South Asia: Creating Dilemmas of Diversity - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 168

Figure 6-12
This is the magnificent T Taj Mahal in Agra, India.
It was built from 1632 to 1653 by the Mughal
Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz,
who died bearing her fourteenth child. Thousands
of workers and designers were brought from
Europe and Asia to erect this monument of marble
and semi-precious stone. As the costly edifice pro-
gressed, one of India' s worst famines ravished the
countryside. Photograph courtesy of B. A. Weightman.

Akbar was poisoned by his son, Jahangir the “World
Seizer.” Jahangir' s beautiful Persian wife, Nur Jahan
(Light of the World), became very powerful and was in-
strumental in furthering Persian culture and building in
northern India. Politically astute, she arranged the mar-
riage of her niece, Mumtaz, to the next truly great
Mughal: Shah Jahan (Ruler of the World).
Shah Jahan (ruled 1627-1657) extended Mughal
sway into the south. Setting up his capital on the Yamuna
at Shahjahanabad (Shah Jahan' s city), he developed sites
of architectural magnificence including Jama Masjid,
India' s largest mosque, and the Red Fort (in today' s Old
Delhi). Living in sumptuous splendor, Shah Jahan had
5,000 women in his harem. Nevertheless, when his
beloved Mumtaz died, he had what has become India' s
most famous landmark—the Taj Mahal—erected in her
honor (Figure 6-12).
For a while, the empire enjoyed relative peace and
prosperity . V assals of earlier regimes, tribal leaders,
petty rulers, and the like were absorbed into the larger
regime, making it increasingly cumbersome. Recogni-
tion as zamindars (landlords) bought their loyalty but
encouraged peasant exploitation. T Trade fostered urban
growth supported by agrarian masses. Mughal culture
was essentially urban and increasingly differentiated
from the majority rural Hindu population. The Urdu
language expanded, with contributions from Persian,
favored by the elite; from Arabic, employed by religious
scholars; and from Hindi, spoken by the general popu-
lace. Linguistic differences elsewhere exacerbated other
divisions.

After the reign of Akbar, interest in science and tech-
nology waned in India. Court brilliance, architectural
display , and military prowess took precedence. Lavish
expenditure, constant warfare, and court intrigue peaked
under Shah Jahan' s son, Aurangzeb.
The Mughal empire reached its greatest extent under
Aurangzeb (ruled 1658-1707). But Aurangzeb' s cruel,
anti-Hindu policies and uncontrolled expansionism pro-
moted his empire' s downfall. Non-Muslims—Hindus,
Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs—were brutalized mercilessly .
Non-Islamic structures were razed and conversions
forced upon pain of torture and death.
Tax burdens in general became increasingly oppres-
sive to finance court excesses and military ventures.
Newly conquered areas of the Deccan yielded propor-
tionately less revenue than the fertile northern plains.
Revenue collection was stepped up and special taxes
placed on Hindus. Discontent was rife, but when protest-
ers gathered outside the Red Fort, Aurangzeb ordered
them crushed by the imperial elephants.

THE SIKHS
Sikhism emerged in the fifteenth century . Its core area
was the Punjab, a region of incessant Hindu-Muslim con-
flict. Its founder, Guru Nanak (1469-1538), taught that
“Man will be saved by his works alone . . . There are no
Hindus and no Muslims. All are children of God.” He op-
posed all forms of discrimination, including caste. His
teachings, compiled by his disciple and successor Guru
Angad, became the Sikh holy book, the Adi Granth .