The Mughal Age
1.Babur (1526-1530)
·
He was the founder of Mughal dynasty in India.
·
He was a direct descendant of Timur, and
believed himself to be a descendant also of chengiz khan through his mother.
·
He was invited to attack India by Daulat Khan
lodi (Subedar of Punjab), Ibrahim Lodi’s uncle alam Khan Lodi and Rana Sanga.
·
He was Successful in his fifth expedition to
India, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat on April 21, 1526.
·
He was the first one to entitle himself as ‘Padshah’.
·
He took keen interest in the development of gardens.
·
He wrote Tuzuk-i-Baburi or Baburnama in Turkish.
It was translated into Persian by Abdul-Rahim
Khan-i-Khanan.
·
He died in 1530 and was buried first at Arambagh
in Agra. Roughly nine years later his body was taken to Kabul and buried there.
·
The battle of Ghaghra was the 1st
battle which was fought on Land and water simultaneously in medieval India.
Battles
fought by Babur
|
Battle
|
Year
|
Outcome
|
|
First Battle of Panipat
|
1526
|
Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi
|
|
Battle of Khanwa
|
1527
|
Babur defeated Rana sanga
|
|
Battle of Chanderi
|
1528
|
Babur defeated Medini Rai
|
|
Battle of Ghaghra
|
1529
|
Babur defeated joint forces of Afghans and the Sultan of Bengal
|
2. Humayun (1530-1540 and 1555-1556)
·
Humayun succeeded his father Babur, but as per
the Timurid tradition he was forced to share power with his brothers. Thus Sulaiman
was given Badakshan, kamran inherited Kabul and Qandhar, while Askari and
Hindal received Sind.
·
He built Dinpanah
at Delhi as his second capital .
·
He faced a formidable opponent in the Afghan,
Sher Shah Suri.
·
He was defeated in the Battle of Chausa by Sher Shah Suri in 1539.
·
He was again defeated in the Battle of Bilgram (Kannauj) by Sher
Shah Suri in 1540.
·
Defeat at Kanauj compelled Humayun to leave
India. He field to the refuge of Safavid empire in Persia, where the Persian
King Shah Tahmasp welcomed the
Mughal and treated him like a royal visitor.
·
After the death of Sher Shah Suri in 1545,
Humayun conquered Qandhar and re-established his control over Kabul with the
help of Shah tahmasp.
·
He defeated the forces of Sikandar Sur and
occupied Agra and Delhi in 1555.
·
His sister, Gulbadan
begum wrote his biography, Humayunama.
·
His wife
Hamida banu Begum built his tomb
at Delhi, which is known as Humayun’s
tomb.
·
He died in 1556, when he fell from the stairs of
his library (Sher Mandal).
3. Akbar (1556-1605)
·
Akbar was 14 years old when he was crowned at
Kalanaur in 1556.
·
He defeated Hemu, Wazir of Adil Shah Suri in Second Battle of Panipat in 1556.
·
Between 1556-1560, Akbar ruled under the regency
of Bairam Khan.
·
On Maham Anga’s advice, who was his foster
mother, Akbar took control of the empire from Bairam Khan.
·
Akbar married Hira Kunwari, who was a Kachhwaha
princess. She took the name Jodha Bai and was the mother of Prince Salim, who
later became the Mughal emperor Jahangir.
·
Akbar sent Raja Man Singh of Amber to confront
Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar in the historic Battle
of Haldighati in 1576. In this battle Rana Pratap Singh was defeated.
·
At the time of Akbar, there were five leading
States of the deccan viz. Khandesh (farruqis), Ahmadnagar (Nizam Shahs), Berar
(Imad Shahs), Bijapur (Adil Shahs) and Golconda (Qutab Shahs).
·
Akbar faced a rebellion in Gujarat in 1572,
which was crushed.
·
He built Buland
Darwaza in Fatehpur Sikri in memory of Victory over Gujarat.
·
In 1579, he issued a decree called ‘ Mazharnama’ and took control of the law
in his own hands.
·
In 1585, he transferred his capital to Lahore in
order to effect a greater integration of the north west into the Mughal empire.
·
His last compaign was against Asirgarh
(Khandesh) in 1601.
