The Mad Men of Yore

Spent time across a series of 3 books, a work of fiction based on the life of Alexander I-beg-to-disagree "the Great" and a fourth on Babur.

These mad men have been responsible for unimaginable havoc. They laid siege on happy & functioning kingdoms. Finally subjugating them. Plundered and killed at will for no righteous reason, raped or took away the women.

There are parallels between the two. Each took an ancestor (equally mad!) as role model and set about emulating him and his deeds. Achilles and Timur respectively.

What life! marrying at will be it as a part of a subjugation treaty or sheer lust. Having eunuchs to guard the wives lest they be attracted to macho guards. Sleeping with men, eunuchs, wives or any other at will. With such a long lineage of perverted genes, even a great teacher like Aristotle could not bring sense to Alexander. The nut even accompanied the senior nut to orgies!

The addict that he was, at the height of his glory, he burnt down the most beautiful capital of Persia after a mad dance inside the magnificent palace stoked by some sort of narcotic or hallucinogen. God then prevailed and took his life mysteriously at the age of 33 with no heir. His accomplices in crime, close childhood friends, split the proceeds only to soon fight against each other and perish.

It is said that as Timur marched towards Delhi, he took locals as slaves to such an extent that there were five slaves to every soldier. As they neared Delhi these slaves started raising slogans in praise of Delhi's ruler in the hope that he would emancipate them. Timur, realising that things were getting out of control ordered every soldier to kill his slaves. Thus a 100,000 were massacred.

For a long time, Babur was a king without throne wandering or being chased across all the wilderness between Ferghana and Samarkhand. In a truce deal, he permitted an adversary to take his sister as an unwilling wife. In a stroke of luck a messenger arrived out of the blue with tidings that he had inherited the kingdom at Kabul by default! After he became comfortable again, he decided that he had to emulate Timur and march he did into Delhi to conquer it. Unlike Alexander's case his line thrived quite a while, holding on to power many a time by destroying friends and even siblings without any remorse or regret.

Apart from the four mentioned above, history throws up so many. Nero, Hitler, Mussolini to name a few. All equally cruel. I wonder how they inspired such unbelievable following and harnessed their negative energies to conquer and subjugate innocents.

There is no honour or greatness in plundering and inflicting cruelty on unknown people. I fail to understand why history seats these men on such high pedestals. India, especially Delhi, understandably on account of the vast wealth, shed unbelievable quantities of blood to the swords of a series of conquerors.

As we look back for say 5000 years we can see a positive trend. Mankind, the wildest among all living beings is slowly but surely mellowing down and gaining in moral values. Though we face similar atrocities today too, definitely there is decline. That too despite the more powerful and sophisticated methods of modern day. In the short term perspective we might see setbacks and reversals but when we analyse from the very very long past, safety of limb and life has definitely become better. This improvement is far steeper in the quality of life of women.