Pragati Prava
Power corrupts. It breeds hatred, jealousy, contempt; it sours relationships. The mad pursuit of power results in blood feuds and bitter wars. History is replete with episodes of gory family tussles that paint an unseemly picture of man as a power-hungry animal who doesn’t heed the call of the heart and who, duped by power, is prepared to sever all emotional and social bonds…
Most politicians are of the view that the feud in the ruling Yadav parivar in Uttar Pradesh is just scramble for power. However, psychologists opine that acquisitiveness is a part of human nature. It is a survival trait. In primitive society, the human trait used to find its expression in acquiring food, as at that time wealth was normally denoted by the amount of food that could be accumulated. As civilisation advanced and societies became more organised, the rulers started fiddling with power, often engaging in bloody battles to seize external territory and forcibly acquire resources.
As regards the power tussle in the Yadav parivar, it is indeed intriguing that the party supremo, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is still not happy with the fact that his son – on all accounts, a deserving chief minister of a large state – is trying to carve out a niche for himself in politics. Commentators have opined that Mulayam’s actions can be only be explained as a stubborn unwillingness to gracefully walk into the sunset and make way for a fresh crop of leaders to take over the reins of the state. This shows that power, once acquired, is not easy to relinquish. Sunday POST delves into history to present similar portraits of power-hungry rulers who were so cruel as to sever the ties of blood in their mad pursuit of unreal glory.
Bitter wars of succession
Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbár, known as Akbar the Great, was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from the time of his accession in 1556 until 1605. He is considered the greatest of the Mughal emperors in terms of his military conquests and restoring peace in his kingdom. Within his empire he ruled justly and bridged cultural and religious barriers existing then. By restoring peace in his empire, he promoted learning and the liberal arts.
Akbar, when he was 14 years old, succeeded his father Humayun after the latter’s death in 1556, under the regency of Bairam Khan, a Turkoman noble whose zeal in repelling pretenders to the throne and severity in maintaining the discipline of the army helped greatly in the consolidation of the newly recovered empire. Historians claim that Bairam Khan attempted to dethrone and murder Akbar when he came of age. It is believed that Akbar, suspicious of Khan’s ambitions and loyalties, encouraged him to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca, and there had him killed by an agent.
However, Akbar’s son Jahangir posed a problem for the emperor. Akbar really doted on Jahangir, but the relationship got bitter as Jahangir came of age. Jahangir openly rebelled against his father at first, but was eventually reconciled. After Akbar’s death in November 1605, he assumed the throne.
Jahangir’s oldest son Khusrau had been favoured by some to succeed Akbar, and he rebelled in 1606 by hiring an army of 12,000 with money he took from an imperial treasure caravan. They besieged Lahore, but Jahangir’s imperial army soon forced them to scatter. Khusrau, then 17 years old, was caught and had to witness the impaling of his followers.
Jahangir lacked the political enterprise of his father. But he was an honest man and a tolerant ruler. He strived to reform society and was tolerant towards Hindus, Christians and Jews. However, relations with Sikhs were strained, and the fifth of the ten Sikh gurus, Arjun Dev, was executed at Jahangir’s orders for giving aid and comfort to his rebellious son Khusrau.
Jains were accused of disturbances after their leader Man Singh supported Khusrau’s rebellion. When Jahangir went to Kabul to direct the campaign against the Safavids at Qandahar, Khusrau plotted to assassinate his father. Several conspirators were executed, and the Emperor had his son blinded. However, Khusrau lived on in captivity and regained some sight.
After Jagangir’s death, Shah Jahan ascended the throne. He appointed his son, Shah Shuja, as the Subedar of Bengal and Bihar from 1641 and of Orissa from July 25, 1648 until 1661. As Shah Jahan developed illness in September 1657, a power crisis occurred in his empire. A struggle for the throne started between his four sons – Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh.
Shuja immediately crowned himself the emperor and took imperial titles in November 1657. He marched with a large army, backed by a good number of war boats in the Ganges. However, he was beaten by Dara’s army in the hotly contested Battle of Bahadurpur near Varanasi. Shuja turned back to Rajmahal to make further preparations. He signed a treaty with his elder brother, Dara, which left him with control over Bengal, Orissa and a large part of Bihar in May 1658.
In the meantime, Aurangzeb defeated Dara twice (at Dharmat and Samugarh), caught him, executed him on charge of heresy and ascended the throne. Shuja marched again to the capital, this time against Aurangzeb. A battle took place January 5, 1659, known as the Battle of Khajwa – at Fatehpur in modern Uttar Pradesh – in which Shuja was defeated.
After his defeat, Shuja retreated towards Bengal. He was pursued by the imperial army under Mir Jumla. Shuja put up a good fight. However, he was finally defeated in April 1660. After each defeat, he had to face desertions in his army, but he did not lose heart. He, rather, reorganised the army with renewed vigour. But when he was about to be surrounded at Tandah, and when he found that reorganisation of the army was no longer possible, he decided to leave Bengal for good and take shelter in Arakan. Mir Jumla was then appointed by Aurangzeb as the next Subedar of Bengal.
