history of the moghul empire1

8/11/2019 History of the Moghul Empire1

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8/18/2014 HISTORY OF THE MOGHUL EMPIRE

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Babur in Kabul: 1504-1525

Babur, founder of the Moghul dynasty inIndia, is one o f history's more endearingconquerors. In his youth he is one amongmany impoverished princes, all descendedfrom Timur, who fight among themselvesfor possession of some small part of thegreat man's fragmented empire. Babureven captures Samarkanditself on three

separate occasions, each for only a few months.The firsttime he achieves this he is only fourteen.

What distinguishes Babur from other braw ling princes is thathe is a keen oberver of life and keeps a diary. In it he vividlydescribes his triumphs and sorrows, whether riding out withfriends at night to attack a walled village or mooning aroundfor unrequited love of a beautiful boy.

Babur's 'throneless times', as he later describes these earlyyears, come to an end in 1504 when hecaptures Kabul.Here, at the age of twenty-one, he is able to establish asettled court and to enjoy the delights of gardening, art andarchitecture in the Timurid tradition of his family.

With a powerful new Persian dynasty to the west(underIsmailI) and an aggressive Uzbek presence to thenorth (under ShaibaniKhan), Babur's Kabul becomes themain surviving centre of the Timurid tradition. But thesesame pressures mean that his only chance of expanding iseastwards - into India.

Babur feels that he has an inherited claim upon northernIndia, deriving from Timur's capture of Delhiin 1398, and hemakes several profitable raids through the mountain passesinto the Punjab. But his first serious expedition is launchedin October 1525.

Some forty years later (but not sooner than that) it isevident that Babur's descendants are a new andestablished dynasty in northern India. Babur thinks ofhimself as a Turk, but he is descended from Genghis Khanaswe ll as from Timur. The Persians refer to his dynastyasmughal, meaning Mongol. And it is as the Moghulemperors of India that they become known to history.

Babur in India: 1526-1530

By the early 16th century the Muslimsultans of Delhi (an Afghan dynasty knownas Lodi) are much weakened by threatsfrom rebel Muslim principalities and from aHindu coalition of Rajputrulers. WhenBabur leads an army through the mountainpasses, from his stronghold at Kabul, heat first meets little oppos ition in the plains

of north India.

The decisive battle aga inst Ibrahim, the Lodi sultan, comeson the plain of Panipat in April 1526. Babur is heavilyoutnumbered (with perhaps 25,000 troops in the fieldagainst 100,000 men and 1000 elephants), but his tacticswin the day.

Babur digs into a prepared position, copied (he says) from
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the Turks - from whom the use of gunshas spread to thePersians and now to Babur. As yet the Indians of Delhi haveno artillery or muskets. Babur has only a few, but he usesthem to great advantage. He collects 700 carts to form abarricade (a device pioneered by the Hussitesof Bohemia acentury earlier).

Sheltered behind the carts, Babur's gunners can go throughthe laborious business of firing their matchlocks- but onlyat an enemy charging their position. It takes Babur somedays to tempt the Indians into doing this. When they do so,they succumb to slow gunfire from the front and to a hail ofarrows from Babur's cavalry charging on each flank.

Victory at Panipat brings Babur the cities of Delhi and Agra,with much booty in treasure and jewels. But he faces astronger challenge from the confederation of Rajputs whohad themselves been on the verge o f attacking IbrahimLodi.

The armies meet at Khanua in March 1527 and again, usingsimilar tactics, Babur wins. For the next three years Baburroams around with his army, extending his territory to covermost of north India - and all the while recording in his diary

his fascination w ith this exotic world which he hasconquered.

Humayun: 1530-1556

Babur's control is still superficial when he dies in 1530, afterjust three years in India. His son Humayun keeps a tentativehold on the family's new possessions. But in 1543 he isdriven west into Afghanistan by a forceful Muslim rebe l, SherShah.

Twelve years later, renewed civil war within India givesHumayun a chance to s lip back almost unopposed. Onevictory, at Sirhind in 1555, is enough to recover him his

throne. But six months later Humayun is killed in anaccidenta l fall down a stone staircase. His 13-year-old sonAkbar, inheriting in 1556, would seem to have little chanceof holding on to India. Yet it is he who establishes themighty Moghul empire.

Akbar: 1556-1605

In the early years of Akbar's reign, his fragile inheritance isskilfully held together by an able chief minister, Bairam Khan.But from 1561 the 19-year-old emperor is very much his ownman. An early act demonstrates that he intends to rule thetwo religious communities of India, Muslim and Hindu, in anew way - by consensus and cooperation, rather than

alienation of the Hindu majority.

