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How did the Mughal rulers’ initial disdain for the landscapes of South Asia transform into a deep appreciation, and what role did their peripatetic royal court play in fostering this intimate connection with the lands they governed?

Image courtesy of interviewee. October 24, 2024

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This video is a detailed discussion about the author's journey in studying Timurid history, particularly focusing on the Mughal Empire and its connections to Central Asian nomadic traditions. The author, initially interested in Ottoman history, became captivated by Timurid studies under the guidance of Steven Dale, leading to a comprehensive exploration of the Mughal dynasty's heritage, ruling practices, and socio-political structures.

The narrative highlights the Mughal Empire's semi-nomadic characteristics, where mobility was integral to governance and military organization. The author emphasizes that the early Mughal rulers, descended from Timur and Genghis Khan, maintained this lifestyle, using it as a means to assert power and legitimacy over their vast territories, particularly in Northern India.

Key themes include:

1. **Mughal Mobility**: The rulers frequently traveled with massive entourages to reinforce their authority and respond to the needs of their subjects, creating a visible presence across their domains.

2. **Cultural and Political Synthesis**: The Mughals adopted and integrated local customs and urban centers into their administration while maintaining ties to their Central Asian origins.

3. **Role of Women**: Women in the Mughal court played significant roles as political actors, engaged in trade, and participated in architectural projects, thus contributing to the imperial narrative.

4. **Environmental Considerations**: The author reflects on the ecological implications of this semi-nomadic lifestyle, suggesting that their mobility allowed landscapes to recover from heavy usage.

5. **Comparative Analysis**: The author contrasts Mughal court practices with those of contemporaneous empires, particularly emphasizing that unlike Western trends toward sedentary governance, the Mughals kept their nomadic roots and utilized them for political mobilization and legitimacy.

The discussion concludes by recognizing how the Mughal Empire's blend of mobile and urban governance created unique socio-political dynamics that shaped their imperial identity and interaction with the local populations.

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Here are five key points from the video:

1. **Personal Academic Journey**: The narrator, initially focused on Ottoman history, shifted their academic focus to the Timurid Mughal dynasty after being influenced by a prominent scholar, Steven Dale. This shift highlights the importance of personal intellectual influences in shaping academic pursuits.

2. **Mughal Empire and Mobility**: The Mughal rulers, direct descendants of Timur, maintained a semi-nomadic lifestyle. This mobility was integral to their rule, allowing them to project power across their territories and reinforcing their legitimacy as conquerors. They would travel with large armies, establishing their presence and often performing through spectacle, which became a key aspect of their kingship.

3. **Integration of Local Nobility**: The Mughals strategically integrated local South Asian nobility, including Rajputs, into their royal court through intermarriage and political alliances. This approach helped legitimize their rule and foster relationships with the diverse religious communities within their empire, showcasing a blend of Islamic and local governance.

4. **Role of Women in the Mughal Empire**: Women in the Mughal dynasty held significant power and influence, participating in trade, owning property, and serving as diplomats. Their involvement extended beyond traditional roles, with royal women actively contributing to the political and economic landscape of the empire, exemplified by figures like Jahanara Begum.

5. **Environmental Implications of Semi-Nomadism**: The semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Mughals, while potentially damaging in certain convideos (like during large hunting drives), allowed for sustainable interaction with the fragile Central Asian landscapes. Their mobility enabled recovery of resources and minimized local resource depletion, contrasting with the sedentary lifestyles of other empires which often led to significant ecological strain.

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Here are some key quotes from the video, which highlight important themes and ideas:

1. **On Influence and Shift in Academic Focus**:
"I changed fields, changed research languages... there's this, the sense of a human connection there that is incredibly compelling."

2. **Historical Convideo of the Timurids**:
"They are direct descendants of Timor... who built this massive West Asian empire in the wake of Mongol collapse."

3. **Social and Political Dynamics**:
"So when a new band of Mongol invaders comes in, they would rather fight each other than unify and fight off these Mongols."

4. **Mughal Identity and Heritage**:
"As rulers of India, they're still thinking as Turks and Mongols in many ways."

5. **Peripatetic Court and Kingship**:
"The movement of armies... is a reenactment of that, making a reference point to that historical kingship of Central Asia."

6. **Political Theater and Power Claims**:
"They’re claiming their conquest territories through this constant march. It's theater. It's an awe inspiring spectacle."

7. **Urban Centers and Cultural Synthesis**:
"They recognize the value of urban centers... they are not to be, dismissed, right? They’re claiming their conquest territories."

8. **Role of Women in Mughal Society**:
"Women are really involved in supporting trade and... political actors... they cannot be kings, but their bloodlines can be identified as royal."

9. **Environmental Considerations**:
"Mobility is actually logical... allows the landscape to recover essentially."

10. **Mobility vs. Sedentism**:
"While we are traveling, we are accessible. We become available to the needs of our subject people."

11. **Justice and Relationship Building**:
"It becomes something of a positive, to some degree... as a relationship building exercise."

