Short read: Akbar’s treasury held glass vessels worth Rs 25 lakh. It came from Firozabad

We live in an era in India where almost everything is which of daily use which is valuable is either imported or bought to India in components and then bolted together by an Indian company. 500 years ago, India was very different. Some of the most precious daily use items were made in India then as this fascinating article from Tara Desjardins (taken from her book “Mughal Glass: A History of Glassmaking in India”) reveals:

“Under their third emperor Akbar, the (Mughal) empire expanded to the western coast of Gujarat and eastwards to Bengal and included twelve royal subahs (provinces) spanning across much of North India.

Several types and centers of glass production were known to have existed during Akbar’s reign. One site was the town of Chandwar Nagar, later renamed ‘Firozabad’ after it was given to Akbar’s general, Firoz Shah, as a reward. While Firozabad is recognized today for crafting glass bangles and ‘block’ glass distributed to furnaces nationwide, during Akbar’s reign, this area – situated a mere 40 kilometers north of the imperial capital, Agra – manufactured a range of vessels intended for the court and local markets.

It was most probably glass from Firozabad that filled the rooms of Akbar’s royal treasury, which, according to European travelers’ accounts held ‘more than two million and a half rupees worth of the most elegant vessels of every kind in porcelain and colored glass.’ But the imperial capital also produced other kinds of glass.

The Ardhakathanaka – an autobiographical text of the Mughal poet Banarasidas (1586–1643), written during the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan (completed in 1641) – lists glassblowers amongst its list of service occupations in Agra.”

Under the Mughals we learn a vast industry of skilled glassblowers flourished who not only made jugs, vases and mirrors but also “delaminated thin glass sheets”, “silvered glass globes” and glass tiles for roofing. No wonder the Europeans visiting Akbar’s court were blown away from the pomp, splendour and luxury of the Mughals.

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