The Mughals (16th-17th Century) PDF

THE MUGHALS (16th TO 17th CENTURY) R uling as large a territory as the Indian subcontinent with such a diversity of people and cultures was an the Middle Ages. Quite in contrast to their predecessors, the Mughals created an empire and accomplished what had hitherto s...

THE MUGHALS (16th TO 17th CENTURY) R uling as large a territory as the Indian subcontinent with such a diversity of people and cultures was an the Middle Ages. Quite in contrast to their predecessors, the Mughals created an empire and accomplished what had hitherto seemed possible for only short periods of time. From the latter half of the sixteenth century, they expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi, until in the seventeenth century they controlled nearly all of the subcontinent. They imposed structures of administration and ideas of governance that outlasted their rule, leaving a political legacy that succeeding rulers of the subcontinent could not ignore. Today the Prime Minister of India addresses the nation on Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, the residence of the Mughal emperors. Fig. 1 The Red Fort. 39 THE MUGHALS  Who were the Mughals? The Mughals were descendants of two great lineages of rulers. From their mother’s side they were descendants of Genghis Khan (died 1227), the Mongol ruler who ruled over parts of China and Central Asia. From their father’s side, they were the successors of Timur (died 1404), the ruler of Iran, Iraq and modern-day Turkey. However, the Mughals did not like to be called Mughal or Mongol. This was because Genghis Khan’s memory Fig. 2 was associated with the massacre Mughal army on campaign. of innumerable people. It was also linked with the Uzbegs, their Mongol competitors. On the other hand, the Mughals were proud of their Timurid ancestry, not least of all because their great ancestor had captured They celebrated their genealogy pictorially, each ruler getting a picture made of Timur and himself. Mughal Military Campaigns he was only 12 years old. H e was forced to leave his ancestral th rone due to the invasion of Fig. 3 another Mongol group, the Uzbegs. Cannons were an A f t e r y e ar s o f w a n d e r i n g , h e important addition seized Kabul in 1504. In 1526 he in sixteenth-century warfare. Babur used them effectively in the and Agra. 40  Map 1 Military campaigns under Akbar and Aurangzeb. Mughal Traditions of Succession The Mughals did not believe in the rule of primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited his father’s estate. Instead they followed the Mughal and Timurid Mughal marriages custom of coparcenary inheritance, or a division of with the Rajputs the inheritance amongst all the sons. Which do you The mother of think is a fairer division of inheritance: primogeniture Jahangir was or coparcenary? a Kachhwaha princess, daughter of the Rajput Mughal Relations with Other Rulers ruler of Amber (modern- day The Mughal rulers campaigned constantly against Jaipur). The rulers who refused to accept their authority. But as mother of Shah the Mughals became powerful many other rulers Jahan was a Rathor also joined them voluntarily. The Rajputs are a good princess, daughter example of this. Many of them married their daughters of the Rajput ruler of Marwar into Mughal families and received high positions. But (Jodhpur). many resisted as well. 41 THE MUGHALS  Mughal authority for a long time. Once defeated, however, they were honourably treated by the Mughals, given their lands back as assignments. The careful balance between defeating but not humiliating their opponents enabled the the time. Mansabdars and Jagirdars As the empire expanded to encompass different regions, the Mughals recruited diverse bodies of people. From a small nucleus of Turkish nobles (Turanis) they expanded to include Iranians, Indian Muslims, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas and other groups. Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as. The term refers to an individual who holds a , meaning a position or rank. It was Zat ranking and salary were determined by a numerical value Nobles with a called. The higher the , the more prestigious zat of 5,000 was the noble’s position in court and the larger were ranked his salary. higher than Th e m i li ta r y r esp onsi bi li ti es those of 1,000. required him to maintain a specified number of In Akbar’s reign there were 29 or cavalrymen. The brought his mansabdars cavalrymen for review, got them registered, their with a rank of horses branded and then received money to pay them 5,000 zat; by as salary. Aurangzeb’s received their salaries as revenue reign the number assignments called which were somewhat like of mansabdars. But unlike , most did not had increased to actually reside in or administer their. They only 79. Would this had rights to the revenue of their assignments which have meant more was collected for them by their servants while the expenditure for themselves served in some other part of the state? the country. 42  In Akbar’s reign, these were carefully assessed so that their revenues were roughly equal to the salary of the. By Aurangzeb’s reign, this was no longer the case and the actual revenue collected was often less than the granted sum. There was also a huge increase in the number of which meant a Fig. 4 long wait before they received a. These and other A mansabdar on march with his factors created a shortage in the number of. sawars. As a result, many tried to extract as much revenue as possible while they had a. Aurangzeb was unable to control these developments in the Fig. 5 Details from a last years of his reign and the peasantry therefore miniature from suffered tremendously. Shah Jahan’s reign depicting corruption in his father’s Zabt and Zamindars administration: The main source of income available to Mughal receiving a bribe and rulers was tax on the produce of the peasantry. In (2) a tax-collector punishing poor most places, peasants paid taxes through the rural peasants. elites, that is, the headman or the local chieftain. The Mughals used one term – zamindars – to describe all intermediaries, whether they were local headmen of villages or powerful chieftains. Akbar’s revenue minister, Todar Mal, carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and areas cultivated for a 10-year period, was divided into revenue circles with its own schedule of revenue rates for individual crops. This revenue system was known as. It was prevalent in those areas where Mughal administrators could survey the land and keep very careful accounts. This was not possible in provinces, such as Gujarat and Bengal. 