𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦

Ira Mukhoty comes from a Long list of History writers who have produced some highly read books on Indian theme. This list includes glamorous array of writers from William Dalrymple, stretching along with Manu S. Pillai, Anirudh Kanisetti etc... While William Dalrymple enjoys a wider readership and commands respect as a Historian, not many of those in the array are traditional Historians. On that note, Ira is one who is not a trained historian but has a Wonderful Eye to the Facts and Narrations built around findings off other historians.

Thankfully, unlike the latest mass heart throb, Kanisetti, she does not ride on wave of sensationalism. Instead her writing is much more detailed and balanced, so much so that the amount of information that pours out of the reading makes one almost dizzy. Her writing does not offer instant gratification to the reader. But what it lacks in sensation, it more than enough makes up with detailed and Nuanced narration sans any bias. Whatever it is, it is such a relief to read with the confidence that nothing here comes from the hells Kitchen of an Whatsapp university or Manufactured Charnel Houses that feed those hells Kitchen. She makes sure of this by staying clear of hyperbolic and unconfirmed claims. To her credit, her sources are so diverse that starts from the 16th Century sources like Abu’l Fazl, Jesuit Priests who visited Akbar's Court, Rajput Sources etc. to current day Historians like Truschke.

The Book is divided into 6 major sections.

Expectedly she starts off with Timur and his connections to Babur, who is the first of the Great Mughals. Slowly she explains how Humayun takes on a turbulent Legacy and is so short lived.

As the narration settles down into Akbar, the subsequent sections are very elaborate on Art, religion, Politics, War, Akbar's relationship with Women in his life. Through these windows we get a peek into the world that was being wrought by extraordinary human being, Akbar.

Akbar understood and practiced Secularism way before the term was known to larger world, right from the time he started asserting his free will. Compared to that, 16th Century Europe was in throes of Catholic and Protestant wars. Middle east was firmly in the Grasp of the Ottoman Empire Politically and Religiously, being briskly painted into single religious canvas.

Conversely Mughal India defined and built by Akbar was a complete contradiction to this. Yet as Akbar rightly envisaged, rolled on to become a much more cohesive entity.

"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒂𝒋𝒑𝒖𝒕, 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑻𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒊 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆. 𝑩𝒚 1580, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒂𝒋𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 43, 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 272, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 47 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏, 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒔 44, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑻𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒊 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 67. 𝑰𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅."

"𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉. 𝑰𝒏 1615, 𝒂𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑴. 𝑬𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒏, ‘𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒔’ 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒂𝒕 120 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒔, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒚-𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰𝒓𝒂𝒏’."

It is almost unbelievable how a Child of 13 years, who was separated from the parents at very young age, who was raised in a state of Captivity, ransomed for political power and who was not educated in a formal sense, could think in such a grand scale and build an sophisticated enterprise that withstood centuries is almost pre-ordained!

While one might slowly read the pages, the picture that evolves is one that dazzles and stuns. How Akbar Built the empire brick by brick, not just as a Political Landmass but as a Cohesive political reality with such a diverse set of people is breathtaking.

It touches all the usual fabled elements in Akbar's Lore like the Akbar-Birbal, Jodha-Akbar, Akbar-Tansen, Salim-Anarkali and lays bare the facts from the fiction that has been spun into popular imagination. This book takes apart all such myths. In the end Akbar devoid of myth, alone remains standing shiny against the collective lure of all those myths.

But what sets the book apart is the way in which complex details presented that go to show what a Magnificent Human Being and visionary Akbar was. An emperor beyond Compare, a perfect Human, a Father, a Son and friend.

If nothing else, for this reason the book deserves the effort in reading through all those details which might naturally interest an academician, but might not so easily for a casual reader.

#bookimpression #premsjourney #historical