There
is no denying the fact that the Mughal Territory was adominion that at its paramount defensive
extended ruled parts of what is today's Afghanistan, Pakistan and most of
the Indian Subcontinent, then known as Hindustan, between 1526 and 1707.
The realm was founded by the Timurid forerunner Babur in 1526, when he
defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Scuffle
of Panipat. "Mughal" is the Persian word for "Mongol".
The religion of the Mughals was Islam and based on the faith upon God, the
ruling system was promulgated in the form of administration and defense as
a tentative flow.
The
terrain was generally subjugated by the Afghan Sher Shah Suriin the course
of the time of Humayun, the second Mughal monarch, but under Akbar it grew
considerably, and sustained to grow until the end of Aurangzeb's rule.
Jahangir, the son of Akbar, ruled the empire between 1605–1627. In October
1627, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, son of Jahangir, "flourished to the
throne", where he "inherited a vast and rich empire" in
India; and "at mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the
world". Shah Jahan bespoke the famous TajMahal (amid 1630–1653), in
Agra.
The
Mughals faced stiff competition from the Marathas, and after Aurangzeb died
in 1707, the empire started to decline in actual power, giving way to the
rise of the Hindu Maratha Empire. The Mughals however managed to maintain
some trappings of power in the India for another 150 years. In 1739 it was
defeated by an army from Persia led by Nadir Shah. In 1756 an army of Ahmed
Shah Abdali took Delhi again. The British Empire finally dissolved it in
1857, immediately prior to which it existed only at the sufferance of the
British East India Company.
Faith
The
Mughal ruling class was liberal-minded Muslims, even thoughfurthermost of
the subjects of the Empire were Hindu. Though Babur established the Empire,
the empire remained unstable (and was even exiled) until the reign of
Akbar, who was not only of liberal disposition but also intimately
acquainted, since birth, with the mores and traditions of India. Under
Akbar's rule, the court abolished the jizya (the poll-tax on non-Muslims)
and abandoned use of the lunar Muslim calendar in favor of a solar calendar
more useful for agriculture. One of Akbar's most unusual ideas regarding religion
was Din-i-Ilahi ("Faith-of-God" in English), which was an
eclectic mix of Hinduism, panthiestic versions of Sufi Islam,Zoroastrianism
and Christianity. It was proclaimed the state religion until his death.
These actions however met with stiff opposition from the Muslim clergy.
However, the orthodoxy regained influence only three generations later,
with Aurangzeb, known for upholding doctrines of orthodox Islam; this last
of the Great Mughals retracted nearly all the liberal policies of his
forbears.
Mughal Sovereigns
|
Emperor
|
Reign start
|
Reign end
|
Babur
|
1526
|
1530
|
Humayun
|
1530
|
1540
|
Interregnum *
|
1540
|
1555
|
Humayun
|
1555
|
1556
|
Akbar
|
1556
|
1605
|
Jahangir
|
1605
|
1627
|
Shah Jahan
|
1627
|
1658
|
Aurangzeb
|
1658
|
1707
|
Formation and supremacy of Babur
In
the early 16th century, Muslim armies consisting of Mongol, Turkic,
Persian, and Afghan warriors invaded India under the leadership of the
Timurid prince Zahir-ud-Din-Mohammad Babur. Babur was the great-grandson of
Mongol conqueror TimurLenk (Timur the Lame, from which the Western name
Tamerlane is derived), who had invaded India in 1398 before retiring to
Samarkand who himself claimed descent from the Mongol ruler, Genghis Khan.
Babur was driven from Samarkand by the Uzbeks and initially established his
rule in Kabul in 1504. Later, taking advantage of internal discontent in
the Delhi sultanate under Ibrahim Lodi, and following an invitation from
Daulat Khan Lodi (governor of Punjab) and Alam Khan (uncle of the Sultan),
Babur invaded India in 1526.
