In this hard-hitting follow-up, author Medha ji dismantles pop-culture myths around the Mughals and revisits why Ch. Shivaji Maharaj’s revolution mattered. She challenges romanticized screen portrayals (Salim the “hero,” Akbar the “liberal”) with court chronicles and references, then contrasts them with Ch. Shivaji’s governance—protecting civilians, punishing molestation, and easing agrarian burdens. We also examine the human cost of imperial monuments—extraction from farmers, enslavement, famine—and ecological shifts like poppy displacing native crops, alongside Jahangir’s own tally of mass hunts. Finally, we address textbook narratives that blur the Maratha handover to the British—and why remembering accurately matters now.

Chapters-
00:00 – Intro
01:07 – Why History, Not Religion, Matters in This Discussion
03:12 – Bollywood Myths: Salim the Drunkard, Akbar’s Scouts & Harems
10:18 – Babur’s Atrocities & Guru Nanak’s Testimony
17:26 – The Massacre at Chittorgarh: 40,000 Killed
22:12 – Jahangir’s Hunts, Addictions & Obsessions
28:25 – Slavery, Eunuchs & Exploitation under the Mughals
34:47 – Ch. Shivaji Maharaj's Moral Code: Protecting Women & Civilians
35:14 – The Tax Burden: 50% vs 10% Under Shivaji
39:50 – What Did the Mughals Really Give India?
41:05 – Monuments, Temples & the Cost of Glory
43:15 – Distorted History: Who Really Ruled Before the British?
48:20 – Broken Temples, Opium Cultivation & Ecological Collapse
50:18 – Skull Mounds, Famines & Forgotten Horrors
52:30 – Final Message: Reclaiming India’s Story

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