Mughal emperor’s tent gets first spring clean after 350 years.
Posted On: May 14th, 2017 at 12:20
India
A 350-year-old tent, thought to have been the royal tent of emperor Shah Jahan – the man who built the Taj Mahal – is now receiving its first ever clean.
As high as 13 feet (4.3 metres), the tent was carried on long journeys and was used as a travelling palace, and is one of the largest tents that existed in the world prior to the 19th Century.
The Mughals were a combination of many cultures and imported their bizarre mix of inhumane brutality and kind tolerance into India when they moved south from Afghanistan in the 16th Century. Although the origin of the Mughals is debated – central Asia is about as definite as we can be – their main language was Persian. Islamic in religion, the Mughals controlled almost the whole of India at their height, and brought about peace through brutality and integration – a method first used by the Romans. Today, India is still reeling from the Islamic invasions that diluted its Hindu empires and created division amongst its population, resulting in the creation of the Islamic states of Pakistan and Bangladesh during the badly thought out British partition of 1947.
This tent is an important part of Indian history, but it is steeped in blood, injustice and genocide. Like most pieces of history, we tend to view the good and not the bad – the incredible building projects that the Mughals undertook are some of the finest pieces of architecture anywhere in the world, and of course the Taj Mahal is the perfect example. Without Mughal buildings India would hold a completely different place in today’s world. So it is quite fitting that since the Mughals built some of the best architecture ever created by man, one of their perishable creations has also remained intact.