Babur,
a seasoned military commander, entered India in 1526 with his well-trained
veteran army of 12,000 to meet the sultan's huge but unwieldy and disunited
force of more than 100,000 men. Babur defeated the Lodi sultan decisively
at the first Battle of Panipat. Employing gun carts, moveable artillery,
and superior cavalry tactics, Babur achieved a resounding victory and the
Sultan was killed. A year later (1527) he decisively defeated, at the
battle of Khanwa, a Rajput confederacy led by RanaSanga of Chittor. A third
major battle was fought in 1529 when, at the battle of Gogra, Babur routed
the joint forces of Afghans and the sultan of Bengal. Babur died in 1530 at
Agra before he could consolidate his military gains. He left behind as his
chief legacy a set of descendants who would fulfill his dream of
establishing an empire in the Indian subcontinent.
Early
Sikh Gurus' perception of the Mughal Empire Babur's reign was witnessed by
the first Sikh Guru Nanak DevJi. His RaagAsa Guru records Nanak's
observations and thoughts in his poems. It says:
"Having
attacked Khuraasaan, Babar terrified Hindustan. The Creator Himself does
not take the blame, but has sent the Mugal as the messenger of death. There
was so much slaughter that the people screamed. Didn't You feel compassion,
Lord?"
Hindu women in Babur's rule:
"Those
heads garlanded with interweavedmop, with their parts highlighted with
vermilion - those heads were shaved with scissors, and their throats were
choked with dust.They lived in regalmanors, but now, they cannot even sit
near the palaces.... ropes were put around their necks, and their strings
of pearls were broken. Their wealth and youthful beauty, which gave them so
much pleasure, have now become their enemies. The order was given to the soldiers,
who dishonored them, and carried them away. If it is pleasing to God's
Will, He bestows greatness; if is pleases His Will, He bestows
punishment"
Mughal rule under Babur:
"First,
the tree puts down its roots, and then it spreads out its shade above. The
kings are tigers, and their officials are dogs; they go out and awaken the
sleeping people to harass them. The public servants inflict wounds with
their nails. The dogs lick up the blood that is spilled." Source: Rag
Malar, (pg.1288) Strangely enough, the land on which the Sikh Golden temple
now stands, was actually donated by Mughal emperor Akbar.
Reign of Humayun
When
Babur died, his son Humayun (1530–56) inherited a difficult task. He was
pressed from all sides by a reassertion of Afghan claims to the Delhi
throne and by disputes over his own succession. He fled to Persia, where he
spent nearly ten years as anhumiliated guest of the Safavid court of Shah
Tahmasp. During Sher Shah's reign, an imperial unification and
administrative framework were established; this would be further developed
by Akbar later in the century. In 1545, Humayun gained a foothold in Kabul
with Safavid assistance and reasserted his Indian claims, a task
facilitated by the weakening of Afghan power in the area after the death of
Sher Shah Suri in May 1545. He took control of Delhi in 1555, but died
within six months of his return, from a fall down the steps of his library.
Sway of Akbar
Humayun's
premature death in 1556 leftward the task of takeover and magnificentamalgamation
to his thirteen-year-old son, Jalal-ud-Din Akbar. Following a decisive
military victory at the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556, the regent Bayram
Khan pursued a vigorous policy of expansion on Akbar's behalf. As soon as
Akbar came of age, he began to free himself from the influences of
overbearing ministers, court factions, and harem intrigues, and
demonstrated his own capacity for judgment and leadership. A workaholic who
seldom slept more than three hours a night, he personally oversaw the
implementation of his administrative policies, which were to form the
backbone of the Mughal Empire for more than 200 years. He continued to
conquer, annex, and consolidate a far-flung territory bounded by Kabul in
the northwest, Kashmir in the north, Bengal in the east, and beyond the
Narmada River in central India.
Akbar
assembled a enveloped capital called FatehpurSikri near Agra, starting in 1571. Strongholds
for each of Akbar's senior queens, a huge artificial lake, and sumptuous
water-filled courtyards were built there. However, the city was soon
abandoned and the capital was moved to Lahore in 1585. The reason may have
been that the water supply in FatehpurSikri was inadequate or of poor
quality; or, as some historians believe, that Akbar had to attend to the
northwest areas of his empire and therefore moved his capital northwest. In
1599, Akbar shifted his capital back to Agra from where he reigned until his
death.