These quotes capture the historical, social, and political complexities discussed in the video about the Mughal Empire, its rulers' identities, the nomadic lifestyle, the role of women, and the interaction with the environment.

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Here are some articles that explore themes similar to those found in your video:

1. **"The Timurid Legacy: Cultural and Historical Transitions in the Early Modern Period"** - This article discusses the cultural and political impact of the Timurid dynasty on subsequent empires, particularly focusing on the Mughal Empire in India and the intertwining of Central Asian and South Asian histories.

2. **"Mughal Nomadism: The Semi-Nomadic Court and its Implications for Empire Building"** - This paper analyzes the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Mughal rulers and how it influenced their governance, military campaigns, and interactions with local populations.

3. **"Kingship and Mobility in Early Modern Empires: The Case of the Mughals"** - This article examines how the mobility of Mughal emperors functioned as a tool for political legitimacy and authority, drawing comparisons to similar practices in other empires, such as the Ottoman and Qing empires.

4. **"Reflections on the Role of Women in Mughal Society"** - This piece explores the political and economic roles of royal women in the Mughal Empire, highlighting how their influence extended beyond traditional boundaries and contributed to the empire's expansion and stability.

5. **"Environmental Impact of Imperial Mobility: A Study of Mughal Court Progressions"** - This research looks into the environmental consequences of Mughal military marches and court travels, identifying patterns of resource management and adaptations made by the courts to mitigate ecological damage.

6. **"Theater of Power: Public Spectacle in Mughal Rulership"** - This article delves into the cultural practices and grand displays of power that characterized Mughal royal progressions, paralleling them with contemporary European court customs.

7. **"Cultural Synthesis in Mughal India: The Interplay of Islam and Hindu Traditions"** - This explorative piece discusses how Mughal rulers blended Islamic traditions with local Hindu customs to consolidate power and appeal to diverse populations.

8. **"The Legacy of Timurid and Mughal Architecture: Political Power through Aesthetics"** - A study of the architectural achievements of both the Timurid and Mughal empires, this article analyzes how these constructions served as symbols of sovereignty and cultural identity.

These articles should resonate with the themes of Ottoman and Mughal history, semi-nomadism, the significance of women in politics, environmental considerations in imperial movements, and the performative aspects of kingship outlined in your video.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

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My background is American.

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I lived in Turkey for years though,

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and when I went to graduate school, it was my intent

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to study Ottoman history.

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So I went to the Ohio State,

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which had a really good Ottoman history program,

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and there I fell under the influence of a scholar

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of the Timor Moogle dynasty, Steven Dale,

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who's written the most significant work on the founder

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of the dynasty, Bob Boza Bo,

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completely carried me away.

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I changed fields, changed research languages,

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was enamored, and I've never stopped being enamored.

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There's something about the access they have given us

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to their thinking through their use of memoirs, which

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of course we read very cautiously.

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Um, but there's this, the sense of a human connection there

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that is incredibly compelling.

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Um, yes, these are public documents that are intended to

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present an argument in their favor,

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but reading it that way, we still can get a sense

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of these kings who are trying

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to justify their place in the world.

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So who are they? Uh, they are direct descendants of Timor,

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who will have built this massive West Asian empire

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in the wake of Mongol Iil collapse.

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He'll die in 1405.

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His descendants remain in an area

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that we can call it Uzbekistan.

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It wasn't Uzbekistan then,

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but it will become that their capital city of Sam, Marco K.

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But their unity is, broken up really early

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as they form a lot of rival princely kingdoms in the region.

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Um, they hate each other.

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So when a new band of Mongol invaders comes in,

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at the very beginning of the 16th century,

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they would rather fight each other than fight off,

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than unify and fight off these Mongols.

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So, these Uzbeks come in,

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break up the Timor at Heartland, send them all into,

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exile.

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And the last independent Prince is a Hiin Babu,

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and he has a, a vision of himself as a future to more.

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He's not always, really capable.

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He loses Semicon three times,

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but eventually he's able

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to form a permanent kingdom in Kabul, call to him all

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of the refugee timid elites,

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and then push downward into Northern India as a way

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of sustaining this large population of,

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refugee elites.

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Right? So he'll conquer in northern India,

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against the local, rulers who are Muslim Turks.

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Uh, the Lodi dynasty.

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He'll defeat them at the battle upon pot in 1526,

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from which point he will begin

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to conquer the entirety of the north.

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He'll spend the next four years putting down rebellion,

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seizing territory, and then dies in 1530.

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Um, and it's his descendants then

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that will formulate this mogul empire for no known reason.

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I'm, I'm really drawn to the mobility issue,

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a semi nomadism, probably one

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of the reasons I was less happy with ottoman studies

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and more happy with Timor moguls

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because this, traditional lifestyle is sustained,

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as for as long as they can afford to keep it up.

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Um, so this more traditional semi nomadic lifestyle drew

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me in, and nobody else seemed to be working on it.

