The MUGHALS

Introduction 

After the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate, Babur was able to establish the Mughal Empire in India in 1526. He traced his linage from Timur the great conqueror of Central Asia and also a descendant of Mongols. He was ruler of Farghana, a small principality in Transoxiana in about 1495.The situation in central Asia was not stable and Babur had to face a lot of troubles. He almost lost his small kingdom to Uzbegs; leading him to look for some eastern states. 

Finally in 1517 he started to move towards Hindustan. The unstable political situation in India after Sikandar Lodhi’s death convinced him of political discontentment and disorder in the empire.  It was both the circumstances in central Asia and in India which played a major role in the foundation of the Mughal Empire.

The Foundation 

Before Babur laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire, he had to fight many wars with local ruling kingdoms. Ultimately he defeated Ibrahim Lodhi, in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 and decisively founded an empire in a foreign land where his descendants ruled for the next 350 years. Next year in 1527, he defeated one of the biggest forces in north India Rana Sangha and consolidated the empire. After a brief illness Babur died in 1530 and was succeeded by his son Humayun.

In the early years of Humayun’s rule, while he was busy at Gujarat, Sher Shah, an Afghan ruler of Bihar started consolidating himself in Bengal and Bihar and marched to Agra. He defeated Humayun in the battle at Kannauj in 1540 and was successful to establish the Afghan Empire in north India for the second time. But this empire lasted for only 15 years, as Sher Shah’s descendant was weak and Humayun easily defeated him and acquired Delhi and Agra and re-established the Mughal Empire in 1555. But soon Humayun died leaving the Empire in the hands of his teenage son Akbar.

The Consolidation 

Akbar ascended the throne at the age of 13 and was helped by the close aid of his father Bairam Khan. Soon Akbar had to fight the Second Battle of Panipat to defeat Hemu to claim the lost part of his empire around Delhi. Akbar followed a policy of expansion after consolidating his hold on throne. He won over the Rajput kingdoms either by matrimonial alliances or by invading the territories. He also brought Gujarat, whole of Rajasthan, Punjab, whole of north west frontier, Bihar, Bengal and Ahmednagar, Burhanpur, Berar in the Deccan. He is known for his tolerance, patronization and great administration besides his conquest.

Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb 

Akbar was succeeded by his son Jahangir who furthered the expansionist policies of his father in Deccan. But he could not get much success here, rather ended up losing some territories. The internal troubles given by the court nobles and his crown prince Khurram kept him busy. 

He was succeded by his son Shah Jahan (Khurram) who continued with the policy of annexing kingdoms in the Deccan. Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golconda were subdued and made to sign treaty to pay tribute to the Mughal. Marathas were also dealt with. Later in 1656-57 Shah Jahan annexed Bijapur and Golconda. Shah Jahan is mostly remembered for the grandeur and prosperity of the Mughal Empire. In his rule the Mughal Empire reached its golden period. A number of famous architectural projects like the Peacock Throne, the Taj Mahal, etc were constructed during his time.

Shah Jahan  was succeeded by his son Aurangzeb, who revolted against his father and even imprisoned him. He killed his other three brothers and ultimately wiped any resistance he could have faced. Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire reached its greatest territorial limits and it covered the whole of present day India. 

But his reign was marred by popular revolts of Jats, Satnamis, Afghans, Sikhs and Marathas. He also alienated Rajputs, who were earlier given much importance under Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.  

The Marathas posed a real challenge for Aurangzeb and the King had to spend almost half of his tenure to quell one revolt after another in the Deccan. There was a break up of association with regional forces like the Rajputs and the Marathas during Aurangzeb’s time that ultimately led to the breaking up of the empire in the near future. Aurangzeb died in 1707 and was succeeded by Bahadur Shah I.

Later Mughals 

Though Mughals ruled for another almost 150 years until 1857, when the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah II was deposed off by the British power, but in reality they were a pale shadow of their earlier pasts. None of the later Mughals commanded any real power. They ruled as puppets of the colonial power. Shah Alam II had to grant tax collecting rights of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company in lieu of safety from the Afghan attacks of Nadir shah and Marathas earlier.  During the last Mughal king’s regime, the Mughal Empire had shrunk to the suburbs of Delhi in and around the walled city.

Polity and administration 

With the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, a new class of rulers emerged in India. They introduced a new administrative systems and new institutions. With the coming of the Mughals some of these underwent changes and some new were founded. The new institutions had their roots in Arab and central Asia.

The Emperor was the supreme head of the administration and controlled all military and judicial powers. The King was assisted in his work by some officers in his court like Wazir, the Prime Minister, Diwan-i-Kul, the chief Diwan responsible for revenue and finances, Mir Bakshi, the military administrator, Sadr-us-Sudur, the chief priest and Mir Saman, the in-charge of the Royal Karkhanas, for all manufacturing and storage for the royal household.

The Mughal empire was divided into 12 provinces or Subas (20 in the times of Aurangzeb). During Akbar’s time the provinces were Allahabad, Agra, Awadh, Ajmer, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bihar, Bengal, Kabul, Lahore, Malwa, Multan. Each Subah was under a governor, called Subahdar appointed by the King from among the royal nobility. He was assisted by three important officers, Diwan, the head revenue collector, the Bakshi for internal policing and mansabdari, and the Sadr, responsible for religious functions and welfare of the people. All of these were directly appointed by the King.

