Mughal Empire (1526-1707)

Ziharuddin Babar (1526-1530)

 Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur founded the Mughal Empire in India after defeating
Ibrahim Lodhi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526.
 At the age of 14, Babur ascended the throne of the Central Asian kingdom of Farghana.
His greatest ambition was to rule Samarkand. He fought many battles in the pursuit of
this goal, winning and losing his kingdom many times in the process.
 In 1504, he ventured into what is now Afghanistan and conquered Kabul.
 His position in Central Asia was precarious at best.

Battle of Panipat

 In order to consolidate his rule, he invaded India five times, crossing the River Indus
each time. The fifth expedition resulted in his encounter with Ibrahim Lodhi in the first
battle of Panipat in April 1526.
 Babur’s army was better equipped than Lodhi’s; he had guns while the sultan relied on
elephants. The most successful of Babur’s innovations was the introduction of
gunpowder, which had never been used before in the Sub-continent. This combined with
Babur’s newer tactics gave him a greater advantage. Babur’s strategy won the war and
Ibrahim Lodhi died fighting.
 Panipat was merely the beginning of the Mughal rule. Akbar laid its real foundation in
1556.

Battle of Kanwaha

 At the time of the battle of Panipat, the political power in India was shared by the
Afghans and the Rajputs. After Panipat, the Hindu princes united under Rana Sanga, the
Raja of Mewar, resulting in a sizable force.
 Babur’s army showed signs of panic at the size of the huge opposing army. To prevent
his forces retreat, Babur tried to instill confidence in his soldiers by breaking all his
drinking cups and vessels, and vowed never to drink again if he won.
 His soldiers took heart, and when the armies met in the battle at Kanwaha, near Agra on
March 16, 1527, Babur was able to win decisively. Kanwaha confirmed and completed
Babur’s victory at Panipat. Babur thus became the king of Central India.

Battle of Ghagra

 In 1528, he captured Chanderi from the Rajput chief Medini Rao, and a year later he
defeated the Afghan chiefs under Mahmud Lodhi in the battle of Ghagra at Bihar.
 These conquests made Babur the “Master of Hindustan”.

Death
 He was not destined to enjoy the fruits of his conquests as he died shortly afterwards in
Agra on December 26, 1530. He was buried at Kabul in accordance with his wish.
 The Mughal age is famous for its many-faceted cultural developments.
 The Timurids had a great cultural tradition behind them. Their ancestral kingdom at
Samarkand was the meeting ground of the cultural traditions of Central and West Asia.
 The Mughals brought with them Muslim cultural traditions from Turko-Iranian areas,
which inspired the growth of the Indo-Muslim culture.

Humayun (1530-1556)

 Babur was succeeded by his eldest son Humayun.

 Humayun failed in asserting a strong monarchical authority. He inherited a freshly won
empire with a host of troubles; the Afghan nobles, the Rajputs and worst of all, his three
treacherous brothers.
 They caused numerous problems for him. Following his father’s advice, Humayun
treated his brothers kindly and appointed them to high positions. Kamran was appointed
as the Governor of Kabul, Kandhar and later even Punjab. Askari was the Governor of
Sambhal, and Hindal the Governor of Alwar.

Hinderances during his rule

 In return, his brothers hindered him at every step and betrayed him in his hour of need.
All of them coveted the throne. This was a curse that each successful Mughal king had to
deal with. Humayun almost lost the empire his father had fought so hard to bequeath
him.
 In the first ten years of his rule, he faced so many challenges not only from his younger
brothers but also from the Afghan General Sher Shah Suri who had served under Babur.
 Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun in the battles of Chausa and Kanauj in 1540. This
defeat was the first setback to the infant Mughal Empire.

