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The Mughal Empire — Transcript

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0:00In this video, I'm going to talk about
0:03the Mughal Empire,
0:04which dominated the northern two-thirds
0:06of the Indian subcontinent during the
0:0817th and 18th centuries.
0:12The elite of the Mughal Empire came from
0:15Central Asia. They entered the Indian
0:17subcontinent from what is now
0:18Afghanistan,
0:20and through the use of
0:22the kind of typical Turco-Mongol horse
0:25nomad-based military tactics, combined
0:28with advanced gunpowder tactics, they
0:31defeated much larger armies and
0:33established a very, very powerful,
0:35prosperous empire in South Asia.
0:37The culture they created during their
0:39two centuries of rule was one of the
0:41most cosmopolitan, diverse, and
0:44artistically
0:47flowering in the history of the world.
0:49We're looking at a society that combined
0:52Hindu and Muslim religious traditions,
0:55Persian, Indian, and Central Asian
0:57cultural traditions to create unique art
1:00and architecture that has left a lasting
1:02impact on the entire world.
1:05The elites of the Mughal Empire were
1:08Turco-Mongols, meaning they their
1:10heritage was a combination of Turkic and
1:13Mongol heritage. So, the Turkic tribes,
1:17the Mongol tribes, both were
1:19quintessential to the rise of the Mongol
1:21Empire.
1:22They fused together in the creation of a
1:26culture based in the Chagatai Khanate of
1:28Central Asia that would spread outward
1:31and would conquer large chunks of
1:33Eurasia, South Asia, Persia, Eastern
1:36Europe, etc.
1:38So, these Turco-Mongol warriors were
1:41nomadic in origin. They were masters of
1:43horse archery, of cavalry tactics, just
1:46as their Mongol predecessors had been.
1:49They claimed descent from Genghis Khan
1:51through Chagatai Khan, and also they
1:54claimed descent from Tamerlane, another
1:56great Central Asian warrior who was
1:58himself a descendant of Genghis Khan.
2:02In the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries,
2:05we see the emergence of what we call the
2:07gunpowder empires.
2:09The gunpowder empires were created by
2:13bands of Central Asian warriors, usually
2:16of mixed Turkish and Mongol heritage,
2:20who in many different directions
2:22conquered settled peoples using a
2:24combination of very adept cavalry
2:26tactics, the kind of cavalry tactics
2:28that we talked about with the Mongol
2:31unit,
2:32horse archery, charging in when
2:34formations were disordered, very, very
2:37heavy cavalry that could inflict massive
2:40shock damage on infantry formations, in
2:42addition to lighter cavalry that could
2:44circle armies and and pepper them with
2:46arrows. But these horsemen were also
2:49paired with extraordinary use of
2:52gunpowder weaponry. In fact, these
2:54gunpowder
2:55empires were the first armies to truly
2:58effectively use gunpowder weaponry in
3:01warfare in a concerted way.
3:04Though gunpowder had been invented by
3:06Taoist monks in China,
3:08on top of this, the Chinese were the
3:11first to effectively use gunpowder, the
3:13Song against the Jin Dynasty when the
3:16when the Jurchen tribesmen from
3:18Manchuria invaded the Song, uh and then
3:22later the Song against the Mongols of
3:24Kublai Khan. These were the first armies
3:26to effectively use gunpowder. Uh they
3:29used primarily rockets to attack the
3:32Jurchen and later Mongol positions, and
3:34this caused a lot of damage. It caused a
3:37a massive
3:38wound to morale because these were very
3:40frightening weapons. The problem was
3:42that the weaponry, the technology hadn't
3:44advanced to the point to where gunpowder
3:46could become decisive on the
3:48battlefield.
3:49The gunpowder empires changed that. They
3:52developed cannon, they developed
3:53mortars, and they developed the
3:55arquebus, the first handheld firearms
3:59that could be effectively used en masse
4:01in battle.
4:04The most famous of these gunpowder
4:06empires was the Ottoman Empire.
4:08I won't go into a lot of detail about
4:10the Ottoman Empire because it's outside
4:12of the realm of Monsoon Asia, but the
4:14traditional Ottoman heartland is what is
4:16now Turkey.
