Curated playlist
Akbar
- AkbarAkbar could not read, yet he built a library of over 24,000 volumes.
- Tomb of Mariam-uz-ZamaniOf all Akbar's wives, only Mariam-uz-Zamani was buried close to him. Her son Jahangir built her tomb in Agra.
- RazmnamaEmperor Akbar ordered the Mahabharata translated into Persian. The Razmnama team worked in shifts.
- Nizamuddin AhmadSome books Nizamuddin Ahmad used survive only in his own history. He drew on twenty-nine authorities for it.
- HumayunHumayun lost his whole empire and spent fifteen years in exile before winning it back. A Persian shah saved him.
- Ain-i-AkbariThe poet Ghalib was asked to praise the Ain-i-Akbari but scolded its editor for wasting talent on dead things.
- Akbar's tombIn 1688, raiders broke into Akbar's tomb and burned the emperor's bones. They also took its gold and jewels.
- AkbarnamaHow did a Mughal emperor's chronicle end up in a London museum? A widow sold the Akbarnama volume to it in 1896.
- Din-i IlahiEmperor Akbar founded a religion in 1582 that never had more than 19 known followers.
- Humayun's TombHumayun's tomb in Delhi once had turnips growing in its garden. A viceroy ordered the gardens restored in 1903.
- Ibadat KhanaAkbar built a house at Fatehpur Sikri where atheists debated beside Hindus and Catholics.
- Hamida Banu BegumHamida Banu Begum refused an emperor for forty days before agreeing to marry him. She later became the mother of Akbar.
- Agra FortShah Jahan spent his last eight years a prisoner in Agra Fort, staring at the Taj Mahal. He died there in 1666.
- Fatehpur SikriEmperor Akbar built Fatehpur Sikri as his capital in 1571 and abandoned it fourteen years later.
- Salim ChishtiEmperor Akbar asked the Sufi saint Salim Chishti for a son. A year later a boy was born, and a city followed.