The Golden Buddha

In Afghanistan’s biggest ever foreign investment project, China Metallurgical Group has signed a massive $3 billion agreement to mine copper at Mes Aynak. But they are unable to start work due to constant threats, buried mines, and persistent international demand for saving the heritage of Mes Aynak. Several centuries back, this was at the heart of Silk Road and possibly availability of copper (evidence of copper smelting is there for 2,000 years) made it economically more attractive. In the last few years, archaeologists have dug out two forts, four Buddhist monasteries, a Zoroastrian fire temple, and other structures in what is now the largest archaeological complex in Afghanistan. Apart from several Kanishka-era coins and other artefacts, what caught worldwide attention were the beautiful images of almost gold coloured Buddha, a few with sublime expressions of compassion (http://www.savingmesaynak.com/).

At least seven centuries after the Mahaparinirvana, first Buddha images were made in Gandhara. Perhaps it was the need to present the imagery to an audience of new converts or to reinforce the greatness of their faith in front of a constant stream of foreigners. The Gandhara School of Art with Indian imagination and storytelling and Greco-Roman imagery and technique, produced arguably one of the most fascinating artistic lineages of all times. Gandhara Buddha with its Greek himation/Roman toga-like dress, beautiful drapery over a robust body, curly Mediterranean hair, and a top knot was modelled after Apollo and Zeus.

Bimaran Casket

Till date, the first specimen of this new art is the Bimaran Gold Casket, which could be dated to mid-first century BCE but the halcyon days of the Gandhara School came around the Kushan Empire, two centuries after the domination of the area by the Indo-Greeks. The most acceptable explanation of this gap between the political domination of the Greeks and the flowering of Hellenistic style is the prosperity of the Kushan period. The style, the craftsmanship was available there for quite long but it was the rich patronage of the Kushan period, which led to the creation of this extraordinary artistic tradition. The Gandhara School was active from the second to the fifth century CE, with some continuation till at least the seventh century. The spread of Islam in Afghanistan led to severe damages to such heritages that continued till the recent times as evidenced in the destruction of colossal Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001.

Mathura Buddha

Kamakura Buddha

The popularity and widespread acceptance of the Buddha and Bodhisattva images created in the second-century CE Gandhara could be gauged from the fact that it spread around the subcontinent in no time. Near contemporary Buddha images from Mathura show the same drapery and hairstyle, finely delineated body structure, halo and same poses of Buddha albeit with more Indianized face and often with lighter clothing. More than 1,000 kilometres away at Amaravati and Nagarjunikonda in Andhra or at Kanganahalli in Karnataka, this iconography was adopted by third century CE. In Western India, first such Buddha images were created at Kanheri probably using wood and other perishable material, graduating to massive stone images by fifth century at Ajanta. The style spread to rest of Asia along the Silk Road and to South East Asia and Sri Lanka probably through the sea route, geographically culminating in the giant Kamakura Buddha of Japan in the twelfth century.

Sanchi

Depiction of Amravati Stupa, from the ruins of Amravati

Takht-i-Bahi, Peshawar

In earlier Buddhist traditions, relics were venerated. Stupas were built over these relics–the tradition of building stupas probably predated Buddha–and then stupas themselves came to be worshipped. Ashoka was one of the main propagators of this stupa cult. Early decorations of these stupas were more symbolic with representations of trees, animals, wheels, etc. in relief sculptures. Huge stupa-monastery complexes came to be located close to major cities or along the main trading routes–Mrigadava (Sarnath) outside Kashi, Dharmarajika outside Takshashila, Sanchi outside Vidisha, Amravati outside Dharanikota (Satavahana capital), and Nagarjunikonda outside Vijayapuri (Ikshvaku capital). From third century CE, small and large images of Buddha came to adorn such places of worship and the same model was taken abroad as Buddhism travelled along the Silk Road. Monastery-stupa complexes at Peshawar (Takt-i-Bahi), all over Afghanistan, in Bactria, at Khotan, and Kashgar all attest to the continuation of the same tradition.