43 THE MUGHALS  In some areas, the zamindars exercised a great deal of power. The exploitation by Mughal administrators and peasants of the same caste allied in rebelling against Mughal authority. These peasant revolts challenged the stability of the Mughal Empire from the end of the seventeenth century. Akbar Nama and Ain-i Akbari Akbar ordered one of his close friends and courtiers, Abul Fazl, to write a history of his reign. Abul Fazl wrote a three-volume history of Akbar’s reign, titled Akbar Nama. The first volume dealt with Akbar’s ancestors and the second volume recorded the events of Akbar’s reign. The third volume is the Ain-i Akbari. It deals with Akbar’s administration, household, army, the revenues and the geography of his empire. It also provides rich details about the traditions and culture of the people living in India. The most interesting aspect about the Ain-i Akbari is its rich statistical Fig. 6 details about things as diverse as crops, Akbar recieving the Akbar Nama yields, prices, wages and revenues. from Abul Fazl. Nur Jahan’s influence in Jahangir’s court Mehrunnisa married the Emperor Jahangir in 1611 and received the title Nur Jahan. She remained extremely loyal and supportive to the monarch. As a mark of honour, Jahangir struck silver coins bearing his own titles on one side and on the other the inscription “struck in the name of the Queen Begum, Nur Jahan”. The adjoining document is an order (farman) of Nur Jahan. The square seal states, “Command of her most Sublime and Elevated Majesty Nur Jahan Padshah Begum”. Fig. 7 The round seal states, “by the sun of Shah Nur Jahan’s farman. Jahangir she became as brilliant as the moon; may Nur Jahan Padshah be the lady of the age”. 44  Sulh-i kul Jahangir, Akbar’s son, described his father’s policy of sulh-i kul in the following words: As in the wide expanse of the divine compassion there is room for all classes and the followers of all creeds, so … in his Imperial dominions, which on all sides were limited only by the sea, there was room for the professors of opposite religions, and for beliefs, good and bad, and the road to intolerance was closed. Sunnis and Shias met in one mosque and Christians and Jews in one church to pray. He consistently followed the principle of “universal peace” (sulh-i kul). The Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century and After The administrative and military efficiency of the Mughal Empire led to great economic and commercial prosperity. International travellers described it as the fabled land of wealth. But these same visitors were also appalled at the state of poverty that existed side by side with the greatest opulence. The inequalities were glaring. Documents from the twentieth year of were only 445 in number out of a total the total number of – received 61.5 per cent of the total estimated revenue of the empire as salaries for themselves and their troopers. The Mughal emperors and their spent a great deal of their income on salaries and goods. who supplied them with goods and produce. But the scale of revenue collection left very little for investment in the hands of the primary producers – the peasant and the artisan. The poorest amongst them lived from hand to mouth and they could hardly consider investing in additional resources – tools and supplies – 45 THE MUGHALS to increase productivity. The wealthier peasantry and in this economic world. The enormous wealth and resources commanded by the Mughal elite made them an extremely powerful group of people in the late seventeenth century. As the authority of the Mughal emperor slowly declined, his servants emerged as powerful centres of power in the regions. They constituted new dynasties and held the command of provinces like Hyderabad and Awadh. Although they continued to recognise the Mughal emperor in Delhi as their master, by the eighteenth century the provinces of the empire had consolidated their independent political identities. Imagine You have inherited a kingdom. (Remember Babur and Akbar were about your age when they became rulers). How would you make your kingdom stable and prosperous? Let’s recall 1. Match the following: Marwar Mongol Uzbeg Sisodiya Rajput Mewar Rathor Rajput rank Nur Jahan Jahangir 2. Fill in the blanks: Ahmadnagar, and _________________. 46  (b) If determined a rank and salary, indicated his (c) Abul Fazl, Akbar’s friend and counsellor, helped him frame the idea of so that he could govern a society composed of many religions, cultures and castes. the Mughals? 4 What was the relationship between the and KEYWORDS the ? Mughal Let’s understand 5. What was the role of the zamindar in Mughal administration? 6. How were the debates with religious scholars important in the formation of Akbar’s ideas on governance? primogeniture 7. Why did the Mughals emphasise their Timurid and not their Mongol descent? coparcenary zamindar Let’s discuss the stability of the Mughal Empire? from diverse backgrounds and not just Turanis and Iranis? 47 THE MUGHALS  of many social and cultural units. Does this pose a challenge to national integration? 11. Peasants were vital for the economy of the Mughal Empire. Do you think that they are as important today? Has the gap in the income between the rich and the poor in India changed a great deal from the period of the Mughals? Let’s do 12. The Mughal Empire left its impact on the different regions of the subcontinent in a variety of ways. Find out if it had any impact in the city, village or region in which you live. 48