# Foundation of the Mughal Empire
Foundation of the Mughal Empire
Babur (1526-1530 CE)
Founder
He lost the kingdom of Fergana to warring tribes.
He came to India to set up an empire
Rana Sanga (Mewar) & Daulat Khan Lodi (Punjab) invited him to oust Ibrahim Lodi (Delhi Sultan)
Battles fought:
1526- First battle of Panipat VS Ibrahim Lodi → WON
1527- Battle of Khanua VS Rana Sanga (Rajput) → WON
1528- Battle of Ghaghra VS Nusrat Shah (Afghan chief, Bengal) → WON (this will come in exams)
this will come in exams
Established reign from Delhi & Agra to Bihar
Laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire
Developed important techniques of warfare
Fell ill and passed away in 1530
Humayun (oldest of 4) became the next ruler
Humayun (1530-1540, 1555-56 CE)
Fought against → Sher Shah Suri (Afghan Ruler, Bihar), Bahadur Shah (Gujrat)
Defeated Sher Shah and captured the Fort of Chunar.→ 1532
Attacked Bahadur Shah, captured Gujarat and Malwa (failed to consolidate states). → 1534
Sher Shah attacked and defeated Humayun at Chausa in 1539, defeated him in the battle of Kanauj and annexed his Empire.
He didn’t live long to recover the lost territories.
He died from a fatal fall from the stairs in his library.
Sur Empire
Founder: Sher Shah Suri
Originally: Farid Khan
Father: Hasan Khan Suri → Was a Jagirdar at Sarasam, Bihar
Laid foundation for the Sur Dynasty
He had a large army and occupied Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal
Achievements:
His Empire was divided into 47 sarkars (provinces) and Parganas (districts).
Duly supervised recruitment of soldiers & maintained their descriptive roles.
He revived the process of branding horses (dagh/huliya).
Built an excellent network of roads, Eg. Grand Trunk Road → connects Delhi, Agra, Multan & Sonargon (Bengal).
Successors
Revival of the Mughal Empire
1555: Humayun defeated Sikander Shah Suri and conquered Delhi & Agra. thus, re-establishing Mughal rule after 15 years.
Akbar (1556-1605 CE)
Became Emperor at 13.
Bairam Khan (we don’t like him) (officer of Humayun) was his Regent.
Hemu (the enemy), General of Muhammad Adil Shah (Sur Dynasty) captured Agra after Humayun’s death.
Bairam Khan→
1556- The second battle of Panipat V S Hemu → WON & Agra recaptured
1556-1560 Bairam Khan’s regency ended because Akbar was ready.
Ways Akbar expanded his Empire →
Direct Conquests
Matrimonial alliances with Rajput princesses
By winning the trust of Rajput rulers & giving them high positions in the administration.
Rajput Policy
Akbar followed a friendship and matrimonial alliance policy with the Rajput chiefs.
Most of them accepted his suzerainty, some were suspicious and refused to yield to him.
Rana Udai Singh was one such chief.
1567 → VS Rana Udai Singh → WON Chittor captured.
Territorial Expansion
After consolidating the North of his Empire.
He sent officials to Ahmednagar, Bijapur, & Golkonda to persuade their rulers to accept him as Suzerain. When refused he waged war!
1595 → VS Chand Bibi (👸 of Ahmednagar) → WON
1596 → Berar annexed
1601 → Khandesh annexed
Bengal
During Akbar’s reign,
Bengal was rich and fertile province
Had trade relations with South Asia & China.
1574-76 → Akbar undertook military campaign
1586 → Kashmir conquered
1587 → Kandahar and Kabul
1590 → Sind
1601 → Empire extended from Hindukush (north-west), Brahmaputra (east), Himalayas (north), and Godavari (south).
Cultural Contributions
Akbar was a great patron of Art, Literature, and Learning
His court had 9 jewels best in their fields→
Abul Fazl
Faizi: (Poet) translated the Ramayana and Mahabharata into Persian
Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana
Todar Mal
Man Singh
Birbal: (Advisor) Witticism has become a great part of Indian folklore
Tansen: (Singer) greatest of his time, enriched Hindustani classical music with composed Ragas Eg. Raga Darbari (for Akbar)
Humam
Mullah Do Piaza
Painting
During this period, the art of painting received royal patronage
Many royal Karkhanas (painting studios) were set up for artists from different parts of the country to come and work together
2 Famous artists from Akbar’s court were Basawan and Daswant. (their names are definitely in the MCQs)
their names are definitely in the MCQs
Architecture:
The most outstanding contribution to the architecture was the building of a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri (36km from Agra)
The location was chosen because it was the birthplace of Sufi Saint Salim Chisti. (could come in short answer)
Religious Policy
Akbar's well-known policies were secular and tolerant.
His secular approach led him to invite scholars of all religious beliefs and hold discussions with them in the Ibadat Khana (house of worship).
Abolished:
Jaziyah
pilgrim tax
the practice of converting war prisoners to Islam.
He developed the policy of Sulh-i-Kul (Universal Peace).
1582- promulgated a new religious order called the Tauhid-i-Ilahi (Divine Faith) A.K.A Din-i-Ilahi (Divine Monotheism)
It included the good points of all religions, and wasn’t mandatory for his associates or subjects to follow it.
