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riahforbes's review
4.0
I loved most of this book, although I definitely skimmed some of the battles. A great historical account of the Mughal empire. Since I'm reading this in Pune, I was especially interested in how the Marathas managed to roust the Mughal empire - sadly, I thought that was the weakest section of the book.
On the other hand, there were so many things I enjoyed (potential spoilers ahead but it's also historical nonfiction so c'mon, we know how things turn out):
- I knew the least about Babur, and he sounds surprisingly FUN. Even while he's using people's skulls as drinking cups, Eraly keeps fondly talking about his playfulness and joie de vivre. Ah, the brutality / hilarity of medieval times.
- Eraly quotes a lot from contemporary texts of the time, which places things nicely in context. This is especially fun when the quotes are things like:
"Ease is for women, it is shameful for honourable men."
Also fun when Eraly doesn't believe the writer and follows up a long quoted account of something with "lolz, this did not happen".
- This was the first time I'd ever read an account of Akbar that portrays him as a real person, not just a great legend. The chapters on him and Jehangir were my favourite. Among many other revelations, I learned that Akbar embraced beliefs and customs from most common Indian religions today (including Zoroastrianism and Jainism), but considered Christianity totally puzzling. For instance:
"The Jesuit insistence on monogamy baffled him; he considered monogamy impractical, at least for the monarch."
- Jehangir is hilarious. He doesn't care about wars, he cares about nature and science and drinking. This all makes him fairly useless at his job, but if I were to pick a Mughal Emperor to be friends with, I'd probably pick him.
- Shah Jahan is annoying, mainly because he takes himself so seriously.
"He worked hard at being magnificent."
I didn't know that he was the wealthiest man in the world at his time, although I suppose that makes sense. A major redeeming quality is that he built the Taj, a visit to which actually inspired me to read this book in the first place.
- Eraly tries valiantly to paint a nuanced portrait of Aurangzeb, but it's still hard to not strongly dislike him. Especially when he slowly poisons his brother and forces his elderly father to surrender by cutting off his water supply for three days, in the height of Agra summer. Also, he outlaws anything fun. He is basically the opposite of his grandfather - and my new best friend - Jehangir.
- And of course, general Mughal-life-and-times anecdotes are amazing. Omens foretold by people who could read the future in sheep's bones, Akbar's love of elephants, kings who shot gold-tipped arrows around and showered gold wherever the arrows landed, Babur's bisexuality, and the everlasting mystery of the Kohinoor diamond.
On the other hand, there were so many things I enjoyed (potential spoilers ahead but it's also historical nonfiction so c'mon, we know how things turn out):
- I knew the least about Babur, and he sounds surprisingly FUN. Even while he's using people's skulls as drinking cups, Eraly keeps fondly talking about his playfulness and joie de vivre. Ah, the brutality / hilarity of medieval times.
- Eraly quotes a lot from contemporary texts of the time, which places things nicely in context. This is especially fun when the quotes are things like:
"Ease is for women, it is shameful for honourable men."
Also fun when Eraly doesn't believe the writer and follows up a long quoted account of something with "lolz, this did not happen".
- This was the first time I'd ever read an account of Akbar that portrays him as a real person, not just a great legend. The chapters on him and Jehangir were my favourite. Among many other revelations, I learned that Akbar embraced beliefs and customs from most common Indian religions today (including Zoroastrianism and Jainism), but considered Christianity totally puzzling. For instance:
"The Jesuit insistence on monogamy baffled him; he considered monogamy impractical, at least for the monarch."
- Jehangir is hilarious. He doesn't care about wars, he cares about nature and science and drinking. This all makes him fairly useless at his job, but if I were to pick a Mughal Emperor to be friends with, I'd probably pick him.
- Shah Jahan is annoying, mainly because he takes himself so seriously.
"He worked hard at being magnificent."
I didn't know that he was the wealthiest man in the world at his time, although I suppose that makes sense. A major redeeming quality is that he built the Taj, a visit to which actually inspired me to read this book in the first place.
- Eraly tries valiantly to paint a nuanced portrait of Aurangzeb, but it's still hard to not strongly dislike him. Especially when he slowly poisons his brother and forces his elderly father to surrender by cutting off his water supply for three days, in the height of Agra summer. Also, he outlaws anything fun. He is basically the opposite of his grandfather - and my new best friend - Jehangir.
- And of course, general Mughal-life-and-times anecdotes are amazing. Omens foretold by people who could read the future in sheep's bones, Akbar's love of elephants, kings who shot gold-tipped arrows around and showered gold wherever the arrows landed, Babur's bisexuality, and the everlasting mystery of the Kohinoor diamond.
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