All language subtitles for East to West 5of7 The Asian Crucible

(ORIENTAL MUSIC)

This is the untold story

of the making of the modern world.

A fresh perspective,

charting the spread of civilisation
across the globe.

From the dawn of mankind

and the first cities and empires

to the belief in One God.

(Calls for prayer)

We follow the flow of civilisation

from the Middle East...

an extraordinary place
that has been a vital link

between the continents of Asia,
Africa and Europe for millennia.

An economic, scientific
and cultural centre of the world.

This is an epic journey
of discovery...

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

from the East to the West.

Today, on the outskirts of the town
of Sivas in modern Turkey,

horsemen gather together
to play Cirit -

an ancient game of immense skill
and stamina -

using the traditional cirit
or spear.

(RHYTHMIC MUSIC)

It is an extreme test of reflex,
bravery and horsemanship.

Riders attempt to catch their
opponent's spear in mid-flight,

before launching
into a fresh assault.

But cirit isn't just a game.

It's a thousand year old tradition

an echo of an ancient lifestyle
on horseback,

when the ancestors of these riders
played it

to hone their equestrian
and battle skills

as they began to transform
the world forever.

(SWELLING MUSIC)

A thousand years ago

the dividing lines in Middle East
and Asia Minor

seemed firmly drawn
between the Great Islamic empires,

and the lands of the Byzantines

- the Christian successors
of the eastern Roman Empire.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

But at the turn
of the new millennium,

new forces were beginning to rise
in the distant steps of central Asia

that would turn
this old order upside down.

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

First came the Seljuk Turks

who journeyed thousands of miles
and took on the Byzantines,

followed by Genghis Khan

and his Mongol tribes
who wrought destruction

throughout the Islamic world, before
converting to the faith themselves.

Timur the Great, who from his
glittering capital in Samarkand

created an Islamic renaissance.

And his descendants the Moghuls,
whose rule in India would produce

one of the richest, most vibrant
cultures in history.

This is the story of a region
that created

some of the greatest empires
and emperors the world has ever seen,

transforming the balance
of world power

and redefining both East
and West forever.

This is the story
of the Asian crucible.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

The rugged steppes of Central Asia

- a thousand years ago,

a bleak terrain inhabited by nomadic,
horsemen.

A region on the fringes
of the Islamic world

since it had been conquered
by the Arab armies.

A vast landmass

which stretched from modern day China
and Mongolia in the east,

to the Caspian Sea in the west.

Afghanistan in the south,

to Russia in the north,

but a region that had also played
an important role

as a hub between East and West,

the territory through which
the Great Silk Road passed,

bringing riches from China and India
through to Europe.

By the 11th century,

the most powerful inhabitants
of this region were a Turkic people,

the Seljuks -
recent converts to Islam,

whose tribal warlike culture
had given them dominance

over this harsh,
inhospitable terrain.

Over 300 years

- using their military skills,

driven by the search of better
pasture and the spoils of war,

the Seljuk Turks not only
swept throughout the steppes

but began to spread out of their
Central Asian homeland

towards Anatolia,

the lands of Modern Turkey.

Their arrival changed the balance
of world power forever

as the cultures of East and West -

the Christians of Byzantium

and the Muslim Turks -

clashed head to head.

(EERIE MUSIC)

It was here in Eastern Anatolia,

on 26th August, 1071,

outside the town of Malazgirt,

that the Seljuk forces
came face to face

with their Byzantine foes.

The Seljuk leader, Alp Arslan,
confidently led his army

to the edge of the plains...

the barren landscape a perfect
setting tor an army

which had thrived
in the harsh terrain

of the Central Asian steppes.

Alp Arslan's forces

had already capitalised on their
adaptability to this landscape,

weakening their enemy
through skirmishing and sabotage.

They had burned the Byzantines' food
sources and poisoned their wells.

But still the Seljuk cavalry
were heavily outnumbered.

And rather than going
for all-out attack,

the Seljuks used hit and run tactics

to draw their enemy
into a lethal trap.

They had the speed,

they had the weaponry,

but most importantly
they were highly skilled.

Under pressure,
the Byzantine infantry attacked.

As the Byzantines approached,

the Turks feigned retreat.

Then from behind the rocky hills,

the hidden Seljuk archers emerged
on horseback .

The Byzantines were surrounded
and in disarray.

The Turks closed in
and crushed them.

