NCERT 7 HISTORY CHAPTER 4

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4.THE MUGHAL EMPIRE


  • From the latter half of the 16th century Mughals expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi, until in the 17th century they controlled nearly all of the subcontinent
  • From their mother's side they were descendants of Ghengis Khan, the Mongol ruler
  • From their father's side they were the successors of Timur, the ruler of Iran, Iraq and modern-day Turkey
  • Mughals did not like to be called as Mughal or Mongol but they were proud of their Timurid ancestry
   MUGHAL MILITARY CAMPAIGNS

    1. BABUR (1526-1530)
  • The first Mughal emperor 
  • 1494 - succeeded to the throne in Ferghana, forced to leave the kingdom by the Uzbegs invasion
  • 1504 - seized Kabul
  • 1526 - defeated Ibrahim Lodi, at Panipat and captured Delhi and Agra (First Battle of Panipat)
  • 1527 - defeated Rana Sanga, Rajput rulers and allies (Battle of Khanua)
  • 1528 - defeated Rajputs at Chanderi
    2. HUMAYUN (1530-1540),(1555-1556)
  • he divided his inheritance with his brothers but his brother Mirza Kamran was not satisfied and weakened Humayun
  • Sher Khan defeated Humayun at Chausa in 1539 and Kanuaj in 1540 and fled to Iran
  • 1555 - he recaptured Delhi with support of Safavid Shah
    3. AKBAR (1556- 1605)
  • became emperor at the age of 13 
  • 1556 - 1570 : became independent of the regent Bairam Khan, military campaigns against the Suris (Second Battle of Panipat) and other Afghans, suppress the revolt of his half brother Mirza Hakim and the Uzbegs, 1568 seized capital of Chittor and in 1569 Ranthambhor
  • 1570 - 1585 : military campaigns in Gujarat, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa
  • 1585 - 1605 :  expansion in north-west, seized Qandahar, Kahmir, Kabul, Khandesh and parts of Ahmadnagar were annexed
     4. JAHANGIR (1605 - 1627)
  • he continued the military campaigns
  • Sisodiya ruler Amar Singh accepted Mughal service
  • less successful campaigns against the Sikhs, the Ahoms and Ahmadnagar
  • Shah Jahan rebelled in the last years of his reign (efforts of Jahangir's wife Nur Jahan to marginalise him was unsuccessful)
    5. SHAH JAHAN (1627-1658)
  • Afghan noble Khan Jahan Lodi defeated
  • the Bundelas were defeated and Orchha seized
  • Balkh campaign was unsuccessful and lost Qandahar to Safavids
  • 1632 - Ahmadnagar was annexed 
  • 1657 - 1658 : conflict over the succession amongst Shah Jahan's sons 
  • Aurangzeb was victorious and killed his brothers and Shah Jahan was imprisoned for rest of his life
    6. AURANGZEB (1658 - 1707) 
  • 1663 - defeated Ahoms but rebelled again in 1680s
  • campaigns against the Yusufzai and the Sikhs and the Maratha Chieftain was temporarily successful
  • Prince Akbar rebelled and he finally fled to Iran and again he sent armies to Deccan
  • 1685 annexed Bijapur and Galconda in 1687
  • then he had to face Marathas guerilla warfare, the Sikhs, Jats, Satnamis, Ahoms
  • then conflict over succession occurred amongst his sons
   MUGHAL TRADITIONS OF SUCCESSION
  • they not believed in the rule of primogeniture (where the eldest son inherited his father's estate)
  • they believed coparcenary inheritance (where division amongst all the sons)
   MUGHAL RELATIONS WITH OTHER RULERS
  • When Mughals became powerful many other rulers joined them voluntarily
  • Eg :Rajputs, Many of them married their daughters into Mughal families and received high positions (mother of Jahangir - Kachhwaha princess, daughter of Rajput ruler of Amber) (mother of Shah Jahan - Rathor princess, daughter of the Rajput ruler of Marwar)
  • they defeated the Sisodiya Rajputs but they were honourably treated by the Mughals, given their lands back
  • it was difficult to keep this balance all the time : Aurangzeb insulted Shivaji when he came to accept Mughal authority
     MANSABDARS AND JAGIRDARS
  • They expanded to include Iranians, Indian Muslims, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas and other groups
  • Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as Mansabdars (an individual holds a mansab, meaning a position or rank)
  • Mughals had a grade system to fix rank, salary and military responsibilities
  • Rank and salary determined by a numerical value called Zat
  • Mansabdar maintained a specified number of sawar or cavalrymen, received their salaries as revenue assignments called Jagirs
  • During Akbar's reign jagirs assessed carefully that their revenues were roughly equal to the salary of the Mansabdar
  • By Aurangzeb's time, the actual revenue collected was often less, huge increase in the number of mansabdars 
  • As a result, many jagirdars tried to extract as much as revenue possible while Aurangzeb was unable to control these in the last years
     ZABT AND ZAMINDARS
  • main source of income - tax on the produce
  • taxes paid through the rural elites (Zamindars)
  • Todar Mal, Akbar's revenue minister, carried a survey on cultivation for 10 year period (1570-1580)
  • tax was fixed on each crop, each province divided into revenue circles (known as Zabt)
  • Mughal administrators could survey the land, this was not possible in provinces such as Gujarat and Bengal
  • Sometimes zamindars and peasants allied in rebelling against Mughal authority, this challenged the Mughal Empire from the 17th century 
     AKBAR NAMA AND AIN-I-AKBARI
  • Akbar ordered Abul Fazl to write the history of his reign
  • He wrote a three volume history titled Akbar Nama 
  • 1st volume - Akbar's ancestors, 2nd volume - the events of Akbar's reign
  • 3rd volume - titled Ain-i-Akbari, deals with Akbar's administration, details about traditions and culture of the people living in India, statistical details about crops, yields, prices, wages and revenues
     A CLOSER LOOK : AKBAR's POLICIES
  • empire was divided into subas, governed by a subadar
  • Province had a financial officer or diwan
  • military paymaster (bakhshi), the minister in charge of religious and charitable patronage (sadr), military commanders (faujdars) and the town police commander (Kotwal)
  • Akbar's nobles functioned efficiently but by the end of 17th century many nobles had built independent network of their own, this weakened the empire
  • Akbar started discussions on religion at Fatehpur Sikri 
  • then Akbar had an idea of sulh-i kul / "universal peace" this idea of tolerance focused on a system of ethics - honesty, justice, peace - that was universally applicable
    THE MUGHAL EMPIRE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER
  • Mughal empire led to great economic and commercial prosperity
  • Highest ranking mansabdars (445 out of 8000) - a mere 5.6% of total number of mansabdars -received 61.5 % of total estimated revenue of the empire
  • The wealtheir peasantry and artisanal groups, the merchants and bankers profited during this period
  • As the mughal empire slowly declined, new dynasties like Hyderabad and Awadh emerged

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