This book by Annemarie Schimmel gives an excellent outline on Culture of Mughals, Religion and ethos of Kings. I really enjoyed this book, because I learnt interesting details about the Mughals. I learnt more on the conflicts between various sects within Islam. It's a quick read.

It seems that the Mughals were extremely wealthy, And had rich literary history. I wonder why it has been brushed aside? I keep asking myself, how did they finance such wealth and people? It takes approx 300 rupees to maintain an elephant per month, 2 rupees for a soldier. You can imagine the opulence.

They seemed to enjoy hunting, poetry expanding their territory and loved artists. I do not see this legacy in the current ethos of Indian culture. However, we must learn from earlier generation to re-invent ourselves.

You will learn more about Indian culture, Muslim legacy. This book doesn't talk about administrative details, financial details. It doesn't talk about the core values of Mughal empire, but you can figure that out from learning the Quran.

But will help you get a broad outline by Mughal Empire. Keep reading, push forward, share your knowledge with like-minded people.

--Deus Vult
Gottfried ( )

This book by Annemarie Schimmel gives an excellent outline on Culture of Mughals, Religion and ethos of Kings. I really enjoyed this book, because I learnt interesting details about the Mughals. I learnt more on the conflicts between various sects within Islam. It's a quick read.

It seems that the Mughals were extremely wealthy, And had rich literary history. I wonder why it has been brushed aside? I keep asking myself, how did they finance such wealth and people? It takes approx 300 rupees to maintain an elephant per month, 2 rupees for a soldier. You can imagine the opulence.

They seemed to enjoy hunting, poetry expanding their territory and loved artists. I do not see this legacy in the current ethos of Indian culture. However, we must learn from earlier generation to re-invent ourselves.

You will learn more about Indian culture, Muslim legacy. This book doesn't talk about administrative details, financial details. It doesn't talk about the core values of Mughal empire, but you can figure that out from learning the Quran.

But will help you get a broad outline by Mughal Empire. Keep reading, push forward, share your knowledge with like-minded people.

--Deus Vult
Gottfried ( )

This is a fascinating subject and therefore it had to be a fascinating book. It helps that it is written by the extraordinarily knowledgeable Annemarie Schimmel. As a prodigy who finished her Doctorate at 19, and as a polyglot who could speak and lecture in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish etc…, Schimmel´s account had to be interesting. Unsurprisingly, she became the first Professor of Indo-Muslim Culture at Harvard. I have particularly liked her accounts of life at the courts and her broader approach to cultural life.

Things that could be better in this book: the translation (several ambiguous sentences), maps (only one with only the obvious places indicated), and a greater sensitivity to the neophyte reader. Schimmel is so comfortable in her command of the subject that she moves backwards and forwards through history assuming we can follow her with ease. ( )