Reascending the throne

 He lived the next 15 years of his life, from 1540 to 1555, self-exiled in Persia. Later on,
with the help of the King of Persia, he captured Kabul and Kandhar.
 He was finally able to re-ascend the throne at Delhi and Agra after defeating Sikandar
Suri.
 After recovering his throne, Humayun devoted himself to the affairs of the kingdom and
towards improving the system of government.
 He laid the foundation of the Mughal style of painting. Later on, during the reign of
Akbar, a fusion of Persian and Indian style of painting took place.

Death

 Unfortunately, after recovering his empire, Humayun was not destined to rule for long.
In January 1556, he met his tragic end by slipping from the famous building known as
Din Panah.
 After him his eldest son Akbar took over the rule of the empire.
Sher Shah Suri (1540-1545)

 Sher Khan, known as Sher Shah Suri, was an Afghan leader who took over the Mughal
Empire after defeating Humayun in 1540.
 Sher Shah occupied the throne of Delhi for not more than five years, but his reign proved
to be a landmark in the Sub-continent.

Reforms:

 He formulated a sound imperial administration that was inspired by the Safavid regime
in Iran.

Army:

 Sher Shah employed a powerful army, which is said to have comprised of 150,000
horses, 250,000 foot-soldiers and 5,000 elephants. He personally inspected, appointed
and paid the soldiers, thus making him the focus of loyalty and subduing the jealousies
between clans and tribes. To prevent fraud, he revived the tradition of branding horses,
introduced first by Alauddin Khalji.
 The principal reforms for which Sher Shah is remembered are those connected with
revenue administration. He set up a revenue collection system based on the
measurement of land.
 Justice was provided to the common man.
 Numerous civil works were carried out during his short reign; planting of trees, wells and
building of Sarai (inns) for travelers was done.
 Roads were laid; it was under his rule that the Grand Trunk road from Delhi to Kabul
was built.
 The currency was also changed to finely minted silver coins called Dam.

Death

 During his lifetime, Sher Shah commissioned the construction of tombs for his father,
Hasan Khan Suri and for himself. A third one was begun for his son Islam, but remained
unfinished due to the dynasty’s fall.
 Sher Shah died in 1545 by a gunpowder explosion and left his kingdom to his two sons
and grandsons.
 Unfortunately, his successors were incompetent and succumbed to old Afghan rivalries.
This resulted in the downfall of the Suri Dynasty.

Akbar (1556-1605)

 Humayun’s heir, Akbar, was born in exile and was only 13 years old when his father
died.
 Thanks to his exceptionally capable guardian, Bahram Khan, he survived to demonstrate
his worth.
 Akbar’s reign holds a certain prominence in history; he was the ruler who actually
fortified the foundations of the Mughal Empire. After a series of conquests he managed
to subdue most of India.
 Areas not under the empire were designated as tributaries.
 He also adopted a conciliatory policy towards the Rajputs, hence reducing any threat
from them.
 Akbar was not only a great conqueror, but a capable organizer and a great administrator
as well. He set up a host of institutions that proved to be the foundation of an
administrative system that operated even in British India.

Reforms

 Akbar’s rule also stands out due to his liberal policies towards the non-Muslims, his
religious innovations, the land revenue system and his famous Mansabdari system.
Akbar’s Mansabdari system became the basis of Mughal military organization and civil
administration.
 The reign of Akbar was a period of renaissance of Persian literature. The Ain-i-Akbari
gives the names of 59 great Persian poets of Akbar’s court. History was the most
important branch of Persian prose literature.
 Akbar and his successors, Jehangir and Shah Jehan greatly contributed to the
development of Indian music. Tansen was the most accomplished musician of the age.
Ain-i-Akbari gives the names of 36 first-rate musicians of Akbar’s court where Hindu
and Muslim style of music mingled freely.

Architecture

 The Mughal architectural style began as a definite movement under his rule. Akbar’s
most ambitious and magnificent architectural undertaking was the new capital city that
he built on the ridge at Sikri near Agra.
 The city was named as Fatehpur to commemorate Akbar’s conquest of Gujrat in 1572.
The most impressive creation of this new capital is the grand Jamia Masjid.
 The southern entrance to the Jamia Masjid is an impressive gateway known as Buland
Darwaza. Like most other buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, the fabric of this impressive
gateway is of red sandstone that is decorated by carvings and discreet inlaying of white
marble.

