The purpose of these references is to put in perspective a recent decision by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister to change the name of the under-construction Mughal museum to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj museum.
“How could Mughals be our heroes?” he wondered.
I have quoted above from some of the contemporary texts composed by non-Muslim authors not associated with the Mughal court. The idea is to get a sense of how the Mughal rulers were perceived on the parameter of even-handedness vis-à-vis different religious communities. I could have done worse. I could have taken a short-cut and referred to the official policy directive famously promulgated by Akbar in the early 1580s, namely sulh-i kul (peace for all), but that was only a slogan.
Moreover, it sounds a little too much like sabka sath, sabka vikas to be taken seriously today.
Let me put in a word of caution, lest the readers think…