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Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosity's, A Production of IHeart Radio and Grim and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

There is no name more controversial in modern Indian politics than Oringzeb,

but he's not a modern politician. No, he was an emperor who ruled from 1658 to 1707. Indian Muslims see him as a national hero, while Indian Hindus see him as a

murdering tyrant. And because of this, frequent violent clashes have erupted over his tomb as

recently as just last year. It's amazing, but perhaps not surprising, that someone from hundreds of

years ago could still be having such an

impact today. All countries like to co-opt certain historical figures and push a modern

narrative. But for the curious, the actual historical details can bring us closer to the truth.

Oring Zeb's childhood is a familiar one to cabinet listeners, Born into royalty, he had to murder or imprison his family in order to become king.

The most notable detail from his childhood has to do with his mother's death.

You've heard of Taj Mahal, right?

Well, that was his mother's tomb built by his grief-stricken father.

However, Oring Zeb was less interested in building

monuments and more interested in expanding his power. His kingdom, known as the Mughal Empire,

was a Sunni Muslim Empire with its origin in modern-day Afghanistan. His great-grandfather

had expanded it to cover half of India, but Oring Zeb thought that he

could unite the entire subcontinent. He believed that he could do this through Islam,

...