Threat to Islam

 In the 16th century, during the reign of Akbar, Islam faced overwhelming threats.
 The Infallibility Decree in 1579 and Din-i-Ilahi in 1581 were considered to be grave
threats to the religion. The Din-i-Ilahi, as propounded by Akbar, was a mixture of
various religions. The new religion combined mysticism, philosophy and nature worship.
It recognized no gods or prophets and the emperor was its chief exponent.
 To believe in revelation was considered as “taqlid” (following authority blindly) or a low
kind of morality, fit only for the uneducated and the illiterate.
 Akbar’s Din-i-Ilahi had literally made the orthodox Muslims outcasts in the affairs of the
state

Death

 Of all the Mughals, Akbar’s reign was the most peaceful and powerful. With his death in
1605, ended a glorious epoch in Indian history.
Jehangir (1605-1658)

 Akbar was succeeded by his son, Salim, who took the title of Jehangir, meaning
“Conqueror of the World”.
 He expanded the empire through the addition of Kangra and Kistwar and consolidated
the Mughal rule in Bengal.
 Although many rebellions arose in the empire, especially in Bengal and Mewar,
Jehangir was able to suppress them all.
 Under Jahangir, the empire continued to be a war state attuned to conquest and
expansion. Jahangir’s most irksome foe was the Rana of Mewar, Amar Singh, who
finally capitulated in 1613 to Khurram’s forces

Arrival of British

 Jehangir was renowned for administering impartial justice to his people, irrespective of
their religious faith. Around this time, European traders had started coming to India. The
English were able to find favor with Jehangir and cultivated him through works of art, of
which Jehangir was a connoisseur. The first ambassador to the Mughal court was Sir
Thomas Roe. He was able to secure many trading facilities for his countrymen.
 In 1583, Queen Elizabeth I dispatched the ship Tyger to the Sub-continent to exploit
opportunities for trade. Sixteen years after the Tyger sailed to India, Queen Elizabeth
granted trading rights to a group of London entrepreneurs. In 1614, the British East India
Company opened its first office in Bombay. The British continued to seek concessions
from the Mughal rulers and enjoyed a unique trading monopoly.

Architecture

 The Mughal rule reached its climax during Jehangir’s reign. In the history of Mughal
architecture, Jehangir’s reign marks the period of transition between its two grand
phases, namely the phase of Akbar and that of his grandson, Shah Jehan.
 The most important feature of this period is the substitution of red sandstone with white
marble. Jehangir had a deep love of color. The system of pietra dura, i.e. the inlaid
mosaic work of precious stones of various shades, gained popularity towards the end of
his reign.
 He was also fond of laying gardens. One of the most famous gardens laid by him was the
Shalimar Bagh in Lahore. The Mughal style of art was greatly developed during his
reign. The most important feature of the paintings of this era was the decline of the
Persian and enhancement of the Indian cultural influence.
 Mughal paintings lost much of their glamour and refinement after Jehangir’s death in
1627.
 During the late 17th and 18th centuries this art migrated to regional centers such as in
Rajput and Jaipur, where it prospered under the influence of the local culture.

Death

 In 1627, Jahangir became seriously ill, and he never recovered from his illness. Upon the
death of his father on 28 October 1627, Shah Jahan, with support from his father-in-law
Asaf Khan, became the emperor.
 Jahangir lacked the political enterprise of his father Akbar. But he was an honest man
and a tolerant ruler. He strived to reform society and was tolerant towards Hindus,
Christians and Jews.

Shah Jehan(1628-)

 Jehangir was succeeded by his second son Khurram in 1628. Khurram took the name of
Shah Jehan, i.e. the Emperor of the World.

