A composite culture

The Taj Mahal, the epitome of Mughal architecture. - CARINE MARTINEZ/GAMMA

The Magnificent Mughals; Editor, Zeenat Ziad; Oxford University Press, Pakistan; pages 317; Rs.1,295.

South Asia: A Historical Narrative by Mohammed Yunus and Aradhana Parmar; Oxford University Press, Pakistan; pages 267; Rs.250.

THE Sangh Parivar demands that India's minorities should accept Ram as a symbol of nationhood. But it is strangely reluctant to own up the Mughal past of India's history. From Akbar downwards, if not earlier, they were thoroughly Indianised, to use the world coined by the Jan Sangh in 1970. But even Akbar is given short shrift. The BJP's White Paper on Ayodhya (1993) refers to it as a period "when barbaric aliens were ruling the country" (page 20). It readily accepts the British interpretation of Indian history, dividing it into the Hindu and Muslim periods. Sushil Srivastava has shown how the Ramjanmabhoomi myth was also fostered by British officials (The Disputed Mosque: A Historical Inquiry; Chapter IV on "British Policy and Religious Revivalism in Awadh"). Historians like Romila Thapar have rendered great service in combating the falsehoods.

So do these two volumes published in Pakistan. Zeenat Ziad was Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Karachi and rose to high positions as banker. But South Asia history, especially the Mughal period, was an abiding interest. A highly successful lecture series, which she organised at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., inspired this book.

It is a feast for the eyes, so rich and well chosen are the illustrations in colour, and a work of high scholarship. Each of the ten essays is written by an internationally acknowledged expert on the Mughal period. Catherine B. Asher, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Minnesota writes on Mughal architecture. Prof. Ellison B. Findly, Head, Department of Religion and Area Studies at Hartford and author of Nur Jehan and Ananda, among other works, writes on the lives and contributions of Mughal women. The legendary Annemarie Schimmel, who died tragically in an accident recently, writes on religion. Professors Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and Irfan Habib, who need no introduction to Indian readers, contribute, respectively essays on Urdu literature and the economy. Prof. John F. Richards, a noted historian and author of The Mughal Empire, writes an essay on the subject. Other authorities write on literature, music, imperial Mughal painting, music and dance and coinage and monetary system.

Milo C. Bleach, Director, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian, contributes a Foreword.

Zeenat Ziad writes an Introduction; at once incisive and moving. Bar Aurangzeb, the Mughals encouraged Sufi saints. "The literature, music, architecture, art, and even dance of the Mughal era were inspired and influenced by Sufi thought." Spain honours its Moorish past. Why cannot the Sangh Parivar? The editor rightly remarks that "the subcontinent's culture without the Mughals would be inexplicable". The essays prove that amply.

MOHAMMED YUNUS, a product of the Aligarh Muslim University, rose high in Pakistan's diplomatic service. He teaches Political Science at the University of Calgary, Canada, where Aradhana Parmar teaches at the Faculty of Communication and Culture. She taught at the University of Delhi for a decade. Both scholars are deeply interested in South Asia. In a remarkable, almost unique, partnership they teamed up, as their preface says, "to provide a rational and systematic appraisal of correct historical knowledge on South Asia... the main purpose of this book is to bring together two different perspectives - Hindu and Muslim - on the Indian past and to grasp the past of South Asia as a whole. The authors in combination offer their judgment and experience to provide a unique, comprehensive, and modern account of the South Asian continent".

They begin with the "evolution of the term `India'" and proceed from "the dawn of the Indian civilisation" to the last chapter on Indian nationalism. They promise another volume analysing the causes of India's Partition at the dawn of its Independence; easily one of the 10 greatest tragedies in recorded human history. If this volume is anything to go by, the next will be well worth waiting for. It is lucid in style and carries its scholarship lightly. It deserves to be prescribed as a textbook in all the countries that comprise South Asia. No greater praise can there be for a book on history.