Blood-thirsty Mughals

The mughal dynasty was notorious for its blood-thirstiness. Being a military state, it was always engaged in wars of conquests and collecting brides and revenue from the conquered states. Whenever a reigning monarch passed away or fell ill, a bloody war of succession commenced in which the axiom of ‘Winner-takes-all’ prevailed. The losing princes lost, in addition to the empire, their eye-sight and more probably, their lives too. Blinding by gouging out eyes was a common pastime enjoyed by the victorious princes on their unlucky brothers, nephews or sons. The following is a list of such occurrences obtained from ‘The Mughal Empire (New Cambridge History of India)’ by J F Richards.

Sl.No	Killer/Torturer	Victim	Relation and cause
1	Humayun	Kamran	Humayun’s brother who ruled north-west provinces. When Humayun returned from Persian exile, he was arrested and blinded.
2	Akbar	Adham Khan	Akbar’s foster brother. Killed for insubordination. He was thrown down from the palace terrace by Akbar himself. Whe he didn’t die, he was again pushed from the terrace and killed.
3	Jahangir	Khusrau	Jahangir’s eldest son. Blinded in war of succession.
4	Shah Jahan	Khusrau	Shah Jahan’s brother (same person as above). Killed by Shah Jahan’s troops to wipe off all opposition
5	Shah Jahan	Parvez	Shah Jahan’s brother. Died of alcoholism, even though allegations of poisoning were prominent
6	Shah Jahan	Shahryar	Shah Jahan’s brother. Blinded in war of succession
7	Shah Jahan	Dawar Bakhsh	Shah Jahan’s nephew (son of Khusrau). Killed by Shah Jahan
8	Aurangzeb	Dara Shukoh	Aurangzeb’s brother. Killed in war of succession by Aurangzeb and Raushan Ara Begum for apostasy from Islam and idolatry.
9	Aurangzeb	Sipihr Shukoh	Aurangzeb’s nephew (Dara Shukoh’s son). Killed in war of succession by Aurangzeb and Raushan Ara Begum
10	Aurangzeb	Murad Bakhsh	Aurangzeb’s brother. Killed on a trumped-up murder charge.
11	Bahadur Shah	Azad Shah	Bahadur Shah (Muazzam)’s brother and son of Aurangzeb. Killed in war of succession.
12	Bahadur Shah	Mohammed Kam Bakhsh	Bahadur Shah (Muazzam)’s brother and son of Aurangzeb. Killed in war of succession
13	Jahandar Shah	Azim-ush-Shan	Jahandar Shah’s brother and Bahadur Shah’s son. Killed by Jahandar Shah
14	Jahandar Shah	Rafi-ush-Shan	Jahandar Shah’s brother and Bahadur Shah’s son. Killed by Jahandar Shah
15	Jahandar Shah	Jahan Shah	Jahandar Shah’s brother and Bahadur Shah’s son. Killed by Jahandar Shah
16	Farrukhsiyar	Jahandar Shah	Farrukhsiyar’s uncle and then Emperor. Killed in war of usurpation.
17	Rafi-ud-Darjat	Farrukhsiyar	Rafi-ud-Darjat’s uncle and then Emperor. Blinded and killed in war of accession

The list is applicable till 1726 only. For the remaining lesser monarchs, the data is being compiled, though it is sure that it is not going to be any less sanguine. We can also notice that the killer in one generation becomes the victim in the next!

It is true that fratricide was practised by all kings at all places in the world. There is not an iota of doubt that power corrupts and lust and greed can surpass all emotions of love and comradeship. Hindu kings also resorted to occasional murders in the family. Emperor Ashoka had killed his half-brother Sushima in the war of succession and Shambhaji, son of Shivaji, killed his step-mother, Sorya Bai (but he spared his brother, Rajaram who was the contender for the throne). But, nowhere in the history of India, fratricide has been elevated to the status of state policy as had been done by the Mughals. Every Mughal’s hand was red with his sibling’s blood.

Here's a good page on Mughal dynasty:

http://www.uq.net.au/~zzhsoszy/ips/misc/mughal.html

Nobel laureate Engineers

Science and Technology together drive the modern world. But, there is a subtle difference between the two, apparent in the attitudes of the people involved. Scientists make original theories while engineers put into practice. Here are a few engineers who dared to venture into the theoretical aspects and achieved the highest distinction in science, the Nobel! The list shows the name of the person, discipline, year and field of prize, commendation of the Nobel committee, in that order. The list is by no means complete, we hope!