Road to throne

 In 1614, Khurram got an opportunity to display his military prowess, something he was
so desperately waiting for.The moment he was waiting to seize came in the form of
Maharana Amar Singh II, who was asked to surrender his Rajput state to the Mughal.
Khurram led an army of more than 200,000 men and defeated the forces of the Rajput
king. This brave act of his, paved the way for moresuch opportunities. Three years later
in 1617, he was asked to conquer the Deccan Plateau in order to expand the empire.
After his success in doing so, his father Jahangir bestowed upon him the title Shah Jahan,
which literally meant King of the World in Persian.
 As soon as he became the emperor, Shah Jahan eliminated all his foes just to make sure
the throne had no further contenders. He killed many in the year 1628 including his
brother Shahzada Shahryar; his cousins,his nephews and anyone he thought would be a
threat to his throne. His step-mother Nur Jahan was spared but was imprisoned under
tight security.
 He further expanded his Empire to Kandhar in the north and conquered most of Southern
India. The Mughal Empire was at its zenith during Shah Jehan’s rule. This was due to
almost 100 years of unparalleled prosperity and peace.

Architecture

 As a result, during this reign, the world witnessed the unique development of arts and
culture of the Mughal Empire. During the reign of Shah Jehan, Mughal architecture
reached its supreme exuberance. He chose marble as the chief medium for all his
architectural undertakings.
 Shah Jehan built marble edifices at Agra such as the Diwan-i-Aam, the Diwan-i-Khas,
the Shish Mahal and the Moti Masjid, which have been described as the most elegant
buildings of their class to be found anywhere. But all other architectural creations of
Shah Jehan are nothing when compared to the exquisite conception of the mausoleum of
his wife, Arjumand Bano Begum (Mumtaz Mehal) at Agra. The Taj Mehal is the
crowning glory and culmination of Mughal architecture. Its construction commenced in
1631 and was completed sometime around 1653.

Illness and Death

 Shah Jahan became seriously ill in September 1658. During his days of recovery, Dara
Shikoh, one of his sons, assumed the role of the ruler. This made his brothers furious and
almost immediately, Shuja and Murad Baksh sought independent provinces and claimed
their rightful share. Meanwhile, Aurangzeb had formed an army of his own and went on
 to defeat his brother Dara Shikoh. He then killed rest of the contenders and declared
himself as the emperor. Though Shah Jahan later recovered from his illness, Aurangzeb
deemed him unfit to rule and imprisoned him in the citadel of Agra.
 In the first week of January 1666, Shah Jahan once again fell ill and never recovered. On
January 22, he died at the age of 74.

Aurangzeb (1666-1707)

 Aurangzeb ascended the throne on July 21, 1658 and ruled supreme till 1707. Thus
Aurangzeb ruled for 50 years, matching Akbar’s reign in longevity.
 But unfortunately he kept his five sons away from the royal court with the result that
none of them was trained in the art of government. This proved to be very damaging for
the Mughals later on. Aurangzeb had three brothers.
 His father Shah Jehan favored Dara Shikoh to be his successor. Dara Shikoh was eclectic
in his beliefs; therefore Aurangzeb challenged his father’s rule. Shah Jahan fell seriously
ill and all his sons proclaimed succession. Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Shah
Jehan recovered. On his recovery, he again backed Dara as his successor.
 A war of succession broke out among all the brothers. In the long run Aurangzeb was
victorious. But as Shah Jehan was in absolute favor of Dara, Aurangzeb no longer trusted
him, and had Shah Jehan placed under polite restraint in his own palace.
 Aurangzeb, a staunch Muslim, gave many grants for the restoration of Hindu temples
during his reign. He also appointed Hindus to leading and commanding positions in his
government.
 His chief architectural achievement is the Badshahi Mosque at Lahore, the largest
mosque in the world at the time it was built.
 In his 50 year, Aurangzeb tried to fulfill his great ambition of bringing the entire Sub-
continent under one rule.
 It was under his rule that in 1687 Bijapur and Golkonda, the last of the two Shia states
surrendered to the Mughal Empire. The Marhattas continued to fight against Aurangzeb
for some time. The last 26 years of Aurangzeb were devoted to his relentless Deccan
campaign for the purpose of which he had moved his court to Deccan.
 Under Aurangzeb’s rule, the borders of the Mughal Empire spread out farther than ever
before.
 But due to lack of communication and poor infrastructure it was difficult to hold the
empire together. If the court was in the north, there was rebellion in the south, and vice
versa.
 Though he ruled longer than any of his predecessors, yet he could not stop the decline of
the Mughal Empire, which hastened after his demise as none of his sons was trained to
rule. Finally in 1858 India came directly under the control of British government.