Akbar
adopted two distinct but effective approaches in administering a large
territory and incorporating various ethnic groups into the service of his
realm. In 1580 he obtained local revenue statistics for the previous decade
in order to understand details of productivity and price fluctuation of
different crops. Aided by Todar Mal, a hindu scholar, Akbar issued a
revenue schedule that optimised the revenue needs of the state with the
ability of the peasantry to pay. Revenue demands, fixed according to local
conventions of cultivation and quality of soil, ranged from one-third to
one-half of the crop and were paid in cash. Akbar relied heavily on
land-holding zamindars to act as revenue-collectors. They used their
considerable local knowledge and influence to collect revenue and to
transfer it to the treasury, keeping a portion in return for services
rendered. Within his administrative system, the warrior aristocracy
(mansabdars) held ranks (mansabs) expressed in numbers of troops, and
indicating pay, armed contingents, and obligations. The warrior aristocracy
was generally paid from revenues of nonhereditary and transferable jagirs
(revenue villages).
An
astute ruler who genuinely appreciated the challenges of administering so
vast an empire, Akbar introduced a policy of reconciliation and
assimilation of Hindus (including Jodhabai, later renamed Mariam-uz-Zamani
begum, the Hindu mother of his son and heir, Jahangir), who represented the
majority of the population. He recruited and rewarded Hindu chiefs with the
highest ranks in government; encouraged intermarriages between Mughal and
Rajput aristocracy; allowed new temples to be built; personally
participated in celebrating Hindu festivals such as Deepavali, or Diwali,
the festival of lights; and abolished the jizya (poll tax) imposed on
non-Muslims. Akbar came up with his own theory of "rulership as a
divine illumination," enshrined in his new religion Din-i-Ilahi
(Divine Faith), incorporating the principle of acceptance of all religions
and sects. He encouraged widow re-marriage, discouraged child marriage,
outlawed the practice of sati, and persuaded Delhi merchants to set up
special market days for women, who otherwise were secluded at home.
By
the end of Akbar's reign, the Mughal Empire extended throughout north India
even south of the Narmada river. Notable exceptions were Gondwana in
central India, which paid tribute to the Mughals, Assam in the northeast,
and large parts of the Deccan. The area south of the Godavari river
remained entirely out of the ambit of the mughals. In 1600, Akbar's Mughal
empire had a revenue of £17.5 million. By comparison, in 1800, the entire
treasury of Great Britain totaled £16 million.
Akbar's
empire supported vibrant intellectual and cultural life. The large imperial
library included books in Hindi, Persian, Greek, Kashmiri, English, and
Arabic, such as the Shahnameh, Bhagavata Purana and the Bible. Akbar
regularly sponsored debates and dialogues among religious and intellectual
figures with differing views, and he welcomed Jesuit missionaries from Goa
to his court. Akbar directed the creation of the Hamzanama, an artistic
masterpiece that included 1400 large paintings.
Reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan
Mughal
rule under Jahangir (1605–27) and Shah Jahan (1628–58) was noted for
political stability, brisk economic activity, beautiful paintings, and
monumental buildings. Jahangir married a Persian princess whom he renamed
NurJehan (Light of the World), who emerged as the most powerful individual
in the court besides the emperor. As a result, Persian poets, artists,
scholars, and officers--including her own family members--lured by the
Mughal court's brilliance and luxury, found asylum in India. The number of
unproductive officers mushroomed, as did corruption, while the excessive
Persian representation upset the delicate balance of impartiality at the
court. Jahangir liked Hindu festivals but promoted mass conversion to
Islam; he persecuted the followers of Jainism and even executed Guru
ArjunDev, the fifth saint-teacher of the Sikhs in 1606 for refusing to make
changes to the Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh holy book). The execution was
not entirely for religious reasons; Guru ArjunDevJi supported Prince
Khusro, another contestant to the Mughul throne in the civil war that developed
after Akbar's death. Noor Jahan's abortive efforts to secure the throne for
the prince of her choice led Shah Jahan to rebel against Jahangir in 1622.