Akbar’s
Campaign
Year Against
1561…………………………………………… Baz Bahadur of Malwa
1564………………………………………….. Rani Durgawati of
Garh Katanga
1567………………………………………….. Chittor (Mewar)
1572………………………………………….. Gujarat
1574………………………………………….. Bengal
1576………………………………………….. Rana Pratap Singh of
Mewar
1581…………………………………………. Kabul
1586…………………………………………. Kashmir
1593…………………………………………. Chandbiwi of
Ahmadnagar
1601………………………………………… Khandesh (Asirgarh)
Akbar’s
Administration
·
Akbar divided his entire into 12 subas in 1580. These were Bengal,
Bihar, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Multan, Kabul, Ajmer, Malwa &
Gujarat. A Subahdar, Diwan,Bakshi, Sadr, Qazi were appointed at each of these
provinces.
·
The Provinces were further divided into Sarkars and Parganas.
·
Chief Officers of the Sarkar were Fauzdar and Amalguzar, the former being in charge
of law and order and the later responsible for the assessment and collection of
the land revenue.
·
The entire land of empire was divided into Jagir, Khalisa and Inam lands.
·
Akbar reorganized the central machinery of the
administration on the basis of division of power between the various
departments.
Akbar’s Administration
Wazir…………….. Head of the revenue
department
Mir Bakshi…………. Head of the
military department
Barids……………….. Intelligence
officers
Waqia navis……… Reporters
Mir Samanin………. Charge of
imperial household
Qazi…………………… Head of the judicial
department
Akbar’s Religious Policies
·
Akbar built an Ibadat Khana (House of Worship) at Fatehpur Sikri in 1575 to
discuss religious matters of faith. He invited many distinguished persons
belonging to different religions
·
Scholars in ibadatkhana were:
(i)
Brahmin : Purushottam and Devi
(ii)
Jain : Hiravijaya Suri and jinchandra Suri
(iii)
Zoroastrain :
Dastur Mahyarji Rana
·
Akbar abolished the pilgrimage tax on Hindus in 1563.
·
Akbar abolished Jizya in 1579.
·
Akbar introduced a new Khutba, written by Faizi and proclaimed Mazharmana in 1579, which made
him the final interpreter of Islamic law presented by the Ulemas (mujtahid
Imam-i-Adil) in case of any controversies. It made him Amir-ul-momin (leader of the faithful) and Amir –I-Adil (a just ruler). The Mazharnama was disliked by the
Ulemas.
·
His liberalism is reflected again in the
pronouncement of Tauhid-i-Allahi or Din-i-Allahi, Which propounded Sufi
divine monotheism. Din-i-Allahi, was viewed more as an order of people with a
motto of peace with all (Suleh kul) rather than a chosen religion.
·
Birbal, Abul Fazl and faizi Joined Din-i-Allahi.
Akbar’s Court
·
In Akbar’s court there were nine versatile
personalities which were eminent in various fields.they were called nine gems
or Navratans.
·
The Navratans included Todar Mal, Abul Fazl,
Faizi, birbal, Tansen, Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, Mullah-do-Pyaza, Raja Man Singh
and Fakir Aziao-Din.
·
Akbar established the painting karkhana, headed
by Abdus Samad.
·
Ralph Fitch
was the first Englishman to visit Akbar’s court in 1585.
·
Abul Fazl wrote Akbarnama, the appendix of which was called Aina-i-Akbari. This section deals with the laws and revenue system
during the reign of Akbar.
4. Jahangir (1605-1627)
·
After the death of Akbar, his eldest and the
only surviving son, Salim became king under the title of Nuruddin Muhammad
Jahagir.
·
In 1611, Jahangir married Mehr-un-Nisa who was
later known as Nurjahan. She was the daughter of Itmaduddaulah..
·
Nurjahan exercised tremendous influence over the
State affairs. She was made the official Badshah Begum.
·
In 1612, Nurjahan arranged the marriage of Jahangir’s
second son Khurram (Shahjahan) to her brother Asif Khan’s daughter Arjumand
Banu (later known as Mumtaz Mahal).
·
Jahangir banned slaughter of animals on Sunday
and Thursday.
·
He established Zanjir-i-Adal at Agra Fort for the seekers of royal justice.
·
Khusrau (son of Jahangir), who received
patronage of guru Arjun Dev, revolted against Jahangir. The fifth Sikh guru
Arjun dev was later sentenced to death for his blessings to the rebel prince.
·
Khurram (Shahjahan) supported by his father-
in-law, Asif Khan, also revolted against Jahangir but the two soon reconciled.
·
Jahangir was well read and he wrote his memoirs Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri in Persian.
