a contemporary Indian
stereotype of the Mughals as the introducer of
moral or cultural puritanism to the subcontinent.
Quite to the contrary, the account suggests that
with the exception of Aurangzeb, the Mughals
"reveled in life's merriment" (p 17). Apart from
providing luscious details from their lives - such
as major royal romantic overtures and sexual
affairs, including those of such stern figures as
Aurangzeb, on one hand, and female characters such
as the Princesses, on the other - Mukhia points to
a range of other evidence underscoring the playful
dimension of the Mughals.
For instance,
"the names of the Mughal Princesses from the
beginning to the very end were derived from the
sensual pre-Islamic Persian tradition rather than
from the Arabic Islamic tradition. Their names,
such as Gulbadan (Rose Body), Gulchihra (Rose
Faced), Dildar Begum (Jolly Hearted), Jahan Ara
(Adornment of the World), Raushan Ara (Adornment
of Light), Zeb al-Nisa (Embellishment of the
Female Body), celebrate sensuality rather than
religious piety. Indeed, no Mughal ruler, not even
Aurangazeb," Mukhia asserts,"thought of giving a
religious name like Fatima or Khadija to their
daughters" (p 137).
"In Babur's memoirs,"
Mukhia points out, "the epithet 'chaste' is hardly
ever used for a woman, young or old, Princess or
commoner, and there are several references to
convivial parties in open gardens, in which his
female relations participated alongside the men
and had their share of intoxication and revelry"
(p 128). This stood in contrast from the "Rajput
investment of family honor in their women's bodies
and their obsession with female sexual chastity"
(p 133; careful as ever, Mukhia does point out
exceptions even among the Rajputs).
From
"Akbar's time", however, "chastity gets invested
in the female body and is perceived entirely in
sexual terms, such that even the sight or thought
of anything implicating the female body was
considered a dilution of the purity of the self"
(p 130). In Akbar's reign, the harem "was
reorganized into a fortress-like institution" -
but Mukhia attributes this reorganization to the
"growing influence of Rajput cultural ethos on
Akbar ever since his marriage in 1562 to the
Rajput Princess, daughter of Raja Bhara Mal
Kachwaha of Amber, now a suburb of Jaipur" (pp
132, 133).
In
fact, Akbar "felt so gravely concerned about the
chastity of his female relatives that he denied
them a personal name, an individual identity ...
open to public gaze" (p 129). That aside, and
himself far from monogamous, Akbar "pleaded for
monogamy and a certain age of marriage - 14 for
girls and 16 for boys" (p 130). Aggrieved at "the
prohibition of the marriage of widows in the Hindu
religion, for it caused them 'grave hardship'", he
was also "horrified at" the Rajput practice of
sati - or the
(self-)immolation of widows at the funeral pyre of
their dead husbands (p 130).
On a
different front, the institution of harem, though
stereotypically linked to the Mughals, was in fact
more widespread. "Rai Puran Mal of Kalinjar ...
was reported.to have 'taken two thousand Hindu and
Muslim women into his harem'. The Hindu ruler of
... Thanjavur ... too, had the reputation of
possessing 700 wives and 15,000 concubines, going
by Manucci's count. Akbar's favorite Rajput noble
Man Singh was said by Jahangir to have possessed a
similarly large harem with 1,500 'wives' and
somewhere between 200 and 300 children in his back
yard" (p 114).
On the whole, Mukhia points
out, "the medieval family was not quite
susceptible to clear definitions and tended to be
expansive ... [P]olygamy within the ruling class
was the predominant practice [and] the number of
women in one's harem was perceived as one of the
major symbols of the state's power and grandeur"
(p 114).
While Mukhia maintains that
patriarchy prevailed in medieval India, many
details regarding that society do not quite match
the contemporary image of patriarchy as a system.
For instance, "in Mughal India, for identification
of descent, reference was made to the best-known
member of the family, male or female" - a practice
followed across religions and families (p 129).
Also interesting is the fact that within the
dynastic family, the emperor's mother held supreme
sway inside the harem. "Paying obeisance to one's
mother was a Chingizi custom. Mughal history is
full of stories, respectfully told by its
chroniclers, of the most powerful rulers standing
before their grandmothers and mothers almost like
cowering children" (p 114). Given that Mughal
emperors had several mothers within the context of
polygamy, the personal life of the emperor as a
son was liable to have been particularly
interesting.
Concluding
remarks
Mukhia's history is full of merrily
told, typically cross-checked anecdotes strung
together by insightful analyses that resist, even
expose, modernistic biases. The wide expanse of
primary sources used by the author ensures a great
deal of validity to his account. While the book is
full of details that would interest a wide range
of readers for many different reasons, academic
historians would perhaps find Mukhia's (admittedly
brief) description and analysis of historiographic
traditions available to medieval India most
interesting; they would particularly relish
Mukhia's lengthy and persistent engagement with
the accounts and ideas of Abul Fazl, courtier and
historian of Emperor Akbar. However, perhaps more
colorful and irreverent accounts of the Mughal
court are those provided by the European
travelers, especially Edward Terry, Pelsaert, John
Fryer, Careri, Manucci and Bernier. Mukhia makes a
great use of those as well.
On the whole,
the book would mainly interest the following
groups: South Asians; those looking for
alternatives to literary fiction for sheer
entertainment; history buffs; savvy and curious
international tourists; students of Indian,
Islamic, or Mughal art; and, most certainly,
sociologists and cultural theorists. (Better
copy-editing would have gone a long way in making
the book more appealing to the non-academic
reader.)
The Mughals of India by
Harbans Mukhia. Blackwell: United Kingdom, 2004.
ISBN: 0631185550. Hard cover; 210 pages.
Piyush Mathur, PhD, an
alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,
and Virginia Tech, US, is an independent observer
of world affairs, the environment, science and
technology policy, and literature.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd.
All rights reserved. Please contact us for
information on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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