Syeda Khushbakht Farrukh

THE GREAT MOGULS

08494

A Documentary Analysis

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................ 1
Purpose of the Documentary...................................................................................... 1
Prior Knowledge of the Subject...................................................................................1
Summary of the Documentary................................................................................... 3
Conclusion and Criticism............................................................................................ 3

Introduction
The Great Moguls is a Channel 4 documentary produced in British during 1990. It
was written and presented by Bamber Gascoigne, and based on his book by the
same name. It was a 6 part series that ran for almost 2 months, each episode airing
for approximately thirty minutes. The documentary chronologically tells the tale of
the Mogul Empire, the second largest empire to have spanned in this area; it spans
across the advent of the Mogul Rulers, the empires rise to glory, and then its
eventual decline, after the death of the 6th Mogul Emperor, Aurangzeb and the
advent of the British in India.
The documentary focuses on the lives of the Moguls emperors during their reign
more than their various conquests. It highlights their personal lives, their
relationships with the ladies in the Harem, their children, their leisure habits and
their past time. The kind of relationships they had with their subjects (both Hindu
and Muslim alike) have also been emphasized upon. Furthermore, the details of
their conquests are obviously also mentioned to show their rise and then eventual
fall from power, and how they fared during either stages.

Purpose of the Documentary

The purpose of the documentary is to provide a brief overview of the lives and times
of the six great Mogul emperors. It was produced in Great Britain with the goal to
enlighten their population about the conditions of the Indian Sub-Continent before
the advent of the Britishers. It was the Great Moguls who were in power before the
Britishers took control, and this documentary highlights how they took controls from
the previous rulers of India, how they ruled and how they eventually lost their power
to the Britishers.
The director wanted to get across to the audience the splendor and grandeur of the
reign of the Moguls. Throughout the documentary he has highlighted the luxury and
the magnificence of the Mogul lifestyle, their attires, their culture, habits of living,

their paintings and architecture. Efforts have been made to portray the culture of
India by shooting the documentary at as many historical sites as possible.
Gascoigne visited all important sites of the Mogul empire during the course of the
documentary: all major cities, monuments, gravesites and battlegrounds.
He also made a conscious effort to try to portray the cultural heritage and traditions
of the Mogul reign, which are still prevalent in Modern Day India. This was managed
by using modern day India as a backdrop for the documentary to give the audience
an idea of how this magnificent empire functioned back during its day of glory and
grandeur.

Prior Knowledge of the Subject

We have already studied in detail about the conquests of the Mogul Emperors, and
their rule; weve further been discussing the administration, religion and culture
during their time. These are all the aspects which have been highlighted in the
documentary.
Babur was the Prince of Farghana, but after his fathers death the young prince was
driven out of his kingdom. In our course we have studied Baburs struggle as he
made his way through the barren lands on the right of the Khyber Pass trying to find
territory so he could claim his birthright as a ruler. We studied in detail about his
opinion of the Indian Territory once he came to this side of the Khyber pass, and his
war tactics (use of muskets and mortars for the first time in Indian history) which
helped him gain victory over Ibrahim Lodhi in the Battle of Panipat.
We have also talked about his succeed against the Rana of Mewar, where he
motivated his army by renouncing unreligious practices, and declaring their battle
as Jihad, holy war, because they were arming against the Hindus this time, not the
Muslims. It was this ideology which won Babur the battle, and a rightful place as the
ruler of this foreign land.
The next topic we covered was Humayuns not being fit to be the emperor after
Baburs demise in 1530, and how that led to him soon losing power after he
attained the throne. Then came years of exile for Humayun where he tried to regain
power from Sher Shah Suri, but was driven out from his own kingdom, until 1555
when he was finally able to get back the reigns of his kingdom, but only due to the
assistance of the Shah of Persia, and due to the death of Sher Shah Suri. Along with
Humayun, we have also studied in detail the administrative system of Sher Shah
Suri, which was quite advanced for his time, and led the basis of administration
during the future Mughal rulers times.
Next was Akbars rule which was characterized by his love for art and literature, and
the harmony he maintained between the Hindus and the Muslims, which led to
Deen e Ilahi, the religion he founded as a basis of peace and unity between all
religions prevalent in India. Akbar inherited the throne in 1556 after his fathers