·
John Hawkins resided at Agra for two years
(1609-11). He was given the mansab of
400.
·
Sir Thomas Roe (1615-18) who was ambassador of
James-I came to the court of Jahangir.
·
Jahangir died in 1627 in Kashmir and was buried
at Lahore.
5. Shahjahan (1627-1658)
·
Shahjahan took the charge of Mughal empire on
the death of Jahngir in 1628.
·
It is said that the Kingdom founded by Babur, nurtured
by Akbar, Consolidated by Jahangir, reached to its zenith during the reign of
Shahjahan.
·
The first thing that Shahjahan had to face was
revolts in Bundelkhand (Jujhar singh Bundela of Orchcha) and the Deccan
(Khan-i-Jahan Lodi, the governor of Deccan).
·
In 1612 he married Arzumand Banu who became
famous as Mumtaz Mahal.
·
In 1632, he defeated Portuguese and annexed
ahmadnagar in 1636.
·
He sent his armies to Balkhan and Badakshan in Central Asia in order to secure the
defence of north-western India. Shahjahan who had recovered Kandhar from the
Iranians in 1638 again lost it in 1649, despite three campaigns under the
leadership of Prince Murad, Aurangzeb and Dara, respectively.
·
Shah Jahan built Moti Masjid (Agra); Red Fort
(Delhi); Jama Masjid (Delhi) and Taj Mahal (Agra),
·
After the sickness of Shahjahan in 1657 the war
of succession for the Mughal crown began.
·
In 1657 Shahjahan’s eldest son Dara was with him
at Agra, Suza was governor in Bengal, Aurangzeb was Viceroy in Deccan and the youngest son Murad was governor in
Gujarat.
·
During the war of succession, Shahjahan’s two
daughters Jahan Ara and Roshan Ara supported his two sons, Dara and Aurangzeb,
respectively
·
Aurangzeb defeated the Mughal Forces lead by
Dara in the Battle at Samugarh near Agra
War of Succession
Battle Outcome
Battle of Dharmat Aurangzeb defeated
Dara’s Army
Battle of Samugarh Aurangzeb defeated Dara
Shikoh
Battle of Rupnagar Aurangzeb defeated
Murad
Battle of Khajwa Aurangzeb
defeated Shuja
Battle of Devray Aurangzeb finally
defeated Dara Shikoh
·
Till 1661, Aurangzeb either killed of executed
all his brothers.
·
Shahjahan passed the remaining years of his life
till 1666in the captivity of Aurangzeb.
·
French traveller Bernier and Tavernier and the
Italian Traveller Manucci visited India during the reign of Shahjahan.
6. Aurangzeb (1658-1707)
·
Aurangzeb crowned himself as emperor at Delhi in
1658 and took the title of Alamgir.
But his second and formal coronation took place when he defeated Dara in 1659.
·
He forbade inscription of Kalma on the coins.
·
He reimposed Jizya in 1679.
·
He abolished the inland transit duties (randari)
and the octroi (pandari).
·
He ended the celebration of Nauroj (New Years’
celebration) festival.
·
He prohibited intoxicating drugs and destroyed
the Vishwanath temple of Varansi.
·
He appointed Muhtasibs (regular of moral
conduct) to censor the public morals as per Quranic law.
·
He forbade music in the court.
·
He ended the ceremony of weighing the emperor on
his birthdays and the practice of Jharokha
darshan.
·
Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Guru of Sikhs, was
besieged and taken to Delhi where he was beheaded in 1679.
·
According to the Treaty of Purandar between
Shivaji and Jai Singh (the viceroy to Agra) in 1666, Shivaji ceded some forts
to Mughals and agreed to pay a visit to the Mughal Court at Agra. But when Shivaji
went to Agra he was dissatisfied with the reception and he secretly escaped
from Agra.
·
In 1689, Sambhaji, the eldest son of Shivaji,
was captured and beheaded by Aurangzeb.
·
Aurangzeb compiled Fatwa-i-Alamgiri.
·
Aurangzeb destroyed several Hindu temples e.g.
the Keshav Rai temple built by Raja Bir Singh in Mathura, the Vishwanath temple
built by Raja Man Singh in Benaras.
·
Aurangzeb died in 1707 in Ahmadnagar and was
buried near Daulatabad near the grave of
Sheikh Jail-ul-Haq.
·
During his reign, the Mughal empire reached to
its territorial climax.
