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CAN the REIGN of SHAH JAHAN BE CALLED the GOLDEN ERA of INDIAN HISTORY? *Mr

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CAN the REIGN of SHAH JAHAN BE CALLED the GOLDEN ERA of INDIAN HISTORY? *Mr C S CAN THE REIGN OF SHAH JAHAN BE CALLED THE GOLDEN ERA OF INDIAN HISTORY? *Mr. Ashutosh Audichya & **Dr. Anshul Sharma **PhD Scholar, Himalayan University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India. **Head & Assistant Professor, Department of History, S.S Jain Subodh .P.G College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. ABSTRACT: Emperor Shah Jahan was one of the greatest Mughal Emperors of India. He ruled an empire that was as vast as the Roman Empire and the British Empire. It covered today’s India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Iran. Shah Jahan during his reign built up a strong army that ensured that he ruled one of the largest empires in the history of the world. Mewar, which was a hostile kingdom for centuries submitted to Mughal dominance. It was during Shah Jahan’s time that the south Indian kingdoms like Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golcoonda also submitted to the Mughal dominance. During this period some of the world’s most beautiful pieces of art and architecture were built up like the Red Fort of Delhi, the Taj Mahal of Agra, the famous peacock throne etc. Financial collections of the Empire rose to the highest level during this period. This was a phase of Indian history which was by and large peaceful and progressive. But in spite of this, this period has been painted in black by many historians. Extravagant lifestyle of the Emperor, huge expenses for promoting art and architecture, too much pressure exerted on subjects for payment of taxes, increasing corruption levels of the army and the royal executive were reasons that created a severe financial recession immediately after the reign of Shah Jahan ended. Many historians are of the opinion that because of these reasons Shah Jahan should be held primarily responsible for the downfall of the Mughal Empire in India. This provided the scholar with an opportunity to research into the topic that is whether the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan can be called the golden era of Indian history or not. KEY WORDS: Reign, golden era, glory, frustration etc. INTRODUCTION: Emperor Shah Jahan was one of the great Mughal emperors who ruled the Mughal Empire in India from 19 January, 1628 to 31 July, 1658. He was a versatile genius. He showed tremendous military acumen since a very young age. It was during Shah Jahan’s reign that Mewar had to submit to Mughal dominance. Almost the whole of the Deccan region came under his control. There is no evidence of a serious riot or rebellion. Financial collections rose to the highest level in the Mughal period during Shah Jahan’s rule. At this time the stretch of the Empire covered almost the entire Indian sub-continent covering today’s India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and parts of Iran. Some of the most well-known pieces of architecture were built during this period like Taj Mahal, Red Fort etc. Some historians believe that it was a period of progress, prosperity and peace during Shah Jahan’s reign. C S But still, this period was never free from criticism. Shah Jahan was the first of the Mughal Emperors who concentrated in suppressing Hindu voices. He ordered the demolition of a lot of Hindu temples in the sacred city of Varanasi (also known as Beneras), thereby giving rise to religious intolerance. Despite being a military genius he failed to suppress the rebellion in Kandahar. The tax collectors created havoc within the Empire for the purpose of tax collection. Poverty was on the rise. Dissatisfaction was growing against the Emperor. Moreover, Shah Jahan’s lifestyle was very lavish. Government expenditure was constantly on the rise due to it. A huge chunk of royalty collections was being spent behind art and construction of architectures. Many historians prefer to believe that Shah Jahan was hugely responsible for the extravagant expenditures that contributed towards fiscal recession immediately after his reign and led to the downfall of the Mughal Empire. Hence, simultaneous existence of glory and tremendous national frustration during Shah Jahan’s rule provides ample scope of research about if this period can be called the golden era of Indian history or not. LITERATURE REVIEW: A discussion on review of some literatures on the topic/ related to the topic of study are as follows: Views of Some Eminent Indian Historians about Shah Jahan: Eminent Indian historian, Dr. A.L. Srivastava wrote that Shah Jahan’s reign can be described as the golden age of Indian history with reference to his contributions in the field of art and architecture. Shah Jahan’s lack of religious tolerance was hugely responsible for the downfall of the Mughal Empire. He also used