The Mughal Emperors peacefully ruled over the predominantly Hindu subcontinent in the 16th and 17th centuries. Unlike many other empires, the Mughals were surprisingly tolerant of other religions, said Prof Emeritus Aslam Syed on Sunday.
As an Empire, the Mughals were able to consolidate the smaller kingdoms of South Asia into one centralized government. They also succeeded in bringing Persian language combined with Arabic and Hindi to form the language of Urdu, said the guest speaker while addressing a Webinar on Discourse of History on Indo-Pak History from Antiquity to Modernity X: Mughal’s Rule in India here.
Prof. Emeritus Aslam Syed has been serving the Centre for Religious Studies, Ruhr Universität, Bochum, Germany. He remained Chairman, Department of History, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and also served the NIHCR as its Director.
Responding to a question, Prof Syed said that the credit for organizing education on a systematic basis goes to Akbar (1542–1605). He treated all his subjects alike and opened a large number of schools and colleges throughout his Empire. The adoption of Persian as the court language gave further encouragement to the Hindus and the Muslims to study Persian, he said.
The Webinar arranged online by the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR), Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, was attended by over 800 participants ranging from students, teachers and researchers to have greater insights into the valuable views of the guest speaker.
Replying a question, Prof Syed said that Mughal rulers were also great patrons of literature and gave considerable impetus to its development. Akbar ordered various Hindu classics and histories translated into Persian. In addition, a number of Greek and Arabic works were translated into Persian. Men of letters were patronized by the emperors, various regional officials and landlords, he said.
It was the 29th consecutive session on the Discourse of History, a brainchild of the NIHCR Director Dr Sajid Mahmood Awan. This activity inculcates interest to learn more and more about history not only among students, scholars and historians as well as among ordinary people belonging to any field of life to know about nations’ ways of running their States in a journey from antiquity to modernity.
Dr Sajid Mahmood Awan was of the view that other notable features of Akbar’s government included the streamlining of both military and civil administration. He consolidated military ranks into a standard system under his authority, and regular checks on rank holders ensured a reasonable correlation between their obligations and their income. Supplementing Dr Awan’s perspective, Prof Syed said Akbar also instituted more efficient revenue assessment and collection system in an effort to safeguard the peasants from excessive demands and the state from loss of money.
Responding to a question, Prof Syed said that toward the end of his reign, Akbar embarked on a fresh round of conquests. The Kashmir region was subjugated in 1586, Sindh in 1591, and Kandahār (Afghanistan) in 1595. By 1601 Khandesh, Berar, and part of Ahmadnagar had been added to Akbar’s empire.
The NIHCR Director Dr Awan conducted the Webinar by triggering a dialogue with Dr Syed for substantiating this discourse. This inclusive activity has been taken up every week for the benefit of students in general and capacity-building of the teachers and researchers in particular, he said.