death when he was only 12 years old. He managed to spread the empire to great
boundaries and managed to rule for a period of 50 years.
Jehangir was the first Mogul Ruler who inherited a stable kingdom; he was also the
first Mogul ruler whose ascendance required a struggle, as the reigning King,
Jehangir wanted Khusro, his grandson to become the ruler. Jehangir managed to
spike an animosity with the Sikh community by killing Guru Arjun Dev Ji who was
siding with his son Khusro. Jehangirs reign was characterized by his indulgence
towards alcohol and opium. Another important aspect of Jehangirs rule which we
studied about was the influence of his wife, Noor Jahan, who was the real face of
power behind the throne of Jehangir.
Noor Jehan wanted her own son in law, Jehangirs younger son to become the
emperor instead, but instead Shah Jahan came to power as he had the advantage of
being the son in law of the prime minister. Shah Jahans rule was characterized by
campaigns both in the North and the South of India, and in foreign lands of Persia
and Central Asia. Shah Jahan lost his wife Mumtaz Mahal soon after ascending to
power, and spent his life regretting her death, and building a monument to honor
her.
Shah Jahan wanted his elder son Dara Shikoh to become the next emperor, but
Auranzeb, the younger son, who was a Muslim orthodox, and who had support of
the orthodox religious leaders manage to kill his brothers, and confine his father to
his palace, and ascend the throne. His reign of 50 years was characterized by his
campaigns in the South, which drained the empire of its wealth and glory.

Summary of the Documentary

The documentary talks about the two hundred year rule of the Moguls in India, and
its impact upon the land and its people. The documentary focuses more on the
personal lives of the Mogul Rulers and cultural impact of the Mogul rule, rather than
the conquests of the Moguls, which provides a contrasting perspective to what we
have covered in class up till now. It also highlights in details how the European,
particularly British travelers viewed the rule, the court proceedings, and the ways of
living of the great Moguls.
The documentary talks about Baburs ancestry, how he was the first of the
conquerors to actually stay in India, and then goes on to tell how due to this Baburs
own descendants will rule with greater splendor than any of their ancestors. The
documentary gives details of Babars life as a bandit when he roamed around
Afghanistan trying to steal cattle and land alike. It describes in detail the towns and
cities of that time, how they were highly fortified, with guards on patrols at night,
making it difficult for Babur to gain access to them. It describes in great details the
use of the muskets and mortars, and how they helped in Babur gaining control in
India.

The documentary describes in details all the marvels of Indian Territory, which
Babur talks about in his diary. The emperor was very fond of documenting his
everyday life and the story of his conquests. Everything from the rich splendors of
the land to crafts of the various craftsmen of the area, to the noisy, colorful culture
of the Hindus of India have been discussed in the story. It also talks about all the
great monuments in India, all of whom were designed by and dedicated to Baburs
many descendants.
The Moguls loved water, a love which was visible in their works of architecture,
which featured gardens with cascades of water and fountains. The documentary
highlights the role of the emperors and their love for architecture in the actual
building of these monuments and gardens, and also the role different engineers and
masons played to bring these noblemens ideas to life. The role of women in India
was greater than that in the Islamic world, another thing which the documentary
focuses on.
The documentary pays less focus on Humayun as his rule was significantly
characterized by his struggle to maintain power and to defeat Sher Shah Suri. As
the documentary focuses less on the conquests and wars, it features less of
Humayun. It talks although how astrology and superstition played a very important
role in his personal life and how he conducted state affairs, and finally how it led to
his death. Details are also given about how the tradition of superstitions is still
prevalent in present day in India.
Akbars part of the series starts with his attempts to ascend the throne without
interferences from neighboring armies after his fathers death. This was because at
the time of Humayuns death, Akbar was only 12 years old, also he was out fighting
battles hundreds of miles away. The courtiers prevented this from happening by
getting a lookalike of Humayun to pretend to be the emperor until Akbar was in
place for the formal Coronation.
Akbars conquests in Rajistan was described in detail. However, more details have
been spared to Akbars deep interest towards religion, and discussing religion with
the learned men in his court, not only Islam, but other religions as well. His deep
fascination with different religions is what led to him being such a tolerant ruler
towards the Hindus, something which shocked the orthodox Muslim Community. In
order to maintain peace with the rulers of the Hindu kingdoms that he conquered,
Akbar married many Hindu princesses. Something which shocked the orthodox
Muslim community even more was when Akbar established his own religion called
Deen e Ilahi and declared himself the supreme religious authority.
The documentary features an interview with the current Rana of Mewar, who
explains the religious ideology behind his ancestors not establishing an alliance with
Akbar, like the other Hindu rulers did. The documentary describes Akbars residence
at Fatehpur Sikri and the his later place of residence, a travelling camp site which