For more such stories related to Indian business history, see Laxminama: Monks, Merchants, Money and Mantra by Anshuman Tiwari and Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury 2018

https://www.amazon.in/Laxminama-Monks-Merchants-Money-Mantra/dp/9387146782

Mystery of Headless Kanishka

In one of the famous kakababu-Santu adventure stories written by Sunil Gangopadhyay in Bengali, ace detective kakababu finally manages to nab the criminals in a thrilling chase but at the last moment they throw the invaluable packet into a river. The packet contained the severed head of the Kanishka statue and thus the head gets lost forever. It is not difficult to understand why an entire adventure story has been built around the severed head of Kanshka statue.

Headless Statue of Kanishka, Mathura

For long, the history of the Kushans in India was defined by two events in the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1911, Pandit Radha Krishna found the famous headless statue of Kanishka in a village called Mat near Mathura (we now know Mat was one of the devakulas of the Kushans, where along with deities, images of Kushan Kings–in this case Vima Kadphises, Kanishka and Huvishk–were also placed though we do not know for sure that these images were worshiped).

Kanishka Casket

The second discovery happened almost around the same time in Peshawar. Following the descriptions of Chinese pilgrims–Faxian and Xuanzhang, archaeologists excavated a mound known as Shah-ji-ki-dheri and dug out the remnants of what was described by the Chinese pilgrims as the largest stupa in India. They found the famous Kanishka Reliquary Casket, which now is understood to have been donated by two royal officials during the rule of Kanishka rather than the King himself (the casket is now kept at Peshawar Museum, and the relics at Mandalay, the site itself was lost and re-identified in 2011 in a slum on the outskirts of the city). Both Peshawar (Purushpura) and Mathura were tentatively identified as twin capitals of what was understood then as an essentially North-north-western Indian empire. Since then a series of discoveries–mainly in Afghanistan has completely changed our understanding of this empire.

Rabatak Inscription

The most dramatic of these discoveries was made when in 1993, when Sayyid Jafar, the Governor of Baghlan, called a British Aid Worker Tim Porter and urged him to photograph the remains of a temple found at a village called Rabatak (this was just on the opposite side of the hill, where another Kushan devakula was discovered at Surkh Kotal). Among the discoveries was a 23-line inscription of Kanishka, written in the Bactrian language and Greek script–an inscription, so important that it has been described as the ‘Great Kushana Testament’. This was perhaps another Kushan devakula (the site before it could be adequately investigated was destroyed during the Afghan Civil War), which was established by an official named Saphara at the command of King Kanishka, who has been described as a Great King, the King of Kings and the son of God. Here also, along with Nana and other Zoroastrian deities, images of Kushan Kings were installed. But the two most important pieces of information are–first, the Kushan bloodline is clearly established as Kanishka describes Kujula Kadphises as his great-grandfather, Vima Taktu as his grandfather and Vima Kadphises as his father. Second, Kanishka claims that his empire included Kaundiya (Kaundinyapura on the banks of Wardha in Maharashtra), Saket, Kaushambi, Pataliputra, and even Sri Champa (Bhagalpur, Bihar). He also makes this exaggerated claim that the entire India was under his command.

For around two and half centuries, ending around 230 CE, the Kushans built an extraordinary and intriguing empire. It spread from North of Bactria to eventually most of North India and provided great stability to commerce and economy over a large landmass. It was a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society and their success, indeed their prosperity was possible because of their tolerance and cosmopolitan outlook.

