Shah-Jahan was the Mughal Emperor (the Mughal Empire was in India in the 1600s) who had the Taj Mahal built for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. According to Wikipedia, there were rumors that he wanted a black Taj Mahal built in addition to the white one already built.
'It is believed that Shah Jahan cut the hand of the chief architect who built Taj Mahal thinking another such Taj Mahal will never be built again'...
'Although Shah-Jahan's father's (Jehangir) rule was generally peaceful, the empire was experiencing challenges by the end of his reign. Shah Jahan reversed this trend... [and his] military campaigns drained the imperial treasury. Under his rule, the state became a huge military machine and the nobles and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold, as did the demands for more revenue from the peasantry.'
-quoted from Wikipedia
in my opinion, Bone Marrow is about a rebellion by the common people against Shah-Jahan, who apparently "plundered, pilfered, pillaged" to gain monetary support for his military. His desire for riches and military might caused him to ignore and betray his own people. Shah-Jahan has never known what it feels like to be a common peasant, being born and raised in royalty, never experiencing true hunger. Claiming himself to be the "king of kings," Shah-Jahan has a general disregard for his people ("promises broke like a bone") because of a selfish desire for power, wealth and the expansion of his empire
Shah-Jahan was the Mughal Emperor (the Mughal Empire was in India in the 1600s) who had the Taj Mahal built for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. According to Wikipedia, there were rumors that he wanted a black Taj Mahal built in addition to the white one already built.
'It is believed that Shah Jahan cut the hand of the chief architect who built Taj Mahal thinking another such Taj Mahal will never be built again'...
'Although Shah-Jahan's father's (Jehangir) rule was generally peaceful, the empire was experiencing challenges by the end of his reign. Shah Jahan reversed this trend... [and his] military campaigns drained the imperial treasury. Under his rule, the state became a huge military machine and the nobles and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold, as did the demands for more revenue from the peasantry.' -quoted from Wikipedia
in my opinion, Bone Marrow is about a rebellion by the common people against Shah-Jahan, who apparently "plundered, pilfered, pillaged" to gain monetary support for his military. His desire for riches and military might caused him to ignore and betray his own people. Shah-Jahan has never known what it feels like to be a common peasant, being born and raised in royalty, never experiencing true hunger. Claiming himself to be the "king of kings," Shah-Jahan has a general disregard for his people ("promises broke like a bone") because of a selfish desire for power, wealth and the expansion of his empire