• The Shakespeare Enigma
• Ketchup in Tuva
• Charles Darwin
  The Devil's Chaplain?
• Henry VIII. –
  Murderer on the throne
• The Last Battle of the Celts
• Tunesia – Mirage Between Desert And Ocean
• The Quest for the Spice Islands
• The Dream of Taj Mahal
• Buddha – The Way to Enlightenment
• Mohammed – The Voice of God
• Tragedy at Devil's Gate – The Mormon Trek through the U.S.A.
• Storm Across Asia - Alexander the Great conquers the world
• Coming home late - Giora Feidman’s Klezmer
• Tim Severin’s The China Voyage
• Attila the Hun
• Edgar Hilsenrath
• The Castle of Forgotten Mummies
• The Star and Its Shadow - Forced Labour Daimler-Benz
• Forget Columbus - America's Secret Discoverers
• Tsa'amri – The White man Who Became an Indian
• Atlantis – In Search of a Lost Continent

The Dream of Taj Mahal

In the series: SPHINX – Legends of History

In 1556, in the city of Delhi, a thirteen-year-old boy named Akbar ascended the throne. He was to become the greatest ruler of his era on the Indian subcontinent: a fierce warrior and a founder of peace, a rigid autocrat and a tolerant cultural messenger, all wrapped into one.

To secure permanent power in India , the Islamic Mogul Emperor needed to carry out several military conquests. He incited the bloodiest war in the desert state of Rajasthan. He slaughtered 30,000 people, after the siege of the most powerful Indian Rajput leader's fortress. After that, hardly anybody dared to oppose him. Akbar married the Hindu Raja's daughter, and built an empire, in which the economy and culture flourished, and Hinduism and Islam coexisted peacefully.

The film leads back to an India , which reminds us of "fairytale weddings", elephant fights and tiger hunting. On our expedition, we meet with the living descendants of the Maharajas. They show us their splendid palaces; demonstrate their ancestors' collections of old weapons and paintings. Their ancestors once fought against Akbar. They report that the Mogul Emperor was a visionary statesman and a religious politician, as well as a passionate lover with a marked preference for opium.

Reenacted scenes of Akbar's life give an insight into the emperor's personality. Archaeological finds and historical sources complete the manifold image of this chapter in India's history.

Although the legendary Mogul empire declined long ago, you can still discover Akbar's lasting heritage in India's most splendid palaces, like in Jodhpur, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Jaipur. The architectural highpoint of this epoch is the Taj Mahal, built by one of Akbar's successors, as a mausoleum of his beloved deceased wife. Today it stands as a monument to the dream of religious tolerance during India ’s golden age.

• Discovery Channel page (in German)