Shuja fled to Arakan, where he was killed for plotting against the king in 1660. After an attempted rescue of Murad in 1661, he was beheaded for a murder he had previously committed. Suleiman Shukoh, the eldest son of Dara Shikoh, was captured and drugged with opium until he died in 1662. The civil war depressed the revenues of the empire, and limited rainfall resulted in famine. Aurangzeb ordered free kitchens in the cities to dispense cooked food. Shah Jahan remained a prisoner until he died in 1666.
Dynastic feud
Surya Vanshi Kapilendra Deva, who titled himself the Gajapati King and founded the Gajapati dynasty in 1434, was troubled by the rivalry between his two sons. Throughout his 33-year rule, Mohammedan rulers occupied neighbouring states like Bengal. They were treated as a threat to Orissa. Kapilendra Deva, with the help of his eldest son, Hamvira Deva, successfully fought against Sultan Alladin Ahmmed Shah-II. Shortly after, Orissa was invaded from the south by the Reddy King Devaraya I of Vijayanagaram. Hamvira defeated the Reddys and occupied their state. So the Gajapati kingdom eventually extended from Midnapore in Bengal to Guntur in Andhra. Meanwhile, Kapilendra Deva with the support of Hamvira crushed the Bengal Sultan Ahmed Shah to secure the north western frontiers of his empire.
Despite his contributions towards establishing the political sovereignty of Utkal, and as someone who traditionally had the right to become the king of Utkal being Kapilendra Deva’s eldest son, Kapilendra Deva committed a mistake. Kapilendra Deva, before his death in 1466, chose his youngest son Purussottam Deva as his heir and said he was chosen as per Lord Jagannath’s ordainment. But Hamvira and his allies could not accept this and rebelled against him. Purusottam had to fight against his 18 brothers in 1472 to ascend the throne. But he was defeated and Hamvira Deva became the king. In 1476, however, Purushottam fought back, recaptured the throne and restored the reign of Utkal.
Deplorable fall of Magadha
In ancient India, Magadha rose to imperial power, prosperity and become the centre of political activities due to its geographical advantages and liberal policies of the emperor Bimbisara who ruled for 52 years from 544 BC to 492 BC. But, his son Ajatashatru’s greed for power resulted in the fall of the empire.
Ajatashatru imprisoned his father in a Rajgir jail to ascend the Magadhan throne. He later killed his father. Throughout his rule, Ajatashatru followed an aggressive policy of expansion.
After the death of Bimbisara, the widowed princess of Kosala, Kosala Devi, died of grief, causing King Prasenajit (brother of Kosala Devi) to revoke Kashi, which was given to Bimbisara as dowry, from Ajatashatru. It triggered a war between Kosala and Magadha. Ajatashatru was trapped by an ambush and captured with his army. In a peace treaty, however, he, his army, and Kashi were restored to Magadha, and he married Prasenajit’s daughter.
According to Buddhist texts, the four kings who ruled Magadha after Ajatashatru all killed their fathers. Ultimately, the people rose up against the rule of murderers and elected Sishunaga as the king of Magadha, who destroyed the power of the Pradyotas (rulers of Avanti) and took over Avanti as well as Vatsa and Kosala. His son, Kalashoka, succeeded to a powerful empire, but was murdered by a barber named Ugrasena, who founded the Nanda dynasty, which ended the traditional Kshatriyas’ rule by exterminating their principalities. The last king of the Nandas was overthrown shortly after Alexander’s Greek invaders left India in 326 BC, because his people hated him for his wickedness, miserliness and low origin.
Sibling rivalry
Deadly sibling rivalry was common in the Ptolemy dynasty. The complex family trees occasioned by inbreeding caused succession crisis typically with deadly results.
Cleopatra VII ruled ancient Egypt as co-regent (first with her two younger brothers and then with her son) for almost three decades. She became the last in a dynasty of Macedonian rulers founded by Ptolemy, who served as general under Alexander the Great during his conquest of Egypt in 332 BC.
After her father’s death, Cleopatra’s younger brother Ptolemy XIII inherited the throne. As inbreeding was practised by the ancient royal families to keep a grip on power, Cleopatra was supposed to marry her brother. But her ambitions threatened Ptolemy XIII, who exiled her, according to historian Stacy Schiff. Cleopatra’s ambition made her form an alliance with Julius Caesar. She then retook the throne with her other younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, who later died. It is believed that Cleopatra had poisoned him. She also had her younger sister Arsinoe IV, another rival, killed. Historians say it is rare to find a member of the family who did not murder relative or two.
Brothers lock horns
William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England, had four sons and one among them died before him. William split his kingdom for his two eldest remaining sons – Robert was given Normandy upon his father’s death, and William (junior) got the throne of England.
His youngest son, Henry, who was not granted a kingdom, was on his toes to grab an opportunity. In 1100, William died in a hunting accident while Robert was away on a crusade. Within three days, Henry had himself crowned as the king of England beating his absent brother to the punch, according to the official history of the British monarchy. Robert attempted to take England for himself, but Henry I beat him back — and then, a few years later, took Normandy, too. Robert was captured, and Henry I kept him imprisoned for the rest of his life.