stretched across for ten miles and was an impressive display, from where all
administration of the empire could be carried out.
Jehangir ascended the throne after Akbar, getting rid of his own son in the process,
and offending many Sikhs and Hindus. The grizzly death sentences of his sons
followers, and the blinding of Khusro, his own son, showed the sadistic streak of the
new emperor. Jehangirs court life is known in much detail because of the onset of
the Europeans to India, the land of fabled wealth. Jehangirs relations with the
ambassadors of England have also been highlighted, along with the struggles of the
embassadors. Jehangir had descended into an addiction of opium and wine soon
after inheriting the throne, and power in consequence fell into the hands of his
favorite wife, the lovely and shrewd, Noor Jehan. The documentary describes the
power of the veiled women, who could control an entire empire from behind the
Harem.
Much of the documentary focuses on the rise to power of Noor Jehan and her family,
by them establishing relations with the reigning Mogul Emperor. Both her brother
and her father were Prime Ministers of Jahangir. Her daughter from a previous
marriage was married off to one of Jahangirs son, and her brothers daughter,
Mumtaz Mahal, married off to Shah Jahan, Jahangirs favorite son.
The documentary focuses on the struggle of power between Noor Jehan and Asaf
Khan, and how in the end Noor Jahans veiled position of power fails her, and Asaf
Khan, who could establish his power from out in the open managed to get the
military men to side with him, cut Noor Jahans access to the world outside the
Harem, and succeed in making his own son-in-law the new reigning emperor.
Shah Jahans part of the series tells the story of how he attained the throne despite
his step mother the empress wanting otherwise. It highlights Noor Jehans last days
which she spent finishing the tomb for her husband. This part of the series also
described Shah Jahans life with his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and their sons, while he
was on run across the empire, and also after he attained the throne. The time they
spent together explains Shah Jahans devastation at Mumtaz Mahals death while
giving birth to their fourteenth child. The documentary describes in detail the
magnificence of the Taj Mahal, which Shah Jahan devoted much of his time to
building after his wifes death.
Aurangzebs story talks about how he managed to use deception and military power
to take the throne from the rightful descendent, his older brother, Dara Shikoh, kill
him, and their younger brother, Murad, and imprison their father. The series also
talks about Aurangzebs destruction of Hindu temples, the reinstatement of special
taxes on the non-Muslims, and other measures which were taken by Aurangzeb to
strengthen his stance amongst the orthodox, Muslim religious leaders. Lastly it talks
about how he spent the last several years of his life conducting campaigns in the

south of India. Finally the documentary shows his humble gravesite, befitting of, not
a great Mogul ruler, but an orthodox Muslim.

Conclusion and Criticism

Over all I believe it is a well-made documentary; it covers all aspects of the rules of
each of the six great Moguls, from their conquests and their rule, to their
relationships with their children and spouses, their impact on art and architecture
etcetera. It could have covered more details about the conquests of the Moguls, but
the focus was more on their lives and the culture which emanated in South Asia
because of them so I believe that that can be excused.
The documentary gives a comprehensive overview about the whole topic, and is fit
for enlightening individuals who have no prior knowledge about the Mogul rule or
the traditions and culture of the Indian Subcontinent during the middle ages. This
documentary highlights all important factors and has pretty much given a gist of
everything that we as South Asian History students intend to cover during the
extent of our course.

Bibliography
Ali, M. A., n.d. The Mughal Empire and its Successors. In: History of Civilization of
Central Asia . s.l.:s.n., pp. 302 -326 .
History World, 2016. History World. [Online]
Available at: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?
ParagraphID=hkj
[Accessed 2016].
The Great Moguls. 1990. [Film] Directed by Douglas Rae. Britain : Ecosse Films.