Jalaluddin Muhammad

AKBAR (1556-1605)
• 1556 – Second battle of Panipet
• 1556-60 – Bairam khan’s regency
• 1560-62 – petticoat government
• 1561 – Malwa conquest
• 1564 – Gondwana – Rani Durgavati
• 1568 - Chittor
• 1572-73 – Gujarat – built Buland Darwaza at
Fatehpur to celebrate this victory
 Jalaluddin Muhammad
AKBAR (1556-1605)
• 1581 – Kabul from Mirza Hakim
• 1586 – Kashmir and Baluchistan
• 1591 – Sind
• 1595 – Kandahar
• 1601 – Ahmednagar
• 1601 – Asirgarh
• Akbar in northwest from 1585-1598 – suppression of Roshaniya
movement of Pir Roshan
• Battle of Haldighati – 1576 – Ranas of Mewar
• 1563 – Pilgrim tax abolished
• 1564 – Jizya abolished
 Akbar’s Sulh-i-Kuhl
• Universal peace or Peace with all
• 1575 – Ibadat Khana constructed (House of
worship) in Fatehpur Sikri
• First, only Sunnis – Badauni and Abul Fazl (both
trained by Shaikh Mubarak)
• After Haldighati – Shias, Hindus, Christians and
Zoroastrians
• Convinced all religions contained some truth and
that this was not the prerogative of Islam
 Akbar’s Sulh-i-Kuhl
• Theological crisis – Sheikh Mubarak’s advice
• Written verdict of Ulema – Ruler empowered to
decide on controversial Islamic legal questions?
• August/September 1579 – MAHZAR issued by leading
Ulema – NOT infallibility decree (Vincent Smith)
• Din-ilahi (Divine Faith) – NOT a new religion – four
degrees of devotion or discipleship, readiness to
sacrifice their life, property, honour and religion to
promote the interest of their imperial master
 Mansabdari System
• Mansab – rank
• 3 categories of Zat and Sawar – dual rank – 1597
• Zat – personal pay and status in the official hierarchy
• Sawar – Number of horsemen to be maintained and salary
for maintenance of horsement
• Mansab non-hereditary – merit basis
• Sawar rank is lower than the Zat rank
• 66 grades
• Duaspa-sihaspa rank of Jahangir – 2 to 3 horses per
trooper – special favour – doubling of privileges
 Jagirdari system
• Jagir or tuyur – unit of land
• Jagirs assigned to a mansabdar in lieu of salary
• Tankhwah jagirs – assigned in lieu of salary
• Watan jagirs - hereditary possession
• Khalisa jagirs – crown land
• Jagir of the Mughals was similar to the iqta of the Delhi
Sultanate
• No hereditary rights – frequent transfer
• All Jagirdars were Mansabdars but all Mansabdars were
not jagirdars
 Jagirdari crisis
• Attempt by nobles to confer the most profitable jagirs
• Crisis in the economic and social relations of medieval
Mughal India
• Growth in the size and demands of the ruling class –
2000 Mansabdars in 1605 to 12000 in 1675
• Expansion of Khalisa lands during Shahjehan and
Aurangazeb’s reign
• Revolts of zamindars and peasants against the illegal
exactions of the nobles
 Zabti/Bandobast system
• A new “jama” was prepared by Raja Todar Mal
• Karori experiment of Akbar – extension of Khalisa
land – provide revenue dept to collect extensive
data
• Khalisa land divided into circles – each yielding
revenue of one karor – each circle under karori
• Aim to make as extensive a measurement as
possible, then use it as a basis for compiling a
new general assessment
 Zabti system
• Instead of a rope, a “tanab” made of bamboo
sticks joined by iron rings, came to be used for
measuring land in 1575.
• Measurement not possible in all subahs – so
old systems like batai, kankut continued
• New system followed wherever possible
 Dahsala system
• Reforms based on ZABTI SYSTEM – undertaken by
Todermal1
• Reforms collectively called as Ain-i-Dahsala –
completed in 1580
• Land classified in 4 categories
• Polaj – annually cultivated
• Parauti – left fallow for a short period (1 or 2 years)
• Chachar – left fallow for 3 to 4 years
• Banjar – uncultivated for 5 years or more
 Dahsala system
• In 1588, Todar Mal introduced a uniform unit
of measurement – Ilahi Gaz (33 inches)
• Aim was to introduce a permanent jama and
remove difficulties and delays associated with
yearly sanction
 Shivaji’s Ashtapradhan
• Peshwa – finance and general administration;
later the Prime Minister
• Sar-i-Naubat – Senapati or military commander
• Amatya or Majumdar – Accountant General
during the time of Peshwas; later became
Finance and Revenue Minister
• Waqenavis – Intelligence, posts and household
affairs
 Shivaji’s Ashtapradhan
• Sachiv or Surunavis or Chitnis – looked after
correspondence
• Sumanta or dabit – Master of ceremonies
• Nyayadish – Justice
• Pandit Rao – Religious affairs and charity
• Shivaji’s reforms were based on Malik Ambar’s
(Ahmednagar)
 Shivaji
• Chauth & Sardeshmukhi not collected in Swarajya
• Collected in an undefined belt of land, legally
part of Mughal empire or the Deccan states
• Chauth – 1/4th of land revenue paid to Marathas
so as not to be subjected to Maratha raids
• Sardeshmukhi – an additional levy of 10% on
those lands of Maharashtra over which Marathas
claimed hereditary rights, but which formed part
of Mughal empire
 Portuguese
• Vasco da gama reached Calicut- May 17, 1498
– Zamorin ruler of Calicut
• 1500 – Pedro Alvarez Cabral
• 1502 – Return of Vasco da gama
• Trading stations at Calicut, Cochin and
Cannanore
• Cochin – early capital of Portuguese in India;
later Goa
 Portuguese
• Alfonso de Albuquerque – 1503 – Arrival
• 1509 – appointed Governor (Second) – first
governor Francisco de Almeida 1505-09
• Goa capture from Bijapur ruler – 1510
• Persecuted muslims, encouraged his men to
marry Indian women
• 1515 – on his death, the leading naval power
in the region
 Portuguese
• Nino da Cunha (1529-38) – Transfer of capital from
Cochin to Goa (1530)
• Diu and Bassein acquired from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat
• Martin Alfonso de Souza (1542-45) – Jesuit saint
Francis Xavier arrived in India with him
• Decline – Hugli lost to Mughal noble Qasim khan – 1631
• 1661 – Bombay given as dowry to Charles II of England
• 1739 – Salsette and Bassein lost to Marathas
 Causes for decline of Portuguese
• Religious intolerance
• Piracy and clandestine practices
• Unable to compete with other European
companies successfully – internal limitations
of Portugal
• Discovery of Brazil
 English East India Company
• John Mildehall – 1599 – trading purpose
• East India Company – 1600/December
• Captain Hawkins in Jahangir’s Court – 1609
• Portuguese pressure – defeat of Portuguese
fleet by Captain Best in 1612
• Firman of Jahangir – factory at Surat – 1613
• Sir Thomas Roe – Ambassador of James I – 1615
to 1618 – factories in different part of Empire
 English East India Company
• Factories at Baroda, Agra, Ahmedabad and
Broach by 1619
• All factories under control of President and
Council of Surat factory
• Bombay was received on lease in 1668
• Gerald Aungier – first Governor – 1669 to
1677
• Bombay becomes HQ replacing Surat in 1687