Mughal Architecture
·
Mausoleum of Akbar’s father Humayun at Delhi was
most prominent construction in Delhi. It, like the Dinpanah was in vicinity of
Nizamuddin Chisti’s Dargah.
·
Akbar built Agra fort in 1571. According to Abul
Fazl, the Agra Fort contained more than 500 stone buildings.
·
In 1573, Akbar built Buland Darwaza to
commemorate Gujarat victory which formed the main entrance to Fatehpur Sikri.
It is built in the Iranian style of half dome portal.
·
Slaim Chisti’s tomb (redone in marble by
Jahangir is the first Mughal building in pure marble), palaces of Birbal, Anup
Talao, Mariyam Mahal are also inside fatehpur Sikri.
·
Akbar also built the Jahangiri Mahal in Agra
fort according to Hindu design based on Man Mandir.
·
Jahangir built a mausoleum of Akbar at Sikandra,
near Agra which is having resemblance to Panch Mahal at Fatehpur Sikri.
·
Nurjahan built a white marble mausoleum for her
father Itmad-ud-daulah near Agra. It used semi precious stones in marbles. This
technique was known as Pietra Dura.
·
During Shahajahan’s reign, the Mughal
Architecture reached to its zenith. Shahjahan built Jami Mosque at Ajmer, his
father’s mausoleum at Lahore and Jama Masjid in Delhi.
·
Shahjahan also built Shalimar Garden in Kashmir.
·
Shahjahan also built Taj Mahal (in the memory of
his wife Mumtaz Mahal) at Agra & red Fort at Delhi.
·
Aurangzeb was not that good in the construction
of monuments, however he built Moti Masjid at Delhi and Bibi Ka Maqbara at
Aurangabad.
Mughal Painiting
·
The Mughal School of painting began with Humayun
who became familiar with Persian art during his exile at Persia.
·
Humayun took renowned painters of Persia into
his service. Prominent of them were.
Sayyid Ali, Abdus Samad, Dost Muhammad and Mir Musavvir.
·
The Mughlas introduced new themes depicting the
court, battle scenes and the chase and added new colours (peacock blue and
Indian red).
·
Jaswant and Dasawanth were two famous painters
of Akbar’s court.
·
Apart from illustrating Persian books of fables
(Hamzanama) the painters illustrated Razamnama (the Persian translation of
Mahabharat) and Akbarnama.
·
Mughal painting reached to its zenith during
Jahangir’s rule. Jahangir was a great pattern of painting.
Mughal Administration
·
Mughal empire was divided into Subas. Subas were
further subdivided into Sarkar, Paraganas and villages.
·
However, it also had other territorial units such
as Khalisa (royal land), Jagirs (autonomous rajas) and inams (gifted lands,
mainly waste lands).
Administrative Officials
Wazir………………………The
revenue and finance minister. Wazir was sometimes called as Diwan
Mir Bakshi………………...Head of the military department
Mir
Saman………………...Head of the management of the royal karkhanas
Diwan-i-Bayutat………...Maintained roads, government buildings, etc. and worked under Mir Saman
Sadr-us-sadr……….........Incharge of charitable and religious endowments
Qazi-ul-Quzat………....Head of the Judiciary department
·
There were 15 subas at the end of Akbar’s reign
which later increased to 20 under Aurangzeb.
Officers under Mughals
Units Officers
Province(Suba) Sipahsalar: The Head executive
(under Akbar and later he was known as Nizam or Subedar).
Diwan:
Incharge of military department.
Bakshi:
Incharge of military department.
District/ Sarkar Fauzdar: Administrative head.
Amal/Amalguzar:
Revenue collection.
Kotwal:
Maintenance of law and order, trial of criminal cases and price regulation.
Pargana Shiqdar: Administrative head combined
in himself the duties of ‘fauzdar and kotwal’
Amin
Qanungo: Revenue officials.
Village Muqaddam: Headman.
Patwari:
Accountant.
Chowkidar:
Watchman.
Mughal Economy
·
Mansabdari system was introduced by Akbar.
·
Jagirdari system was the assignment of land in
proportion to a jagirdar’s salary. Hence every Mansabdar was entitled to a
jagir if he was not paid in cash. A jagir could be transferred and the jagirdar
had no police powers over the land .
·
The revenue was collcted by State machinery in
alliance with local Zamidars who got their due share.