4:18When
4:19Turkish tribesmen moved as mercenaries
4:22into Western Asia from Central Eastern
4:25Asia, from the steppe, remember that the
4:27original Turks were East Asian in
4:31in culture and in appearance. As they
4:33moved west, they migrated into what's
4:35now Asia Minor, a province of the
4:37Byzantine Empire or East Roman Empire.
4:41The Ottomans began to establish a power
4:43base in what's now Turkey, and they
4:46began to wage war. They began to wage
4:48holy war as ghazi. Uh ghazi is a term
4:51for someone who has participated in a
4:54military jihad. Uh
4:57the Ottomans would build their fame by
4:59fighting the Byzantine Empire in these
5:02in the struggle of jihad in Christian
5:05Muslim holy war, and they would gain
5:08great fame by conquering Byzantine
5:10territory. They end up conquering most
5:13of Southwestern Asia, the Levant, the
5:16Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, North Africa,
5:19and they they end up building one of the
5:22most powerful states that the world has
5:24ever seen, a 300-year period of Ottoman
5:26dominance. They conquered a huge chunk
5:28of Southeastern Europe, and they were
5:30only stopped at the gates of Vienna in
5:32Austria.
5:33So, this this is very important for
5:35European history. Uh the they had a very
5:37powerful navy, and if a few battles,
5:40like the Battle of Lepanto 1521, had
5:43gone differently and the Spanish had
5:45been defeated by the Ottomans, all of
5:46world history might be different. Uh so,
5:49this is These were not insignificant
5:51states.
5:52In addition to the Ottomans, who lasted
5:54until the First World War, you had the
5:56Safavids in what's now Iran, Persia. The
5:59Safavids were ruled by Shah Ismail, a
6:03another Turco-Mongol warrior, who had
6:06some interesting beliefs. He fused Shia
6:09Islam with kind of a cult of
6:10personality. His warriors believed that
6:12his presence on the battlefield meant
6:14that bullets and arrows could not harm
6:16them, and of course this was very
6:18powerful for morale.
6:20But, he was also very skilled at using
6:22cannon and using the arquebus in battle,
6:24just like the Ottoman Turks were. In
6:26fact, the Ottoman Turks were able to
6:28take the city of Constantinople in 1453
6:32because of the their huge siege guns. On
6:35top of this,
6:37the siege of Vienna failed ultimately
6:38because the weather prevented the
6:40Ottomans from bringing out their giant
6:42cannon.
6:45The Mughal Empire was another one of
6:47these gunpowder empires. When the
6:49founder of the Mughal Empire, Babur,
6:52departed from what's now Afghanistan
6:54with his army of powerful Turco-Mongol
6:57warriors,
6:59just as an aside, I forgot to mention it
7:00earlier, but the word Mughal means
7:03Mongol in Persian.
7:05He brought these powerful Central Asian
7:07cavalrymen with him. But, in addition to
7:09this, he also had a number of troops
7:11skilled as cannoneers and with the
7:13arquebus. So, he was bringing these
7:16well-trained gunpowder units to battle
7:19against an army composed of mostly
7:22native Indian troops.
7:25Northern India had largely been ruled by
7:28foreigners of predominantly Turkish
7:31ancestry since the early 13th century.
7:34You had waves of Turkish mercenaries
7:36entering the subcontinent before the
7:38Mughals, and they had established the
7:40Delhi Sultanate in 1206.
7:43Uh and the Delhi Sultanate had gone on
7:45to conquer much of the northern portion
7:48of the subcontinent over the over the
7:49next two centuries.
7:52By the time that the Mughals arrived in
7:54the early 16th century, the Delhi
7:56Sultanate was a very powerful state that
7:59controlled vast armies of predominantly
8:03native Indian troops, large units of
8:06infantry, and especially a large arm of
8:09war elephants. These war elephants were
8:12devastating on the battlefield. They
8:14were the perfect shock troops due to the
8:16fact the animals were so large, they
8:18could trample formations, break
8:20formations, and most infantrymen were
8:22not going to stand firm when being
8:24charged by angry elephants. And of
8:26course, they would get these elephants
8:27angry. The mahouts who controlled the
8:29elephants would actually
8:31carry a spike on the back of the
8:34elephants with a giant mallet to strike
8:37the animal in the spine if they should
8:39get turned around and attack their own
8:41forces because that could happen. With
8:43the particularly when they get the
8:44elephant's trunk on wine to make them
8:47extraordinarily fearsome. If they get
8:49turned around and attack their own
8:51troops, that can be absolutely
8:52devastating.
