By TCN News,
Aligarh: “The reign of Shah Jahan has been one of the least studied periods of Mughal history and the scholars pay more attention to the period of Akbar and Aurangzeb”, said Prof. Ebba Koch, University of Vienna, Austria in a written message read at the inaugural session of the National Seminar on “The Reign of Shah Jahan” organized by Centre of Advance Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University.
Prof. Koch attributed this to the lack of translation of major historical texts regarding Shah Jahan, written in Persian and difficulty in their access to the common researchers. Prof. Koch said that there also seemed to be a deeply rooted bias towards the reign of Shah Jahan contrary to the reign of Akbar which is considered to be the grand phase of Mughal state building, and the reign of Aurangzeb which is regarded as a mark beginning of Mughal decline. She said that historians have seen the reign of Shah Jahan as a static period and thus uninteresting phase which simply preserved the status quo established by Akbar.
Prof. Jafri releasing the book of Dr. Ananda Bhattacharya at the National Seminar on Shah Jahan at Department of History
Prof. Koch said that taking the history and art history combined, the reign of Shah Jahan emerged as a highly assertive and innovative phase when imperial authority assumed absolute and central power as never before and never afterwards reached to that degree in Mughal history. The Shahjahani concept of continuity was strongly linked to ideas of a new beginning.
Shahjahan claimed to be a revivalist and a mujaddid whose rule ended an era of decline. The arts played a key role in the propagation of his imperial claims and their aesthetic appeal should not induce us to underrate their historical significance.
Prof. Tariq Ahmad, Chairman and Coordinator said the seminar referred to a very significant historical period, which would benefit not only research scholar but also post graduate students and teachers. He said that the reign of Shahjahan is of great importance as it saw major administrative and institution-based changes.
Prof. Tariq Ahmad addressing the National Seminar on Shah Jahan at Department of History
Dr. Gulfishan Khan, Convener of the Seminar said that the reign of the great Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58) is arguably one of the most glorious periods of history of pre-modern South Asia. It was under his reign that the Mughal Empire experienced greatest prosperity and stability. Shahjahan, an unparalleled architect-emperor, immensely contributed to the development of architecture and almost all historians unanimously agreed that Shahjahan's most outstanding and enduring achievement belonged to the realm of architecture.
A book written by Dr. Ananda Bhattacharya, “Sepoy to Subedar”, was release by the Prof. Mohd. Yunus Jafri of University of Delhi, an authority on Shahjahan.