International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 4, April 2016
Rukhsana Iftikhar
Abstract
Cultural
studies construct and theorize those
forces around which the whole human life revolves. A few indicators of culture that exist in society
are literature, poetry, architecture,
visual arts etc. It became a discipline from 1964 to onward. Cultural studies combine every aspect
of society by relating social norms,
customs, tradition, religion, language,
food and arts with politics and economy. Sometimes tools of culture used by the power to meet the
political ends. Indian culture is multi
dimensional having various shades of religious
identities like Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. These identities played a vital role in the
development of Indian culture. Indian
culture has its own significant from ancient
times. In the age of empire king Asoka patronized Buddhism as state religion and introduced a unique
culture. The Mughal king Akbar
(1556-1605) also made an effort. Akbar successfully involved every community of India and his
neighboring countries in formation of
the culture of his Empire. He used every
method to crystallize a unified Indian culture which was highlighted by each historian of Medieval
India. It is proven that the emergence
of this culture through power but the
existence of this was even today testifying its popularity among masses. Akbar also delayed the process of conflict
through cultural synthesis at least for
his generations. This paper highlights
the dynamics of material culture in age of King
Akbar. It explores the involvement of different communities in the culture making and they respect the
cultural norms of each other. It
identifies that cultural synthesis avoid conflict in traditional society like India.
Index
Terms—Hindustan, Ain-i-Akbari, Urdu, Hindi,
Hamzanama, Bakawal, Ganga.
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I.
INTRODUCTION
Indian
civilization is considered one of the ancient
civilizations having unique culture. This culture is the result of various forces like Greek, Sakas,
Khushans, Huns, and eventually Muslim
operating from many millenniums. They
contributed in the evolution of its culture. Therefore this region is endowed with a dynamic culture
which has exceptional vitality. Indian
culture is amalgamation of Hinduism,
Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. The interaction among different communities provided a vast
spectrum to flourish Hindustani Culture
as Jawarlal Nehru commented, "Two
close systems, each of them has its own strong roots, could develop a healthy relations."[1]
This union gave birth to a new language
called "Urdu".
II.
LITERARY WORKS
The
works of Amir Khusru, Malik Muhammad Jayasi, Ras Khan and Tulsi Das were the incredible
creations of this new language.[2] For
three centuries (1200-1500) the intellect of
India was not recognized properly. Mughal King Akbar gave a literary stimulus to literature and the men
of literary taste. Persian became the
court language. He initiated historical
works for preservation of his dynastical record. Being illiterate king fourteen historical works
were written in his period expect one
(Muntakh-bul- Tawarikh of Mulla Abul
Qadir Badaoni) all got royal favor. The work of translation made their mark on the pages of history. The
Lilwati, most excellent work of Indian
mathematicians on arithmetic and Nal
Daman translated by Fayzi, a well known work on
Astronomy Tajak was translated by Mukammal khan of Gujarat. Mirza Abd-ur- Rahim translated
Babur's memoirs from Turkish to Persian
language. The history of Kashmir has
been translated into Persian by Shah Muhammad
Shahabadi. The Mujam -a- Baldan, work on town and countries translated from Arabic to Persian
in the supervision of Qasim Beg and
Shiekh Manawar. Maulana Sheri translated
Haribas, the story of Lord Krishna from Hindi to Persian. [3].
Akbar’s
reign is marked as new epoch in the literary
history of India. Abu Fazal enumerates seventy five poets who came to India during the time of his
majesty. He wrote, "The inspiring
nature of his majesty is a strongly drawn to the composing of Hindi and Persian poetry".
Sometimes he composed verses in
Persian,
- In Majnu's neck is not a chain to restrain of his madness:
- Love hath put the arm of friendship round his neck [4].
- Akbar learned Diwan -a-Hafiz by heart. Once his courtier made some mistake he corrected his noble in such a manner.
- In such fashion comes my glorious horsemen o Fighani.
- Akbar patronized number of poets came from far wide. Most of them migrated from Persia. Taqat-a-Akbari gives a list of eighty one poets and Muntakh-bul Tawarikh mentioned 168 poets in the court of King Akbar [5].
A.
Painting
In
the field of fine arts Mughal dynasty has a richest contribution. Akbar was the founder of
painting studio in Middle Ages although
his ancestors brought Bihzad (painter)
with them from central Asia. There was a galaxy of painters in the court of Akbar from Iran (Mir Sayyid
Ali, Khwaja Abud Samad), Khursan,
Bukhara and India (Daswant&Basawan).