8:54Uh so, these were were very very
8:58devastating weapons, but they were
9:00countered by the cannon and the
9:02arquebus. And
9:04the elephants are huge targets. Mass
9:06masses of troops using gunpowder weapons
9:08could absolutely devastate these armies.
9:10And and these tactics brought the
9:12Mughals victory after victory in
9:14northern India, and they destroyed the
9:16Delhi Sultanate.
9:20I'd like to show you here an image of
9:22Virupaksha Temple
9:24in I think it's pronounced Hampi in
9:26Karnataka, southern India.
9:29Uh this is, in my opinion, the the in
9:32terms of the design of it, it's one of
9:34the most elegant structures there is.
9:37And there are many, many, many very
9:39beautiful, very unique
9:41Hindu temples dating all the way back
9:44from the first millennium AD all the way
9:47to
9:49built up until the Mughal period
9:51throughout southern India that still
9:53survive to this day. So, we can look at
9:55these buildings built over centuries and
9:58centuries
9:59and observe
10:01very unique styles of architecture
10:05originating from a very unique
10:06civilization.
10:08And if you look at the way that this
10:10structure is made, the way it tapers off
10:13towards the top, there there really is
10:16no other style like it.
10:18And in my opinion
10:20the
10:21traditional Indian architecture is among
10:24the most beautiful of all the world's
10:26forms of architecture. And there are
10:28many, many, many beautiful buildings to
10:31see particularly in South India.
10:34So, why is this? Well, this is because
10:36of something that I have to talk about
10:38and that is the widespread destruction
10:41of Hindu temples throughout North India
10:43from the early 13th century all the way
10:46through the Mughal period.
10:48The Delhi Sultanate considered Hinduism
10:52to be idolatry because it was considered
10:54idolatry
10:55many of these temples in northern India
10:58were destroyed,
10:59they're
11:01looted and many of the faithful
11:03persecuted in a in a number of ways. I
11:06won't get into the specifics,
11:08but we're entering a period in which
11:10while
11:12I want to stress that while we're
11:14talking about how cosmopolitan and how
11:16diverse the Mughal Empire was, there was
11:19a real
11:23element of persecution for the Hindu
11:25majority in this
11:28this period of time in northern India.
11:30And when the Mughals arrived, despite
11:31the fact that many of the Mughal
11:33emperors were very tolerant towards
11:36Hindu practices,
11:38the kind of spirit of the Delhi
11:39Sultanate reemerged and the emperor
11:42Aurangzeb, whom we'll talk about in a
11:44little bit. So,
11:46we see a great amount of destruction of
11:48temples in northern India and in
11:51southern India we see many of these
11:53temples survive because of the
11:56the extent of Mughal control it didn't
11:59reach that far to the south.
12:02>> [sighs]
12:03>> The very first Mughal emperor, Babur,
12:06was born in what's now Uzbekistan.
12:10He was one of the many
12:12nomad lords who
12:15waged war with one another in the
12:17remnants of the Chagatai Khanate in
12:19Central Asia.
12:21He was born in 1483
12:23and he was a descendant of Tamerlane and
12:26Genghis Khan both.
12:28So, he was the epitome of a Turco-Mongol
12:32in terms of his heritage.
12:34So, he was born as the king of Fergana,
12:39a small
12:40kingdom with a the dominant city-state
12:43in what's now Uzbekistan and he
12:46succeeded to the throne at the age of 12
12:48after the death of his father. He spent
12:50his teenage years fighting with other
12:52Central Asian warlords over the city of
12:54Samarkand, which is one of the major
12:56cities on the Silk Road, one of the
12:58dominant cities in Central Asia and the
13:01former capital of Tamerlane.
13:03Eventually, he gives up fighting for
13:05Samarkand
13:07because he he takes it and then loses
13:09it, takes it and loses it, and so he
13:11decides to establish control over Kabul
13:14in what's now Afghanistan in 1504.
13:18He uses Kabul as a basis from which to
13:21invade northern India.