Death

 Aurangzeb was 88 years old when he died in central India on March 3, 1707. He died of
natural causes, those being terminal illnesses that had gotten to him. His 49-year-old
reign came to an end without him declaring a crown prince which eventually led his
three sons to fight amongst each other for the vacant throne.
 Many critics say that his ruthlessness and religious behaviour made him unsuitable to
rule the mixed population in his empire. The imposition of the sharia and jizya religious
taxes on non-muslim and the doubling of the custom duties on Hindus and the
destruction of temples caused the birth of a religious rebellion against him which led to
his fall.
Downfall of Muslims

The death of Aurangzeb in 1707 marked the beginning of the end of the Mughal Empire. Of
course, the Mughal emperors reigned till 1857 but only in name. The successors of
Aurangzeb, called the Later Mughals, lost hold over the Empire and independent kingdoms
grew up in every part of India. Most of the Later Mughal emperors remained puppets in the
hands to their powerful nobles or pensioners of the Marathas and, later on, of the British. The
last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shaah II, was deposed by the British after the revolt of 1857 and
deported to Rangoon to die their as a prisoner. Various factors contributed to the downfall and
extinction of the Mughal Empire.

Causes of Downfall of the Mughal Empire

The Nature and Policies of Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb was partially responsible for the downfall of the Mughal Empire. The suspicious
nature of Aurangzeb which did not permit either any of his sons or nobles to become capable;
his religious bigotry which lost him the loyalty of the majority of his subjects and resulted in
the revolts,the Rajput policy which resulted in fighting against the states of Mewar and
Marwar; and, his Deccan policy which resulted in a long-drawn struggle against the Marathas
brought misfortune to the Mughal Empire. His policies sapped the economic and military
resources of the Empire and the entire administration broke down.

The Incapability of the Later Mughals

The successors of Aurangzeb proved incapable and degenerate. That sealed the fate of the
Empire. After Aurangzeb, no Mughal emperor rightly deserved to be an emperor. Most of
them were addicted to wine and women. Therefore, all proved worthless rulers. No Empire
could exist under the rule of such rulers. It is rather surprising how the fragment of the
Empire continued till 1857.

The Corruption of the Nobility

The Mughal nobility followed in the footsteps of their licentious emperors. There was total
absence of capable nobles during the rule of the Later Mughals. Most of the nobles were
incapable and if anyone of them was capable, he was not loyal to the Empire and carved out
independent kingdom for himself. That led to the break-up and degeneration of the Empire.

Military Weakness

The organisation of the Mughal army along feudal lines and the failure of the Emperors to
improve armaments and fighting tactics weakened and demoralized the Mughal army. It no
more remained an effective fighting force. Aurangzeb suffered on these counts when he
fought against the Marathas. During the rule of the later Mughals, the conditions became
worst. No Empire could exist in absence of military strength.

Economic Bankruptcy

The reign of Shah Jahan marked the beginning of the deterioration of the economy of the
Empire. The revolts, the wars in the Deccan and neglect of the administration of the North
during the reign of Aurangzeb, put additional burden on the resources of the Empire. Then
finally, the licentious life of the Later Mughals, breakdown of the administration and the loot
of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali broke the backbone of the economy of the Empire. It
certainly contributed to the downfall of the Empire.