Against the odds,

Alp Arslan's warriors had destroyed
the mighty Byzantine army,

the Byzantine empire losing its hold
over the rich lands of Anatolia.

The land known as Rum,
meaning “Roman Empire",

that had been ruled
by Christian Byzantines,

was now the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum
ruled by Muslim Sultans.

As they cemented their rule,

their new capital Konya became
the spiritual and cultural heart

of the Seljuk state.

Scholarship, craftsmanship
and religion -

including Sufism,
a mystic branch of Islam -

flooded in
from all over the Muslim world,

bringing with it, the cultural
heritage of Central Asia

and the Middle East.

The departure of the Byzantines

and the arrival of the Seljuks marked
a monumental regime change,

but it didn't mark a complete break
with the past.

The region of Cappadocia,
“the land of beautiful horses",

had been the hub
of Anatolian Christianity

for many centuries
before the Seljuk invasion.

And today, in the town of Aksaray,

Christian dwellings, rock monasteries
and frescoed churches

still honeycomb
the steep gorges and hillsides.

But it is nearby,
in the 16 mile rock cut gorge,

the lhlara Valley,

where archaeological evidence reveals
the remarkable relationship

between the Christians
and the incoming Muslims.

This richly decorated rock chapel
dates from about 1290.

It was put up to be
the burial chamber

of some rich local citizens

and they could afford
to decorate the church

to the very highest
Byzantine standards.

There you see archangels dressed

as they would have been
200 years earlier

in the heyday of the Byzantines,

and there's Christ
in Transfiguration,

and over this side
you can see the Twelve Apostles.

(STATELY MUSIC)

Over the centuries,
the frescoes have been defaced.

But what they reveal is that this is
the tomb of a wealthy local Christian

living under Seljuk rule.

The Seljuks' success wasn't simply
territorial;

it was a victory over
hearts and minds.

What we've got over here
is really quite remarkable.

There's nothing like it
either in Turkey

and certainly not in Cappadocia.

Here we've got someone
in Oriental dress.

This gentleman is wearing a turban,

big black beard, flowing white
robes, long sword by his side.

And he's standing beside someone who
is recognisably the Christian saint,

Saint George.

Well, who are they?

Well, the answer was written
on the wall, at the time.

What's important are these big
lettered inscriptions in white.

Those were painted at the time.

They tell us very clearly that this
person here is Basil Giagoupes,

he commands Christian troops,

he's probably also a local
landowner,

but his loyalty is not
to the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus,

but to Mesud the Second.

So although Basil Giagoupes was
a Christian of Byzantine ancestry,

under this new world order

he actively embraced
the Turkic way of life...

not only wearing Seljuk dress,

but pledging allegiance
to the Seljuk sultan.

And this is a very interesting
snapshot

of how quite wealthy
and prosperous Christians lived,

worked and served the Seljuk
Dynasty,

even to the point of fighting for it
and presumably dying for it.

(ETHEREAL MUSIC)

One gets the impression
that the two populations

mixed relatively easily
in the centre of the country

and that's one of the reasons
why lslamicisation

went so deep here so early.

Through ethnic, religious
and cultural interaction,

the line between conqueror
and conquered began to disappear.

Here, there was
no clear East-West divide,

this was a cultural crossroads.

(RHYTHMIC MUSIC)

This cultural vibrancy was enhanced

by the constant flow of caravan
traffic travelling east and west

through the region
along the Silk Route.

(BACKGROUND MUSIC)

And to help the movement
of travellers and trade,

the Seljuks built a series
of fortified rest-stops

- caravanserais - 3O to 4O kilometres
from one another,

the equivalent of a day's travel,

allowing trade to flourish between
east and west like never before.

By the 13th century the Seljuks
had created a vast empire -

not only ruling Anatolia,

but controlling swathes
of Central Asia and the Middle East.

In their original homeland,
tribal rulers acted as lieutenants

to the Seljuk sultanate.

The stability created
by their governance

brought vast amounts of wealth

into the whole of Central Asia.

And as a result,

cities like Bukhara
in modern Uzbekistan

became some of the richest
and most vibrant centres

in the Islamic world.

Its prominence epitomised

by one of the last remaining
architectural wonders of the period.

Standing at over 5O metres high,

the Kalon minaret was
an engineering triumph,

the tallest building
in Central Asia at the time.

And to support this vast structure,

its foundations were buried over
nine metres deep into the ground.

