The British rule on India

Builing of TajMahal:

Shah Jahan's extravagant architectural indulgence had a heavy price. The peasants had been impoverished by heavy taxes and by the time his son Aurangzeb ascended the throne, the empire was in a state of insolvency. As a result, opportunities for grand architectural projects were severely limited. This is most easily seen at the Bibi-ki-Maqbara, the tomb of Aurangzeb's wife, built in 1678. Though the design was inspired by the Taj Mahal, it is half its size, the proportions compressed and the detail clumsily executed.

The Taj Mahal thus symbolizes both Mughal artistic achievement and excessive financial expenditures at a time when resources were shrinking. The economic positions of peasants and artisans did not improve because the administration failed to produce any lasting change in the existing social structure. There was no incentive for the revenue officials, whose concerns were primarily personal or familial gain, to generate resources independent of what was received from the Hindu zamindars and village leaders, who, due to self-interest and local dominance, did not hand over the entirety of the tax revenues to the imperial treasury. In their ever-greater dependence on land revenue, the Mughals unwittingly nurtured forces that eventually led to the break-up of their empire.

Who did Dilip Kumar portray In Mughlay Azam, was it Shah Jehan or Jehangir?

To feed the global market economy, new crops mainly for export were introduced in the colonies; new laws and social structures were imposed; new technologies and consumption patterns, which were totally alien, took hold. Subsistence food production gave way to commercial crops and raw materials to feed Europe's industrialisation. Agrarian societies in the colonies were profoundly transformed. Fertile lands were given to grow cash crops with less land to grow food to feed the local population. Food scarcity became a permanent feature and this affected the nutritional and health status of the people.

For example, Bengali peasants under East India Company (EIC) rule in India were forced to grow indigo and kept in extreme poverty as a result of very high land taxes imposed by the Company. Within a few years of Company rule, Bengal's economy was in ruins. Fertile agricultural lands became barren and useless and famine killed some ten million Bengalis. The frequency and severity of famines which occurred under the rule of the EIC, accelerated under direct British rule when food production was increasingly displaced by commodities like jute, dyes, and cotton.

By the second half of the 19th century, India's industry and economy were in complete ruins. India became one huge plantation for the British to grow tea, indigo, and jute for export. Famine became endemic and reached epidemic proportions under British colonial rule. During this period, more than 20 million Indians died from famine.

All told, British exploitation of India, not only pauperized more than 90 percent of the Indian masses, it left behind a weakened population, susceptible to disease and destroyed indigenous coping mechanisms that had been developed over the course of centuries. This story was replayed in many Third World societies under colonial conquest.

The Mughals, or Moguls, were descendants of Genghis Khan. They also brought about the ancient world's wonder of Taj Mahal. I believe that curry was invented by Noor Jehan. India has benefitted from the Muslims in ways such as beautiful music and songs. Akbar the Great did unify the country as well. Maybe Aurenzeb is the culprit in bringing religious strife. Naturally, Islam and Hinduism are incompatible so there is bound to be a lot strife and and anger.

I find the icon of Kali blood curdling.

The point iswouldyoudemolish the Taj?

The Taj isn't a religious building. It is a mausoleum for Shah Jehan's beloved.