The illustrated copies of Hamzanama and Zafarnama, Razmnama, Ramayana, Nal Daman,
Kalilah Damnah, Ayar Danish were
prepared under this painting studio. It
also led to the development of sub styles Rajput and Phari which were greatly influenced by
ancient styles of Indian paintings
[6].
B.
Calligraphy
In
the field of calligraphy Akbar excelled to the glory. Babur,the founder of Mughal dynasty
invented,Khat-i Babari. Akbari followed
the foot step of his forefathers. Fayzi wrote
the interpretation of Quran without dots. Shah Mahmud of Nishapuri, Mahmmad Ishaq, Abd-ur- Rahim of
Khwarizm , Muhammad Husain of Tabriz,
Miza Ibrahim of Isfahan devoted their
lives for art of calligraphy. Abul Fazal (court
Historian of Akbar) gave a long list of various calligraphists who migrated into India and got the favor of
his majesty in art of calligraphy. They
brought perfection this art. Akbar
appointed these painters and calligraphists during (1570-1585) who established Mughal schools of
paintings and calligraphy [7].
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C.
Architectural Styles
Architectural
styles of Akbar's age were the fusion of
Hindu, Transoxia, Iran, Afghan and Arabic which are reflected through the fort of Agra, Fatehpur
Sikri, Arab Sarai, Ajmer Fort, Allahabad
fort and Lahore Fort. Many architectural
styles were influenced by secular art like
Hinduism and Buddhism. The Raniwas and temple attached to the queen palace indicates his liberalism
in accommodation of other believers. [8]
His period was the region of secular
architecture. Akbar was impressed by
Buddhist architecture. The concept of arches and doom was taken from Buddhist buildings. The first
reference of doom in India was of a
Buddhist stupa called Sanchi. The lotus flower
art was very much in use especially in blue color to decorate the arches of building during his period is
pure form of Buddhist art. The arches
were taken as a symbol and his power
symbolized absolute power of Buddha which is
explained in their teachings of Tri Ratna. The absolute power comes from the top arch (Buddha) then to his
disciples or Dharma and then the
administration of Sangha. The railings
in buildings of that age were the Buddhist style. Buland Darwaza is a master piece of Akbar age
highlights his religious broad
mindedness [9].
D.
Music
Abul
Fazal provided a list of 36 musicians in the court of Akbar and Mian Tansan of Gwalior was legend
among them. Akbar awarded him 200,000 on
the eve of his first performance. Music
as a talisman of knowledge Akbar
appointed many musicians from different origins including Hindus, Irani ,Turani and Kashmirs. Females
who were performed in harem and private
assemblies of Mughals, Akbar gave them a
reasonable name, "Kanchains". Mann
Singh's wife Mrignayni was expert in music. Ain-i-Akbari mentioned those local instruments which were
used in the court performances. [10] The
celebrations of fairs and festivals were
important regarding his policies to involve
every community in the social life of India. Mughal celebrated Nauroz,a festival of purely Iran
on the eve of new year. Akbar converted
it into khushroz (joyful day). He followed
the custom of Parsees who held banquets on those days, the names of which coincided with the
names of month. He made Holi, one of the
ancient festivals of Hindu an event of
official celebration. Abul Fazal narrated, on this day many cows were ornamented and presented before his
majesty. He also celebrated, Rakhi,
Dipawli, Deshra and Vasant due to his
alliance with Hindus [11].
E.
Fashion and Diet
His
ascetic taste reflected through the style of costumes. Father Monserrate wrote about the dress of
Akbar" his majesty wore clothes of
silk beautifully embroidered in gold.
His majesty clock came down to his hose and boots covered his ankles completely and he also wear pearls
and gold jewelry". [12] Father
Rudolf found Akbar in a Hindu dhoti the "finest
and most delicate silk falling to his heels and there gathered by bangles covered with
pearls". [13] Akbar also changed
the names of several garments. This show his
predilection for Hindu terms like Jama was replaced by Sarbgati (a dress covered the whole body),
Izar (yar pirhan) trouser, nimtana
(tanzeb) jacket, burqa (Chitrguptia) veil,
Kula (sis-sobha) cap, patka (katzeb) a cloth for loin, shawl (pargarm), pay -afzar(charndharn) shoes.
