From the latter half of the 16th century, the Mughals expanded their empire from Agra and Delhi, going on to control all of the subcontinents in the 17th century. Ruling a vast territory as the Indian subcontinent involving such a diverse group of people and cultures, was a very difficult task in medieval times. The Mughal Empire was in one of its best states during the 17th century. Prosperity in commercial and economic activities was evident during this period.
Mughal EmpireWho were the Mughals?
Mughals were the descendants of two great lineages of rulers: Genghis Khan a Mongol ruler from their mother's side, and Successors of Timur from their father's side. Mughals proudly claimed Timurid ancestry because Timur captured Delhi in 1398.
List of Mughal Emperors in India (1526- 1857)
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| 1526-1530 | He was direct descendant of Genghis Khan through Timur and also founder of Mughal Empire in Indian subcontinent after victories at Battle of Panipat and Battle of Khanwa. |
I- 1153-1540
II- 1555-1556 | His reign was interrupted by Sher Shah Suri, who defeated and established Suri Dynasty. Restored rule was more effective than initial and left unified empire to son, Akbar |
| 1556-1605 | He along with Bairam Khan defeated Hemu during Second Battle of Panipat and won famous victories during seiges in Chittorgarh and Rathambore. He abolished Jizyah tax, imposed on Hindus. |
| 1605-1627 | Opened the relations with East India Company. |
| 1628-1658 | Mughal art and architecture reached zenith under him. He constructed Taj Mahal, Jama Masjid, Red Fort and so forth and ded under captivity of son Aurangzeb. |
| 1658- 1707 | He reinterpreted the Islamic law and also presented the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri. Captured the diamond mines of Sultanate of Golconda and spend major part of his last 27 years in war with Maratha and expanded the empire. |
| 1707-1712 | He is also known as Muazzam or Shah Alam I. Empire went on to decline due to lack of leadership and he releases Shahuji, elder son of Shivaji. |
| 1712-1713 | Was unpopular and incompetent leader. |
| 1713-1719 | Ascendancy of manipulative Syed Brothers and granted farman to English East India Company by grant of duty free trading rights for Bengal. |
| 1719 | He was proclaimed Badshah by the Syed Brothers. |
| 1720 | He attempted to seize the throne at behest of Syed Brothers to dispose Muhammad Shah. |
| 1720-1748 | He got ride of syed brothers and countered the emergency of Marathas and also lost huge tracts of Deccan and Malwa in the process. Suffered invasion of Nadir Shah. |
| 1748-1754 | He was son of Muhammad Shah and his minister Safdarjung was responsible for Mughal Civil war and defeated Sikandarabad by Maratha Condederacy. |
| 1754-1759 | He was murdered by conspiracy of Imad- ul-Mulk and also Mararha associate Sadashivrao Bhau. |
| 1759-1760 | He was overthrown after Third Battle of Panipat by Prince Mirza Jawan. |
| 1760-1806 | He fought against British East India Company during Battle of Buxar and also reformed the army and known to be last effective Mughal ruler. |
| 1806-1837 | Designated Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur as new Nawab of Sindh. His imperial name was removed from official coinage after dispute with East India Company. |
| 1837-1857 | Last Mughal emperor and was deposed by British following 1857 Revolt. |
Mughal Military Campaigns
Babur was the first Mughal emperor who succeeded the throne of Ferghana in the year 1494 when was only 12 years old, forced to leave his ancestral throne due to a Mongol invasion. He seized Kabul in 1504 and in 1526 he defeated the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, at Panipat-captured Delhi and Agra.
Following Babur, most of his successors including Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb importantly were able to expand and conquer many territories subsequently. For more than two centuries, the empire stretched from the outer reaches of the Indus basin in the West, Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the North, to the highlands of present-day Assam-Bangladesh in the east till the uplands of Deccan in South India.
Mughal Tradition of Succession
Mughals didn't believed in the rule of primogeniture, in which the eldest son inherited his son's estate. They followed the Mughal and Timurid custom of coparcenary inheritance, which is the division of the inheritance amongst all sons.
Mughal Relations with Other Rulers
The rulers who refused to accept the authority of the Mughals were constantly campaigned against. As the Mughals became powerful, many rulers like Rajputs joined in voluntarily. Many Rajputs married their daughters to Mughals and received high positions. Some Rajputs resisted as well.
However, even after defeat Mughals treated them honorably, giving them lands called Watan back as assignments, called Watan Jagirs. However, keeping a balance was not always an easy task for the Mughals.
Mansabdars and Jagirdars
The empire expanded to include many regions and a diverse group of people was recruited from Turkish, Iranian, Indian Muslims, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas, and others. Some joined as mansabdars. Mansabdars refers to an individual who holds a mansab, meaning a position or rank-grading system used by Mughals to rate - Rank, Salary, and Military responsibilities.
The rank and salary were determined by numerical value, the higher the Zat, the more prestigious the noble position was in court and the larger his salary more military responsibilities require him to maintain a specific number of sawar or cavalrymen.
Mansabdar's salaries were revenue assignments called jagirs and the ones assigned were called the jagirdars. He only had the rights to revenue of their assignments collected by their servants, while they themselves served in another part of country.
