Draw Breath

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-->Michael Wood's excellent BBC documentary The Story of India whets the appetite for further information on a rich and fascinating country. For someone coming to Indian history for the first time, I would recomend A Traveller's History of India by Sinharaaja Tammita-Delgoda. Despite being aimed at a prospective visitor to India, it is more detailed history than travelogue. Also, although the British colonial period is covered, it represents just a chapter in the book which starts the historical journey at 1500 BC and ends with a discussion of the present unrest in both India and Pakistan.

Though outbreaks of strife and power struggles punctuate India's past, the country went through long periods of stability and blossoming creativity. One character who paid a part in this was the enigmatic Mughal leader Akbar (1542–1605). Although he never learned to read or write, his son Jahangir (who unfortunately turned against him in later years) reports:

Although he was illiterate, so much became clear to him through constant intercourse with the learned and the wise in his conversations. He counted his wakefulness at night as so much added to his life.

Akbar's greatest achievement was in creating an inclusive empire, one in which all religions were tolerated and encouraged. Many places of worship had both Muslim and Hindu elements. Akbar also loved the arts and the Hindi epic Ramcharitmanas was written dring his reign.

Unfortunately, after Akbar's death, many of the interwining strands started to unravel. It is hard to imagine his cultural vision of society being achieved today.