Akbar adopted different colors for
different days of week in respect of seven
colors of seven plants [14].
As
far as the matter of food is concerned Mughal had a proper establishment of kitchen under the
supervision on Mir Bakawal. Akbar didn't
like meat and took it occasionally to
"conform to the spirit of the age". The days of abstinence (sufiyana) indicates that Akbar was not in
favor of slaughtering animals and
killing them for the purpose of food.
Akbar used to commence his meal with milk and curd. Fruits for his kitchen were imported from Turan,
Kabul,Qandahar and Kashmir. Akbar took
keen interest in bakery. Mughla cuisine
was the mixture of Central Asian and Indian food. [15]
Mughals
were in habit of taking intoxication. Akbar was
sober in his drinking parties but it is said that once Akbar lost control and saved in the nick of time by Raja
Maan Singh when under the influence of
liquor he tried to demonstrate his
bravery in Rajput fashion [16] Father Ridolof confirmed, "Akbar used to take post, preparation of
opium, diluted and modified by various
mixtures of spices". [17] He also
enjoyed Tobacco in spite of his physician's advice that it was not good for his health. Portuguese
introduced Tobacco in Indian sub-
continent. A separate department of water and ice (Abdar-Khanah) was maintained for the
Emperor. Akbar used "Gangajal"
for drinking purposes. When Akbar resided
in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri , Gangajal brought from Soron ( Uttar Pradesh). When he made Lahore his
capital then water was supplied from
Haridwar. The water of Jumna and Chenab
used for cooking. Ice was the luxury of his age only available for the kings and some of his
nobles because it was brought directly
from Panhan the northern mountains [18].
F.
Recreation Activities
Emperor
spent some of his time in those activities which gave him physical strength and relaxation.
Chugan was popular in Persia; Akbar
revived this game in India. He invented
fiery balls (illuminated balls) to play this game in dark nights. He also added splendor in this
game. He had knobs of silver and gold in
the chugan sticks. The most famous play
ground was prepared in capital city. [19] Akbar
was also fond of boxing. He kept large number of Turani and Iranian boxers in court. Akbar ordered,
wrestling to be held every day in his
presence in the court. Akbar invented a special
kind of hunting exercise called Qumargaha which
became very popular in Mughal India. A special amphitheatre for animal fighting was prepared
under the command of Akbar. Emperor was
fond of elephant fighting and sometimes
he personally took part in it. It was generally
held twice a week on Tuesday and Saturday for the amusement of the King. It was quite visible
from the balcony of royal palace over
the Darshani gate in Agra fort. [20] This
practice was common in Roman Empire to see the fight of animals as well as human in colossal.
G.
Alliances
Akbar's
marriages with Rajput princess were considered turning point of his policy of
peace and stability of his Empire. His
marriage with Raja Bharmal of Amer (Jaipur,
Rajasthan) set a trend in this regard. Akbar gave her the title (Maryum-u-Zamni) and she enjoyed the freedom
to follow her own religious doctrines.
She used to pray in her temple still
visible in the interior of Fatehpur Sikri. Later on Raja Kalyan Mal of Bikaner offered his niece to
Akbar. He also accepted the proposal of
the daughter of Rawal Hai Rai of
Jaislmer. These relationship with locals consolidated Mughal Empire I. H. Quershi commented, "Akbar
secured three generations of Mughls
against Raj put power through his
policy." [21] He also defined some rules and regulations for marriages. He didn't like cousin marriages
and four marriages for common man as
Islam permitted Muslim as it ruins man's
health and disturb the peace of home. He was influenced by the idea of single marriage in Christianity.
He was against child marriages that are
why he declared the age of marriage 12
years for girls and [14] years for boys. He established an office under Tu-i-begi to inquire the age of
bride and groom before entering into the
contract of marriage. Akbar holds a high
opinion of the chastity of Hindu women" that in spite of being sometime neglected, are flaming torches
of love and fellowship". [22] He disapproved high dowries but he also admitted that, “high dowries is a prevent
against rash divorce". Akbar is
said to have ordained that a village officer
presented two coconuts, one their own behalf and other on the behalf of the Mughal Emperor [23].
