The rise and fall of the Mughal Empire - Stephanie Honchell Smith

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Yuwei Wu

It’s 1526 in what is now Northern India,

1526 年，在现今印度北部，

and Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi is about to face off against a prince

苏丹易卜拉欣洛提将要与中亚的王子

from Central Asia, Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur.

扎希尔丁·穆罕默德·巴布尔 展开一场对决。

To quash the threat, the Sultan brings his war elephants to battle.

为了消除威胁， 苏丹带着他的战象参战。

But it’s said that the explosions of Babur’s cannons and muskets

但据说巴布尔的大炮和火枪的 爆炸声惊动了大象，

startled the elephants and they trampled the Sultan’s own army.

它们践踏了苏丹的军队。

Babur had long harbored ambitions of building his own empire.

巴布尔长期以来 一直怀有建立自己的帝国的雄心。

Though he was descended from some of the world’s most successful conquerors,

尽管他是世界上 一些最成功征服者的后裔，

he struggled to gain a foothold

但他在中亚众多 雄心勃勃的王子中难以立足。

among the many ambitious princes in Central Asia.

So he turned his attention to India,

因此，他将注意力转向印度。

where his descendants stayed and built the Mughal Empire,

他的后裔在那里定居 并建立了莫卧儿帝国。

one of the wealthiest and most powerful states in the early modern world

这是早期现代世界上最富裕、 最强大的国家之一，

and home to nearly a quarter of the global population.

也是全球近 四分之一人口的所在地。

Babur died just four years after that fateful battle,

巴布尔在那场命运攸关的战斗后 仅仅四年便去世了，

but his own memoirs and the work of his descendants

但他自己的回忆录以及他后代的作品

immortalized him in colorful fashion.

以生动的方式使他永垂不朽。

His daughter, Gulbadan, recalled in her own memoir how Babur—

他的女儿古尔巴丹 在自己的回忆录中写道，

having recently given up drinking—

巴布尔最近戒酒了，

filled a newly-constructed pool with lemonade rather than wine.

他在一座新建的水池里 装满了柠檬水，而不是葡萄酒。

His grandson, Akbar, commissioned exquisite miniature paintings

他的孙子阿克巴委托制作了 描绘巴布尔故事的精美小型画作，

of Babur’s stories—

one depicted the empire’s founder riding through his camp,

其中一幅画描绘了这位帝国的创始人

drunkenly slumped over his horse.

骑着马在营地中 醉醺醺地倒下的情景。

It was Akbar who consolidated Mughal power.

正是阿克巴巩 稳固了莫卧儿帝国的权力。

He established protections for peasants—

他为农民建立了保护措施，

which in turn increased their productivity and generated more tax revenue—

从而提高了他们的生产力， 并创造了更多的税收收入。

and embarked on military campaigns to expand Mughal territory.

他还进行了军事战役， 扩大了莫卧儿帝国的领土。

Princes who swore allegiance to him were rewarded,

向他宣誓效忠的王子得到了奖赏，

while he made brutal examples of those who resisted,

而抵抗他的人则被残忍地杀鸡儆猴。

killing them and many of their subjects.

他杀了他们和他们的许多臣民。

His conquests opened access to port cities on the Indian Ocean,

他的征服打开了 通往印度洋港口城市的通道，

which connected the Mughals to Arab, Chinese, Ottoman, and European traders,

连接了莫卧儿帝国和阿拉伯、 中国、奥斯曼和欧洲的商人，

bringing in incalculable wealth,

带来了无以计数的财富，

including silver and new crops from the Americas.

包括来自美洲的白银和新作物。

As the Muslim ruler of a diverse, multiethnic empire,

作为多元， 多民族帝国的穆斯林统治者，

Akbar worked to create internal cohesion by appointing members

阿克巴致力于增强内部凝聚力

of the Hindu majority to high positions in his government,

在政权内部任命印度人做高管，

marrying a Hindu bride,

赢取印度教新娘，

and distributing translated copies of the “Mahabharata,”

并给他的穆斯林贵族分发 《摩诃婆罗多》的译本，

an ancient Indian epic poem, to his Muslim nobles.