to hold the opinion that it was during the reign of Shah Jahan that the administration became corrupt, the elite classes of the society became greedy and the Emperor’s lifestyle was extravagant. In order to match that, the tax collectors had to force the unwilling classes to pay taxes to meet the governmental expenditure. This contributed towards the generation of national frustration in the Empire. Dr. S.R. Sharma pointed out that Shah Jahan as a ruler had put national resources into drain. Evidence from Fergus Nicoll: In “Shah Jahan: The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Empire”, Fergus Nicoll wrote that Shah Jahan’s life was about ruthlessly suppressing his rivals and going ahead to promote Mughal art and architecture. He was the man who took creativity to the zenith among the Mughal Emperors. He is remembered in history as the Mughal Emperor who was also responsible for the downfall of the empire by misuse of funds in promoting art and architecture. This research does not have any connection with a previous research. It is a first of its kind. Such research approaches are called basic or pure or fundamental research. On the basis of the outcomes of this research, newer and newer avenues of research can be found out which are called applied research. The topic of this research is a period in history that existed about three hundred to three hundred and fifty years ago. So, the process of collection of data for this research was quite complex. To a huge extent the scholar had to C S depend on secondary data i.e. the data collected from books, research articles, features, opinions expressed by eminent scholars, historians and thinkers on the topic or related topics. Most of the data required for this research has been collected from the electronic versions of the writings of eminent historians like Dr. Jadunath Sarkar, Dr. Nisith Ranjan Ray, the book of three doctors, Dr. A.L. Srivastava, Dr. S.R. Sharma, Dr. Romila Thapar, eminent writer Shyamal Gangopadhyay and many others. Beside this the scholar has taken help from Encyclopedia Britannica, the encyclopedia written by Arthur Mee, the writings of Avni Kher, Fergus Nicoll and many others. ANALYSIS & CONCLUSIONS: This research dealt with a period that existed in history about a few centuries ago. It was about exploring if the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan can be called the golden era or not. For this purpose some research objectives were framed. Then research questions were deducted from these research objectives. Adequate data was collected and the research questions were answered. It is interesting to note in this context that the research questions united to form a major research question which is the title of the paper i.e. can the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan be called the golden era of Indian history or not. In other words, it can be said that effort was made in this research to frame the answers of the research questions so that a conclusion can be reached about it. Research questions going ahead to frame a major research question which is the title of the paper is a unique case. It ensured that at the end it became necessary to answer the question which is synonymous with the title i.e. it became necessary to answer/ reach a conclusion on if the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan can be called the golden era of Indian history or not. A detailed study of the literatures available on the topic/ related topic, collection of data, subsequent analysis and interpretation of it, enabled the research scholar to conclude that Emperor Shah Jahan was luxurious, ignorant about his Empire and lacked interest on his Empire and his subjects. He showed a lot of promise as a prince when he was under the leadership and guidance of his father, Emperor Jahangir. But when the responsibilities fell on his shoulders and he became the Emperor, he indulged in a lavish and extravagant life. Emperor Shah Jahan diverted all his capabilities and concentration towards the development of art and architecture. In order to call an era in history a golden age, there has to be all round development and not just in one field. Historical data and analysis of it in this research, says that during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan there was growth and development mainly in the field of art and architecture. So there is no doubt about the proposition of calling his reign a golden era of art and architecture. Although Shah Jahan ruled one of the largest Empires ever in history, his tenure as an Emperor was by and large peaceful and prosperous, yet he cannot be held responsible for these. He inherited these from his ancestors and presented an Empire with a fiscal recession and national frustration to his predecessors. So the proposition, if his reign can be called a golden era as a whole probably remains an invalid and unjustified one.
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