Mr Dalrymple, who was in the city for a talk on 'Princes and painters in Mughal Delhi - 1707-1857', said that the identity questions wouldn't make much sense to them (people living during the Mughal era) as it would to us.
"There was a coming together of Muslim and Hindu cultures in India which resulted in the creation of Hindustani music, tabla and a platter that had both dal and kebab. Every field of culture had a mix and match of both traditions," said Mr Dalrymple, author of books like City of Djinns, White Mughals, The Last Mughal, The Fall of a Dynasty.
He said that art and culture blossomed under Mughal rule - even under later rulers like Muhammad Shah (who ruled from 1719-1748) and Bahadur Shah Zafar (1837-57).
"Art acted like a balm to soothe the pains of a falling empire under the later Mughals. In their declining years, Mughals clung to their culture like proud custodians of a superior culture," he said.
Early British residents like the Fraser and Skinner families embraced the Mughal culture, during its years of decline, while other vibrant cultures were coming up in the courts of the Rajputs and elsewhere like Oudh and Lucknow. This was the time when art flourished under the patronage of kings, company officials, noblemen and Mughals.
"A lot of mix and match of cultures happened then. Many white Mughals (progeny of westerners married to locals) had two names, one in Latin/English and the other in Arabic," Dalrymple said.
"This changed in the mid 19th century with the arrival of East India Company officials like Metcalfe and others. They didn't identify themselves with the local culture," he added.
Comments
Add new comment