For more such stories related to Indian business history, see Laxminama: Monks, Merchants, Money and Mantra by Anshuman Tiwari and Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury 2018

https://www.amazon.in/Laxminama-Monks-Merchants-Money-Mantra/dp/9387146782

The Medical Buddha

Sangye Menla or Buddha of Medicine

Perhaps no other religion put so much emphasis on providing medical care as Buddhism did. Buddha himself nursed individuals on the deathbed or suffering from serious diseases and instructed all his disciples to always provide medical help and care to every individual even if they do not know the sufferer personally. Four noble truths (there is sorrow, there is reason for it, there is cessation of sorrow, and there are paths leading to the cessation of sorrow) of Buddhism have appeared to many as fundamental principles of a medical system. In fact, Buddhist monks were part of wandering ascetics with deep knowledge of herbs and other natural medicines. Traders–the most important class of patrons for the early Buddhists–were also frequent travellers and as such they must have also added to the wealth of medical knowledge at monasteries. Long-distance exchange of medicinal plants and herbs had always been a lucrative trade as well.

Recent research suggests that Ayurveda developed in Buddhist monasteries. Not only Buddha himself placed great significance on it, but medicine was made part of Vinaya Pitaka or Monastic Rules early on. Contrary to popular belief, it has now been clearly established that the Vedic system of healing was magico-religious (1700-800 BCE) and there was no serious link between Atharvaveda and later day empirico-rational traditions of Ayurveda (developed between 800 BCE and 100 CE). This knowledge of Ayurveda came from close observation of wandering monks and their knowledge of plants, herbs, roots, etc. gathered in the course of their wandering careers. This was systematically developed in monasteries.

Though initially this knowledge was utilised only to treat monks but from the third century BCE onward, it was extended to lay disciples as well. There was mention of a separate hall for sick near a forest in Vaishali. Faxian saw hospitals funded by rich citizens of Pataliputra and run by Buddhist monks. One such centre might have been the place next to Kumrahar in Patna, where seals containing the name of Sri Arogya Vihara Bhikshusanghasya, have been unearthed. Similarly, a separate structure resembling a hospital has been found at Nagarjunikonda. Various objects commonly associated with the preparation of Ayurvedic medicine have been found from almost all the Buddhist monasteries including those at Sarnath and Sirpur.

Padmapani Vihar Sirpur, utensils for preparing medicine

Buddhism was perhaps the single biggest factor in crystallisation of early medical knowledge in India. Integration of medical doctrines in monastic traditions and emergence of monk-healers immensely helped in the spread of Buddhism. It also led to the inclusion of medical sciences in the curriculum of monasteries and then eventually in large Buddhist universities such as Nalanda. Realising the importance of medicine, Hindu traditions assimilated this knowledge in the form of Charak (in fact, there are strong reasons to believe that the Charak Samhita was the work of a school of wandering doctors as the name itself is likely to have come from ‘char’ or to wander) and Sushrut Samhitas. Hindu temples also started having hospices and infirmaries from the tenth century onward–various inscriptions found in Bengal, Andhra, Tamil Nadu mention establishment of arogyashala, prasutishala (hall for pregnant women) and employment of doctors, surgeons, nurses, etc. An inscription dated 1493 CE from the famous Srirangam temple in Tamil Nadu mentions restoration of an arogyashala there, which was originally set up in either the eleventh or twelfth century.

Knowledge of Ayurveda travelled with Buddhism to Sri Lanka, Burma, and Southeast Asia, where for centuries and even now Buddhist monks have been providing medical care to local communities. It did not find much acceptance there, but even in China (Yaoshifo) and Japan (Yakushi), the concept of Bhaisajyaguru or the Buddha of healing and medicine was well known. In Tibetan Buddhism (and by extension in Ladakh, Nepal, Bhutan, and other areas, which follow the Tibetan traditions), medicine has always been accorded supreme importance. Sangye Menla or medical Buddha is a common form of worship in Tibetan Buddhism. A number of Sanskrit medical classics were translated in Tibetan by tenth and eleventh centuries and the basic principles of Ayurveda are well preserved in the present tradition of Tibetan medicine or Sowa Rigpa (also accepted officially in India as one of the traditional medical systems along with Ayurveda, Unani, etc).