In 1562 he marries a Rajputprincess, daughter of the Rajaof Amber (now Jaipur). She becomes one of his senior wivesand the mother of his heir, Jahangir. Her male relations inAmber join Akbar's council and merge their armies with his.

This policy is very far from conventional Muslim hostilitytoworshippers of idols. And Akbar carries it further, down toa level affecting every Hindu. In 1563 he abolishes a taxlevied on pilgrims to Hindu shrines. In 1564 he puts an endto a much more hallowed source of revenue - the jizya, orannual tax on unbelievers which the Qur'an stipulates shallbe levied in return for Muslim protection.
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At the same time Akbar steadily extends the boundaries ofthe territory which he has inherited.

Akbar's normal way of life is to move around with a largearmy, holding court in a splendid camp laid out like a capitalcity but composed entirely of tents. His biographer, AbulFazl, describes this royal progress as be ing 'for politicalreasons, and for subduing oppressors, under the veil ofindulging in hunting'.

A great deal of hunting does occur (a favourite version usestrained cheetahs to pursue deer) while the underlyingpolitical purpose - of warfare, treaties, marriages - is carriedon.

Warfare brings its own booty. Signing a treaty with Akbar, orpresenting a w ife to his harem (his collection eventuallynumbers about 300 - see Harems), involves a contributionto the exchequer. As his realm increases, so does hisrevenue. And Akbar proves himself an inspired adminstrator.

The empire's grow ing number of provinces are governed byofficials appointed only for a limited term, thus avoiding the

emergence of regional warlords. And steps are taken toensure that the tax on peasants varies with localcircumstances, instead of a fixed proportion of their producebeing automatically levied.

At the end of Akbar's reign of nearly half a century, hisempire is larger than any in India s ince the time of Asoka.Its outer limits are Kandahar in the west, Kashmir in thenorth, Bengal in the east and in the south a line across thesubcontinent at the level of Aurangabad. Yet this ruler whoachieves so much is illiterate. An idle schoolboy, Akbar findsin later life no need for reading. He prefers to listen to thearguments before taking his decisions (perhaps a factor inhis skill as a leader).

Akbar is original, quirky, wilful. His complex character isvividly suggested in the strange palace which he builds, andalmost immediate ly abandons, at Fatehpur Sikri.

Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585

In 1571 Akbar decides to build a newpalace and town at Sikri, close to theshrine of a Sufisaint who has impressedhim by foretelling the birth of three sons.When two boys have duly appeared,Akbar's masons start work on what is tobe called Fatehpur ('Victory') Sikri. A third

boy is born in 1572.

Akbar's palace, typically, is unlike anyone else's. Itresembles a small town, made up of courtyards and exoticfree-standing buildings. They are built in a linear Hindu style,instead of the gentler curves of Islam. Beams and lintels andeven floorboards are cut from red sandstone and areelaborately carved, much as if the material were oak ratherthan stone.

The palace and mosque occupy the hill top, while asprawling town develops below. The s ite is only used forsome fourteen years, partly because Akbar has overlookedproblems of water supply. Yet this is where his many and
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varied interests are given practical expression.

Here Akbar employs translators to turn Hindu classics intoPersian, scribes to produce a library of exquisitemanuscripts, artists to illustrate them (the illiterate emperorloves to be read to and takes a keen interest in painting).Here there is a department of history under Abul Fazl; anorder is sent out that anyone with personal knowledge ofBabur and Humayun is to be interviewed so that valuableinformation is not lost.

The building most characteristic of Akbar inFatehpur Sikri is his famous diwan-i-khas,or hall of private audience. It consists of asingle very high room, furnished only witha central pillar. The top of the pillar, onwhich Akbar sits, is joined by four narrowbridges to a balcony running round thewa ll. On the balcony are those having an

audience w ith the emperor.

If required, someone can cross one of the bridges - in arespectfully crouched position - to join Akbar in the centre.Meanwhile, on the floor below, courtiers not involved in the

discussion can listen unseen.

In the diwan-i-khasAkbar deals mainly with affairs of state.To satisfy another personal interest, in comparative religion,he builds a special ibabat-khana('house of worship'). Herehe listens to arguments between Muslims, Hindus, Jains,Zorastrians, Jews and Christians. The ferocity with whichthey all attack each other prompts him to devise ageneralized religion of his own (in which a certain aura ofdivinity rubs off on himself).

The Christians involved in these debates arethree Jesuitswho arrive from Goa in 1580. As the firstEuropeans at the Moghul court, they are a portent for the

future.

Jahangir: 1605-1627
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