Bahadur Shah Zafar

[IcyCosmic]

Today a news channel was showing a little documentary on Bahadur Shah Zafar, I'm not amazingly knowledgable about India's history but I understand the damage that was caused by some muslims and the british alike. To my surprise, my dad started complementing this Mughal emperor, even reciting some of his poetry and saying that he was one of the more noble muslim emperors to his knowledge, religiously balanced and very patriotic in regards to India. I don't know about todays signifance, or even it has any at all.

Does anyone else know anything about this emperor and/or have any opinions on him? I'm just interested.

[Believer]

Namaste,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahadur_Shah_Zafar

All muslim kings were Hindu subjugators. Unfortunately, some of our elders mistakenly consider the ones who were not exceptionally cruel to Hindus as the good guys.

Pranam.

[McKitty]

Zafar consciously saw his role as a protector of his Hindu subjects, and a moderator of extreme Muslim demands and the intense puritanism of many of the Orthodox Muslim sheikhs of the Ulema.[9] In one of his verses, Zafar explicitly stated that both Hinduism and Islam shared the same essence.[9] This syncretic philosophy was implemented by his court which came to cherish and embody a multicultural composite Hindu-Islamic Mughal culture

Indeed, what a horrible man, he was a muslim after all, so he was soooo horrible. Really. Bad muslim. Oh, bad, bad muslim uh ? A muslim that refused to convert hindus by force, attended to hindu festivals and trying to make a multicultural society based on respect ? Oh yeah. He is a baaad muslim, this must be muslim propaganda. After all, a good and reasonable muslim cannot exist u__u"

[wundermonk]

A few extreme left "elites" in India try to portray the Mughal rule and the British rule in India as the greatest events to happen to India - abolishing Sutee, Thugee practise and educated the otherwise backward Hindoos who were into child marriages, stupid superstitions and animal worship, etc. We Hindoos ought to be eternally thankful to these invaders who taught us how to count, build bridges and do philosophy.

In reality though, the Mughal history in India is soaked in blood. There may have been one or two rulers who did not follow this trend to the letter [I have no idea about the specific details of Bahadur Shah Zafar's reigh] but the norm has been Mohammed Ghazni [destroyer of Somnath temple], Babur [destroyer of Ayodhya temple], Bhaktiar Khilji [destroyer of the university town of Nalanda...the library at Nalanda ALONE was so huge that the fire burned for months on end , Aurangazeb and Tipu Sultan.

Had the Mughal invasion not happened, partition would have not happened. Had Mughal invasion not happened, Pakistan today would not exist. If Pakistan did not exist today, we would not have had the London train bombings [all 4 bombers got training in Pakistan]. If Pakistan did not exist today, Osama Bin Laden would not have been hiding there and directing 9/11.

So, the London bombings and 9/11 [I am mentioning this because the news channels tend to focus on this a lot...the lost life of an Indian Hindu is less newsworthy] are directly the result of Mughal invasion of India.

[Sahasranama]

..the lost life of an Indian Hindu is less newsworthy

This is very true, the western media completely ignores the atrocities of Islamic terrorism in India and Islam apologists do not care about what happens far from their home. America doesn't care either, because they need Pakistan to get oil from Afghanistan. Few westerners are aware that a large part of the Hindu population in Pakistan, Kashmir and Bangladesh have been wiped out by Muslims and that Hindus in these areas are still suffering from Muslim oppression.

[Sahasranama]

Indeed, what a horrible man, he was a muslim after all, so he was soooo horrible. Really. Bad muslim. Oh, bad, bad muslim uh ? A muslim that refused to convert hindus by force, attended to hindu festivals and trying to make a multicultural society based on respect ? Oh yeah. He is a baaad muslim, this must be muslim propaganda. After all, a good and reasonable muslim cannot exist u__u"

Enough with the sarcasm already. If he truly was a good person, he would not sit on a throne that has so much blood on it.

[Shuddhasattva]

Namaste

In my opinion, it would be dishonest to ignore the positive sides of some of the Mughal emperors, and their contributions to the culture of India.

It may even be argued that the modern state of India has come about as a result of the Mughal conquest as well. Am I justifying it? Of course not. But history is a tangled web. The Hindu kingdoms had, like bickering sects, split into many groups, refusing to unite or even come to eachother's aid as they had in the time of Alexander's invasion (uniting under Chandragupta). This is what allowed the Mughal invasion to succeed and perpetuate itself.

It may be indeed due to the Mughal and the British unifications of India (of course, under their rule - indisputably malign as it was) that India once again enjoys unification.

Had the Mughals, and the British later, not invaded, can we say with confidence that India would even exist as a single nation now, or it would be scattered fragments? It's surely possible that India would have reunified. Perhaps someone like Shivaji, whose energies were so brilliantly spent fending off the Mughals, would have, without such interference, been able to unite all of India again.

But also perhaps not. We may view these conquests, as horrible as they were, as catalysts for positive things as well.

Moreover, some of the Mughal emperors, such as Akbar, had excellent personal qualities and contributed greatly to the project of nationbuilding.

A pity they were Muslim.

Namaste

[sankar]

In my opinion, it would be dishonest to ignore the positive sides of some of the Mughal emperors, and their contributions to the culture of India.

they destroyed the real culture of india to implant a culture based on islam, what a contribution !!

It may be indeed due to the Mughal and the British unifications of India (of course, under their rule - indisputably malign as it was) that India once again enjoys unification.

India united but all were beggars since that, except the nehru family. The mughals and britishers looted everything.

But also perhaps not. We may view these conquests, as horrible as they were, as catalysts for positive things as well.

i agree to this, the positive side of british conquest is that it helped to end mughal rule in india.

Moreover, some of the Mughal emperors, such as Akbar, had excellent personal qualities and contributed greatly to the project of nationbuilding.

wikipedia is free, kindly read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akbar#Early_conquests

[karthikm]

Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last of the Mughals. He was the Mughal emperor when the Sepoy Mutiny took place in 1857, after which the Raj took over. There is an excellent book called "The Last Mughal" that explains the events surrounding the Mutiny in 1857 and the fall of Delhi. Even before the Mughal invasion there was spread of Islam in India. Remember that before the Mughals, much of the empire were ruled by the Delhi Sultanate.

Reading through History one gets awed by how much Hinduism has survived.

The Last Mughal book - http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Mugha.../dp/1400043107

[Shuddhasattva]

Namaste

they destroyed the real culture of india to implant a culture based on islam, what a contribution !!

I am not disputing that the conquest (and rule) was destructive to Indian culture, particularly its heart of dharma. What I am saying is that there are positive sides as well.

a union of beggars to be more exact. The mughals and britishers looted everything.

The Mughals looted during the conquest, but at times made important contributions to the upliftment of the socioeconomic situation thereafter. What they looted, taxed, etc., tended to stay.

The British were far more rapacious when it came to exploiting resources and removing them from India.

Still, India is exceptionally blessed with natural resources. Progress is being made. One day not too far from now the world will look to India as a model of development.

wikipedia is free, kindly read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akbar#Early_conquests

Is it really necessary to be sarcastic? I am (somewhat) familiar with the history of Akbar. Need I remind you that Ashoka, one of the few who truly deserved the title of Great, also was a conqueror in his youth?

Consider Akbar's environment and lineage (ie, his mad, bloodthirsty grandfather), and consider his own behavior. He was truly an exceptional man.