220. Battle of Brothers: The Puritan vs The Mystic (Ep 1)

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The battle of succession that erupted during a severe illness of Shah Jahan is often regarded as one which determined the fate of India. The eldest of Shah Jahan’s sons was Dara Shukoh—the Glory of Darius. Contemporary miniatures show that Dara bore a striking resemblance to his father, and like him he was luxurious in his tastes and refined in his sensibilities. He preferred life at court to the hardships of campaigning; he liked to deck himself in strings of precious stones and belts studded with priceless gems; he wore clothes of the finest silk and from each ear lobe he hung a single pearl of remarkable size. Dara was a tolerant Sufi and composed a study of Hinduism and Islam, ‘The Mingling of Two Oceans’, which stressed the affinities of the two faiths and what he believed to be the Vedic origins of the Quran. Then there was Aurangzeb, unloved by his father, a bitter and bigoted puritan, as intolerant as he was grimly dogmatic. He was a ruthlessly talented general and a brilliantly calculating strategist, but entirely lacked the winning charm of his predecessors. Listen as William and Anita are joined by Supriya Gandhi, author of The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India, to discuss the brothers who fought for the crown, and with it the future of India. Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [email protected] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Becki Hills Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community.
0:06.7	Discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast, add free listening and a weekly newsletter,
0:12.0	sign up to Empire Club at www.empowerpod.ukuk.com.
0:32.5	Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnans.
0:34.3	And me, William Durampal.
0:37.5	We've been having just such a roller coaster ride with the story of the novels.
0:39.6	And thank you so much for all of your kind comments.
0:42.7	It's lovely to know that you're enjoying the series as much as you are.
0:47.6	We left off with a broken-hearted, turned white overnight, Shah Jahar,
0:51.6	its hair turning white, his love gone, his heart broken,
0:56.7	and the memory of the love of his life, Montaaz Mahal, being raised from the ground in this white mausoleum that today is the path for all travellers to India,
1:02.4	the Taj Mahal, and that was great fun talking about that. But we take up the reins, we sort of left
1:07.4	you on a little bit of a cliffhanger, that the death of that love also heralds,
1:14.5	great building, but also the start of some rather turbulent times in the empire.
1:19.4	And we're going to pick up those reigns right now with a superb, fantastic guest that Willie
1:24.1	cannot contain himself over his excitement that we've managed to get her on.
1:28.0	Supriya Gandhi is with us, author of The Emperor Who Never Was Dara Shoko in Mughal India, and amongst
1:34.9	other things, a very esteemed academic. I'm going to hand over to Willie because he's going
1:38.5	to do it really, I mean, Sapriya, to fasten your seatbelt. It's going to be rather embarrassing
1:41.6	fanboy moment for you. Go on, Willie. Off
1:45.0	you go. Supriya is an old friend. How old were we first met, Supriya, an old Delhi? Probably 16 or 17.
1:52.0	16 or 17. And I was 24 or 25. This is now 20 something years ago. And I was just finished
	...

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