In that same year, the Persians took over Kandahar in southern Afghanistan,
an event that struck a serious blow to Mughal prestige.
Between
1636 and 1646, Shah Jahan sent Mughal armies to conquer the Deccan and the
lands to the northwest of the empire, beyond the Khyber Pass. Even though
they aptly demonstrated Mughal military strength, these campaigns drained
the imperial treasury. As the state became a huge military machine, causing
the nobles and their contingents to multiply almost fourfold, the demands
for revenue from the peasantry were greatly increased. Political
unification and maintenance of law and order over wide areas encouraged the
emergence of large centers of commerce and crafts--such as Lahore, Delhi,
Agra, and Ahmadabad--linked by roads and waterways to distant places and
ports.
The
world-famous TajMahal was built in Agra during Shah Jahan's reign as a tomb
for his beloved wife, MumtazMahal. It symbolizes both Mughal artistic
achievement and excessive financial expenditures at a time when resources
were shrinking. The economic positions of peasants and artisans did not
improve because the administration failed to produce any lasting change in
the existing social structure. There was no incentive for the revenue
officials, whose concerns were primarily personal or familial gain, to
generate resources independent of what was received from the Hindu
zamindars and village leaders, who, due to self-interest and local
dominance, did not hand over the entirety of the tax revenues to the
imperial treasury. In their ever-greater dependence on land revenue, the
Mughals unwittingly nurtured forces that eventually led to the break-up of
their empire.
Reign of Aurangzeb and decline of empire
The
last of the great Mughals was Aurangzeb. During his fifty-year reign, the
empire reached its greatest physical size but also showed unmistakable
signs of decline. The bureaucracy had grown corrupt; the huge army used
outdated weaponry and tactics. Aurangzeb restored Mughal military dominance
and expanded power southward, at least for a while. Aurangzeb was involved
in a series of protracted wars: against the Pathans in Afghanistan, the
sultans of Bijapur and Golkonda in the Deccan, the Marathas in Maharashtra
and the Ahoms in Assam. Peasant uprisings and revolts by local leaders
became all too common, as did the conniving of the nobles to preserve their
own status at the expense of a steadily weakening empire.
The
increasing association of his government with Islam further drove a wedge
between the ruler and his Hindu subjects. Contenders for the Mughal throne
were many, and the reigns of Aurangzeb's successors were short-lived and
filled with strife. The Mughal Empire experienced dramatic reverses as
regional nawabs or governors broke away and founded independent kingdoms.
In the war of 27 years from 1680 to 1707, the Mughals suffered several
heavy defeats at the hands of the Marathas. They had to make peace with the
Maratha armies, and Persian and Afghan armies invaded Delhi, carrying away
many treasures, including the Peacock Throne in 1739.
The
first Mughal emperor Babur wrote in his diary TuzkBabri: "Hindustan is
a country which has few pleasures to recommend it.... Indians have no idea
of the charms of friendly society, of frankly mixing together, or of
familiar intercourse.... They have no horses, no good grapes, or musk
melons, no good fruits, no ice or cold water, no good food or bread in
their bazaars, no bath or colleges, no candles, no torches, not a candle
stick." The Mughals were superior to their Indian counterparts in war
but also considered themselves so culturally. They had taste for the fine things
in life - for beautifully designed artifacts and the enjoyment and
appreciation of cultural activities. However, the Hindus of India provided
the Mughals with a richer philosophy and the plentiful spices and
vegetarian options which were incorporated into modern Indian life. While
the Mughals' superior position may have been appreciated, in reality, they
probably borrowed as much as they gave. However, it could not be doubted
that they introduced many changes to Indian society and culture, including:
- Centralized government
which conveyedcollected many smaller kingdoms
- Delegated government with
respect for human rights
- Persian art and culture
amalgamated with native Indian art and culture
- Started new trade routes to
Arab and Turk lands
- Mughal cuisine
- Urdu and Hindi languages
were formed for common Muslims and Hindus correspondingly
- Periods of great religious broadmindedness
- A style of construction
- Landscape horticulture
- A system of education that
took account
of pupils' needs and culture
|
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