For more such stories related to Indian business history, see Laxminama: Monks, Merchants, Money and Mantra by Anshuman Tiwari and Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury 2018

https://www.amazon.in/Laxminama-Monks-Merchants-Money-Mantra/dp/9387146782

Brahmi Script

Brahmi Inscription from Sarnath

By the second half of the eighteenth century, British scholars in Calcutta knew about several polished pillars across North India, all of them having inscriptions in an unknown script. Towards the end of the century, the great linguist and scholar William Jones, while pouring through the inscriptions of these pillars, described them to be the work of some Ethiopian conqueror or law-giver! The writing on these pillars–by now found at other places as well–most famously on a hill at Girnar (Gujarat) and at Dhauli, near Bhubaneshwar–remained un-deciphered for more than four decades after the passing away of Sir Jones in 1795. While going through the coins of Indo-Greek rulers Agathocles and others, a Norwegian scholar, Christian Lassen was the first to read a few letters of this unknown script correctly in 1836.

James Prinsep, Mint Master and as Secretary to Asiatic Society of Bengal, intellectual heir to Sir William Jones, was actually arranging a set of votive inscriptions found at Sanchi in the same script when the Eureka moment stuck him. Noticing that all one-line inscriptions were ending with the same combination of two and a half letters, Prinsep guessed that this word stands for donation–danam. In Prinsep’s own description, rest of the alphabet fell into places within minutes. Thus, finally in 1837, thanks to the efforts of Prinsep and his Pali-knowing Sinhalese assistant Ratna Pala, the mystery of the Ashokan Brahmi script was resolved.

James Prinsep

Till the 1880s, this script was variously known as pin-man or stick-figure script in English till Albert Etienne Jean Baptiste Terrien de Lacouperie correctly identified this as the Brahmi lipi, the first in a list of scripts mentioned in the Buddhist text of Lalitavistara. Subsequently this has been found to be mentioned in other Buddhist and Jain texts as well. Some texts have mentioned that the name Brahmi came from Lord Brahma, who was said to have gifted this script. Most scholars, however, agree that the close association of Brahmins with the writing in this script led to this nomenclature.

The origin of Brahmi script is disputed; one of the possible theories about this origin mentions that Indian traders came across written documents in Babylon and devised Brahmi script to suit their mother tongue of Prakrit. The earliest well-accepted evidence of Brahmi, dated to fourth century BCE, has been found at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka in a mercantile context (another find of Tamil Brahmi dated to as early as sixth century BCE from Palani is yet to receive broad acceptance). Ashokan Brahmi burst forth across the subcontinent as a fully developed script. The other script used in Ashokan inscriptions, Kharosthi was definitely a derivative of the Aramaic script and it disappeared by the 3-4^th Century CE. As for the foreign origin theory is concerned it is difficult to understand why there should be two completely different derivatives from the same Aramaic/Middle Eastern script. And most scholars are unanimous that Brahmi alphabets could not have originated from the Greek script. On the other hand, we have no material evidence to track the development of Brahmi as an indigenous script before it became widely available on Ashokan inscriptions.

Once it emerged, however, Buddhist institutions carried it forward in a big way. Buddhist Monasteries were repositories of general and trade information and of knowledge systems like writing and bookkeeping. In practical terms, the largest beneficiary group of this process were the traders. Buddhism and Buddhist Sangha were the most important patrons of learning in the Indian sub-continent for many centuries. Numerous stories of writing and depiction on early sculptural panels along with an almost sub-continental spread of Brahmi script clearly establish the contribution of the Buddhist Sangha in the propagation of writing systems. For centuries, in Central, South, and Southeast Asia Buddhist monks were the primary and also most dedicated community of scribes. In fact, almost all early manuscripts connected with Indian civilisation are of Buddhist origin.

The importance of Brahmi script in the world of knowledge was widespread. North Indian or late Brahmi of Gupta period diversified into Siddha, Sarada, and Devanagari scripts. Grantha and Vatteluttu of South India, Tibetan and Tocharians in extreme North, Baybayin of the Philippines, Old Javanese of Indonesia, Khmer of Cambodia, and the Mon script of Burma also emerged from the Brahmi script.