13:23He ends up battling the Delhi Sultan,
13:26Ibrahim Lodi, at the First Battle of
13:28Panipat in 1526.
13:31Uh this is his first victory in India.
13:34From this victory, he expands his uh his
13:38forces and his victories
13:41uh to dominate
13:42really the entire northern third of the
13:45Indian subcontinent. He ends up dying in
13:481530 in his new capital of Agra in India
13:52at the age of 47, and he's succeeded by
13:54his son, Humayun.
13:57Babur is remembered not just for a great
14:00conqueror, though. He was also a great
14:02literary figure. His autobiography, the
14:05Baburnama, is one of the most detailed
14:07autobiographies in the world from this
14:09time period. He describes everything. Uh
14:13he describes uh his emotions, his
14:16relationship with his family. He
14:18describes even his favorite foods. One
14:20of the the
14:22uh one of the important elements in in
14:26uh of in the history of cuisine is this
14:28autobiography.
14:32In fact, uh the whole tradition of
14:35biryani comes from Babur and from the
14:39Mughals. So, if you're a fan of biryani
14:42chicken and some other dishes that are
14:44part of traditional Indian cuisine, they
14:47owe their origins to the Mughals and to
14:49Babur.
14:51In 1526,
14:53Babur, as stated earlier, won his great
14:55victory at the Battle of Panipat.
14:58This was not just a victory of one ruler
15:00over another. However, it was the
15:02victory of one military system over
15:04another.
15:05The Delhi Sultan, Ibrahim Lodi, brought
15:09a large number of infantry, a large
15:11number of war elephants, and they were
15:13shot to pieces by Babur's gunpowder
15:16units, particularly his field artillery.
15:18And not only were they shot to pieces,
15:21the elephants that were not shot to
15:23pieces went on a rampage turning against
15:26their own army. So, this is an example
15:29of how warfare was changing during this
15:32period of time and how an innovative
15:34ruler like Babur could take advantage of
15:36these changes to extend his authority.
15:40Babur's son, Humayun, briefly lost
15:42control of the empire, but he gained it
15:44back thanks to intervention from Persia.
15:48Again,
15:49Turco-Mongol cultural affiliations with
15:51conquerors in Persia and in northern
15:54India meant a certain amount of cultural
15:56cohesion and unity.
15:58So, he could draw on Persia for support,
16:01Safavids later on providing great amount
16:04of support to the Mughals, but also
16:06later serving as rivals. The same thing
16:08with the Turks to the west of the
16:10Safavids. They would at times be allies
16:12and at times become rivals and actually
16:15come to blows against each other.
16:17But,
16:19Humayun regained control of the empire
16:21and began to expand it throughout
16:23northern India.
16:24But, it was his son, Akbar, Akbar the
16:27Great, who really brought the empire to
16:29its greatest extent and also defined
16:33culturally what the empire would be
16:35remembered for.
16:38Akbar,
16:39or Akbar the Great,
16:41is the kind of figure who really in this
16:43period of time could only exist in
16:45India.
16:47Uh he ruled over an incredibly diverse
16:49society.
16:51He was himself
16:53a Muslim.
16:54The elite in his dynasty were Muslims.
16:58Uh the elite that in his military were
17:00Muslims. Uh but he ruled for quite a a
17:02long period of time from 1556 to 1605.
17:06And he ruled over a society, the vast
17:08majority of whom were Hindus. But you
17:10also had Jains, you had uh a number of
17:13Christians, Zoroastrians of Persian
17:16ancestry, and and many other religions
17:20who were part of the the Mughal system.
17:23So, what Akbar realized is that
17:27in order for the Mughals to continue to
17:29hold on to power, they had to bring all
17:32of these different peoples into the
17:34fold. He needed a big tent that he could
17:37bring
17:38all these diverse groups together and
17:42make them loyal to the Mughal state.
17:45Uh and he did this by promoting, first
17:48of all, religious tolerance. So, the the
17:52previous Delhi Sultanate's policies that
17:55were very
17:56vindictive towards the conquered Hindu
17:58population, like the jizya, forcing very
18:01stringent taxes on non-Muslims, uh that
18:05Babur himself had
18:07implemented as well, Akbar begins to
18:09relax these taxes. He takes the tax
18:13burden away from the Hindus. He He
18:15employs many Hindus, Christians, Jains,
18:19and others as officials in his court,
18:21even makes them the governors of
18:22provinces. He even employs Hindu
18:25Rajputs,
18:26noblemen of the Kshatriya caste, as
18:30his officials and
18:32inside his military. So, he makes a a a
18:35strong effort to bring all these
18:37different groups into the fold.
