Anne's view of Indian history

 

This is my effort to make sense of the historic turmoils that have brought India to today - even to this very day as elections are taking place.

Let me see if I've got this right: the Indian subcontinent was through its early history, in the hands of tribal leaders of various religions - Hindu, Jain, Buddhist being the oldest and longest lasting. The Indus and Ganges were powerful binding forces for community building. There was a third major river running between the others which has long since dried up, but around which wonderful archeological finds are still being made.

In the mid 1500's a legacy of Genghis Khan from Uzbekistan (current name) invaded through Afghanistan and Pakistan (current names) into northern India (current name) His name was Babur. He was Muslim and espoused an inclusive form of governing varieties of religions - if they obeyed his rules and paid taxes, religion was not in question. He founded the Mughal empire of the Indian subcontinent. His original center of power was Samarkand and was moved to Delhi. (I wondered frivolously if his name was the genesis of the Babar the Elephant books)

His son, Hamayun, was not as strong a leader, lost territory and kingdoms and was exiled for 14 years, after which he had a reversal of fortunes because of alliances with Persians. During his exile, he had wandered as far as Persia and when he returned, he brought with him ideas for architectural innovation. His wife had his tomb built in Old Delhi and it was the first of the great Mughal buildings combining symmetry with lightness and grandeur.

Hamunyan's son Akbar was a born leader and he took what he'd inherited to new and great expansion of territory, invention, governance. Under his rule the Mughal empire reached from (everything but pink areas) from Uzbekistan to Calcutta to south of Mumbai, including most of the small principalities of Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan.

He, as his predecessors including Ghengis Khan,also espoused religious tolerance within guidelines. (you pay obeisance and taxes and you can pray as you wish.) His architectural wonders are the enormous forts of Fattepur Sikri and the Red Fort of Agra. His favorite building block was the local red sandstone, beautifully moulded, with marble highlights.

This photo is of the massive entrance gate at Fattepur Sikri and of the numerous bee hives that hang way high in the eaves. Also the long view of the inside of the mosque a huge space still regularly filled with supplicants.

Akbar's son, Shah Jahan, was a wise leader and a great architectural visionary. He held the empire together and at the same time built amazing buildings - the most famous being the Taj Mahal dedicated to his wife and able political advisor, who died giving birth to their 14th child. His other major architectural wonder was the city of Shahjahanabad which is currently Old Delhi with its major constructions of the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid mosque - the largest in India. Shah Jahan's favorite stone was pure white marble meticulously carved and inlaid with semi and precious stones.

Looking in through the inspiring entrance gate is the tiny view of the Taj Mahal as a dream in the distance. All of the writing and floral work is hand inlaid. It was a gigantic endeavor which achieved perfection!

It's almost too beautiful to take in. Breathtaking! Each element is perfect in its own right.

Totally balanced and serene.

The Red Fort of Delhi is a massive structure built at the same time with an eye toward beauty. This is where Shah Jahan and subsequent Mughals held counsel up until about 20 years ago it housed an element of the Indian army - and of course was an important British symbol from 1857 (after the crushing defeat of the Mughals) until 1947 when the British left India. It is from here that Prime Ministers give their major speeches.

The Peacock Throne was Shah Jahan's seat for more private and intimate hearings. It was encrusted in precious gems. In fact it was his way of presenting a large part of the entire Mughal treasury in one public display. It is said by people who wrote about it at the time, that it cost more that the Taj Mahal itself. Many years after Shah Jahan, as the Mughal empire fell into disarray (around late 1600's) Persians invaded and stole most of the Mughal treasury, including the throne, which was gradually dismantled - although the Shah of Iran claimed to have the original in his palace in Teheran.

The throne was situated in this magnificant marble structure (near where the woman is standing). This public receiving hall was completely covered in the most masterful precious gem inlays and it is said that any free space on the walls or ceilings was covered in gold. Down the center of the hall flowed a gravity fed stream of rose scented water which shot up little fountains at points along the way. It must have been almost more than the mind could bear or the eye to take in. Even these many years later, after all the pillaging and damage, there is no missing what an important site this very spot was for many hundreds of years.

This was Shah Jahan's personal mosque, built just outside the Red fort. Vast crowds fill it every day.