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People identified a peripatetic royal court court.

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But I started reading about court progresses in Europe,

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in Western Europe, and the comparisons were just

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so compelling and interesting to me, that

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it's drawn me further and further in.

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And another part of this is the really well studied side

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of Moogle history, which is their,

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interest in the natural world, through experimentation,

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you know, scientific experimentation

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through painting and the arts.

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Uh, and then this constant movement feeds into that

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pleasure, that this real pleasure that they take

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in being in nature.

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One of the primary re sources

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for their ruling legitimacy, right?

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Their direct descendants from Genis Khan and Timor.

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So that central Asian kind of performance of kingship,

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ideology of kingship continues to inform their, their,

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actions and their values when they move into South Asia.

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So, as rulers of India, they're still thinking as Turks

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and Mongols in many ways.

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Um, so of course,

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the semi nomadic heritage is an important, aspect,

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sorry, of their rule.

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Um, and in some ways this is a reenactment of

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that, making a reference point to

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that historical kingship of Central Asia.

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But it has really practical purposes too,

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like their ancestors, they're leading army.

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So they, the first two of the great mogul kings, bu

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and ion are essentially, conquerors

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through their entire lifetimes.

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They, they don't have an opportunity for sedentary lifestyle

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to develop or, you know, the,

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the development of a kind of capital city

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and sedentary court culture, their descendants will continue

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to expand the empire.

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Uh, so much of this is the movement of armies,

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but with the, in the case of the Moogle,

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there's this really interesting overlap that happens

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in which they're traveling

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with these enormous armies while at the same time

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performing this, this very idiosyncratic,

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sustained progress through their conquest territories.

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Um, one of the things I look at is

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how they get away with this.

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How does the nobility,

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how do the subject population feel about kings

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that don't really anchor themselves?

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And, of course, for their Turkish Persian

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Mongol nobility, there's this reference to the past that's,

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that justifies that can be seen to justify them.

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But even for the South Asian nobility

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who they pull right into their royal court,

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they'll intermarry with local Raj put, families

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for those noblemen.

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This is part of a kind of, performance

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of a chakra art tin, a wheel turning ruler.

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And there are vedic injunctions that a king needs

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to move across the four quarters of his empire,

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constantly reestablishing his boundaries.

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So there's no pushback here at all.

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Well, they're empire builders.

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So a part of this is the need to conquer,

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but it's another side of that that comes up a lot,

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is the need to continually reinforce the power

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of the Moul army.

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So they will move throughout their provinces continually

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as a, as a definitive statement that they are not to be,

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dismissed, right?

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They, they're claiming their conquest territories

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through this constant march.

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It's theater. It's an awe inspiring spectacle.

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We have some great European eyewitness,

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descriptions in this period, who, expressed

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shock over the sheer size of this movement.

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It could be a hundred thousand, 200,000 individuals moving.

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It'll take 12 hours to pass,

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says one Englishman who watches it.

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So it's an awesome theater of rulership

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and power for that reason.

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It serves a political purpose.

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This is so interesting with them

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because they recognize the value of urban centers,

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and they use them, they will

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adopt local important cities

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and then build some of their own.

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Um, so Delhi, Agra Lahore, these are the great cities

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of the Moogle world.

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They'll build a few capitals.

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Homa in the second, ruler will attempt

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to build a capital outside of Delhi called Din Pana.

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Uh, which doesn't

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Take, for various reasons.

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Uh, Akbar will build Fatur sire outside of Agra next

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to a Sufi shrine.

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So he's really developing a dialogue

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with very popular local, religious, communities

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that most importantly draw not just from the Muslim

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population, but are also popular

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with other religious communities in the region.

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So it goes far beyond simply appealing to,

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Islamic royal culture, right?

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Um, but none of those, none of that really takes,

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they continue to return to Delhi, Agra Lahore.

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Um, and then, Shahan,

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the, fourth mogul emperor, I'm counting in my head,

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will build Shahan BHA in a suburb of Delhi.

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And he seems to have a vision of a real sedentary capital,

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but even in this case, his son

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and successor Arong Zeb

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will within 20 years leave

182
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and move the entire royal court to the Decken,

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which he's focused on conquering.

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So even Shahan is not, a,

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a permanent center until

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after the death of Arong zab,

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the moguls immediately go into a state of decline.

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Their income drops, their power drops, then they become kind

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of locked into a sedentary royal court at Shahan Budd.

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So it's a reluctant permanence, right?

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So, so architecture's really important to them

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as a demonstration of power and of aesthetic prowess, right?

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So they're gonna build gorgeous structures

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across their empire.

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And of course, they're most famous for their tombs,

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which are set in the all important imperial formal

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garden landscape.

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Um, that is an affirmation, unequivocal affirmation

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of sovereignty, that, that direct landscape,

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and they'll, enhance the kind of trade

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of their empire by building centers of trade,

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caravans for the movement of merchants

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and their goods, better roads, canals,

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and this includes women as well

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as men within the royal family.