The Wars of Succession

In absence of a fixed rule of succession, the death of every emperor led to a war of succession
among the living sons of the Emperor. It resulted in loss of life and property, destruction of
the administrative fabric of the Empire and loss of prestige of the Empire and the Emperor. It
also encouraged powerful nobles to assert their independence or take undue advantage from
succeeding emperors.

Group Rivalry at the Court

The weakness of the Later Mughals led to treachery, treason and group politics at the Mughal
court. The nobles divided themselves particularly in two rival groups viz. one group
consisting of foreign Muslims and the other that of Indian Muslims. Each of these groups
tried to capture the power of the state for itself and, having failed to settle the affair among
themselves, sought help from other powers. The Indian Muslims took the help of the
Marathas while the foreign Muslims sought the help of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the ruler of
Afghanistan. It resulted in repeated invasions of the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali on
Delhi which led to the destruction of Imperial power and dignity.

The Attacks of the Marathas in the North

Peshwa Baji Rao pursued the policy of conquering territories in the North. Gradually, the
Marathas occupied large territories in the North and became the strongest power in India. But
the Marathas did not replace Mughals and did not assume the responsibility of an Imperial
power. Their activities remained limited either to plundering or increasing their sphere of
influence. That certainly affected adversely the fortunes of the Mughal Empire.
Attacks by Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali

When Mughal Empire had already weakened because of internal decay, it had to face the
attach of Nadir Shah and repeated invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali. These attacks drained the
Mughal Empire of its wealth and gave a final blow to the military power of the Mughals.

The absence of the spirit of political nationalism among the people

The absence of political nationalism among the people was an important socio-political cause
of the downfall of the Mughal Empire. The Indians did not have the ideal of living and dying
for the nation. Therefore, no group or class of people in the country was interested in
maintaining the unity of the country and the Empire. Of course, the spirit of nationalism did
not exist in Europe as well at that time but the European states like France, Spain and England
had grown up into strong unified states and their people certainly linked their aspirations with
their country, they were loyal to persons, tribes, castes, regions, religious sects etc. This
fissiparous tendency certainly helped in the disintegration of the Empire and the success of
the English against the Indian rulers. It ultimately sealed the fate of the Mughal Empire.

Intellectual Bankruptcy

The Mughals did not develop a proper system of education. It started affecting adversely the
then society in every field of life from the beginning of the 18th century. The society failed to
produce good administrators, politicians, thinkers, teachers etc. The Empire, therefore failed
to get services of talented people and that definitely weakened the Empire.

Absence of Navy

The Mughal rulers never attempted to build up a navy to safeguard the sea-cost of their
Empire. Of course, the Mughals had not to fight against the European powers and therefore,
absence of navy was not directly responsible for the downfall of the Mughal Empire. But the
neglect of building a navy by the Mughals or any other Indian ruler proved their weakness
when Europeans became contenders for political power. Therefore the absence of navy
indirectly contributed towards the downfall of the Mughal Empire.

Failure of economic and administrative policies

The failure of Mansabdari or Jagidari system was primarily responsible for the downfall of
the Empire. This system burdened the peasants to the extreme, yet failed to provide the
Empire and the required state exceeded its income. It could not continue for long. The Empire
resulted in rivalry between nobles for getting good jagirs which weakened the Empire
administratively and politically. Prof. Irfan Habib also pointed out that primarily economic
crisis was responsible for the downfall of the Mughal Empire.

Conclusion

Thus, various causes led to the disintegration and the final collapse of the Mughal Empire.
The process of disintegration had begun just after the death of Bahadur Shah I, the successor
of Aurangzeb. However, the Empire, in name, lingered on till 1857. After the revolt of 1857,
the British wiped out its name as well and assumed the de jure as well as the de facto
sovereignty of India. Thus, the Mughal Empire passed away like a diseased person who met
his doom gradually, painfully and miserably.