by Afaque Ahmed

Created on: January 23, 2009   Last Updated: October 12, 2010

Much of the population of Indian subcontinent, i.e. present day Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, has generalized views about the things which they have been taught in books and told by elders. Few take the pain of analyzing the facts rationally and even fewer dare to shed the false concepts of history inculcated in their minds. "Mughals Era" as we perceive generally was the golden period of the history of the sub-continent. The facts are however contrary, in my opinion, if we look in to it objectively. What was the major achievement that they accomplished in the region apart from just reigning innocent people? Apart from building monuments, they did nothing withstanding. There are a few major points which ought to be discussed.

Mughal empires were not strong internally. This applies on almost every Mughal Emperor from Babur to Aurangzeb. Babur died just after four years of his succession to Indian throne and his son Humayun took charge of the empire but had to face opposition from his own brother Kamran. Ultimately, Humayun had to flee from his own empire and fifteen years later resurged and took to the throne once again. Unfortunately, he died after only six months leaving the yet not re-established empire in the hands of his young son Akbar. Although Akbar was a better administrator and a better human being as compared to the rest of the Mughals but he too had to face his son Jahangir's defiance. Jahangir in turn was challenged by Khusrau, his eldest son. The next successor saw the most impertinent of the treatment by his son. Shah Jahan fell ill in his later years of life. His four sons namely Aurangzeb, Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja, and Murad Baksh saw the succession of the throne nowhere after their father's death. Hence, the time saw the brothers at war with each other. The successor was Aurangzeb and so he had to take revenge. He ordered to kill his two brothers and a nephew. To add to the brutality and infidelity he captured his own father Shah Jahan to imprison him until his death. The list went on. After the death of Aurangzeb, his son Moazzam Shah exterminated his two brothers and assumed the title of Bahadur Shah. His successor Jahandar Shah snuffed out all the princes of the time. His nephew, Farrukh Siyyar, in turn had slain him the following year. Siyyar was also killed later on. It continued even till the last dummy emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. So to speak, their internal integrity was too weak and continued through the centuries. How could they focus

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