(CALL TO PRAYER)

By the turn of the 13th century,

Bukhara could look back on
centuries of glittering achievements.

But in 1220,
all that was about to change,

with events that would not only
transform the future of the city,

but the whole of Central Asia
and the Seljuk empire.

As the city's look-outs surveyed
the distant horizon

from their monumental watch tower,

it wasn't the welcome
sight of an incoming trade caravan

that met their eyes.

(MUSIC REACHES DRAMATIC
CRESCENDO)

It was the terrifying vision

of an invading army
preparing for battle.

(THUNDEROUS MUSIC)

The Mongol forces had arrived;

at their head
one of the most bloodthirsty

and fearsome warlords
the world had ever seen -

Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan was, I think, one
of the greatest leaders in history.

He started from practically nothing

and as a nobody,

and yet he created
the world's greatest land Empire.

It was many times larger
than the Roman Empire,

and that was just the beginning.

By the year 1220,

Genghis had already
united the tribes of Mongolia,

and under his leadership his
territory also covered half of China.

But now his attentions turn
to Central Asia.

Although aware of the fate
that might await them,

the Bukharans refused to surrender.

With the misplaced confidence
that they could hold out

and defeat their enemy within the
mighty defences of their citadel,

the Ark, a fortress-like structure

which had been built and rebuilt
since the 5th century,

with 20-metre-high walls surrounding
the whole perimeter of the city.

The effect on Bukhara
was devastating.

Its wonderful monuments,

the glittering culture that had
flourished tor 400 years,

now lay in ruins, only the citadel
and the minaret surviving,

one of the great wonders
of the Islamic world

now towering above a wasteland

as a sad, solitary reminder
of this once glorious city.

No wonder that Genghis Khan's
invasion of Central Asia

inspired terror
throughout the Muslim world.

To his enemies,
he was a complete catastrophe.

And people in the Middle East
still look back to Genghis Khan

as a mass murderer,

who brought the greatest devastation
that you can imagine,

to the great cities of Central Asia
and the Muslim world.

As Genghis swept
through the Islamic world,

any city that resisted,
suffered the same fate as Bukhara...

from Konya the capital of the Seljuks

to Baghdad...
home to the House of Wisdom.

And the Mongol empire now stretched
for thousands of miles.

At its greatest extent, covering an
area of 33 million square kilometres

- 22% of the earth's total
land mass -

with over a hundred million people
under Mongol dominion.

But while the Mongols' rampage

initially decimated
the Islamic world,

as they began to interact
with the inhabitants

of the territories
they had conquered,

the Mongols themselves would
eventually turn to Islam.

Today in Isfahan, Iran,
the Friday Mosque reveals

that some Mongols were
no longer the enemies of Islam,

but were becoming devout followers.

The writings on the Mihrab

celebrate the conversion of Genghis
Khan's great-great-grandson,

to Islam.

The Mongols gradual conversion
had a dramatic effect

on the lives of the people
they conquered -

as archaeological investigations
in eastern Anatolia,

once the heartland
of the great Seljuk Empire,

have recently revealed.

The city - Ahlat - had flourished
as an important trade centre.

It is still home to a huge historic
Islamic cemetery.

The tour thousand tombstones
which survive,

record the lives of the elite
of Seljuk society in Ahlat

between the 11th and 15th centuries.

But it's the nearby cave tombs

which reveal the way
different Mongol groups

interacted with the people
they conquered.

Discoveries in these caves
show how the incoming peoples

learned to co-exist
with the local population.

Here in Ahlat,

it seems that a mixed community
of Seljuks,

Moslem llkhanate Mongols from Iran,
and Buddhists from Mongolia

were able to live and be buried
alongside each other.

The discoveries of Ahlat reveal
how Islam encouraged the Mongols

to live more amicably
with other cultures.

But throughout Central Asia, growing
cultural and religious harmony

in no way amounted to peace
and tranquility.

(AGITATED BUZZING MUSIC)

The conflict seems typified

by the regions traditional sport -
of buzkashi.

700 years ago,

the lack of a dominant
figure such as Genghis Khan

or the Seljuk Sultan,

left a power vacuum,

and the region was beset
by infighting

as tribal warlords sought
to gain the upper hand.

(RHYTHMIC DRUMMING)

But in the middle
of the 14th century,

from the Chagatai Khanate
in Central Asia,

a new leader, with both Turkic
and Mongol ancestry was about

to build a new Islamic empire,
Timur the Great.

