Mughals celebrated Holi & Akbar's Policy of Sulh-i-Kul(Peaceful Co-existence)

Mughal Emperors & Holi
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The Mughal emperors and other Indian royals celebrated the Hindu festival of Holi Many Mughal emperors, including Akbar and his son Jehangir, can be seen in these miniature paintings celebrating the festival of colour.

Participation in Hindu Festivals was linked with the policy of Sulh-i-kul (peaceful coexistence ) of Akbar .

Sulh-i kul is an Arabic term literally meaning “peace with all,” “universal peace,” or “absolute peace,” { source; https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/}
drawn from a Sufi mystic principle. As applied by t he third Mughal Emperor of India, Akbar (who r eigned 1556-1605), it described a peaceful and harmonious relationship among different religions.
In keeping with efforts to mesh the diverse
populations of his realm, Akbar proposed unity and peace among all human beings – sulh-i kul. The concept implies not just tolerance, but also the sorts
of balance, civility, respect, and compromise r equired to maintain harmony among a diverse population.

Who uses the concept?
Sulh-i kul was originally used during Akbar's reign and sometimes after him in the Mughal court andamong some Sufi movements in India. Today the
term is used primarily by historians, art historians, and scholars researching in the field of Mughal culture and Sufi movements of India, and less so by other scholars and peace activists.

I feel the concept can provide a context for intercultural dialogue.
In the field of interfaith dialogue, tolerance plays ani mportant role in constructive interactions, so the c oncept of sulh-i kul has great potential relevance to
discussions of intercultural dialogue specifically, and cultural diversity more generally.

Sulh-i kul was invented to describe universal peace, specifically with regard to interfaith tolerance and equal treatment for all, regardless of religious beliefs. Given continuing religious conflicts matched to the reality of cultural pluralism, it seems useful to resurrect this historic term as a modern tool.

Historiography:
https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/
Chandra, S. (1992). Akbar's concept of sulh-kul, Tulsi's concept of maryada and dadu's concept of nipakh: A comparative study. Social Scientist,2 0(9/10), 31-37.
Chandra, S. (2007). Secularism and composite Culture in a pluralistic society. In B. Chandra & S.
Mahajan (Eds.), Composite culture in a
multicultural society (pp. 166-181). New Delhi:
Pearson Education India.
Kinra, R. (2013). Handling diversity with absolute Civility: The global historical legacy of mughal
ṣulḥ-i kull. The Medieval History Journal, 16(2), 251-295.
Syed, J. (2011). Akbar’s multiculturalism: Lessons for diversity management in the 21st
century. Canadian Journal of Administrati

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