Episode list

Through the Khyber Pass in 1526 came the founder of the great Moghul Empire, Babur. He rode around with a small band of followers seizing villages and cattle. By the time he came into India, he had built up a sizable army and had firearms which helped him to win battles that enabled him to crown himself Emperor of India.

In Akbar's great palace city at Fatehpur Sikri near Agra we discover how a Great Moghul lived. Also examined are Akbar's first contacts with Europeans and his obsession with religion.

When the second Emperor Humayun died, his thirteen-year-old son was crowned Emperor. He was called Akbar, meaning "Great". He would grow up to amply deserve the name, for he was the greatest of the Great Moghuls.

The stability of the previous reign continues, and Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) - more the aesthete and less the man of action than his father-is the right person to enjoy it. Meanwhile, drama is provided by the rivalries which surround the emperor, especially between his wife and son.

Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) was something of an enigma. After murdering several relatives to secure the throne for himself, he built the world's most famous monument to love, the Taj Mahal.

Aurangzeb murdered two brothers to inherit the throne and imprisoned his father. He extended the Moghul Empire, but Sikh resistance to his attempts to impose Islam hastened his decline.