Emperors of the Peacock Throne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: Emperors of the Peacock Throne – The Saga of the Great Mughals
Author: Abraham Eraly
Publisher: Penguin, 2000 (First published 1997)
ISBN: 9780141001432
Pages: 555

Popular legends and colourful descriptions of contemporary chroniclers of emperors make the Mughals the most glamorous dynasty that ever ruled India. Babur established this dynasty in India by invading from central Asia through Afghanistan. The empire, which was seeded by Babur, reached the zenith of its glory under Akbar but Aurangzeb spread the seeds of its eventual disintegration. This book is the story of the first six emperors from Babur to Aurangzeb who are known as the Great Mughals. This is part of a four-volume study titled ‘India Retold’, covering the history of India from the beginning up to 1858. This volume deals with medieval history spanning the years 1526 and 1707. Abraham Eraly was a professor of history at colleges in Chennai and the US. He also edited a fortnightly current affairs magazine for a few years.

The author tries to find a philosophical reason for another book on Mughals who are well documented in contemporary as well as modern histories. History needs to be re-evaluated in the light of the prevailing consensus of each era. As time goes by, people rework it as all works of history are only interim reports. Herodotus opened his historical treatise with the line ‘this is a publication in order that actions of men may not be effaced by time’ which is equally valid for all re-interpretations. Eraly asserts that the historian is not a moral eunuch. His moral voice gives his work its unique timbre. There are no absolutes in history, but the historian must affirm his views. This makes it mandatory for interpreting history in light of new developments in society. We should not concentrate only on the major events because even though they shape the contours of history, the particulars and trifling incidents breathe life into it. This book faithfully reproduces the methodology outlined in these lines.

Eraly provides a neat comparison of the two legendary emperors of India – Ashoka and Akbar – even though they are separated in time by eighteen centuries. Ashoka is enveloped in ‘misty, golden glow of myth’ while Akbar lived too close to our own time and chronicled by many people whose accounts we have access to, so that we get to know the person behind the persona. He was a deeply troubled man, unhappy with himself and unsure of the world. Eraly claims that Akbar’s compassion was not of character, which was violent, but of intelligence. Towards the end of his life, he virtually gave up eating meat, saying that ‘it is not right for a man to make his stomach the grave of animals’. We have a clear parallel to Ashoka here. Some of Akbar’s idiosyncrasies are however not repeated. Akbar used Ganga water for drinking and arranged trustworthy persons stationed on the banks of Ganga to send the water in sealed jars wherever he was. While Ashoka promoted Buddhism during his reign, Akbar invented a syncretic religion and invited his courtiers to flock to it. The author states that Din Ilahi was a lost opportunity to India as a pathway to a religiously harmonious future. The new religion opened the potential for India to come out of medievalism into modern age. Discussions of a purely secular nature took place between Akbar and members of the Chosen Forty people who guided Din Ilahi proponents. This was unheard of in India for a long time. Eraly puts the situation in his golden prose: ‘for a brief, shining moment, a new and brilliant star blazed over Fatehpur Sikri. Then the moment passed. And the night closed in again’.

Like the leftist historians, Eraly too tries his best to paper over horrific acts of religious bigotry and spiff up the Mughal emperors by laboriously finding out mitigating factors. While in Gwalior, Babur ordered the destruction of idols in Jain temples as they were portrayed naked. The author redeems Babur by conceding that ‘it was Babur’s aesthetic sensibilities that were offended by the Jain idols, not his religious sentiments’ (p.31). Humayun decapitated some of his men for a minor offence committed when they were in a state of inebriation. Eraly justifies this wanton cruelty as ‘inflicting such savage and arbitrary punishment was a medieval royal privilege, a demonstration of the king’s absolute power’ (p.45). After capturing Chitor, Akbar ordered a general massacre, killing 30,000 people, according to Abul Fazal. This is being condoned as an attempt to ‘show that greater the resistance, greater will be the retaliation and also to strike terror in potential adversaries and cripple their will to fight’. Moreover, ‘there were no random, impulsive persecution of Hindus under Aurangzeb' (p.397) and Aurangzeb’s imposition of jizya was ‘possibly due to revenue considerations’ (p.404). See the author’s sheer reluctance to accept the plain truth that he is speaking about first-rate religious bigots? This is the sad state of affairs in most of Indian historiography.

The book includes neat asides on Sher Shah and Shivaji, who threatened the very foundations of Mughal Empire. Mughal rulers are often excused for their religious fanaticism on account of medieval zeitgeist. But here, the author exhibits a refreshing contrast between Shivaji and Aurangzeb. This book states that Shivaji had high respect for women, whether of his own or of his enemy. Even Mughal chroniclers who habitually damned Shivaji as ‘the hell dog’ praises his fair treatment of captives and subject people. Khafi Khan admits that Shivaji was ‘careful to maintain the honour of women and children of Muslims when they fell into his hands’. Shivaji, no doubt, had intense religious faith and was a proud Hindu, but he respected the devotion of other people to other religions. Even in that harsh age and brutal environment, he exhibited rare probity even in his depredations. Except in a single, exceptional case, did he ravage a Muslim holy place. Whenever a Quran fell into his hands in the course of plunder, he deferentially handed it over to the Muslim officers in his entourage. This reverential treatment of people of other religions was extended even to the Europeans. This discussion clearly shows that invocation of the medieval spirit does not acquit Mughals of the charge of bigotry and intolerance.

The author also examines the impact of Mughal rule on Indian society which does not appear to be as rosy as it is often made out to be. It transformed the lifestyle of the elite throughout India. The rich and powerful aspired to be Mughals. In architecture, cuisine, language, music and dance, the standards of excellence for a long time would be Mughalai. Yet, India did not change in its essence. There was no transmutation of civilization. The Hindu and Muslim worlds did not change under mutual influence. The most unfortunate fact was that the Mughals did not creatively respond to the stimulus of resurgent Europe and there was hardly any vigour in the economy and scant spirit of enterprise among the people. There was no ferment of ideas and Indian practices remained archaic. The apathy to novel ideas was so shocking that they showed little interest even in European military innovations. Mughal rule also debased the character of man. There was near total absence of civic morality and personal integrity. Hypocrisy and sycophancy were the hallmarks of the Indian ruling class. This is in sharp variance with the description of Indian people and aristocracy given by Fa Xien or Hiuen Tsang a millennium before. Over a quarter of the gross national product of the empire was forcibly appropriated by just 655 individuals while the bulk of its 120 million people lived in abject poverty. Eraly concludes that the contrast between legend and reality was grotesque in Mughal India.

Eraly’s works are a pleasure to read because of the mastery he employs in the narrative that often touches on the poetic. This book quotes liberally from the works of contemporary historians and chroniclers as to make the readers feel closer to the historical personalities. The book is somewhat big, but not a single page is redundant or dispensable. Reading history is immensely enjoyable when the author too rises to the occasion, which Eraly does amply in this work.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star