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The next two Mughal emperors generally continued Akbar's policies of religious tolerance. Akbar's eldest son and successor, Ja-hangir, was so religiously eclectic that the English ambassador remarked, “His religione is his owne invention.” Like his father, Jahangir held public discussions on religion. He particularly enjoyed the sparring between Jesuit priests and Muslim clerics, often slapping his thighs in appreciation of a point scored. On one occasion he met with an eminent Hindu ascetic in his cave, and was profoundly moved. “Sublime words were spoken between us,” Jahangir later wrote. “God almighty has granted him an unusual grace.” Meanwhile, Jahangir's consumption of pork and wine, forbidden by Islam, seemed to grow during the holy month of Ramadan.

Jahangir was also deeply drawn to Christianity, although more for its ceremonial aspects than its doctrine. He attended Mass every Christmas Day and occasionally borrowed a Christian church to hold a banquet. While he never converted to Christianity—he believed that the idea that Christ was the son of God was as absurd as the Hindu belief in reincarnation—he permitted three of his grandsons to do so and held a grand public procession in Agra to celebrate their baptism. Jahangir not only allowed Jesuits to preach freely within the empire; he gave them a stipend of fifty rupees a month from the imperial treasury.

Jahangir's successor Shah Jahan (“Ruler of the World”) is most famous for the breathtaking Taj Mahal, the mausoleum he erected for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Built by 20,000 workers over a period of two decades, the white marble monument combines Persian and Indian architecture as well as synthesizing Hindu and Muslim motifs. Under Shah Jahan's rule, the word Mughal came to embody cultural grandeur. It helped that he was probably the richest man in the world at the time and that he had a penchant for extravagance. Sparing no expense—indeed to the point of fiscal irresponsibility—he ordered magnificent forts, palaces, and mosques constructed across the empire. For himself he commissioned the famous Peacock Throne, a gem-encrusted masterpiece wrought out of 2,500 pounds of pure gold, said to be the single costliest treasure made in the last thousand years.

Shah Jahan continued to allow non-Muslims within the empire to practice their religion, but he was more orthodox and less accommodating than his predecessors. Reversing his grandfather Ak-bar's policy, he prohibited non-Muslims from repairing or building new temples. He banned Muslims from converting to other religions while providing stipends to non-Muslims who converted to Islam. At the same time, Shah Jahan initiated a number of military forays into central Asia and Safavid Persia's territories. These expensive and largely unsuccessful attempts at expansion not only drained the imperial treasury; they nearly extinguished the previously robust flow of Persian immigrants into India.23

In 1658, the Mughal Empire came into the hands of Aurangzeb Alamgir, the third son of Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb became emperor after killing his eldest brother, Darà—whose head he sent on a platter to their dying father. Darà had been an intellectually curious, open-minded scholar with a strong interest in Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, and Christianity as well as Islam. As Aurangzeb explained, “The fear of seeing the Muhammadan religion oppressed in India if my brother Darà ascended the throne” was what compelled him to seize power.

By all accounts—at least for a ruthless fratricidal killer—Aurangzeb was a deeply pious man. In stark contrast to some of his decadent predecessors, he lived a simple life, knitting prayer caps and copying the Koran, which he had memorized, over and over by hand.

Aurangzeb extended and accelerated the repression begun by Shah Jahan. Increasingly, the dictates of orthodox Islam shaped the imperial court. Aurangzeb prohibited the consumption of wine and opium and banned non-Muslim ceremonies. For the first time in a century neither the Hindu festival of Diwali nor the Persian spring