Audrey Truschke > Quotes

“Aurangzeb’s contemporaries included such kings as Charles II of England, Louis XIV of France, and Sultan Suleiman II of the Ottoman Empire. No one asserts that these historical figures were ‘good rulers’ under present-day norms because it makes little sense to assess the past by contemporary criteria. The aim of historical study is something else entirely.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“Akbar took Brahmins to task for misrepresenting Hindu texts to lower castes and hoped that translating Sanskrit texts into Persian would prompt these (in his opinion) arrogant leaders to reform their ways.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“The Sanskrit Brihatsamhita, written perhaps in the sixth century, warns, ‘If a Shiva linga, image, or temple breaks apart, moves, sweats, cries, speaks, or otherwise acts with no apparent cause, this warns of the destruction of the king and his territory.’ Acting on this premise that religious images held political power, Hindu kings targeted one another’s temples beginning in the seventh century, regularly looting and defiling images of Durga, Ganesha, Vishnu, and so forth. They also periodically destroyed each other’s temples. Some Hindu kings even commissioned Sanskrit poetry to celebrate and memorialize such actions.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“Aurangzeb was a man of his times, not ours.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“For instance, detractors trumpet that Aurangzeb destroyed certain temples without acknowledging that he also issued many orders protecting Hindu temples and granted stipends and land to Brahmins. They denounce that he restricted the celebration of Holi without mentioning that he also clamped down on Muharram and Eid festivities. They omit altogether that Aurangzeb consulted with Hindu ascetics on health matters and employed more Hindus in his administration than any prior Mughal ruler by a substantial margin.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“None but the Creator has knowledge of the future; If anyone says he knows it, do not believe him! —Baba Musafir (d. 1714), a Naqshbandi Sufi saint, speaking about the war of succession among Aurangzeb’s sons”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“O King, may the world bow to your command; May lips drip with expressions of thanks and salutations; Since it is your spirit that watches over the people, Wherever you are, may God watch over you! —Chandar Bhan Brahman, a Hindu Persian-medium poet in Aurangzeb’s employ”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“MURAD asks: If one or two volumes ofbooks were sent that are recommended by [Akbar’s] exalted mind and might promote the intellect and discourage blind imitation [taqlīd], they would enhance my education. AKBAR replies: In the marshland of taqlīd such a book is rarely found. But for [Murad] the translation of the Mahābhārat, which is a strange tale and has recently become available, has been sent.147”
― Audrey Truschke, Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court

“All [the inhabitants of this land] believe in the unity of God. As for the honor they show to images made of stone, wood, and other things that idiots consider idol worship, it is not so. The writer of this felicitous book has sat conversing with many wise and righteous men, and it is clear that they fashion images of some who have approached the court of the Purified One as aids to prevent the mind from wandering and render worship of God indispensable. In all their practices and customs, they seek favor from the world-illuminating sun and count the holy essence of incomparable God as higher than action.75”
― Audrey Truschke, Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court

“[Ellora] is one of the finely crafted marvels of the real, transcendent Artisan [i.e., God]. —Aurangzeb describing the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist temples at Ellora”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“Badāūnī unhappily attests that Brahmans introduced Sanskrit works that predicted Akbar’s rise to power as Vishnu’s avatar: Cheating imposter Brahmans . . . told [the king] repeatedly that he had descended to earth, like Ram, Krishan, and other infidel rulers, who, although lords of the world, had taken on human form to act on earth. For the sake of flattery, they presented Sanskrit poetry [shir-hā-yi hindi] allegedly uttered by tongues of sages that predicted a world-conquering padshah would arise in India. He would honor Brahmans, protect cows, and justly rule the earth. They wrote such nonsense on old papers and presented it to [the emperor]. He believed every word.65”
― Audrey Truschke, Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court

“The king then ordered his officials: ‘You must see that nobody unlawfully disturbs the Brahmins or other Hindus of that region, so that they might remain in their traditional place and pray for the continuance of the Empire.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“Aurangzeb Shah is a brave and powerful king’ (mardano aur mahabali aurangasahi naranda).”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“I wish you to recollect that the greatest conquerors are not always the greatest kings. The nations of the earth have often been subjugated by mere uncivilized barbarians, and the most extensive conquests have, in a few short years, crumbled to pieces. He is the truly great king who makes it the chief business of his life to govern his subjects with equity. —Aurangzeb,”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“For Aurangzeb, Raghunatha’s religious identity was irrelevant to his memorialized status as a great officer of the Mughal Empire.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“Mughal kingship had long been guided by the blunt Persian expression ‘Ya takht ya tabut’ (either the throne or the grave).”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“but Akbar had been engaged in a power struggle with traditional Islamic leaders and certain Sufi communities since the 1570s.141 Akbar clashed with these groups on a range of issues, including tax laws, his numerous marriages (far beyond the Islamic upper limit of four), and the proper character of an Islamic empire in India. The members of this opposition tended to espouse a more conservative interpretation of Islam than Akbar. Perhaps more important, they desired to maintain direct influence in the expanding Mughal Empire. Akbar soon began to curtail the authority of such Islamic leaders by claiming an enhanced definition of the bounds of his own sovereignty and even persecuted certain individuals directly.142 By the mid-1580s, the Mughal king had formulated a decisive answer to this imperial problem: Akbar removed powers previously exercised by the ulama, notably their prerogative to define the boundaries of Islamic knowledge, and invested them in himself as emperor.143 Alluding to this ongoing power struggle, Abū al-Faz̤l declares that Akbar will no longer allow the supposedly learned of Islam undeserved authority. Instead, the king offers himself as a superior replacement.”
― Audrey Truschke, Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court

“We ought to repress our feelings and live in harmony.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“It makes little sense to assess the past by contemporary criteria. The aim of historical study is something else entirely. Historians seek to comprehend people on their own terms, as products of particular times and places, and explain their actions and impacts.”
― Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth

“Knowledge of history is not found in the water that you drink, nor in your blood that runs through your veins. Historical knowledge is gained by long, intense, laborious training.”
― Audrey Truschke