·
Apart from land revenue (charged 1/3 to 1/2 )
the state being a military state, also depended upon benefits of conquest.
However much of its revenue was wasted in ostentation and wars.
·
There were several methods of revenue collection
in practice viz. Kankut (estimate), ‘Zabt’ (based on the yields of crops).
·
Madad-i-maash or Suyur ghull/inam were land
grants to people of favour/religious assignment.
·
Zamindars were hereditary claimants in every
category of land revenue assignment. They collected revenue on behalf of the
state and received assistance called nankar of Malikana.
Sur Dynasty
Sher Shah
·
Sher Shah founded the Sur Dynasty after
defeating Humayun in 1540 in the Battle of Bilgram. He had already defeated
Humayun in the Battle of Chausa in 1539.
·
His original name was Farid and his father was a
small jagirdar at Jaunpur.
·
The title of Sher Khan was given to him by his
patron for killing a tiger (Sher).
·
Ibrahim Lodi transferred his father’s Jagir to
him.
·
In 1527-28 he joined Babur’s service, and then
returned to Bihar as deputy governor and guardian of the minor king Jalal to
him Khan Lohani. In 1530, he usurped the throne as Hazarat-i-Ala.
·
He ruled for 5 years,
·
He died in 1545, while he was conquering
Kalinjar, due the a blast over there.
Islam Shah
·
Sher Shah was succeeded by his second son Islam
Shah, who ruled till 1553.
·
Islam Shah was a capable ruler and general, but
most of his energies were occupied with the rebellions raised by his brothers,
and with tribal feuds among the Afghans.
·
Islam Shah’s death at young age led to a civil
war among the successors.
·
Thus, Humayun got the opportunity, he had been
seeking for recovering his empire in India.
·
In hotly contested battles in 1555, he defeated
the Afghans and recovered Delhi and Agra
Sur Administration
·
Sur Empire was divided into 47 units or sarkars.
Sarkars were further subdivided into parganas.
·
In every pargana, there was one amin, one shiqdar, one cashier, one writer in Hindi and one in the
Persian.
·
Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaran
was the chief officer of every sarkar.
·
Every paragana was divided into a number of
villages. The important officers of the villages were muqaddam, chowdhary, and
patwari.
·
He continued the central machinery of
administration which had developed during the Sultanate period.
·
He organized high class espionage system.
·
The diwani
cases were heared by the amins and
the criminal cases were heard by the amins
and the criminal cases were heard by the qazi or Mir-i-Adal. Munshif-i-Munshifan was the Diwani Court.
·
All internal customs and duties were abolished.
Only two duties were levied.
·
Land was measured using the Sikandari-gaz (a
unit of measure introduced by Sikandar Lodi) and one third of the average was
fixed as tax.
·
The peasant was given a patta (title deed) and a qabuliyat
(deed of agreement) and the taxes were directly collected.
·
He planted trees on the both sides of the roads
and he built Sarais and Guest Houses for the stay of the people. These sarais
were also functioned as the post offices.
·
He introduced a good system of the post offices.
·
He built the fort of Rohtasgarh and the old
Delhi fort. He also constructed his tomb at Sasaram.
·
Sher Shah Sur took keen interest in the
development of roads. He restored the old imperial road called the Grand Trunk Road from the river Indus
in the west to Sonargaon in Bengal.
·
He also built a road from Agra to Jodhpur and
chittor evidently linking up with the road to the Gujarat seaports.
·
He built a third road from Lahore to Multan.
·
For the convenience of travellers, he built a
sarai at a distance of every two kos
(about 8 km) on these roads.
·
Every Sarai had several watchma under the
control of a Shahna (custodian).
·
His roads and sarais have been called as arteries of the empire.
·
Sher Shah also built a new city on the bank of
Yamuna near Delhi. The sole survivor of this is the Old Fort (Purana Quila) and
fine mosque within it.
·
Some of the finest works in Hindi, such as the Padmavat of Malik Muhammad Jayasi, were
completed during Sher Shah’s reign.
·
Sher Shah was not a bigot in the religious
sphere, as is evident from his social and economic policy. Neither Islam Shah
nor he depended on the Ulema, though they respected them a great deal.
Various Departments under Sur Dynasty
Wazarat……………………………………….
Revenue and finance
Ariz……………………………………………..
Military
Insha………………………………………….
Dispatches
Quza…………………………………………..
Justice
Barid………………………………………….
Intelligence
Saman………………………………………
royal household
