ABSTRACT
The opening action of the blockbuster film Mughal-e-Azam (1960, dir. K. Asif) shows a bearded, barefootmanwhoweknow is the emperorAkbar,walking toward the camera through a desert wasteland, followed in the distance by a large caravan including his state elephant and a number of bullock carts with tents that shelter the ladies of his court.We learn from the narrator (who is the land of India personified) that the emperor is without son and heir, and is traveling to the shrine of a great spiritual leader to seek his intervention. After the emperor arrives at the shrine (in Ajmer), he kneels with his wife before the tomb of the saint in the presence of its bearded custodians, who sit kneading their prayer beads. Acting on their advice he addresses the saint as the lord of both material and spiritual worlds (donon jahan ke malik), saying ‘You are the emperor of emperors’ (shehanshahon ke tum shehenhsah hai). The narrator then describes the kneeling petitioner: ‘And our emperor, before whom the whole world had bowed, bowed his own head in the presence of a fakir’s authority’ (aur us shehenshah ne jis ke age sari duniya jhukti thi ek phakir ki sarkar main apna sar jhuka diya). At the end of his prayer, we see the hands of a custodian placing flowers in the hands of Akbar’s kneeling wife. The next scene, nine months later, portrays the celebration at the palace at the news of the birth of a son and heir, Salim, who will become the emperor Jahangir.