The provinces were sub-divided into Sarkars and Sarkars into Parganas, the districts, each comprising some villages. Village was the unit of administration. The Sarkars were ruled by Fauzdar, the policing officer and Amalguzars the revenue collecting officers, both appointed by the King in consultation with the provincial government.

Mansabdari and Jagirdari systems were the two most important institutions of the Mughals. Under the Mansab system ranks were expressed in numerical terms. It was the basis of civil and military administrations under the Mughals. The system was formulated to streamline rank of the nobles, fix their salary and specify the number of cavalry to be maintained by them. It also fixed the number of armed retainer the holder of mansab was to maintain.

The system of assignment of revenue of a particular territory to the nobles for their services to the state continued under the Mughals also. Under the Mughals, the areas assigned were generally called Jagirs and its holders Jagirdars. 

During Akbar’s period all land in the territory was divided into two – Khalisa and Jagir. The revenue from Khalisa went to the imperial treasury and the Jagir revenue to the Jagirdars in lieu of their cash salary. The ratio between the Khalisa or imperial land and the Jagir kept on fluctuating, because the Emperor used to shift Jagirs to avoid any Jagir becoming permanent. The Jagirdars were allowed to collect only authorized revenue in accordance with the imperial regulations. The Jagirdars employed their own officials like Amins and Faujdars. The Imperial office kept strict watch on the Jagirdars.

Economy 

The people in Mughal India pursued diverse range of economic activities to earn their basic livelihood. The sphere of their works varied from agricultural to artisan production, trade and commerce, associated commercial and financial services. The state mobilized its resources through collection of different types of taxes for its survival and expansion.

Farmers grew food crops like rice, wheat, barley, millet and pulses; cash crops like sugarcane, cotton, indigo, opium; fruits and vegetables and spices like turmeric, saffron, clove, cardamom and pepper.

Two types of revenue assessment were in vogue during the Mughal period. The most simple and basic method was crop sharing or Batai. The state fixed a certain ratio of produce as state’s share and collected as tax. The other method was Kankut, where the land was first measured and the productivity was estimated to fix the revenue demand per unit of measured land. The first method was during the early period of Mughal rule, as filtered from the Delhi Sultanate residual taxation method. Akbar changed this to Kankut, rather Sher Shah was the first to levy tax in this method, followed by Akbar and later Mughals. The revenue was fixed for ten years according to the law called Ain-i-Dahshala.

Each cultivator was given a putta (title deed) which gave all details of the land and the rate of revenue payable. A deed agreement called Qubuliat was received from the cultivator in which the undertaking was given by the farmer to pay the state the tax according to his putta.

Apart from the state officials various categories of intermediaries existed between the peasants and the state, like rais, ranans, rawats, ect who played an important part in land revenue realization. They were actually zamindars having hereditary rights over the land produce. They were supposed to be collectors of revenue in the name of the state and after deducting their share were supposed to deposit the rest to the royal treasure.

Apart from cultivation people were engaged in craftsmanship like textile, pottery making, dyeing, sugar making, metal works, paper making, wood work, arms an d armour manufacturing, ship building and chemical works. Mineral extraction was another major industry. Salt, saltpetre, alum, mica, diamond, gold, silver and precious rocks were mined.

Royal workshop was another industry, called Karkhanas. They produced crafts and were part of the royal establishment. Generally, expensive and luxury items were produced here for the consumption of the royal household.

In the field of commerce, India had trade links with contemporary Central Asia, China, South-east Asia, and Europe. The European trading companies influenced Indian commerce. Expansion of trade and commerce along with new commercial practices like brokerage, hundis (bills of exchange) helped commercial activities.

The silver and copper coin was manly in circulation for cash transactions. The rupaya of silver and copper dam came to be used as the basic coin for transactions.  The coins were minted at the royal mints spread in all parts of the kingdom.

Society and Culture 

The Mughal Indian culture represents the synthesis of Indian and Persian philosophy, literature, art and architecture. In religious sphere Sufism and Bhakti tradition influenced each other. They provided an opportunity for understanding religious traditions of Hindus and Muslims at people’s level.

 This period thus represent an important era of dramatic change in the world of religion and art in south Asia. The growing popularity of Sufism played an important role in the popular acceptability of Islam and in the course establishing unique Islamic tradition in the sub-continent. The Bhakti movement played a similar role in the development of Hinduism. On one hand it challenged the existing religious and social hierarchies and on the other it revived concepts like monotheism in mainstream Hindu tradition. Both the Sufi and the Bhakti movements questioned the authority of the established clergy and the relevance of the established religious rituals.

Another important development during this period was the growth of vernaculars and Urdu language. The mergence of Urdu as a new language is the best example of interaction and synthesis. The growth in regional languages like Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi and Telegu was a very significant development.

In the realm of art we witness the development of new styles of painting associated with the patronage of the Mughals and the Rajput styles. The large numbers of forts, palaces, temples and mosques that can be dated to this period are the examples of the new styles. The use of decorative motifs and the adaptation of the dome are examples of the architectural traditions of this period.