Shah Jahan's 4th son Aurangzeb was a worthy and trusted general in his father's many wars, but was also the victor in the inheritance battles with his brothers. Toward the end of the inheritance dance, Shah Jahan became vulnerably ill with kidney stones, though he did recover. Aurangzeb chose that time to arrest his father in the Red Fort of Agra (built by Akbar) and make himself Emperor. He treated his father well until his death 10 years later, and went on to rule for nearly 50 years. During the last 20 years his life was spent primarily fighting the Marathras and apparently on his deathbed, he wondered why. Quickly after his death his hard fought empire dissolved into warring factions. This quotation is from the famous Wikipedia!

Aurangzeb's empire reached the largest expanse in the history of the Empire - (see map - all colors but green) all but the western ghat highlands in the far south, the Kerala spice coastline and Ceylon - and east to the highlands of Assam. He was an ardent religious conservative and his determination to convert or kill Hindu, Jain and Buddhist peoples was, in the end, a major cause of the downfall of his empire to the Hindu Marathra empire in the early 1700's and finally to British East India Company in the mid 1700's.

There were pockets of both empires remaining and fighting for their freedoms until the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 failed, the East India Company lost its power and the British Queen was given the "jewel in her crown" - the British Raj - governed from Great Britain. Religious intolerance was once more a matter of policy as the British couldn't trust either Hindu or Muslim constituencies to cease their efforts to regain former glory.

This is a map of the British Raj at the peak of its power and influence. 1857 and forward.

By the early 1900's the schism between Muslims and Hindus was again causing pressure on the British. An uneasy alliance was thus created to oust the British from the subcontinent. Gandhi stepped in and demonstrated the successful strategy of non-violence, but a short time after (1947) the British were forced to leave, the subcontinent was partitioned into Muslim and Hindu - each being sure that the other would have more than their share of the land, wealth and power after Indian independence. The partition lines were drawn according to census data of religious groupings, and on the days immediately surrounding Partition there was one of the biggest bilateral lines of refugee movement in history - Hindus fleeing for India, Muslims fleeing for Pakistan and for Bangladesh (current name) with the attendant shooting and looting of thousands of people.

This map is important up to this day - factions in this current election cycle call on religious intolerances as ways to rouse a crowd and sway a voting block. Muslims I've talked to, who live in India, are very aware of their subordinate status especially when it comes to jobs. While they do everything they can to educate their children to the highest standards, discrimination will rear it's head in the job market. I suspect this inequity will fester long into the future - when perhaps a common enemy, like famine, water-shortages, disease or China will bring them together. Bleak prospect I know, but that's my image.

Religious tensions still flare. Certainly at the border crossing with Pakistan it is highly exaggerated, but right here in Dharamsala is an example of Chinese intolerance of Buddhism and Indian tolerance by state mandate. (Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka states both agreed to take Tibetan refugees, the others didn't). In Amritsar there are flare ups between different groups of Hindus. In Mysore a Muslim taxi driver complained that his children had education but no future because Muslims can't find jobs.

The Bollywood - like flag raising and lowering ceremonies at the one road crossing available between India and Pakistan is a scene of loud nationalist pride accompanying the stomping and kicking and glaring gestures of the soldiers on both sides of the gate. It's funny on the surface, but is a clear indication of the present tone of feeling between the countries. This is the exact area where waves of warring factions have fought and died for hundreds of years and likely millions of lives. It is an area alive with aggressive history and yet it is the central point for some of the most fertile and productive farm land in India/Pakistan.

 

Religious tolerance is also everywhere in everyday life. Temples, mosques, shrines and even a few churches are spread like icing over all of India and the faithful make ceremonies to their respective gods and objects of worship every morning - with prayers and incense burning as the shop opens, with blessing ceremonies for each change in a person's routine life - end of school, beginning of school, birthday, god's day, new job, new place of business - and even as routine as blessing the beginning of the day and the end of the day. This of course doesn't mention the massive blessing of marriage where Hindus and Muslims alike try to emulate the grandeur that was at its peak with the Mughals. (I will write about marriages in another blog)

 

 

 

 

Just as an individual example of the importance of proper ceremony, a friend of mine wants to buy 2 kilos of saffron when she is in Srinigar. Beloved for its rich yellow color, much loved during pooja ceremonies, it is likely the most expensive plant food in the world. But it's a must-have item.

The reason I wanted to summarize this history is that I knew none of it until visiting each individual place and reading all the strange names and places - which meant nothing to me. It's only having been to many of these places that I can place things in some sort of context. So I've decided to present the trip from the point of view of old to new history and not in the order in which I visited them.

 

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