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Uh, the women are very involved in trade.

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They themselves benefit, many

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of them own trade trading ships

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and caravans working through proxies.

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So they're really happy to continue to support this.

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Women are such a cool part of this whole Moogle narrative

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because they, I, I consider that they've inherited a,

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a, a degree of political charisma from their Turo,

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Mongol past royal women carry, some sovereignty,

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so they cannot be kings,

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but their bloodlines can be s can be,

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identified as, as, as matic

218
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and royal, in the Moog context.

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Um, women will serve as diplomats, their

220
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openly advising on politics, mostly with regards

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to family relationships.

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But they're, they're a part of this imperial project.

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They're, they're fascinating individuals.

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So they're all paid salaries, and they own property,

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and they may own ships

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and, income producing businesses.

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So with that money, their emphasis is very much on

228
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reinforcing this imperial, pose

229
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that comes with the establishment of important

230
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monumental architecture.

231
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So we have Sha Jahan building, SHA Jahan Abba,

232
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but it's his daughter, Johan Nara,

233
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who will build the great marketplace of Delhi, the Chocho.

234
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Um, she'll also build a major caravan sai, nearby

235
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so that all of the caravans,

236
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the merchant caravans can easily move in

237
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and out of the new capital city, nor Johan.

238
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Um, her, SHA Johan's father's wife, Johan gear,

239
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nor Johan builds the largest caravan ry in India

240
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that can house thousands of merchants and their animals.

241
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Um, so women are really involved in

242
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supporting trade and, and, activities of that kind,

243
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but it's because they are accepted

244
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as full partners in this whole, establishment

245
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of imperial power development of the royal of royal family,

246
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reinforcement of Moogle dynastic strength.

247
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They're not, they're not playing a role as girls, right?

248
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They're, they're power players. They're political actors.

249
00:14:03.965 --> 00:14:06.735
There's a, a memoir written by one of them.

250
00:14:06.835 --> 00:14:10.055
In fact, it's Ba War's daughter, UL Baan Beum,

251
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who's born in Kabul before the conquest of India.

252
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And she'll write a memoir at the request

253
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of her nephew Akbar, the great, mogul ruler Akbar.

254
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And I think historians have often found her memoir

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to be a little frustrating

256
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because they want it to be, a voice from the harem,

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whereas, in fact, what Goba ham is interested in

258
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and what she writes about,

259
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and the whole reason for her writing, is

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to establish the power of her dynasty.

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She's a political actor.

262
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So of course, when you have this, para community

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of a hundred, 200,000 people,

264
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sir Thomas Rowe estimates 600,000 souls, people

265
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and animals moving, the obvious question is,

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what dire impact does this have on the environment?

267
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So it's really hard to tease out, a lot of detail there.

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Uh, a turn to,

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to some military historians who've done some research on the

270
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movement of the troops, which is the same issue, right?

271
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Um, so looking at the ways that they move, the path

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that they choose to take, always near bodies, bodies

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of water, how the, the road systems are developed,

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how shade trees are planted,

275
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how water cleanliness is protected,

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how we dispose of refuse.

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Uh, this is all really problematic, and it's hard to get at,

278
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but it's very significant.

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What I think is most interesting though,

280
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it about this whole question is that,

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you know, semi nomadism is the logical kind of,

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e economy to develop in environments

283
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that are fragile, right?

284
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So we have the vulnerability of the,

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of the central Asian step,

286
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and there's no real opportunity there

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for a sedentary population to grow, permanently

288
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because there's little access to water.

289
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There's, little a access

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to sustainable arc, agriculture.

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So as a response to vulnerable

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and fragile landscapes,

293
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mobility is actually, logical.

294
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So, because, yeah,

295
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because the of their temporary status,

296
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this mobility allows the landscape to recover essentially,

297
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though, even though, for example, they'll run

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massive hunting drives, which is maybe responsible

299
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for the deaths of thousands of animals in each case,

300
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and the movement of a hundred thousand hunters,

301
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they will pops,

302
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probably commit terrible ecological damage and then leave,

303
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and the landscape recovers.

304
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Uh, so we don't really see, the,

305
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the kind of, environmental disaster

306
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that we would have from a sedentary royal court.

307
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Well, semi nomadism

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or a, a royal court progress is really common in the

309
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medieval period all over the world.

310
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Um, there are a lot of different responses to it,

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but by the 17th century, most western nations,

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and you could say most generally,

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sea semi nomadism is something kind of retrograde,

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traditional, not modern.

315
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So an effort to ent arise populations, which

316
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of course makes them a lot easier to control

317
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and to tax, which is the primary motive

318
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of government at all times.

319
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Um, this is part of it,

320
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but that also means that the actual royal courts

321
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begin to set to rise.

322
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So, in England, in France, in Spain,

323
00:18:06.165 --> 00:18:09.525
there's been some great work done recently on,

324
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the peripatetic Royal Court of Spain,

325
00:18:13.425 --> 00:18:17.405
and Elizabeth in England, whose movement is much,

326
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much smaller than that of the moguls.