这部古老的印度史诗。

Akbar also hosted lively religious debates where Sunni and Shia Muslims,

阿克巴还主持了热烈的宗教辩论， 让逊尼派和什叶派穆斯林、

Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians,

印度教徒、耆那教徒、祆教徒

and the newly arrived Portuguese Jesuit missionaries

和新来的葡萄牙耶稣会传教士

defended the merits of their respective faiths.

捍卫各自信仰的优点。

While most participants viewed this as an intellectual exercise,

虽然大多数参与者认为 这是一种智力较量，

Portuguese missionaries were disappointed by their failure to convert Akbar.

葡萄牙传教士则对 未能使阿克巴皈依感到失望。

The Mughals built architectural masterpieces

莫卧儿帝国建造的建筑杰作

such as the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort,

有泰姬陵和红堡，

a palace three kilometers around, that housed 50,000 people

这个宫殿占地方圆三公里， 能容纳 5 万人居住

and contained the magnificent gold and jewel-encrusted Peacock Throne.

并包含华丽的 黄金和珠宝镶嵌孔雀王座。

Just the throne took seven years to construct.

仅仅王座就花了7年的时间建造。

During its first 180 years, the Mughals had only six rulers,

在该帝国前面 180 年中， 莫卧儿帝国只有 6 位统治者，

which contributed to the empire’s stability.

这有助于帝国的稳定。

When the fourth emperor, Jahangir,

当第四任皇帝贾汗吉尔

struggled with alcohol and opioid addiction,

酒精和鸦片成瘾时，

his wife, Nur Jahan, took the reins as co-ruler.

他的妻子，努尔·贾汗， 成为共同执政者。

When a traitorous general captured her husband in an attempted coup,

当一个叛将在未遂政变中 俘虏她的丈夫时，

she negotiated his release and rallied the army to stop the rebellion.

她通过谈判使他获释， 并集结军队以制止叛乱。

She once led a hunting party to track down a tiger that was terrorizing a village,

她曾经带领狩猎队 追捕一只威胁村庄的老虎，

leading one poet to write:

一位诗人这样写道：

“Though Nur Jahan be in form of a woman/ In the ranks of men she’s a tiger-slayer.”

“尽管努尔·贾汗是女儿身， 但在男人中，她是一位屠虎者”

Following the death of the sixth emperor, Aurangzeb, in 1707,

1707 年第六任皇帝 奥朗则布去世后，

seven emperors took the throne over the next 21 years.

在随后的 21 年里， 有 7 位皇帝登上了王位。

These frequent transitions of power reflected

这些频繁的权力更迭反映了

the larger political, economic, social, and environmental crises

整个 18 世纪困扰帝国的更大的

that plagued the empire throughout the 18th century.

政治、经济、社会和环境危机。

In response to this turmoil,

由于这种动荡，

regional leaders started refusing to pay taxes and broke away from Mughal control.

地方领袖开始 拒绝交税和摆脱莫卧儿的控制。

The British East India Company offered military support to these regional rulers,

英国东印度公司为 这些地方统治者提供军事支持，

which in turn increased the company's political influence,

这反过来增加了公司的政治影响，

enabling it to eventually take direct control of Bengal,

使其最终直接控制孟加拉，

one of the wealthiest regions in India.

印度其中一个最富裕的地区。

By the 19th century, the East India Company had massive political influence

到 19 世纪时， 东印度公司有巨大的政治影响力

and a large standing army, which included Indian troops.

和一支庞大的常备军， 其中包括印度人的军队。

When these troops revolted in 1857,

当这些军队在 1857 年起义，

aiming to force out the British and restore Mughal influence,

旨在驱逐英国人 并恢复莫卧儿王朝时，

the British government intervened,

英国政府干涉了，

replacing company rule with direct colonial rule,

用直接的殖民统治取代了公司统治，

deposing the last Mughal emperor and sending him into exile.

罢免并流放了 最后一位莫卧儿帝国皇帝。

And so, over three centuries after its founding,

于是，在建立三个世纪后，

the Mughal Empire came to an end.

莫卧儿帝国灭亡了。