Page 46 - All About History - Issue 27-15

Mysteries of the Taj Mahal

The first Mughal
emperor Babur

The Rise of
the Mughals
The Mughals looked back over 400 years,
to Mongolia in the early 13th century, when
Genghis Khan was on his way to build
the greatest land empire ever. His realm
was inherited and doubled in size by his
grandson, Kublai Khan, nominal ruler of
one-fifth of all humanity. Less than a century
after Kublai’s death, the Mongol Empire
collapsed, but it inspired another would-
be world conqueror, Timur, often known
in English as Tamburlaine. Though Turkic,
Islamic and born in today’s Uzbekistan, with
nothing Mongolian about him, he dreamed
of emulating Genghis, but died in 1405 while
invading China. Five generations later, when
Timur’s empire vanished, his descendant
Babur fled to north India and founded
the Mughul (or Moghul) dynasty, its name
being an echo of its tenuous Mongol roots.
Babur’s grandson Akbar made it India’s
dominant power, uniting all north India in a
model of peace, sumptuous art and religious
tolerance. The empire was inherited in 1628
by his grandson, Khurram, better known by
his title Shah Jahan.

Mumtaz
Mahal

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