327
00:18:19.745 --> 00:18:23.045
She may have had a court progress of maybe 750 people

328
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as opposed to 200,000,

329
00:18:26.985 --> 00:18:31.445
but she's moving, as an effort to impose her will

330
00:18:32.105 --> 00:18:35.605
on recalcitrant nobility, right?

331
00:18:35.605 --> 00:18:39.085
Those who are not adopting, the religious rights,

332
00:18:39.135 --> 00:18:42.085
she's trying to oppose who are secret Catholics, she'll go

333
00:18:42.145 --> 00:18:44.885
and settle herself on them,

334
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and they have to support her, her revenue,

335
00:18:48.985 --> 00:18:51.925
and it can deliberately bankrupt them, right?

336
00:18:52.905 --> 00:18:53.965
In the mogul case.

337
00:18:54.625 --> 00:18:58.045
Um, not only are they unwilling

338
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to give up this mobility for some, some kind

339
00:19:02.885 --> 00:19:05.725
of sense of, of modernity,

340
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but they are self-sustaining as they're mobile.

341
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And that's another part of this project

342
00:19:10.865 --> 00:19:13.525
of looking at the environmental demands

343
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of the court progress.

344
00:19:14.995 --> 00:19:19.725
They have entire tribal communities who will bring food

345
00:19:20.185 --> 00:19:24.925
to the mobile court, grain carrying,

346
00:19:25.865 --> 00:19:29.685
RAs, who will meet the court in it, in their,

347
00:19:30.075 --> 00:19:32.005
campgrounds and supply them with food.

348
00:19:32.095 --> 00:19:34.845
There are markets set up within the,

349
00:19:36.035 --> 00:19:38.645
camp encampment so that people can purchase food.

350
00:19:39.115 --> 00:19:41.125
They don't strain the resources

351
00:19:41.125 --> 00:19:45.535
of the actual place they are, camped on,

352
00:19:46.155 --> 00:19:48.095
nor do they strain the resources

353
00:19:48.275 --> 00:19:49.735
of the elites of that region.

354
00:19:49.995 --> 00:19:52.615
So those elites are required to come and pay ob,

355
00:19:52.915 --> 00:19:55.815
and there's a gift exchange, and it's very ritualized

356
00:19:55.815 --> 00:20:00.215
and important, but the actual, support

357
00:20:01.075 --> 00:20:04.575
of this massive population is not local.

358
00:20:05.235 --> 00:20:06.815
Uh, it's not locally driven.

359
00:20:07.475 --> 00:20:12.255
Um, and so this allows them to make this more,

360
00:20:12.415 --> 00:20:16.295
relationship building patronage, establishing

361
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fey reinforcing, connection locally.

362
00:20:21.915 --> 00:20:23.255
But it's not a punishment.

363
00:20:24.045 --> 00:20:26.535
It's not a way of forcing anyone to their will.

364
00:20:27.435 --> 00:20:28.815
And, and at the same time,

365
00:20:28.815 --> 00:20:31.615
the mogul kings themselves will say, you know,

366
00:20:31.615 --> 00:20:33.615
while we are traveling, we are accessible.

367
00:20:34.475 --> 00:20:38.495
We become available to the needs of our subject people.

368
00:20:38.715 --> 00:20:42.495
So we'll make, we'll make ourselves, public.

369
00:20:43.395 --> 00:20:47.885
We will respond to requests for justice or support.

370
00:20:48.665 --> 00:20:53.125
Um, will, will heighten the closeness of the relationships

371
00:20:53.155 --> 00:20:54.965
with local notables.

372
00:20:55.625 --> 00:20:59.765
So it becomes something of a, a positive,

373
00:21:00.365 --> 00:21:03.555
I mean, to some degree, I mean, there's still

374
00:21:04.805 --> 00:21:07.765
marching along with armies and elephants and horses

375
00:21:08.025 --> 00:21:10.485
and weapons, and scaring the daylights out

376
00:21:10.485 --> 00:21:11.605
of everybody, I'm sure.

377
00:21:12.265 --> 00:21:16.085
But it's interesting how they negotiate that, not

378
00:21:16.085 --> 00:21:18.845
as a punishment, but as a relationship building exercise.

379
00:21:19.475 --> 00:21:21.685
They all, they will make themselves available to

380
00:21:22.475 --> 00:21:25.725
even the most mundane subject people

381
00:21:27.355 --> 00:21:31.215
in certain circumstances in order to offer justice, right?

382
00:21:31.215 --> 00:21:35.215
So Junge will write about sitting on a riverbank,

383
00:21:35.355 --> 00:21:37.535
in Gujarat on one of his travels,

384
00:21:37.955 --> 00:21:39.855
and he's complaining bitterly, I'm tired,

385
00:21:40.035 --> 00:21:41.255
I'm sick, I'm miserable.

