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During the sixth century the Gupta Empire collapsed under the repeated attacks of the White Huns (perhaps related to the Huns who plagued the Roman Empire during the fifth century) India again entered a period of political disorder; the country became divided into small warring kingdoms. Waves of foreign invaders again entered the land; but as in the past, Hinduism absorbed these foreign elements into Indian society. However, the history of India took a dramatic turn when northern India fell under the domination of Muslims who brought with them a religion and culture as strong as Hinduism.
After years of constant raids, Muslim warriors conquered much of northern India, where they established a Muslim kingdom in 1206 near the city of Delhi. Almost immediately a conflict arose between the Muslim and Hindu elements within Indian society. This was a struggle not only between two religions, but between two distinct ways of line. The Hindus believed in many gods, but the Muslims acknowledged only one.
The Hindus followed the rigid caste system while the Muslims believed in the equality of all men before their god, Allah.
Although Muslim control of northern India ended at the close of the fourteenth century, the hostilities between Hindus and Muslims in Indian society have continued to the present.
Muslims contributed to the development of Indian culture. They left the valuable monument of art, the great masterpiece – Taj Mahal.
Taj Mahal
Of the seven Wonders of the Ancient World, two were dedicated to sentiment in marriage: the Mausoleum, monument of a wife’s devotion to the memory of her husband; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, erected by a husband for the happiness of a favourite wife. Among the wonders of the modern world, one of the most famous commemorates a husband’s devotion to a wife.
It is, of course, the incomparable Taj Mahal, the tomb that Shah Jehan created for the beauteous Mumtaz Mahal, at the city of Agra, in India. The French traveler Francois Bernier, who toured the East three centuries ago, was in Agra during the 1660s, saw the building when it had been up for less than twenty years, and wrote in his journal: “Possibly I have acquired an Indian taste, but I am of the opinion that this monument has much more right to be included among the wonders of the world than the pyramids of Egypt”. Some critics have gone beyond him, declaring the Taj Mahal to be the most beautiful edifice ever erected by man. Shah Jehan was one of the Mogul emperors who reigned over India in golden splendour. A Moslem, he practiced the polygamy ordained in the Koran, which permitted four wife not counting the concubines whom it was customary for an Islamic potentate to have in his harem. Mumtaz Mahal, young dainty, and beautiful, was the favourite wife. Taj Mahal, therefore, is a monument to romantic sentiment in the harem, a husband’s devotion in polygamous family life.
The Taj Mahal is the masterpieces of Mohammedan Art. That it arose on Indian soil is explained by history. The Moglus came originally from Central Asia, their name being a variant of the world “Mongol”. They were Moslems, and they conquered India.
The founder of the Mogul Empire was one of the remarkable men of all time. In martial ardor and ability to command, Baber may have been a typical princeling of Iartary, but he was also a man of culture, the author of perhaps best political memoirs ever written by a reigning monarch. In December of 1525 he led his army into India. The battle took place on April 12, 1526, and proved to be one of the decisive conflicts of world history for Baber won the victory, that gave him a permanent foothold in the land that was to be ruled by this descendants.
Реферат опубликован: 8/03/2006