26. John Bardeen
Electrical Engineer
1956 Physics & 1972 Physics

1956 "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory"

1972 "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect"


25. Charles K Kao
Electrical Engineer
2009 Physics

"for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication"




24. Koichi Tanaka
Electrical Engineer
2002 Chemistry

"for their development of soft desorption ionisation methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules"




23. Hideki Shirakawa
Chemical Engineer
2000 Chemistry

"for the discovery and development of conductive polymers"





22. Jack S Kilby
Electrical Engineer
2000 Physics

"for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit"





21. Mario J Molina
Chemical Engineer
1995 Chemistry

"for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone"




20. Paul J Crutzen
Civil Engineer
1995 Chemistry

"for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone"




19. Martin L Perl
Chemical Engineer
1995 Physics

"for the discovery of the tau lepton"






18. Georges Charpak
Civil Engineer
1992 Physics

"for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber"




17. Charles J Pedersen
Chemical Engineer
1987 Chemistry

"for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity"





16. Karl Alexander Muller
Electrical Engineer
1987 Physics

"for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials"




15. Simon van der Meer
Electrical Engineer
1984 Physics

"for their decisive contributions to the large project, which led to the discovery of the field particles W and Z, communicators of weak interaction"




14. Ivar Giaever
Mechanical Engineer
1973 Physics

"for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively"




13. Dennis Gabor
Electrical Engineer
1971 Physics

"for his invention and development of the holographic method"





12. Hannes Olof Gosta Alfven
Electrical Engineer
1970 Physics

"for fundamental work and discoveries in magnetohydrodynamics with fruitful applications in different parts of plasma physics




11. Lars Onsager
Chemical Engineer
1968 Chemistry

"for the discovery of the reciprocal relations bearing his name, which are fundamental for the thermodynamics of irreversible processes"




10. Giulio Natta
Chemical Engineer
1963 Chemistry

"for their discoveries in the field of the chemistry and technology of high polymers"





9. Linus Pauling
Chemical Engineer
1954 Chemistry

"for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances"




8. Edward Mills Purcell
Electrical Engineer
1952 Physics

"for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements and discoveries in connection therewith"




7. Petrus Josephus Wilhemus Debye
Electrical Engineer
1936 Chemistry

"for his contributions to our knowledge of molecular structure through his investigations on dipole moments and on the diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases"



6. Paul Dirac
Electrical Engineer
1933 Physics
"for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory"






5. Irving Langmuir
Metallurgical Engineer
1932 Chemistry
"for his discoveries and investigations in surface chemistry"






4. Nils Gustaf Dalen
Electrical Engineer
1912 Physics
"for his invention of automatic regulators for use in conjunction with gas accumulators for illuminating lighthouses and buoys"





3. Henri Becqurel
Electrical Engineer
1903 Physics

"in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity"




2. Jacobus Henricus van t'Hoff
1901 Chemistry

"in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions"




1. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen
Mechanical Engineer
1901 Physics

"in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him"

Bid Farewell to M F Husain

M F Husain, now 94, has accepted the citizenship offer from Qatar and with this new development, he has officially ceased to be an Indian. He enjoys the support of a lot of fans and the opposition of a much larger crowd. The nation has conferred the grandest civilian honours on him, the Padma Shree in 1955, the Padma Bhushan in 1973, Padma Vibhushan in 1991 and a nomination to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. Now, the greatest honour the country can favour him with is the Bharat Ratna and it was probable that appeasing politicians would have conferred that also on him sooner or later, had he remained an Indian citizen. Husain sought greener pastures and left without a moment of introspection of whether he owes the nation anything worthwhile.

Maqbool Fida Husain was born at Pandharpur, Maharashtra on Sep 15, 1915. He started off by painting cinema hoardings and luck and strong connections lofted him high to the highest paid painter of India. His single canvases fetched up to Rs. 10 crores. As a young artist, he rebelled against the national traditions established by the Bengal School of Art. His rebellions were strictly restricted among the artists and he was supportive of the British rule in India. He neither participated nor supported the nationalist cause. When the country gained indpendence in 1947, Husain soon realized that his artistic philosophy works best only among the international audience and his first solo exhibition was held at Zurich in 1952. Over the next few years, his works gained acceptance in Europe and the U.S. Since they are successful abroad, they attracted modest enthusiasts in India as well. The quality of his work was always controversial and with the advent of computers, he shifted to that medium for drawing. The mediocrity of the works was largely overshadowed by the dazzling popularity he commanded in Europe. See two of his paintings below.

As he grew old, he became extremely fond of Bollywood actresses, notably Madhuri Dikshit and Tabu. He produced and directed the movie ‘Gajagamini’ as a tribute to Ms Dikshit. He went on to make ‘Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities’, with Tabu in the lead role. His film attracted blasphemical allegations from a section of the community because he had included a large portion of the Quran verbatim in a song in the film. After some of his paintings became controversial in 1996 and accused in a series of criminal cases across the length and breadth of India, Husain emigrated overseas and practically lived in London and Dubai and now, he has become a Qatari national.

In the brief sketch given above, where’s the affinity to anything Indian can we find in Husain’s psyche? Apart from some film actresses, there was no Indian idea which was painted in a glorifying light by his brush (or his mouse, rather?). On the other hand, the country had given him everything it could offer and he opportunistically cashed it fully. The only thing we can give him at this moment is to wish him good bye and a peaceful and happy life in his adopted country. That we do now.