Jahangir (1605-1627)
Named after Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chishti
Adopted title of Jahangir (Conqueror of the world)
Continued Akbar’s policy of winning over Rajputs through matrimonial alliances.
Had a strong sense of justice.
Challenges
A revolt by his son Prince Khusrau in alliance with Raja Man Singh at Lahore.
Strained relationship with Sikhs cuz Guru Arjun Dev was executed for supporting Khusrau in rebellion
Loss on Kandahar to Persians
Ahemadnagar’s bid for independence in the Deccan.
Nur Jahan
J married Mehrunnisa
She was titled Nur Jahan (ruled at the time by Nizam Shahi dynasty) by her husband
J conferred upon her the title of Padshah Begum
Her name appeared on all farmans along with the imperial signature
Coins were struck in her name
Retired from court life when J died
Died in 1645.
Relations w/ Europeans
Portuguese
In the beginning, Jahangir had friendly alliances with the Portuguese.
Their piracy policy resulted in j withdrawing the concessions granted to them in the 1/2 of 16th CE.
Europeans
The English James I sent 2 ambassadors, Sir Thomas Roe and Captain William Hawkins to gain trade concessions from Jahangir.
They received permission to set up a trading factory in Surat
Shah Jahan (1628-1658)
Prince Khurram adopted the title Shah Jahan.
Great general
undertook the following military campaigns to extend his empire:
1636- Killed and defeated Raja Jujhar Singh, Chieftain of Bundelkhand.
Gained control of Deccan by annexing Ahmednagar,(ruled at the time by the Nizam Shahi dynasty) forcing Bijapur and Golkonda to accept suzerainty.
Controlled the Portuguese and ousted them from Hugli (Bengal)
ruled at the time by theNizam Shahi dynasty
His reign is known for its architectural activities and economic prosperity.
Family:
Sons:
Dara Shikoh
Shuja Murad
Aurangzeb
When he fell ill in 1657, a succession war broke out amongst his sons and Aurangzeb emerged victorious crowning himself ruler in 1657.
Aurangzeb (1658-1707)
His reign can be broadly divided into 2 phases:
1658-1681 - positioned in the north
1681-1707 - positioned in the south
he was a very conservative Muslim
led an austere life.
didn’t patronize any forms of entertainment (i.e. dance & music)
Empire
During Aurangzeb’s time the Mughal empire was at its largest: stretching from Kahmir (north) to Jinji (south); and from The Hindukush (west) to Chittagong (east)
Policies
Adopted policies that had negative implications for the empire's integrity
His reign was marred by widespread unrest across the country, resulting in several political events that inherently weakened the grand structure of the Mughal Empire and ultimately led to its collapse
some examples:
Confrontations with Ahoms of Assam
Rebellion by Afghan tribes of north-west
Tense relations with Sikhs because of his religious intolerance
Revolts by Rajput rulers (including Bundelas) against the reimposition of Jaziyah and the destruction of many Hindu temples
Protests by Jat peasants due to heavy land revenue demands
Gross misuse of trade privileges granted to English traders, resulting in confrontation
The Mughal Court
Followed Central Asian traditions in governance and court decorum
The ruler was considered the representative of God and his throne was kept on a raised platform.
Nobles and officials bowed to the ruler
Diwan-i-Aam: hall for meetings with the general public.
Diwan-i-Khas: hall for the private audience; the emperor received personal guests here
Mughal Administration
Highly centralized administration
The emperor was the supreme commander of the armed forces, several officials assisted him in the administration
Roles in Administration:
Wazir/wakil - headed the Diwan-i-Wizarat, looked after income, expenditure, collection of revenue & other financial matters
Mir Bakshi - looked after army and military affairs
Chief Sadr/Chief Qazi - looked after all charities, religious affairs, and education, and headed the Department of Justice.
Khan-i-saman looked after the imperial household.
Daroga-i-dak Chowki - in charge of the imperial post
Mir atish - supervised the artillery
Diwan-i-tam - looked after matters related to jaigars.
Daroga-i-taksal - supervisor of Royal Mint
Division of the Mughal Empire
The kingdom was divided & subdivided into small units for ease of governance.
Mansabdari System
One of the most significant features of the Mughal empire
A refined form of the iqta system (Delhi Sultanate)
Mansab means Rank/Position in Arabic
it was a graded system
Every officer (mansabdar) was assigned a mansab
An officer entered at low rank and worked their way up to higher ranks through promotions (based on loyalty and service
his rank depended upon the number of horsemen (sawar) he maintained
Mansabdars formed the ruling group of the empire.
Expected to maintain a fixed army of well-trained troops, used in times of war
some were paid in cash while others received jagirs, maintaining their expenses through them
Agrarian Policies
Raja Todar Mal:
Akbar’s chief revenue minister
The chief architect of his land revenue system- Todar Mal’s Bandobast
The state’s land was called Khalisa.
A khalisa was divided into categories as per its produce & fertility:
Polaj: fertile land, always cultivated
Parauti: land uncultivated for 2-3 years to regain fertility
Chachar: land kept fallow for 4-5 years to restore fertility
Banjar: lowest quality, always uncultivated
bamboo sticks were used to measure land
Bigha was the unit of land measuring.
state’s share: 1/3 of average produce, paid in either cash or kind