Akbar
appointed a number of Hindus on the highest post of his admistrative system. Most of the Akbar
officers were foreigners mostly from
Persia and Afghans. But a fair number of
his officers from Hindus like well-known Raja
Todar Mall as his finance minister, Raja Mann Singh(C-in C) of Mughal Army. Abul fazal disclosed this
fact there were 51 Hindu ministers among
415 mansbdars of Akbar. [24] Emperor Akbar is bitterly criticized on his
religious policies. Every historian made
it point to marginalize the personality
of Akbar. This new religion Tauhid-a-Illahi introduced some customs of greetings each other, celebration
of birthdays, distribution of alms and
charity on specific days, taking non
vegetarian meals on occasions etc. Scholars have developed a consensus that Akbar's religious policy was
the outcome of his discussions in
Abbat-Khana (place of worship). He invited the religious scholars of Hinduism,
Buddhism, Parsees and Christianity.
Akbar had cordial relations with
communities of India He invited father Rudalfo, Aquaviva, Antonio de Monserrate, Farancisco Enriques
from Goa. He appointed them for the
education of his childrens Salim and
Murad Murad. [25] Akbar also followed the ritual of Zoroastrian doctrine. Abul Fazal made special
arrangements in the court for fire day
and night as in the court of Persian
kings, "fire is the manifestation of God”. He used to participate in a special custom of Hom in his
youth show his affection towards Hindu
princess of his Harem. He worshipped sun
and fire as he ordered to all of courtiers to
stand up when the lights and lamps of his palace were lightened. He made Hindu mark on his forehead
as a sign of luck. Reading and writing
of Arabic was forbidden. Astronomy,
Mathematics, Medicines, History, Mathematics
and Philosophy were given preference upon other studies [26].
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Akbar
legalized many things during his region like selling and purchase of wine for the sake of disease.
He channelized prostitution through
office of Darogah and maintained a register
of Shaitanpura (devil villa). [27] He regularly shaved his beard due to his liaison with Hindus. At
the time of natural catastrophes parents
were allowed to sell their children in
the markets but they could get them back after the payment to their masters. No one was allowed
to interfere in the religions of others.
If Hindu women fell in love with Muslim
man she should not forced to change her religion. All Indians were allowed to build their places of
worship like churchs, temples and fire
houses. [28] Some of the etiquettes and
manners had also changed under the influence of this religious pluralism. Kornish and Taslim
became the part of court's appearances.
Akbar insisted that Taslim should be
repeated thrice in the court. He also introduced Sajjdah especially for
those who were his disciples but this was not
practice in public assemblies but in private meetings. The practice of King's appearance in public
(Jharoka Darshan) was also in vogue. The
motive behind this custom was people should
start their daily doings to have a look at the auspicious face of King. [28] Akbar religious views did
not extend beyond the year of 1596. As
his son commentated, his father died as
a Muslim. The spirit behind his religious policy was toleration and his subject remained passive.
This spirit died out after his death.
III.
CONCLUSION
Zaheer-ud-din
Babur founded the rule of Mughal dynasty
but Akbar policy of consolidation was materialized through his cultural cohesion. A traditional society
like India he made it possible to avoid
conflict by patronizing every religious
community of his Empire. Many historians alleged him as an atheist by criticizing his religious policy.
But his age was an amalgamation of
various cultures. Akbar celebrated their
festivals, adulated their living style, adopted their manners just to develop liaison. His cultural
mechanism sorted out their problem of
clashes. On the basis of their religious or
ethnic identities Akbar's rule presented a matchless example in the history of kingship.
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Manuscript received October 24, 2014; revised December 26, 2014. Rukhsana Iftikhar is with the Department of History & Pakistan Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan (e-mail: rukhsana234@yahoo.com).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2016.V6.660 293
Rukhsana Iftikhar is an assistant professor of Department of History and Pakistan Studies at University of the Punjab, Lahore Pakistan. She received a Ph.D. in 2008, and did post doctoral research from 2011 to 2012 at Royal Holloway, University of London. U.K. Her field of specialization is Indian history. Dr. Iftikhar has 12 years experience in the field of education and research. She has published 14 articles in the national and international journals. She has presented her paper in Istanbul, India and America in the conferences of the history, recently her paper titled “Colonial legacies: Women education under colonial rule received a certificate merit in an international conference held in Rome. Her areas of research interest are medieval and post colonial India.