Timur claimed
that he was a perfect Mongol.

He claimed that he was the only one
who understood,

who really understood,
Genghis Khan's heritage.

Timur's ambition was
to create an empire

that would rival
that of his role model,

Genghis Khan.

As city after city and region
after region fell before him,

as they had before Genghis Khan's
Mongol horde,

the destruction was similarly
devastating.

But whilst Timur was just
as brutal as his predecessor,

he wasn't simply
driven by bloodlust.

Although he spent 90% of his life
as a nomadic warrior,

as a great Islamic leader,
he wanted to leave behind

something more than a great empire
and trail of destruction.

Timur was aware of the fact that

although he had
this nomadic background,

he needed to present himself

as an urban sedentary ruler,
so that's why he needed a capital.

The location he chose

was a 100 kilometres
from his birthplace, Kesh:

Samarkand.

Like Bukhara, Samarkand had grown
rich on the fruits of the silk trade,

but it too had been devastated
by the Mongol hordes.

But now, as his new capital,

Timur was determined
that the city would not only rival

but surpass its former glory.

(STATELY MUSIC)

And today, his greatest monument,
the Bibi Khanum Mosque built in 1399

when he was over 6O years of age,

is still one of the largest mosques
in the world

- testament to the scale
of his ambition.

As Timur rebuilt his capital
with magnificent monuments,

Samarkand grew into one
of the greatest cities

the Islamic world had ever seen:

the pearl of the East.

Its population soaring to 150,000.

It attracted not only traders
along the Silk Road,

but artisans and craftsmen

whom Timur had gathered
from across the globe

throughout his conquests.

And today, Timur's legacy still
dominates the modern city.

The Registan,
built by his grandson Uleg Beg,

not only reflects the monumental
scale of the Timurids achievements,

but their patronage
of scholarship and learning.

By the end of the 14th century,

Samarkand was the epicenter
of an Islamic renaissance,

at the core of an empire
which connected trade and ideas

between East and West.

Timur's dream had been realised.

Over the past four centuries,

Central Asia had become a crucible
spawning some of the greatest,

yet bloodiest
leaders the world had ever seen,

the power of their empires

not only illustrated by
a flowering of culture,

but rampant destruction
in equal measure.

But while these rulers had triumphed
at home and in the West,

one prize had always evaded them all:

the East.

But at the turn of the 16th century

all that was about to change,

as a descendant
of Timur and Genghis Khan

emerged from the Steppes
of Central Asia.

The first of the Moghul emperors:

Babur '

a ruler who would take Central Asian
ideas and culture

in a totally new direction:

India.

Genghis Khan himself wanted
to conquer India.

He came up to the borders of India
and went back. Timur, of course,

came here and conquered,
and then went back.

Babur, in fact, says,

“I came to India because
it belonged to my ancestors.“

It was on 21st April 1526,

at the Battle of Panipat,

that the Moghul leader Babur
set his forces

against the incumbent Sultan
of Delhi,

armed with 15,000 troops
and a limited artillery

his army was pitted against
a force of over 150,000,

bolstered with 300 war elephants.

(DRAMATIC PORTENTOUS MUSIC)

But within a matter of hours,

Babur had out-maneuvered
and killed his foe.

The leader of the Moghuls had become
a Moghul emperor.

But ironically,
although Babur was now the ruler

of one of the richest
kingdoms in the world,

he disliked his new prize
and yearned for home.

In many ways,
coming from Central Asia,

India or Hindustan
as it was called then,

must have seemed like
land of plenty - you planted grain

in the fields and it just seemed
to grow miraculously.

But Babur was still clearly
challenged by the conditions there,

and we know this
because he wrote about it

in his autobiography,
the Baburnama.

“Hindustan is a country
of few charms.

“It's people have no good looks.

“Of social intercourse, paying and
receiving visits, there is none.

“In handicraft and work there is
no symmetry, method or quality.

“There are no good horses,
no good dogs,

“no grapes, musk-melons
or first rate fruits,

“no candles, no torches,
not even candlesticks..."

But despite his loathing
of the country,

Babur wasn't about to give
up his prize.

He was here to stay

and if he wasn't going to return
to his beloved Central Asia.

He was going to create a little oasis
of it right here in India.