For more such stories related to Indian business history, see Laxminama: Monks, Merchants, Money and Mantra by Anshuman Tiwari and Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury 2018

https://www.amazon.in/Laxminama-Monks-Merchants-Money-Mantra/dp/9387146782

Gobekli: Beginning of Religion

Gobekli Tepe (literally Potbelly Hills), situated in South-Eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, is now acknowledged as one of the archaeological wonders of the recent times. As it sat for centuries overlooking a prosperous countryside, culminating in the city of Urfa (ancient Edessa), it concealed in its ‘belly’ perhaps the oldest known temple of the human history. Before we delve further into the history of Gobekli Tepe, it would not be out of place to recall that Urfa was the hometown of Abraham, who is regarded as the progenitor of three important religions–Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Gobekli Tepe was excavated for the first time in the 1960s, when the archaeologists, assuming it to be a vast medieval burial complex, abandoned the site. Around two decades ago, a German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt for the first time connected the limestone fragments scattered there with nearby Neolithic sites. But he and his team did not have the slightest idea that they have stumbled upon the earliest and one of the largest temple complexes ever built. Once they started clearing the site, they came across the first T-shaped stone pillar, reminiscent of Britain’s Stonehenge. These pillars with an average height of sixteen feet and weight of more than sixty tonnes were arranged in a circular fashion, again like Stonehenge. The largest pillar found so far towered at sixty-five feet and some of these pillars have carved images of dangerous beasts, vultures, and scorpions. These pillars were chiselled with the stone hammer and other stone tools, long before metal tools were invented.

Scientific investigations have come to the conclusion that this gigantic stone cathedral is 6,000 years older than the Stonehenge–which means it was erected nearly 11,000 years back. A ground-penetrating radar survey revealed that the site, spread over twenty-two acres, has sixteen huge Stonehenges buried beneath it. It must have taken generations of workmen to complete this gigantic monument. If the archaeologists continue their dig at the present speed for the next fifty years without a break, then they would be able to unearth just a fragment of this humongous temple.

Lack of tell-tale signs of human habitation (domestic fire, garbage dump, building foundations, etc) confirms that it was just a temporary meeting place for the nearby communities, most probably a temple or a place to leave dead bodies (motifs of carrion birds and venomous animals are possibly indicative of that) and subsequent ancestral worship. Archaeologists, however, found a large number of animal bones with signs of slaughter–perhaps sacrificed at the altar. This hints that the temple site most probably belonged to hunter-gatherers.

The wonder of Gobekli does not stop at its antiquity or its mammoth size. Within a few kilometres of Gobekli Tepe, archaeologists have found the earliest signs of domesticated wheat cultivation, which started at least 500 years after the temple construction begun (about 10,500 years ago). Within the next 500 years, they were able to domesticate pigs, sheep, and cattle. For a long time, it was believed that large man-made structures emerged only after primitive farming communities could gather enough organisational ability and produce economic surpluses to build and sustain such structures. Gobekli Tepe, located within the fertile crescent of human civilisation, stands testimony that massive food requirements for the labourers assembled there for many decades, if not centuries, directly led to the transition from foraging to settled agriculture. In other words, to paraphrase an archaeologist associated with the excavation at Gobekli, ‘socio-culture led to agriculture’.

A third-generation priest of a large South Indian temple complex or a fourth generation Imam of an East Bengal Sufi dargah would have laughed at our ignorance–without even knowing the history of Gobekli. They would have asked, who brought the farmers here? When my predecessor was granted this brahmadeya or inami iqta, this was a barren land…..they came and settled and prospered here because this temple/dargah showered its benevolence on them.

If we could go back to a Christian monastery in Greece or Egypt of say, 400 CE, through a time machine, we would have been welcomed with freshly-baked bread, wines from its own vineyard and preserved food items, all grown and processed by monks of the monastery. Some of the oldest food preservation techniques are traceable to such monasteries.