18:39He even goes so far as to create his own
18:41syncretic belief system
18:43called the religion of God, or Din-i
18:46Ilahi,
18:47uh that uh fused elements of Islam, of
18:51Hinduism, and Christianity into one kind
18:54of cosmic, universalist religion. This
18:56religion didn't really take off. Many
18:59people did not uh
19:01find salvation in Akbar's
19:05uh synthesized, confabricated religion.
19:08Uh but, it was a symbol of the of what
19:11he was trying to achieve culturally.
19:14And the the real effect was the fact
19:16that
19:17he [snorts] brought many different
19:19religious systems into his
19:21administration and promoted unity in
19:24society and above all else peace and
19:26harmony between religious communities.
19:29He would host large-scale religious
19:31debates in his palace.
19:33People would not be punished for
19:35expressing their opinions during these
19:36debates for asserting their religious
19:40beliefs. So he was very much
19:45a proponent of religious toleration.
19:50Thanks to the cosmopolitan culture
19:52created by Akbar, you see this artistic
19:55flowering in Mughal India.
19:57Hindus, Muslims, Christians began to
20:01fuse their different artistic and
20:02literary traditions and the end result
20:05was a blossoming of culture in northern
20:08India, particularly when it came to
20:10architecture.
20:11And it wasn't just
20:14differences in religion that that were
20:17were syncretized synthesized together to
20:18create artistic flourishing. You also
20:21had cultural differences. You had
20:23Persians, you had Turk Mongols from the
20:26ruling dynasty.
20:28You had native cultures, many different
20:31regional and ethnic groups that would
20:34contribute towards this great cultural
20:36synthesis, this cosmopolitan flowering
20:39of the arts.
20:42And the Mughals were prolific builders
20:43as well.
20:44They built many mosques, they built many
20:47fortifications, palaces, public
20:50buildings, and many of these were were
20:53were
20:56representative of the opulence, the
20:59splendor of the Mughal court, and of the
21:01many different traditions that the
21:02Mughals ruled over.
21:05I can't talk about the cosmopolitan
21:07culture and particularly the flourishing
21:09of art and architecture in Mughal India
21:11without talking about Mumtaz Mahal and
21:14Shah Jahan, one of the great love
21:16stories of history.
21:18Mumtaz Mahal had been born into a
21:21wealthy and influential noble Persian
21:24family. Her father, Asaf Khan, had been
21:27a very important official and nobleman.
21:30Uh her aunt was Nur Jahan, who was the
21:33wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, who
21:36was Akbar's son, who had succeeded after
21:39Akbar's death.
21:41Uh Mumtaz Mahal grew up uh in a in a
21:45very privileged environment. She was
21:47very well educated in traditional
21:50Persian Persian literature, in poetry,
21:53in court etiquette, and in Islamic
21:55studies.
21:57Uh and so she was very much a a an
22:00accomplished aristocratic young woman.
22:03In 1607, while she was still a teenager,
22:07uh she became engaged to Prince Khurram,
22:11uh who was the son of Jahangir, the
22:14emperor. He would later rule the empire
22:17as Emperor Shah Jahan.
22:19Uh and Shah Jahan they married Mumtaz
22:24Mahal in 1612,
22:26and he fell very deeply in love with
22:30this woman, whom he trusted more than
22:32any any other uh any other individual.
22:37Shah Jahan ruled over the Mughal empire
22:40for 30 years, from 1628 to 1658.
22:44Uh during his reign, the Mughal empire
22:47reached a period uh
22:49a great height in terms of wealth,
22:52artistic achievement, and in
22:54construction.
22:55Uh he's best known for building the Taj
22:57Mahal. We'll talk more about that in a
23:00moment. So, as I stated earlier, he
23:02deeply loved his wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
23:06She traveled with him on military
23:07campaigns. The two were largely
23:10inseparable. She was a trusted advisor,
23:13and she bore him 14 children.
