SIR ANDREW WINGATE, K.C.I.E., ON INDIA. 



61 



Mohammedan contempt. He was curious as to Christianity 

 and encouraged Jesuit fathers from Goa. To the Sikhs he 

 gave the site of the Golden Temple at Amritsar. Akbar went 

 beyond British neutralit}^ and proposed to unite all sects in one 

 eclectic faith, of which he would be the infallible head, but he 

 permitted no persecution and sought to be the impartial king 

 of all his subjects. 



The renown of the Moguls is due primarily to the character 

 of Akbar for tolerance and sympathy, and secondly to the magnifi- 

 cence and exquisite taste of their buildings. From Akbar to 

 Aurangzeb they were remarkable men. They lost their power 

 owing to the relapse of Aurangzeb to the fierceness of Moham- 

 medan bigotry. So far was this carried, that Aurangzeb, who 

 was a Sunni, destroyed the Shia kings of the Deccan, including 

 Bijapur, and thus opened the vvay for the rise of the Marathas. 

 Naturally, Aurangzeb had lost the support of the Hindus. 



Aurangzeb died near Dowlatabad in 1707, broken hearted. 

 The huge empire quickly fell to pieces. In 1724 the Nizams 

 of Hyderabad founded their house. Oudh and Bengal both 

 became inde})endent Mohammedan kinordoms. The Rohillas 

 established themselves in Rohilkhand. The Brahman Peshwas 

 ruled the Deccan. while Gwalior, Indore and Baroda rose iiito 

 States. 



The canker of the later Moguls came from their domestic 

 life — drink and sensuality — so that sons rebelled against their 

 fathers and then fought savagely for the succession, the victor 

 usually destroying the seed royal. Even in such courts there 

 are instances of wives who, like Esther, commanded respect. 

 The most familiar is that of Shahjahan. He married Mumtaz 

 Mahal, niece of the celebrated Nurjahan, whu had exercised 

 so much power over his father, Jahangir. Between 1613 and 1631 

 Mumtaz Mahal bore him fourteen children. She died, aged 39, 

 and her body was taken to Agra, which was the capital till the 

 Court moved to Delhi in 1648. The Taj, begun in 1632 and 

 finished in 1653, was raised by her husband to her memory. 

 After her death, bigotry and lust debased Shahjahan, till his 

 son Aurangzeb in 1658 imprisoned him in Agra Fort, where he 

 died eight years later. 



The Taj, its pure loveliness pointing upwards, broadbased on 

 family affection, is India's testmony to the value of her women. 

 India's wives and mothers have protected the sanctity of the 

 home and the purity of family life. They have risen superior 