386
00:21:41.255 --> 00:21:44.295
It's hot here, but I am compelled to be here

387
00:21:44.295 --> 00:21:46.695
so I can offer justice the people to the people

388
00:21:46.755 --> 00:21:49.495
who wanna come and have contact with me.

389
00:21:50.555 --> 00:21:53.055
So their progress is

390
00:21:53.855 --> 00:21:55.575
imagined in a very different way than that.

391
00:21:55.575 --> 00:21:58.375
Those of other nations in the period,

392
00:21:58.375 --> 00:21:59.375
certainly Western Europe.

393
00:22:00.095 --> 00:22:02.655
I mean, we can look at the Qing in China, for example.

394
00:22:03.395 --> 00:22:07.615
How for many generations, in the late medieval period,

395
00:22:08.005 --> 00:22:10.335
they stop having a court progress

396
00:22:10.605 --> 00:22:14.295
because they're, concerned

397
00:22:14.295 --> 00:22:16.655
that it may reinforce their connection to their

398
00:22:17.315 --> 00:22:18.935
Manchu forebearers, right?

399
00:22:18.935 --> 00:22:21.215
They, they don't wanna be identified as one

400
00:22:21.375 --> 00:22:23.135
of those semi pneumatic tribal peoples.

401
00:22:23.515 --> 00:22:26.855
And later under the cho long emperor, when they're more

402
00:22:27.605 --> 00:22:31.415
confident of their right to rule, they will return

403
00:22:31.475 --> 00:22:34.575
to at least a ritualized progress, to visit shrines

404
00:22:34.575 --> 00:22:38.895
and things, to reclaim a part of

405
00:22:39.645 --> 00:22:43.175
that, legitimizing performance of kingship.

Journey into the Timurid Legacy

00:00:00 - My background is American. I lived in Turkey for years though, and when I went to graduate school, it was my intent to study Ottoman history. So I went to the Ohio State, which had a really good Ottoman history program, and there I fell under the influence of a scholar of the Timor Moogle dynasty, Steven Dale, who's written the most significant work on the founder of the dynasty, Bob Boza Bo, completely carried me away. I changed fields, changed research languages,

00:00:35 - There's something about the access they have given us to their thinking through their use of memoirs, which of course we read very cautiously. but there's this, the sense of a human connection there that is incredibly compelling. yes, these are public documents that are intended to present an argument in their favor, but reading it that way, we still can get a sense

00:01:05 - to justify their place in the world. So who are they? they are direct descendants of Timor, who will have built this massive West Asian empire in the wake of Mongol Iil collapse. He'll die in 1405. His descendants remain in an area that we can call it Uzbekistan. It wasn't Uzbekistan then, but it will become that their capital city of Sam, Marco K.

Princely Rivalries and the Rise of the Mughal Empire

00:01:39 - as they form a lot of rival princely kingdoms in the region. they hate each other. So when a new band of Mongol invaders comes in, at the very beginning of the 16th century, they would rather fight each other than fight off, than unify and fight off these Mongols. So, these Uzbeks come in, break up the Timor at Heartland, send them all into,

00:02:09 - And the last independent Prince is a Hiin Babu, and he has a, a vision of himself as a future to more. He's not always, really capable. He loses Semicon three times, but eventually he's able to form a permanent kingdom in Kabul, call to him all of the refugee timid elites, and then push downward into Northern India as a way

00:02:45 - refugee elites. Right? So he'll conquer in northern India, against the local, rulers who are Muslim Turks. the Lodi dynasty. He'll defeat them at the battle upon pot in 1526, from which point he will begin to conquer the entirety of the north. He'll spend the next four years putting down rebellion, seizing territory, and then dies in 1530.

Mobility and Kingship in Mughal Culture

00:03:17 - that will formulate this mogul empire for no known reason. I'm, I'm really drawn to the mobility issue, a semi nomadism, probably one of the reasons I was less happy with ottoman studies and more happy with Timor moguls because this, traditional lifestyle is sustained, as for as long as they can afford to keep it up. so this more traditional semi nomadic lifestyle drew

00:03:52 - People identified a peripatetic royal court court. But I started reading about court progresses in Europe, in Western Europe, and the comparisons were just so compelling and interesting to me, that it's drawn me further and further in. And another part of this is the really well studied side of Moogle history, which is their, interest in the natural world, through experimentation,

00:04:21 - through painting and the arts. and then this constant movement feeds into that pleasure, that this real pleasure that they take in being in nature. One of the primary re sources for their ruling legitimacy, right? Their direct descendants from Genis Khan and Timor. So that central Asian kind of performance of kingship, ideology of kingship continues to inform their, their,

Legacy of Semi-Nomadic Rulership in Mughal India

00:04:57 - So, as rulers of India, they're still thinking as Turks and Mongols in many ways. so of course, the semi nomadic heritage is an important, aspect, sorry, of their rule. and in some ways this is a reenactment of that, making a reference point to that historical kingship of Central Asia.