23:17Uh she unfortunately she passed away in
23:201631
23:21uh giving birth to their 14th child, and
23:25this deeply deeply devastated Shah
23:28Jahan.
23:29Uh He couldn't conceive of uh living his
23:32life without her,
23:34and so he built one of the world's
23:36greatest buildings, and in my opinion,
23:39probably the most beautiful building in
23:42the world as a tomb for his
23:46late wife.
23:51The tomb of Mumtaz Mahal is called the
23:54Taj Mahal,
23:55and in my opinion, it's
23:58possibly the most beautiful building
24:00there is.
24:01The building is mostly built out of
24:02white marble. Construction began in
24:051632, and it took thousands of craftsmen
24:0920 years to complete this building.
24:11On the outside of the building, you have
24:14calligraphy, verses from the Quran uh
24:17that
24:18cover the marble.
24:20Much of the building is inlaid with
24:22precious gemstones.
24:24Uh Inside the actual tomb where Mumtaz
24:27Mahal rests, there are four waterways
24:31that are representative of the four
24:33rivers of paradise in the Quran. The
24:35entire building is meant to invoke hope
24:38in life after death, in heaven, and in
24:42being with his late wife again. So
24:45devastated was he by her death.
24:49Uh so the marble that was
24:52that was used to construct this building
24:55was
24:56from a faraway region, Rajasthan.
24:59So, even moving the materials there was
25:02quite a feat, let alone spending 20
25:05years constructing the building. Shah
25:07Jahan spent enormous sums of money and
25:10massive amounts of energy on his late
25:12wife's tomb.
25:14The tomb is located in Agra, the Mughal
25:17capital, on the Yamuna River.
25:22So,
25:24the architecture of the tomb, it it is
25:27really one reason that I find it so
25:30beautiful. It's a fusion of many
25:32different cultural traditions. It's a
25:34fusion of Persian architecture. The
25:37domes are decidedly Indian in in design.
25:44Uh and there even Central Asian elements
25:46in some of the arches. So, you have all
25:49these different cultural elements coming
25:51together to produce this tomb.
25:54Uh the dome rises about 240 ft above the
25:57ground. You have the four minarets
26:00surrounding the tomb, which are
26:03emblematic of Islamic architecture. Uh
26:06so,
26:07it it really is a fusion a great
26:11representative of the Mughal Empire
26:13because it's a fusion of different
26:15cultures coming together to produce this
26:17very
26:18magnificent structure.
26:22And I say that because there has been an
26:26attempt
26:27by some people in the last 20 years or
26:30so to kind of deny the Indianness of the
26:33Taj Mahal.
26:35As if this building could have just as
26:38easily been
26:39made in what's now Uzbekistan or
26:42Kazakhstan or in Iran or even further in
26:46Western Asia. The reality is that this
26:48is a distinctly South Asian building and
26:53couldn't have been built anywhere else,
26:55right? So, you have many different
26:57Indian aspects of the design, the floral
26:59carvings, the motifs, the way that the
27:03stone was inlaid is unique to India, and
27:05of course, you have the chhatris, the
27:09small domes that you can see
27:11um that the the elevated domes, uh some
27:14of them not so small, in the Taj Mahal,
27:17uh common in Indian architecture, right?
27:19So, the blending of all these different
27:24influences is what makes the building so
27:26perfect, in my opinion.
27:30This period of cosmopolita- cosmopolitan
27:33blending of different cultural
27:35traditions
27:37couldn't go on forever.
27:39Shah Jahan was succeeded by his son
27:41Aurangzeb,
27:43who did away with the tolerant culture
27:46created by Akbar
27:48and restored the climate of persecution
27:52and hostility between different
27:54religious traditions.
27:55He ruled until he was 88 years old, from
27:581658 to 1707.
28:01And unlike Akbar,
28:03he
28:04launched several persecutions of native
28:06Hindus. He destroyed many Hindu temples.
28:09I had alluded to this earlier.
28:12Uh
28:13part of the
28:15current-day
28:16uh conflict in South Asia stems from
28:20Aurangzeb's
28:21religious policies.
28:23Uh there
28:25the conflict between India and Pakistan
28:27stems in part from what this ruler did.