What you are seeing here is
a typical Moghul char bargh

a garden design tradition

which was brought by Babur
to the Indian landscape. It was...

a very tenuous link with the
landscape that he had left behind,

so he wanted to superimpose

a very familiar spatial order
onto this alien land so to speak,

and they were
like territorial markers

that is it was trying to establish
control over the land.

Water channels not only helped
to remind Babur

of the flowing streams
of Central Asia,

the earthly paradise
he had left behind.

These gardens were also a symbol
of heavenly paradise.

There is a description in the Qur'an
of paradise being a place

beneath which flow the rivers.

The original Paradise Garden would
have had a lot of fruit trees -

all this would have been filled
with orchards

or with a whole lot of shrubs
exuding a lot of smell

because fragrance was
the essence of paradise.

They really became centres
for courtly life.

And anybody who was somebody
had to have a river-facing garden.

(DREAMY HAUNTING MUSIC)

By while recreating a slice of Asia
was motivated by Babur's desire

to feel at home
and stamp his mark on India,

his ultimate ambition was
to recreate an empire

which would equal the achievements
of his ancestors Timur

and Genghis Khan.

Babur's own territories now stretched
thousands of miles

across northern India

and within 3O years,
although he wouldn't live to see it,

the Moghuls too would boast
monuments and achievements

worthy of his ancestors.

The first was a tomb built
for his own son, Humayan.

For the first time, Central Asian
design began to be fused

with Indian materials
and craftsmanship.

It's unbelievable that the Moghuls
got such great perfection

in the very first building,
the dynasty built in India.

Just like 400 years ago, even today
visitors are filled with awe

because of the splendour
of the building.

And importantly, the Moghuls realised
that it that was to happen,

they couldn't survive simply
by importing central Asian culture

into the country as Babur had done
with his gardens.

If the empire really wanted
to flourish,

its rulers had to engage
with the local landscape

- its people and traditions.

Humayan's tomb when it was built
was built as a family tomb.

It is still known
as the house of Timur

because there are 160 Moghul
family graves in the building.

But what is so special
about Humayan's tomb is

that this was a first
on many fronts.

It was the first enclosed
garden tomb built to this scale.

The Humayan's tomb
is almost 150 ft tall.

The building itself covers
a floor area of over two acres.

Just the finial is six metres,
almost two storeys.

The earlier tombs in Delhi -

ten of them would fit
into this one building..

This was the announcement
of the Moghuls in India.

Here is a new dynasty,

a much greater dynasty
than India's seen before

and we are here to stay.

And as the tomb undergoes
major repairs today,

the restoration project
on over 72 niches,

reveals how the Moghuls
engaged with Indian culture.

While the geometric patterns
are central Asian in design,

the craftsmen
carrying out the work are Indian,

just as they were 300 years ago
when the tomb was built.

I think what was important
about this building

was Persian and Indian craftsmen
came together

to produce a synthesis
of Timurid architecture that.

Almost breathes perfection
into the whole.

You've got motifs such
as the kanguola pattern.

The six-sided star, the six-sided
star you see in Islamic buildings

from here all the way to Turkey
and beyond.

Arches, domes, corner minarets
ceramic work...

no wonder that this was
the architectural style chosen

for the most famous Moghul monument
of all, Taj Mahal.

So Humayan's tomb is actually
the precursor to the Taj.

Cultural integration played
an important role

in the establishment
of the Moghul empire.

But it required more than the
blending of architectural influences

and the employment of local craftsmen
to ensure any lasting success.

(RHYTHMIC CLAPPING MUSIC)

The luxurious lifestyle of the court
in these pleasure palaces

was the exclusive realm
of the Moghul elite,

and in the 16th century that
elite numbered around 700

ruling over a population
of 120 million.

(TINKLING MUSIC)

The Moghuls laced a huge challenge
to keep the people on side,

people who were not only culturally
and financially worlds apart

but the majority of whose
religious beliefs were also at odds.

90% of the population were Hindu,

while the Moghuls
were orthodox Sunni Muslims.

Remarkably, however,
the early Moghuls did manage

to create harmony
out of potential division.

Part of the key to their success was

was that they also patronised
another branch of Islam

which was instrumental in spreading
the religion throughout India -

Sufism.

Shrines like that
to Nizamuddin Aulea

still attracts Sufi devotees today.

For the past 700 odd years,
this has been a sacred spot.

It's not just for pilgrimage,

but a place where people come for...

of course to seek
the Sufis' blessings,

but also to come and communicate
with themselves,

with a higher mystical order.

