Mon, Aug 31, 2015
India (and East India) are not just named after the Indus, its basin with four major rivers ('Punjab' from Greek penta) is also the home region of the subcontinent's oldest civilization, named Harappa after its main city site, contemporary of Pharaonic Egypt and Mesopotamia but more egalitarian, without grand palaces, rather merchant republics confederated in a loose empire. They had Hindu and Buddhist cultures, but were strongly influenced by the sort annexation to the Hellenistic empire of Alexander the Great, resulting in an Indo-Greek culture in suck kingdoms as Gandhara, which were rich on the Silk Road. That wealth would attract many invaders, especially from Central Asia and Afghanistan, which also imported Islam and mainly Persian influence as exemplified by the grand capital Lahore.
Mon, Sep 7, 2015
The Mughals created the most famous and dazzling empire that India has ever seen, from the Taj Mahal to fabulously intricate miniatures of court life. But in the process, did they bring civilisation to India or tear it apart? From the moment the first Mughal emperor Babur arrived from Afghanistan the debate began - were the Mughals imposing their own religion of Islam on a Hindu country, or were they open to the religion and art of the country they were conquering? The artworks the Mughals left behind over their 200-year empire - even the very buildings which have traces of Hindu architecture as well as Muslim - clearly show how this debate played out and Sona Datta traces how this most spectacular of all Indian civilisations also sowed the seeds of discord.