The Culture of the Mughal Dynasty - Book Report/Review Example

The Culture of the Mughal Dynasty The culture and traditions of Mughal Empire plays an important role in the lives of Indian subcontinent as it reveals the history of Emperors of that era which were considered to be the greatest strength in the region. The book that has been selected for the desired topic is ‘the Mughal Empire’ written by John. F. Richards who started his career as an historian for the Mughal Empire but later expanded his career to become the leading historian of modern era. The book presents a complete description of the Mughal Empire and their culture since the beginning of their time to their downfall. The paper attempts to analyze various cultures that originated in the Mughal era and what impact did they had upon Mughal emperors. The paper further discusses the significance of cultures and traditions adopted by the Mughals since their reign. The Mughal Empire had been one of the greatest Muslim Empires which is important to understand the Asian history because of its Indo-Islamic synthesis. Their culture is critical to understand due to their diversity and achievements for Modern India. The culture of Mughal Empire has its significance in world history and became a major contribution in the history of Asian people. The Mughal Empire started with the rise of power of Babur in 1526 that he had been victorious at Panipat which was fought in 1526 against Ibrahim Lodhi who was the last Sultan of Delhi. Babur was the descendant of the famous Genghis Khan and he had brought with him the Persian culture in Indian subcontinent to reveal their origins (SarDesai). The culture of Mughal Empire was mostly practiced by Mughal emperors who had likings of trade and were far richer than the other emperors. These cultural practices were not meant for the masses that lived in poverty and had the absence of demand for such practices. The cultures of Mughals are of great importance to the Indian subcontinent which reveals great understanding of their religion, architecture, music and literature (Richards). The religion of Mughal emperors was Islam and they were tolerant though they were staunch Sunni Muslims. Akbar’s policy was mostly focused on the unity of Hindus and Muslims and he made some changes and named it as Din-i-Ilahi. He merged all religions including Islam, Christianity and Hinduism to promote peace in the Kingdom which is why he was liked by every religion priests. This act was to make all the people of Kingdom happy from Akbar’s stance. The religious class that existed during the Mughal dynasty was ascetics, the Sayyids and the Pirs (Richards). There had been a non-official religion developed among Muslims known as Sufism and amongst Hindus the religion was known as Bhakti. Many rulers like Babur did not focused on spreading his religion Islam but rather he emphasized on spreading the Persian heritage and love for music and architecture. The Mughals abandoned the use of tradition Islamic lunar calendar and taxes were abolished in the particular era which was also considered to be the practice of Muslims. Religion has influence on the Empires as it differentiates their rituals and tradition from other religions which had been useful in differentiating in that era (Richards). The Persian literature was famous in Mughal dynasty which comprise of poetry, historical works and translation of other poetries in to their native language. The people did not have a systematic organization for learning literature but they inherited this activity from their descendants which they find it interesting to carry out their time. The evolution of Urdu language also began in the reign of Aurangzeb and Mughals use to spend much of their time devoting to the activity of listening to great poets of their time. Different translations of books were made from Sanskrit language to Persian and the most successful writer of that time was Abdul Fazl. The significance of the literature is that it was a tradition of the people to study literature even if they did not take proper education. Poetry reached to its highest level in the Mughal Empire, even some of the Mughal rulers were poets including Humayun and Babur. The famous ruler Jehangir was known for his literature who wrote an autobiography of himself only second after Babur. This period also bring development in the provincial languages due to which many different states were being recognized and their existences were noticed. The main topic for their literature and poems were based on human love and the praises of rulers of that time (Richards). Dancing and music became a great interest amongst the Mughal Emperors during which Kathak dance was the famous dance in that age. Kathak was first temporarily been performed in Aabcient temple, but it gained popularity in the reign of Akbar who appreciated the dance and made it compulsory in his court. The dance transformed from a temple dance into a court dance despite of Islam being intolerant of music and dance. Music was appreciated by Mughal which can be proved with the evidence that rulers use to adjourn their court for their favorite musicians and dancers of the era most commonly known as Tansen and Baz Bahadur (Richards). Akbar use to adore music while Babur used to compose songs for himself which was sung by famous musicians. However, Aurangzeb was a ruler that disliked music and he dismissed music from his court but in fact most of classical music books were written in his reign. Sufism also joined in for their religious fervor dance which became incredibly famous in the empire which resulted in the appreciation of music amongst Muslims however, it was disliked by Priests of Islam as it was prohibited in Islam. Khusro had been the best dancer and singer of this age who was liked by every religious group (Richards). Mughal architecture is considered to be one the World’s praised architecture amongst the great pyramids of Egypt. The emperors were influenced by the architecture of previous Sultanate periods and they wanted to construct buildings that has the finest paintings and style that could make them superior from Sultanate period. The buildings in the Mughal era are most graceful in their compositions which were larger than the normal buildings. The use of colored marbles, red sand stone and intricate carvings on walls were considered to be a great achievement of that era. Architecture was a major contribution from the Mughal Empire to Indian subcontinent (Richards). Shahjahan was amongst the famous ruler of the age to build finest piece of architecture which includes Taj Mahal and Badshahi Mosque. Red Fort, Agra Fort Humayun’s Tomb also became the famous architecture of the era. All Muslim leaders had a passion for building monuments just for the cause of people remembering them when they pass out to the next world. However, Aurangzeb was the only exception that did not construct buildings and had a puritan approach. Akbar was fond of various types of architecture as he used to explore and liked to experiment with different styles. The significance of architecture has a long lasting impression on these Mughal emperors which describes tradition and culture of those people (Richards). Mughal Dynasty had brought with them the Persian culture when they entered the Indian subcontinent. The culture of Mughal dynasty has its own significance in the Asian history because it has long term impact on its people. It entices readers to learn about interests which were dear to those rulers who were ancestors of Genghis Khan. The leaders were greatly attached to these cultures of that time and use to cherish every moment surrounded by its beauty. Though they were barbaric in nature with respect to their administration but they had the devotion for architecture, music, literate and religion. The history is still preserved in papers to study those great men that have a huge impact on the lives of today’s people. These rulers have left many of their memorable cultures including their buildings, music and art to their future generations to remember them and wonder about their lives and their traditions. Works Cited Richards, John. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. SarDesai, R. Southeast Asia: Past and Present. New Delhi: WestviewPress, 1997. Read More