Stonehenge

In the latest twist to the incredible history of Gobekli Tepe, Scientists have very recently found that through genetic studies that the ancestors of the people, who built Stonehenge in Britain actually came from Turkey! They reached Britain around 4000 BCE (Stonehenge was built around 3000 BCE). They were part of outward migration from Anatolia, Turkey, which started around 6000 BCE and these Turkish immigrants were responsible for introducing agriculture to Europe (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47938188)

For more such stories related to Indian business history, see Laxminama: Monks, Merchants, Money and Mantra by Anshuman Tiwari and Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury 2018

https://www.amazon.in/Laxminama-Monks-Merchants-Money-Mantra/dp/9387146782

Gujarati Traders: Power, Politics, and Patronage

The close connection between political power and business elite in Gujarat goes back at least one thousand years. When Lavananprasada, the Vaghela Chief wanted

to revive his sick empire in the early 13^th century, he asked fellow King (nominally his overlord) Bhima II for a minister, who at the same time would be proficient in both replenishing the treasury and winning battles. Bhima II lent him the services of two brothers, Vastupala and Tejahpala. Through their military as well as financial success and patronage of religion and literature, they soon overshadowed their political masters.

Vastupala, as the governor of Cambay, managed to curb piracy and greatly contributed to growth of commerce at the premier port, resulting in huge increase in revenue collection. He also defeated the ruler of South Gujarat or Lata. As a result of this success, he was elevated to the post of the Prime Minister, which he continued to occupy till his death. Tejahpala defeated the Chieftain of Godhra, thereby extending the eastern boundary of the state and opening up new trade routes. After Vastupala’s death in 1238 or 1241 CE, Tejahpala succeeded him as the Prime Minister and continued till his death (either in 1247 or 1251 CE). More than anything else, it was their prudential fiscal management, which helped Gujarat to become a rich state during this period and greatly encouraged internal and external trade.

A large number of prabandhs (essays), prasastis (panegyrics), plays and kavyas (poetic compositions) attest to the stellar role these two brothers played in development of the state and culture in the first half of the thirteenth century. Their contemporary, Jagadu was perhaps more important as a merchant, who maintained his representatives in all major ports in Western India and Middle East, including Hormuz in Persian Gulf. His life has been celebrated in his biography, Jagaducharit. Once when harvest failed, he opened his granary to feed the poor. He renovated old temples and even built a mosque for Muslims.

Vastupala Vihar, Girnar

Vastupala and Tejahpala were born in a family of aristocratic merchants of Anahilavada. Their maternal grandfather, a Pragvata merchant, also served as governor. This shows how a tradition established during the time of Vanaraja, founder of the Chavada dynasty in the eighth century expanded over the next few centuries. Vanaraja was helped to the throne by merchants and he symbolically acknowledged their help by asking Sridevi, sister of a merchant to apply tilak on his forehead during his coronation. He also appointed Jamba Sresthi as his Prime Minister. Vanaraja invited merchant prince Ninnaya to the capital Anahilavada. Ninnaya eventually became his prime counsellor and his family supplied a long list of ministers and senior government officers for more than three centuries.

During the reign of Jayasimha Siddaraja (1093-1143), a number of Jain merchants-turned-ministers like Sajjan (from the family of Jamba), Udayana, Santu, and Munjala played the most important role in military-administrative as well as financial matters. King Kumarpala (1143-1172) came to the throne with the assistance of leading Jain merchants like Udayana and to defray the cost of regular warfare, continued to depend on their resources. Though a Hindu, he showed great reverence to Jain temples and preachers as Jain merchants continued to be his main pillar of support. Merchants gained social status by joining royal service at the highest level and probably this helped them to expand their businesses too. On the other hand, the state benefitted from their overall managerial and financial skills. 