00:05:26 - like their ancestors, they're leading army. So they, the first two of the great mogul kings, bu and ion are essentially, conquerors through their entire lifetimes. They, they don't have an opportunity for sedentary lifestyle to develop or, you know, the, the development of a kind of capital city and sedentary court culture, their descendants will continue

00:05:58 - so much of this is the movement of armies, but with the, in the case of the Moogle, there's this really interesting overlap that happens in which they're traveling with these enormous armies while at the same time performing this, this very idiosyncratic, sustained progress through their conquest territories. one of the things I look at is how they get away with this.

Imperial Mobility and the Performance of Kingship

00:06:28 - how do the subject population feel about kings that don't really anchor themselves? And, of course, for their Turkish Persian Mongol nobility, there's this reference to the past that's, that justifies that can be seen to justify them. But even for the South Asian nobility who they pull right into their royal court, they'll intermarry with local Raj put, families

00:07:02 - This is part of a kind of, performance of a chakra art tin, a wheel turning ruler. And there are vedic injunctions that a king needs to move across the four quarters of his empire, constantly reestablishing his boundaries. So there's no pushback here at all. Well, they're empire builders. So a part of this is the need to conquer, but it's another side of that that comes up a lot, is the need to continually reinforce the power

00:07:33 - So they will move throughout their provinces continually as a, as a definitive statement that they are not to be, dismissed, right? They, they're claiming their conquest territories through this constant march. It's theater. It's an awe inspiring spectacle. We have some great European eyewitness, descriptions in this period, who, expressed

The Majesty of Mogul Movements and Urban Foundations

00:08:07 - It could be a hundred thousand, 200,000 individuals moving. It'll take 12 hours to pass, says one Englishman who watches it. So it's an awesome theater of rulership and power for that reason. It serves a political purpose. This is so interesting with them because they recognize the value of urban centers, and they use them, they will

00:08:37 - and then build some of their own. so Delhi, Agra Lahore, these are the great cities of the Moogle world. They'll build a few capitals. Homa in the second, ruler will attempt to build a capital outside of Delhi called Din Pana. which doesn't Take, for various reasons. Akbar will build Fatur sire outside of Agra next to a Sufi shrine. So he's really developing a dialogue

00:09:10 - that most importantly draw not just from the Muslim population, but are also popular with other religious communities in the region. So it goes far beyond simply appealing to, Islamic royal culture, right? but none of those, none of that really takes, they continue to return to Delhi, Agra Lahore. and then, Shahan,

The Evolution of Mughal Capital and Architecture

00:09:42 - will build Shahan BHA in a suburb of Delhi. And he seems to have a vision of a real sedentary capital, but even in this case, his son and successor Arong Zeb will within 20 years leave and move the entire royal court to the Decken, which he's focused on conquering. So even Shahan is not, a,

00:10:12 - after the death of Arong zab, the moguls immediately go into a state of decline. Their income drops, their power drops, then they become kind of locked into a sedentary royal court at Shahan Budd. So it's a reluctant permanence, right? So, so architecture's really important to them as a demonstration of power and of aesthetic prowess, right? So they're gonna build gorgeous structures

00:10:42 - And of course, they're most famous for their tombs, which are set in the all important imperial formal garden landscape. that is an affirmation, unequivocal affirmation of sovereignty, that, that direct landscape, and they'll, enhance the kind of trade of their empire by building centers of trade, caravans for the movement of merchants

Empowered Women in the Mughal Empire

00:11:18 - and this includes women as well as men within the royal family. the women are very involved in trade. They themselves benefit, many of them own trade trading ships and caravans working through proxies. So they're really happy to continue to support this. Women are such a cool part of this whole Moogle narrative because they, I, I consider that they've inherited a,

00:11:48 - Mongol past royal women carry, some sovereignty, so they cannot be kings, but their bloodlines can be s can be, identified as, as, as matic and royal, in the Moog context. women will serve as diplomats, their openly advising on politics, mostly with regards to family relationships.

00:12:20 - They're, they're fascinating individuals. So they're all paid salaries, and they own property, and they may own ships and, income producing businesses. So with that money, their emphasis is very much on reinforcing this imperial, pose that comes with the establishment of important

Empowered Women in Mughal Trade and Politics

00:12:51 - So we have Sha Jahan building, SHA Jahan Abba, but it's his daughter, Johan Nara, who will build the great marketplace of Delhi, the Chocho. she'll also build a major caravan sai, nearby so that all of the caravans, the merchant caravans can easily move in and out of the new capital city, nor Johan. her, SHA Johan's father's wife, Johan gear,

00:13:26 - that can house thousands of merchants and their animals. so women are really involved in supporting trade and, and, activities of that kind, but it's because they are accepted as full partners in this whole, establishment of imperial power development of the royal of royal family,

