The Last Spring – The Lives and Times of the Great Mughals

Abraham Eraly,

Viking, 1997

The book begins with a question posed by Akbar to Birbal.  Akbar asks, Tell me, if you please, what is the greatest consolation that man has in this world?  Birbal answers, Ah Sire!  It is when a father finds himself embraced by his son.  One revelation of this mammoth exercise of Eraly is that Akbar and the succeeding Mughals would be deprived of this consolation as the sons – and brothers  - schemed against their fathers and  revolted against them in bloody battles.  


This exhaustive study of the lives of Mughals must remove some of the romantic notions which have come to be associated with them.  India was hopelessly divided that it was easy prey to Babur, the man who established Mughal rule in India.  The Afghans led by Ibrahim Lodi and the Rajputs headed by Rana Sanga of Mewar offered fierce resistance.  He had to fight his way inch by inch.

The Afghan interlude was a fascinating period, which, if it had continued would have turned the destiny of India and the sub-continent upside down.  Sher Shah had admirable qualities of a ruler.  He was firmly committed to administrative reforms with eradication of corruption being the topmost.  He saw eradication of corruption as an issue of morality.  He built infrastructure, forts and caravanserais with one observer calling north India under Sher Shah the safest place in the world for the traveler.  But for an accidental explosion in the battle to take over Kalinjar,  Sher Shah could have changed the course of history.  Thus, Luck and destiny played grater roles in the restoration of Mughal dominion than their celebrated valor. 

Akbar’s many battles were not gentlemanly, as Chitor and Ranthambhor were conquered by terror. He did not pursue a path-breaking Hindu policy since other Muslim rulers too had Hindus in powerful positions. Even his  much acclaimed marriage of Rajput women for cementing political relations was not new.  In fact, he had to give the Rajputs their due place, even if under his tutelage. Like other Mughal emperors before and after him, he had to fight battles with his own son, Jehangir. 

Both Jehangir and Shah Jahan had more artistic sense than military virtues.  The empire did not expand an inch when they were in saddle.  Even the many forts built and gardens they put in place were done at great cost, extracted from the people by way of heavy taxes.  These forts gave the Mughal empire a look of grandeur, but it also concealed its weakness, already evident during this period. 

The real decline of the Mughals started because of the  mindless adventurism of Auranghzeb. He fought battles after battles in southern India for over 25 years trying to conquer the Shia Kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda and also to tame the Maratha warlord Shivaji. 

Aurangzeb had an excellent opportunity to shape an Indian nationhood.  He could have at least left behind  a less chaotic empire, forming an embryonic nation-state which could have gone on to experience a revolution of the kind that happened in America and France.  Even if this is far fetched, at least India could have repulsed British domination, avoiding all the consequence of colonialism and developed its own kind of nationalism.  Alas, that was not to be!  The rest, as they say, is history!