Dilwara Temple, Mt Abu

Extraordinary commercial success in the post-10^th-century period also led the Gujarati traders to systematically train their next generations. Most of the rich merchants employed home tutors but there are also mentions of schools (Vidyamatha) and arrangements for imparting basic education at Jain mathas. A compilation of essential commercial documents–Lekhapaddhati–establishes beyond doubt the existence of a class of highly proficient clerks, who used to draft loan agreements and bills of exchanges. Jain teachers, particularly Jinesvara Suri and Hemachandra, advised merchants never to cheat on either weight or quality. They also advised maintaining a close relation with the King and always flatter the King in public as his support was crucial for business.

Though it is doubtful whether every businessman followed the path of ethical business as we have enough examples from contemporary texts about unfair means adopted by greedy merchants, but the general impression was that of an industrious and enterprising business community. Nearly half a century after Vastupala, Marco Polo echoes this while describing the Gujarati merchants as the best business community in the world.

In Gujarat, trading castes like Pragvatas and Srimalas produced major poets, men of letters and patrons of art. The greatest Gujarati scholar of this period, Hemachandra, who wrote a new grammar, new metrics, new logic and a defining work on the biography of Jinas, was son of a Modha merchant. Vastupala was a noted poet himself and a large number of literary works were inspired by him. Unusual for his age, he built three public libraries in Anahilavada, Cambay, and Broach and an auditorium solely for staging dramatic performances. Tejahpala’s famous wife Anupama, well known for her intelligence, composed a Kankana Kavya or verse for women. The miniature paintings found in well-illustrated Jain manuscripts of this period–executed under the patronage of rich merchants–provide one of the earliest examples of the Indian miniature paintings. Prominent Gujarati merchants spent a considerable part of their fortunes for construction of temples, tanks, and other public utilities. Even after so many centuries, some of the examples of their munificence at Mount Abu, Girnar, Palitana, and other places still bedazzle us.

For more such stories related to Indian business history, see Laxminama: Monks, Merchants, Money and Mantra by Anshuman Tiwari and Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury 2018

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07FLWFGP2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Aurangzeb: History as Nationalist Projects

He tossed a coin and it fell on the floor and the packed audience looked at the speaker in curious anticipation. It was at the Physics Lecture Theatre or PLT1 at the Presidency College, Calcutta – sometime in the 1960s. It was the turn of this science student to proclaim the superiority of science over arts. His opponent had just finished a highly intellectual and passionate defence of humanities, swaying the audience with his erudition. Then he started slowly – “as you have just seen, the coin dropped as it drops everywhere all the time, it fell the same way in Dhaka too. But when I studied history at my Dhaka school a few years back, I was taught Aurangzeb was the best Mughal emperor and Akbar the worst and then I was forced to undertake a bus journey to this side of the border and my friends here taught me that Akbar was the greatest of all and Aurangzeb was a bigot”.

Re-naming of streets, cities, universities and institutions is a typical Indian affliction – we are always eager to erase vestiges of colonialism, to pamper so-called local or community sentiments etc. If road names are to be reviewed on the basis of their deeds then it would be a particularly difficult task for the civic authorities in New Delhi. Lodhi Garden and Lodhi Road should be renamed first as they were not only inept but notoriously cruel (forget about common people, one Lodhi Prince was skinned alive for rebellion and then his flesh was cooked with rice and forced fed to his widow and children). I don’t know Tughlaq Road is named after sadistic and whimsical Muhammad Bin or bigoted Firoz (son of a Hindu mother, destroyed temples and tortured Brahmins at places as far off as Kangra and Orissa) but either way we must rename this thoroughfare immediately (additionally one has to think about renaming Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium). And when you start digging, such problems are endless – why not re-name QutabMinar, where physical evidences of temple destruction are visible even today. Why only Muslim rulers, even the record of Ashok, before the Kalinga war, was terrible – in comparison to Aurangzeb’s three, Ashok killed 99 brothers/claimants to the throne.