To listen to qawwalis,
it is in a sense a mystic getaway

in a city like Delhi.

Sufism is the mystic part of Islam.

The Sufi loves God
more than anybody else

and the Sufi
is in a direct quest for God.

(SUFI MUSIC)

By 1200 AD there was a constant
stream of visitors coming

through Multan, through Afghanistan,
coming into India,

bringing the message
of another type of Islam.

(SACRED SINGING)

And so much so that Delhi was
the beating heart of Sufi Islam.

(SACRED SINGING)

When the Moghuls arrived in India,
they were quick to support Sufism

as their ancestors had done
in Central Asia,

a decision which,
in this multi-faith melting pot,

aided the acceptance of their rule.

(EXALTED SINGING)

There are places of worship
which keep away some people.

The Sufis are very inclusive.

Nobody is excluded,
everybody is allowed in.

(SINGING ACCELERATES)

Sufism helped the Moghuls enormously

because the Moghuls could not have
ruled over this large an empire

if they had held a brief
for only one lot of people

and I think what they learned
from the Sufis was how

you need to take along people,
you need to be inclusive.

(EXALTED SINGING)

The patronage of the Sufis
was particularly advantageous

to the early Moghul empire.

The Sufis' inclusiveness

meant diversity in religion
could create harmony, not discord.

Through leadership, organisation

and the fusion of cultural
and religious values

from Central Asia and India,

the Moghuls created a period
of remarkable stability

and as a consequence,
an immensely wealthy empire.

And it was under
the Emperor Shah Jahan,

that the Empire would
not only enter its golden age,

but begin
to attract global attention.

By the time of Shah Jahan,

the levels of wealth and opulence
were quite extraordinary.

Visitors from all over world
at this time,

recognised just how splendid
this place is.

This for example is the accounts
of two Dutchmen

who came to visit the place.

“The nobles here

“live in indescribable

“luxury and extravagance,

“caring only to indulge themselves
whilst they can

“in every kind of pleasure.

“In the palaces of these lords
dwell all the wealth there is -

“wealth which glitters indeed

“resplendent in the eyes
of the world.”

(AWED MUSIC)

(TINKLING DANCE MUSIC)

Shah Jahan was keen to spread
that grandeur across his empire.

In 1638, when he moved his capital
from Agra to Delhi,

he named it Shahjahanabad,

and began creating fantastic
monuments worthy of his ancestors:

The Jama Masjid, reminiscent
of the monumental mosques

built by his Central Asian
forefather Timur,

and the Red Fort

- a palace,
surpassing the grandeur reached

by any of the earlier Moghuls.

By the time he had finished

it was not only
the largest city in world

but also considered
the grandest.

But it was on the banks
of the Yamuna river in Agra

that he created the monument
that would tor ever epitomise

the magnificence of Moghul rule...

ironically, not built only
as a show of power...

but as an expression
of personal grief...

of undying love...

the Taj Mahal.

(NOSTALGIC PASSIONATE MUSIC)

Shah Jahan's wife, Mumtaz Mahal his
favourite wife, died giving birth

to the 14th child of the couple
and Shah Jahan was shattered...

And he wanted to immortalise his
love for the lady in a manner

that the world would remember her

for as long as the world lasts...

In Shah Jahan's imagination, this is
how paradise would look like.

One, the white marble signifies
serenity, peace.

There would also be perfect order
in paradise

and therefore everything is
symmetrical, everything is in place.

There is no sense of any chaos here.

Despite its sad origins,

the Taj Mahal marked the pinnacle

of both Shah Jahan's
and the Moghuls' achievements.

The Taj Mahal itself
stands at the pinnacle

of not only Shah Jahan's glory,

but Moghul Empire's glory
in a way.

It stands for it because

it sort of signifies...

peace, serenity, harmony, symmetry,

so in a way it's a metaphor
as it were,

for the whole empire
and its duration.

Following in the footsteps
of his ancestors,

Shah Jahan had created a
monument which reflected the past -

his Central Asian heritage,

celebrated the present

- the greatness of the Moghul empire,

and most importantly,
promised a future,

with a legacy which to this day
epitomises the grandeur,

the beauty and the achievements
of the empires and emperors,

who a thousand years ago emerged
from the steps of Central Asia...

the Asian Crucible which would
forever shape the makeup

of the modern world.

Subtitles © SBS Australia 2012