28:31Uh some people have argued that
28:33Aurangzeb, his policies forced
28:36conversion to Islam
28:38by destroying Hindu temples, jailing
28:40Hindu clerics, forcing Hindus to pay the
28:43massive uh jizya tax that had been done
28:47away with by Akbar restoring it and
28:49making it even larger than it had
28:51previously been pre-Akbar.
28:54That that this created a climate where
28:57there was coercion to conversion to
28:59Islam.
29:00But then there are those who would say
29:02that conversion to Islam was a natural
29:05byproduct of the caste system that those
29:08who were
29:09oppressed by
29:11by the different castes and particularly
29:14the Sudras, the Vaishyas and of course
29:16the Dalits on the very bottom if you
29:19remember talking about the caste system
29:21in a in a previous video that it was
29:23natural that they would turn to Islam to
29:26escape the limitations placed on them by
29:29caste.
29:31Now whether or not any of that's true,
29:33I'm not the authority to to ask.
29:36But [snorts] I do know that Aurangzeb's
29:38reign is something that is deep
29:43has caused deep conflict in Indian
29:46society and how Aurangzeb is viewed
29:48differs based on
29:50a person's religious tradition.
29:52And in part it's due to the fact that he
29:55destroyed this culture of toleration and
29:59and unity and replaced it with one of
30:02religious persecution.
30:05And
30:06even though he reigned until he was 88
30:08years old and was largely
30:13effective as a ruler militarily, he had
30:15many campaigns in South India. The
30:18resistance to his rule culminated in
30:22ultimately the decline of the Mughal
30:25Empire as the Hindu population which was
30:28much more numerous than the Mughal
30:30population
30:32the Mughal elites just as the Chinese
30:35were more populous than the Mongols in
30:36the Yuan Dynasty
30:38they began to organize and to rebel
30:41against Mughal authority.
30:45Because of Aurangzeb's excesses in terms
30:47of persecution, many Rajputs and and
30:51military commanders like Shivaji,
30:53who were Hindus, began to revolt against
30:56against Aurangzeb's authority and began
30:58to fight a quasi guerrilla war against
31:01the Mughals. They would attack in very
31:04fast lightning cavalry raids and retreat
31:07before Mughal armies could respond,
31:09which is ironic because these are the
31:11same tactics that the Mughal's ancestors
31:14used in Central Asia.
31:16Uh but
31:17the Marathas,
31:19the confederation created by Shivaji and
31:23other Hindu lords, would eventually grow
31:26powerful enough to eclipse the Mughals
31:29in power.
31:30In fact, when Europeans arrive on the
31:33Indian subcontinent,
31:35the Marathas are in the process of
31:38establishing a strong state and
31:40consolidating their power. If the
31:42Europeans had begun to arrive in India
31:44just 80 or so years later, they would
31:47have encountered a unified empire and
31:49history would be very different. Uh but
31:52the Marathas were
31:54in the beginning phase of their rise to
31:58domination on the subcontinent when the
32:01Dutch, the British, etc. begin to
32:04establish themselves on the
32:06subcontinent.
32:08So, when Europeans arrive, there is a
32:11great Hindu power marshalling strength
32:13poised to dominate the subcontinent. If
32:16Europeans had arrived 80 years later,
32:18they would have encountered a strong
32:20centralized empire most likely and
32:22history would have been very different.
32:24Uh they arrived at an opportune time to
32:27take advantage of the fact that the
32:28Marathas were in the initial phase of
32:31expansion
32:32and their rise to power. And so,
32:36the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French,
32:39and later British
32:41were able to exploit the disunity on the
32:43subcontinent to their advantage.
32:46One thing I'd like to take a minute to
32:48point out though
32:49is many people believe that with the
32:52arrival of colonialism that that that
32:54that also heralds the arrival of
32:56Christianity on the Indian subcontinent.
32:59And nothing could be further from the
33:01truth.
33:03Christianity in India has deep deep
33:06roots going all the way back to the
33:08first century.
33:10Many Indian Christians in the ancient
33:13churches of India claim as their
33:15heritage
33:16that they were founded by
33:19Saint Thomas, the disciple of Christ or
33:21doubting Thomas from the New Testament,
33:24that after the resurrection Thomas moved
33:27east, he arrived in India, he began to
33:29preach the gospel and convert many
33:32thousands of converts among the Indian
33:34population. Eventually he was martyred
33:37by being impaled on a spear spear.