00:13:57 - They're not, they're not playing a role as girls, right? They're, they're power players. They're political actors. There's a, a memoir written by one of them. In fact, it's Ba War's daughter, UL Baan Beum, who's born in Kabul before the conquest of India. And she'll write a memoir at the request of her nephew Akbar, the great, mogul ruler Akbar. And I think historians have often found her memoir

Voices of Power: The Political Role of Women in Mogul History

00:14:26 - because they want it to be, a voice from the harem, whereas, in fact, what Goba ham is interested in and what she writes about, and the whole reason for her writing, is to establish the power of her dynasty. She's a political actor. So of course, when you have this, para community of a hundred, 200,000 people, sir Thomas Rowe estimates 600,000 souls, people

00:15:00 - what dire impact does this have on the environment? So it's really hard to tease out, a lot of detail there. a turn to, to some military historians who've done some research on the movement of the troops, which is the same issue, right? so looking at the ways that they move, the path that they choose to take, always near bodies, bodies of water, how the, the road systems are developed,

00:15:32 - how water cleanliness is protected, how we dispose of refuse. this is all really problematic, and it's hard to get at, but it's very significant. What I think is most interesting though, it about this whole question is that, you know, semi nomadism is the logical kind of, e economy to develop in environments that are fragile, right?

Mobility and Environmental Impact in Central Asian Nomadism

00:16:02 - of the central Asian step, and there's no real opportunity there for a sedentary population to grow, permanently because there's little access to water. There's, little a access to sustainable arc, agriculture. So as a response to vulnerable and fragile landscapes, mobility is actually, logical.

00:16:32 - because the of their temporary status, this mobility allows the landscape to recover essentially, though, even though, for example, they'll run massive hunting drives, which is maybe responsible for the deaths of thousands of animals in each case, and the movement of a hundred thousand hunters, they will pops, probably commit terrible ecological damage and then leave,

00:17:06 - so we don't really see, the, the kind of, environmental disaster that we would have from a sedentary royal court. Well, semi nomadism or a, a royal court progress is really common in the medieval period all over the world. there are a lot of different responses to it, but by the 17th century, most western nations, and you could say most generally,

Mobility and Control in Monarchical Governance

00:17:42 - traditional, not modern. So an effort to ent arise populations, which of course makes them a lot easier to control and to tax, which is the primary motive of government at all times. this is part of it, but that also means that the actual royal courts begin to set to rise. So, in England, in France, in Spain, there's been some great work done recently on,

00:18:13 - and Elizabeth in England, whose movement is much, much smaller than that of the moguls. She may have had a court progress of maybe 750 people as opposed to 200,000, but she's moving, as an effort to impose her will on recalcitrant nobility, right? Those who are not adopting, the religious rights, she's trying to oppose who are secret Catholics, she'll go

00:18:45 - and they have to support her, her revenue, and it can deliberately bankrupt them, right? In the mogul case. not only are they unwilling to give up this mobility for some, some kind of sense of, of modernity, but they are self-sustaining as they're mobile. And that's another part of this project of looking at the environmental demands

Mobile Courts and Community Dynamics: The Mogul System

00:19:14 - They have entire tribal communities who will bring food to the mobile court, grain carrying, RAs, who will meet the court in it, in their, campgrounds and supply them with food. There are markets set up within the, camp encampment so that people can purchase food. They don't strain the resources of the actual place they are, camped on,

00:19:48 - of the elites of that region. So those elites are required to come and pay ob, and there's a gift exchange, and it's very ritualized and important, but the actual, support of this massive population is not local. it's not locally driven. and so this allows them to make this more, relationship building patronage, establishing

00:20:21 - But it's not a punishment. It's not a way of forcing anyone to their will. And, and at the same time, the mogul kings themselves will say, you know, while we are traveling, we are accessible. We become available to the needs of our subject people. So we'll make, we'll make ourselves, public. We will respond to requests for justice or support.

Negotiating Power: Justice and Relationships in Mogul Rule

00:20:53 - with local notables. So it becomes something of a, a positive, I mean, to some degree, I mean, there's still marching along with armies and elephants and horses and weapons, and scaring the daylights out of everybody, I'm sure. But it's interesting how they negotiate that, not as a punishment, but as a relationship building exercise.

00:21:22 - even the most mundane subject people in certain circumstances in order to offer justice, right? So Junge will write about sitting on a riverbank, in Gujarat on one of his travels, and he's complaining bitterly, I'm tired, I'm sick, I'm miserable. It's hot here, but I am compelled to be here so I can offer justice the people to the people who wanna come and have contact with me.

00:21:53 - imagined in a very different way than that. Those of other nations in the period, certainly Western Europe. I mean, we can look at the Qing in China, for example. How for many generations, in the late medieval period, they stop having a court progress because they're, concerned that it may reinforce their connection to their Manchu forebearers, right? They, they don't wanna be identified as one

Ritualized Kingship: The Return of Imperial Progress

00:22:39 - And later under the cho long emperor, when they're more confident of their right to rule, they will return to at least a ritualized progress, to visit shrines and things, to reclaim a part of that, legitimizing performance of kingship.

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