Abraham Eraly looks at history as “interim reports.” He knows the limitations of human understanding and accepts that the human mind cannot take in all of history. An Indian historian of great repute, Eraly, who has taught history in the United States, concentrates on Mogul India in the “Emperors of the Peacock Throne.” An excellent storyteller, he narrates the saga of the Great Moguls in the most entertaining way. In a precise, poetic and sometimes philosophical style, he describes all the major characters of Mogul history on the pages of this fascinating book. He never, however, loses touch with the facts and realities. He knows a human being, emperor or clown, remains a human being. All the major medieval historians — chroniclers and diarists such as Badauni, Khafi Khan, Ferishta, Mushtaqui, Mustaid Khan, Abul Fazl, Sir Thomas Roe, Bernier, Careri, Manucci, Monserrate and Du Jarric — are in their proper places in this book.
Like Jawaharlal Nehru, Eraly is fascinated by the vigor and intelligence of Babur (1483-1530). He is all praise for Babur’s charming personality and he writes, “There was a natural candor about Babur, a warmth and openness that endeared him to his men, with whom he shared all dangers and all hardships, always leading them from the front.” He was an acclaimed poet but sadly, “very little of Babur’s poetry has survived.” To a great extent, his reputation rests on his autobiography of which Babur himself wrote, “In this history I have held firmly to it that the truth should be reached in every matter, and every act should be recorded precisely as it occurred.”
Humayun, Babur’s successor, was a dreamer and an intellectual who spent most of his life in social intercourse and pleasure. He was so effete that he was unfit to meet the challenges in his life. He was a babe in the wood in comparison to his chief adversary, Sher Shah. “Humayun, though personally courageous, had no particular enthusiasm for kissing the sabre’s lip.” So his kin and enemies turned his life and dreams into a nightmare.
Akbar’s reign was full of rebellions. According to Akbarnama, he had to face 144 rebellions. “Akbar, unlike Asoka, was not a gentle person, but a driven, possessed man. What distinguished him most was energy, physical and intellectual, a sparking, supercharged electric potency. He was invincible in the battlefield, a great empire builder.” He was always found where the battle was thickest and the danger greatest. Akbar “could ride unruly elephants that others feared to mount, climbing on them by stepping on their tusks, even when they were in the rutting season.” As a monarch he was very modern and ahead of his times. According to Stanley Lane-Poole, he used to say, “Tyranny is unlawful in everyone, especially for a king who is the guardian of the world.” His policy toward Rajputs and Hindus nonetheless sowed seeds of dissent among Muslims.
A major development during Akbar’s reign was the arrival in India of Europeans. The rivalry among Portuguese Jesuit missionaries in Goa and English missionaries interested Akbar and his court. The two groups tried to outwit and subdue each other. Eraly says, “They (the Jesuits), serving as political agents in addition to being missionaries, were for many years able to use their entrenched position at the court to block the penetration of other European powers into Mogul India and frustrate their trade moves. Though they failed in God’s work, the Jesuits succeeded in serving Caesar and Mammon well.”
Blasphemy was a striking feature of this period. Many non-Muslims openly poured scorn on the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the emperor only laughed. This continued even in the reign of Jahangir who adopted the same religious policy as Akbar. “All religions are tolerated,” says Terry, an English clergyman at Jahangir’s court. Jahangir was the first scientist emperor of India. His zoological studies were as scientific as they could have been at that time. He was “a keen naturalist and a connoisseur of painting.” He “was gregarious and warm hearted, he enjoyed good companionship. He was a poet and writer too. His memoirs, like those of Babur shed light on the society and practices of his age.
Sir Thomas Roe was the first British ambassador to the Mogul court. Despite his claims of an intimate relationship with Jahangir, there is no mention of him in Jahangir’s memoirs. The Mogul empire was strong and safe during Jahangir’s reign although in the latter period of his reign, his sons rebelled and for a time, he was held prisoner.
“Shah Jahan was an orthodox Muslim. But he was not an ascetic. He loved luxury nearly as much as Jahangir, and delighted in erotic pleasures, and in music and dance.” There is a marked difference between Shah Jahan and his predecessors. Shah Jahan, the founder of Shah Jahanabad (Delhi), Taj Mahal and the Emperor of the Peacock Throne had a “Pharaonic mask.” Eraly adds: “The person virtually disappears behind the persona... The Great Mughal, gilded, bejewelled and perfumed, larger than life but lifeless.” He was an able administrator, very intelligent, capable and brave like his ancestors but he was not informal, social and hot blooded as they had been. “Shah Jahan was the wealthiest man in the world in his time. His annual revenue in 1647, according to the figures by Lahori, was 220 million rupees...He gave away 95 million rupees in gifts in the first 20 years of his reign.”
Aurangzeb (1658-1707) came to power after imprisoning his father, Shah Jahan, with whom he was angry, claiming his father did not love him. Aurangzeb, a hardworking and principled emperor, was all mind but no heart. “Though not a great general, he was tenacious.” In fact Aurangzeb never faced any serious religious uprising. “None of the rebellions during his reign are attributable to his religious policy.” India had never before seen such a vast empire. There were continuous wars in the south. The economic mismanagement, corruption and impotency of the Mogul armies threw Aurangzeb’s reign into chaos. In his time, Mogul rule had all the vices that sap the energies of a civilization so he alone cannot be blamed for the downfall and decadence of the Mogul empire. He was the last Great Mogul, fearless and earnest but a religious Sunni emperor. The rebellions faced by him can be summed up as, “The hyenas and carrion birds were closing in on the dying lion.” Aurangzeb never took the Maratha rebellion seriously. His generals were corrupt, his armies lazy and the princes incompetent. This paved the way for the rebellion and the early downfall of Mogul power. As Italian observer Nicclao Manucci writes: “At the time the king died, a whirlwind arose, so fierce that it blew down all the tents standing in the encampment. Many persons were killed, being choked by the dust, and also animals. The day became so dark that men ran into each other, being unable to see where they were going: villages were destroyed, and trees overthrown.” With Aurangzeb’s demise, the sun of the Mogul empire began to set, though it had another 150 years to run.