By: Dr Mohammad Aleem, Editor, ICN Group
NEW DELHI: It was a sheer pleasure to watch the play, Sons of Babur, written by Salman Khurshid — a prolific writer and a versatile personality. Since a long time ago, I wanted to watch this play quite eagerly, and for many obvious reasons. First, why has the author named it “Sons of Babur” after the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Babur? What does it mean to say like that? Was the naming of the play a deliberate effort on the part of the author? And what did it reveal ultimately, in direct, indirect and allegorical sense?
I was a history student during my graduation days. At that time, I was not matured enough to go into the depth of the characters of the Mughal rulers. For me, they were just a few historical names associated with a long era of rule to India. I only got to know their names, their lineage, their numerous battles, their ruling periods, their fights among themselves to usurp the power and their love lore and folk tales as how the world’s seventh wonder, Taj Mahal, came into existence and how Anarkali (perhaps a fictitious character) fell in love with Jahangir Salim, son of the great emperor, Akbar, and so on and so forth.
But this was surely a unique opportunity to revisit all those forgotten characters and rulers of their own glorious time who are now an integral part of our medieval history. Some of them are still very much alive in our memories due to many strange reasons like plentiful misuse of the name of Babur as slang and ‘sons of Babur’ for Muslims to rebuke and demean them by the right-wing groups and political parties.
But as the play unfolded and started transporting me many centuries back in the past with its intriguing stories, it started creating due interest in all those events and incidents which were very much a central part of the almost six hundred years of rule of the Mughal emperors.
This play is not only a bunch of some incidents woven around the Mughal rulers, but also explores the present day’s conflict with great subtlety. The theme of the play gets interestingly explored by a group of thinking and enthusiastic students, especially, one Rudra, a Bengali fellow and researcher of history. He wanted to know about the Mughal emperors deeply: how they came in India; what was their purpose to invade; what they achieved, and finally, how this great empire came to a tragic end with the incarceration of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was a poet by heart more than a capable ruler? It shows how inefficient and incompetent sons and heirs of the Mughal dynasts finally ruined this great legacy of kingdom in India.
Most of the rulers wasted major part of their time only on the battleground and whiling away the rest of their time in self-indulgence and in living those victories as sumptuously and opulently as they could. They couldn’t spare time to think about the welfare and well-being of the people as we sadly find these days with the present crop of politicians and modern day rulers in the name of democracy and so-called freedom.
One particular incident strengthens this belief very much when the last effective but the most controversial Mughal ruler Aurangzeb became very old; he was 92. He writes some letters to his inefficient sons and laments the futility of wasting precious time in wars and wanderings in the length and breadth of his vast and undivided country, especially, in Deccan in the Southern region. He says that it would have been better if he had invested significant time and energy in making the life of his people happy and contented.
Bahadur Shah Zafar looks all the time lamenting and cursing his fate. When he took charge, the empire was passing through the most tragic and vulnerable phase. The kingdom’s strength had been badly eroded and enfeebled by the British, which had very deceptively and shrewdly dethroned him and consolidated their power base, and from there onwards they ruled for further two hundred years, unchallenged and unquestioned.
The play brings many grave realities of life to the fore. First and foremost, a ruler should divest his best of the energies in benefiting the people whom he or she rules and should be serious about administrative responsibilities. It should not be in any way based on the dynastic politics and interests. It deeply harms the very foundation of any kingdom and power of authority. These Mughals lost their vast empire just due to these very weaknesses.
Secondly, what happened in the past is the legacy of the past and it should not be used to interpret the modern situation and complexities of life as we specially see with today’s right wing political parties and groups while dealing with Muslims. They look hell-bent to erase all memories of the Muslim rulers, more so of Mughals, from the memories and consciousness of the general people of this country. More often than not, they endeavour assiduously to show that these Mughal rulers were not human beings, but demons, who had come to destroy the fairyland of India. However, the truth is just opposite. They came here as a ruler, but lived here as an Indian, practicing the best values of India. And thus, a new culture emerged that we proudly say, Indo-Islamic Culture.
Those who have read history in a right way know that during the Mughal times or even the British time, the whole world’s political situation was governed in the same way and almost by the same method and with the same interests — to snatch the power from others and establish their own rule by hook or by crook. No ethics and human consciousness were involved. Almost the entire world was doing almost the same. Then, why on earth, only Mughals should face such acrimonious charges of debasing and ruining the great legacy of this country? The British harmed more than these Mughals, but hardly have I seen that they get such rebukes and hatreds as these Mughals receive from the Hindu extremist organizations. It clearly shows that they have nothing much to do with the Mughal rulers, but Muslims at large. They see them as villains to depict their own valour or, to put it aptly, to hide their own weaknesses.
I congratulate the author, Salman Khurshid, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court of India and successful politician, for sparing his valuable time from his very busy schedule, to write this play. It is originally written in English, but translated in lucid and flowing Urdu by Atahar Farooqui and directed by today’s most popular young theatre director of Hindi stage, M. Sayeed Alam.
This play has many layers. At one time, it slips into the past and at another, in the present. The technique which has been used to depict the all major Mughal eras is quite good and it helps in carrying the play well. The young researcher’s very inquisitive mind forces him to unearth intriguing details about Mughal rulers through talking and meeting in his sub-conscious mind with the last protagonist of the Mughal dynasty, Bahadur Shah Zafar.
Also, the continuous run of the play is enough to show its vitality, vibrancy as well as its potency as a fine art of literary piece and theatrical achievement.