Finding another important stretch of road in the heart of New Delhi to name after APJ Abdul Kalam was not that difficult. We have important roads named after foreign leaders, completely rejected in their homelands (Tito or Nasser), long forgotten or hardly known anywhere else outside their home country (Archbishop Makarios – from Cyprus or San Martin – Argentine liberation hero). But the point is of course to erase the legacy of a bad Muslim leader and replace him by a good Muslim – a sentiment that would have shocked Kalam more than anyone else, had he been alive.

When Pakistan was created in 1947, the ruling elite wanted a history of their own – as different from history of Hindustan. As a perfect example of nations as “imagined communities” – they tried to erase or ignore memories of centuries of shared living and found myths of two different nations through the ages. In some of the extreme cases, beginning/creation of Pakistan was pushed back to Muhammad Ghori or Mahmud of Ghazni and even to Muhammad Bin-Qasim, who conquered Sindh briefly in early 8^th century. Historians of eminence like I H Qureshi (taught at St Stephen’s before Partition) and A H Dani(received Ph D in Sanskrit from BHU) led this effort to Islamize the history of sub-continent. And it resulted in proclaiming Akbar as someone, who let down the cause of Islam and Aurangzeb as the true Islamic hero, who had to face the Hindu backlash. It was the historiography of a nation born opposing the so-called Hindu hegemony.

Aurangzeb ruled over the largest ever Indian empire before the British. His rule stretched from Kashmir in the North to Gingee in deep South and from Hindukush-Balochistan in the West to Assam in the East. Though the stories of him earning his own expenses by stitching caps etc are exaggeration but he was austere in his lifestyle in marked contrast to his predecessors. After Akbar, among the Mughal Emperors, he was the only other military genius. As a stern ruler, deeply committed to justice, he was indefatigable – a European traveller was amazed to see how Aurangzeb then in his late eighties, was reading every petition without any glass and writing answers himself, mostly on the petition itself. Neither his sons nor any noble could dare to disobey his orders, for misconduct, he kept one of his sons in jail for 14 long years.

As someone, who ruled such a vast empire for nearly half a century, Aurangzeb, no doubt was an extraordinarily capable person but at the same time he was a complicated character. Often he did what suited the situation and his interest at that particular point in time. So it is meaningless to argue whether he destroyed temples or provided grants to them (both actually) or he employed more Hindus (factually correct) than even Akbar in higher administration or he drove them away (perhaps gave less importance to Rajputs later on but welcomed more Maratha and Deccani Hindu elite into Mughal service). More than anything else, he was an autocratic ruler of 17^th century, when in most of Europe, it was impossible for anyone to have a religion other than the King’s religion and Spaniards were indulging in worst genocide in recorded history by wiping out whole continents in the New World.

In his personal life, he was a narrow-minded Muslim that at times provided a certain colour to his actions, which otherwise also he would have done – like seeking ulema’s sanction (after defeating but ) before killing Dara or declaring war against (Shia-ruled) Bijapur and Golconda as Jihad. But mostly his religious belief did not interfere with his hard-nosed approach to real politics. Aurangzeb saw himself as the divinely ordained ruler of Hindustan, something all his nobles – irrespective of their own religious belief – acknowledged. He underestimated Shivaji merely an upstart zamindar (perhaps undermining Shivaji’s support base) but he cannot be faulted for not recognizing him as a nationalist hero – there was surely no concept of nation for either Aurangzeb or Shivaji. Similarly his most successful commander against Shivaji, Jai Singh (highest ranking Hindu noble ever under the Mughals at 7000 zat/7000 sawar and the only person outside the immediate royal family to hold the post of viceroy of Deccan) could not even imagine allying with Shivaji on the basis of common religion.

Standard Pakistani history text books merely relegate Akbar to a cursory mention between a brilliant Babar at Panipat in 1526 (though he defeated a fellow Muslim, Ibrahim Lodhi) and the eventual Mughal hero, Aurangzeb. It is our wishful thinking that we can change the course of history by re-writing text books or re-naming streets. Past cannot be re-made through our coloured vision of present – neither Akbar was the father of national integration nor was Aurangzeb a Pakistani hero – the real problem is our failure to accept the past as it was.