Zabt and Zamindars
The main source of income for Mughal Rulers was a tax on the produce of the peasantry. Some of these taxes were paid by peasants via rural elites, termed as zamindars. Each province was divided into revenue circles with its own schedule of revenue rates for the individual crops. This revenue system was called Zabt.
Akbar's Policies
Abul Fazl discussed the administration laid down by Akbar in Akbar Nama. In its volume the Ain-i-Akbari, the empire was divided into provinces called subas, governed by a subadar who carried out both political and military functions.
Every province had a financial officer or diwan. Subadar was supported by other officers such as Bakshi, sadr, faujdar, and kotwal. Akbar also led the idea of "Sulh-i Kul" or "universal peace", which was the idea of tolerance and not discrimination based on different religions of the reign. This principle of governance was followed by Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century and After
The Mughal imperial structure is frequently dated to 1600, to Akbar's reign, which lasted until 1720, shortly after the death of the empire's last significant monarch, Aurangzeb, during whose reign the empire also reached its greatest geographical extent. The empire lost a significant area as a result of the Maratha Empire's conquests, which were absorbed as a puppet state, and this continued throughout the East India Company's tenure in India. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Raj legally dissolved the empire.
The Mughal Empire's administrative and military efficiency resulted in immense economic and commercial prosperity. Foreign visitors were astounded by the poverty that coexisted with the most extravagant splendor. In the twentieth year of Jahangir's reign, the highest-ranking mansabdars were only 445 out of a total of 8,000, and they got 61.5 percent of the empire's total expected revenue as salary.
Mughal emperors and mansabdars spent a large portion of their revenue on wages and goods. This money went to the artisans and peasants who supplied them with goods and produce. The amount of income left relatively little for investment in the hands of primary producers. The poorest of them lived hand to mouth and could hardly afford to invest in additional resources – tools and supplies – to boost output.
The Mughal aristocracy commanded vast wealth and resources, making them an extremely powerful group of individuals in the late seventeenth century. As the Mughal emperor's status weakened, his entourage rose to power as provincial power brokers. They founded new kingdoms and ruled over areas like Awadh and Hyderabad. The empire's provinces had acquired their own political identities by the eighteenth century but continued to recognize the Mughal emperor in Delhi as their sovereign.
Decline of the Mughal Dynasty
During Aurangzeb's reign, there was a crisis of the Mughal empire. The farmers were poor as a result of the high levies he imposed. At the same time, the quality of the Mughal rule was steadily deteriorating. Later emperors demonstrated little inclination to governor invest in agriculture, technology, or the military. Some emperors even prohibited economic development, believing that the wealthy would mobilize armies of their own. Local leaders eventually rebelled and declared themselves independent of the central government, hastening the empire's demise.
The religious and Deccan policies of Aurangzeb contributed to the empire's decline. The attempt at the extension of Mughal rule over Golconda, Bijapur, and Karnataka stretched the empire to a point of breaking. The successors of Aurangzeb were weak and not able to administer properly. Most were in fact puppets in the hands of powerful nobles. Nobility assumed lots of power; state and politics were motivated by personal gains. The Turanis, Iranis, Afghans, and Indian-born Muslims were important noble groups.
With the emergence of many autonomous states, revenue resources got depleted and continuous Indian-born wars furthered the emptying of the treasures. The neglect of naval power by the Mughals also cost them dearly. The foreign invasions and the coming of the British further aggravated the situation.
The Mughal Empire ruled over most of Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent at its peak. When Muhammad Shah ascended to the throne in 1719, the kingdom had already begun to crumble. The process was exacerbated by dynastic turmoil, factional strife, and the Iranian king Nadir Shah's brief but destructive invasion of northern India in 1739. The Marathas acquired control of nearly all of northern India after Muhammad Shah's death in 1748. Mughal rule was limited to a narrow territory surrounding Delhi. In 1803, the British acquired control of this region. By the mid-nineteenth century, the Mughal Empire had lost all of its territories to competitors and the British.
When the British East India Company was created in 1600, it was exclusively interested in trading with the Mughal Empire. However, as the empire collapsed, the British gained more sway over the Mughal kings. At the Battle of Plassey in 1757, British forces defeated the nawab (ruler) of Bengal and French forces (Palashi). Following that, the East India Company assumed governmental control of much of the Indian subcontinent. Mughal emperors kept their thrones, although they had little real power. The British exiled the last Mughal emperor during the Indian Mutiny of 1857–59.
Sample Questions and Answers on Mughal Emperors
Humza Nama and Tuti Nama were made during the rule of which Mughal King?
Akbar
Din- i illahi was started by whom and when?
Din-i-illahi was started by Akbar on 1582.
Which Mughal ruler earned the title of Insan-i-Kamil for his personality?
Humayun
At which battle was Humayun defeated by Sher Shah Suri?
Battle of Chausa.
In which year did Akbar abolish the Jazia tax levied on Hindus or non- Muslims?
In 1564, Akbar abolished Jazia tax.
Under which Mughal ruler the territory expansion was maximum?
Aurangzeb.
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