LAHORE: (September 18): Punjab University Histoy department in collaboration with Pakistan Study Centre organized a talk of Prof Dr Carla Petievich, Professor of Asian Studies at University of Texas, Austin on the topic of “What made the Mughals Great”. 

She talked about the contribution of the Mughal Empire in art and architecture and their special diplomatic and military skills.  She emphasized that though Mughals came form a tribal tradition of Central Asia yet they assimilated the indigenous traditions with Perso-Central Asia Culture. 

In this way, they were able to evolve a cosmopolitan court which achieved the high watermarks in music, paintings, art & architecture.  She also mentioned the religious tolerance and pluralism of the Mughals which made them acceptable to the local people of India.

According to her, the flowering of Indian art forms particulary the building of grand architectural monuments like the Taj Mahal of Agra, India, during the Mughal period was a great achievement of the Mughal Emperors. At the end of her talk, the audience asked intriguing questions form the speaker.  Prof Dr. S Qlab-i-Abid concluded the session with a note of thanks.