33:40All of the disciples except for Saint
33:42John met their deaths according to the
33:45Christian traditions.
33:47So, Saint Thomas being no exception, but
33:49before he was martyred, he had a a
33:52massive impact converting many thousands
33:54of believers
33:56and establishing priests and bishops who
33:59would
33:59later continue the tradition, the church
34:02spreading throughout particularly in
34:05southern and eastern
34:07the eastern portions of the
34:09subcontinent. So, when the Portuguese
34:11arrived, there were already Christians
34:14flourishing inside India. So, I I just
34:17wanted to
34:20to point that out. And and many of these
34:22churches have ties to the Orthodox
34:25Church and to the Catholic Church.
34:30India under the Mughal
34:32Empire was one of the most prosperous
34:34societies on Earth. It was the world's
34:37leading center of spice production.
34:40In this period of time, spices are
34:43extraordinarily expensive for Europeans.
34:46We talked about with Zheng He and the
34:48Ming voyages along the Indian Ocean
34:51arriving in Eastern Africa, how the
34:53Chinese really didn't find commodities
34:56that really excited them that that they
34:58would find favorable when when it came
35:00to establishing trading posts and
35:03colonization. So, the Chinese were not
35:07oriented towards expansion via
35:10maritime expansion. They were not
35:12oriented towards
35:14overseas [snorts] trade. They were more
35:16concerned with defending against the
35:18Mongols
35:19on the other side of the Great Wall.
35:22The Europeans had a completely opposite
35:24viewpoint, though. There were many goods
35:27in China and India that they could not
35:29get their hands on
35:30easily without going through the Ottoman
35:33Empire that that that stood as the
35:35middle man. They wanted to sail west and
35:39reach Asia, reach East Asia, and buy
35:42these goods wholesale. They wanted to
35:44and one of the places they wanted to go
35:46was India. We all know the you know, how
35:50Columbus believed that he had arrived in
35:52India.
35:54But, as soon as Europeans began
35:58to gain the ability to sail to India,
36:00they began to establish trading posts
36:03and attempted to control as much of the
36:05lucrative spice trade as they could. The
36:08Portuguese arrived first the end of the
36:1015th century. The intrepid Dutch
36:13followed followed by the English and the
36:16French. And so, these European powers
36:19would actually battle against one
36:20another for access to Indian markets.
36:24Fortunately for these budding colonial
36:27powers, the Indian subcontinent was
36:31experiencing a period of great disunity
36:34and internal strife. The Mughals had
36:37been dramatically weakened. The Marathas
36:40were rising up, but they hadn't yet
36:42become powerful enough to create a
36:44centralized state that could fend off
36:47challenges from outside.
36:50And so, they kind of they had the
36:51perfect divide and conquer situation
36:55with which to exploit.
37:00After Aurangzeb's death in 1707,
37:03the empire began a massive downward
37:06spiral.
37:07I already mentioned the Marathas and how
37:11they represented a kind of resurgent
37:14Hindu movement to drive out the Mughals,
37:17to restore Hindu power and freedom in
37:20Central India, how they were gaining
37:22momentum, how they were conquering
37:24smaller powers and gaining strength.
37:30The Mughals could not contend with the
37:32Marathas.
37:33But to make matters even worse,
37:35the Persian ruler, Nader Shah, invaded
37:39in 1739,
37:40sacked the capital of Delhi, and carried
37:43off a massive amount of wealth. So, the
37:46Mughals not only lost
37:48precious metals, jewels, objects,
37:51artistic objects, they lost a great
37:53amount of prestige after Nader Shah had
37:56so utterly ravaged their capital city.
38:00The Mughals would not be able to check
38:02the power of the Marathas after this,
38:05but unfortunately for both parties, the
38:08Marathas would not be able to secure
38:10northern India
38:12in time to match the growing power of
38:14the British East India Company, a
38:17mercantile company that was established
38:19by the English crown that would
38:21eventually dominate Western trade with
38:24India and come to rule much of the
38:27subcontinent before the British Crown
38:30took over rule of India itself and Queen
38:32Victoria was named Empress of India.
38:35But, that's an entirely
38:37different lecture.
38:39Thank you.

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