HISTORY: MUGHAL PERIOD-1

HISTORY: MUGHAL PERIODQUICK REVISION NOTES

• The second Battle of Panipat marked the real beginning of the Mughal Empire in India.
• Bairam Khan remained the protector and guardian of Akbar during the initial reign of Akbar.
  Akbar’s mother Hamida Banu Begum, and his foster mother Maham Anaga urged Akbar to get rid of the Regent, Bairam Khan. In 1560, Akbar openly expressed his desire to take the reigns of the empire in his own hands and dismissed him. Bairam Khan submitted his resignation and desired to proceed to Mecca. On his way to Mecca, Bairam was stabbed to death by Lohani Afghan, whose father had been killed by Mughal troops under the command of Bairam Khan.
• Akbar followed a policy of conquest for the expansion of his empire until the capture of Asirgarh in January 1601. He achieved the political unification of the whole of northern and central India by frequent annexations extending over 40 years.
• Akbar realised the value of Rajput alliance in his task of building up an Empire in India and tried, as far as possible, to conciliate the Rajputs and secure and ensure their active cooperation in almost all activities. The Empire of Akbar can be said to be an outcome of the coordination of Mughal prowess and diplomacy and Rajput valour and service. Mewar, however, gave stiff resistance to Mughal forces. Rana Sanga, the ruler of Mewar, kept the torch of independence burning. However, after his death, his weak son, Uday Singh, could not hold against the Mughals and Akbar finally besieged the fort of Chittor in October 1567. But, the victory did not come his way easily. Rana Sanga’s brave followers, Jaimnall and Patta, gave stiff resistance. The entire garrison, to the last man, died fighting. The Rajput women performed the rite of Jauhar.
• Victory at Chittor resulted in other Rajput chiefs to submit to Akbar. But Mewar continued to defy. Uday Singh continued to retain his independence even after losing the capital. After his death, Mewar found a true leader in Rana Pratap.
• The imperial invasion of territory of Rana Pratap took place in April 1576, under troops commanded by Man Singh, the ruler of Amber, and Asaf Khan. A furious battle was fought at the pass of Haldighati. Rana Pratap was defeated by the Mughal forces. His life was, however, saved by the selfless devotion of the chief of Jhala, who drew upon himself the attack of Mughal forces by declaring himself to be the Rana. Rana mounted his favourite horse Chetak and fled to the hills, from where he continued his resistance to the Mughal forces and also managed to recover some of the lost territory. Rana Pratap’s son tried to continue the resistance after his father’s death but was finally defeated in 1599 by Mughal forces led by Man Singh.
• After annexing Ranthambhor and Kalinjar in 1569, the Mughals subjugated Gujarat. In 1572, Akbar marched in person against Gujarat and defeated all opposition.
• Gujarat turned out to be one of the most profitable sources of income for the Mughal empire, chiefly through the re-organisation of its finances and revenues by Todar Mal.
• In 1585, Kabul was formally annexed to the Delhi empire after the death of Mirza Muhammad Hakim, step-brother of Akbar who governed Kabul as an independent ruler.
• Bhagwan Das and Kasim Khan were deputed by Akbar to conquer Kashmir. They defeated its Sultan Yusuf Shah in 1586 and annexed Kashmir to the Empire.
• By 1595, Akbar made himself undisputed ruler of an area extending from Hindukush to Brahamputra, and from Himalayas to the Narmada.
• With an ideal of an all-India Empire, Akbar sought to bring the Deccan Sultanates, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golkunda and Khandesh under his hegemony. He also wanted to utilise his control over Deccan as means of pushing the Portuguese to the sea. Thus, his Deccan policy was purely imperialistic in origin and outlook and not influenced by religious considerations, as was the case with Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb.
• Akbar sent a large army under Bairam Khan’s son Abdur Rehman and his second son Prince Murad to annex Ahmadnagar. The city was besieged in 1595, but not before splendid courage and extraordinary resolution shown by Chand Bibi, a queen of Bijapur. Under a treaty with Chand Bibi, Berar was ceded to Akbar’s forces and the boy king of Ahmadnagar agreed to the overlordship of Akbar. The kingdom could be annexed to the empire only during the reign of Shah Jehan.
• In July 1599, Akbar himself marched to the south and captured Burhanpur, the capital of Khandesh and laid siege to the mighty fortress of Asirgarh. Akbar seduced the Khandesh officers by money to get the doors of the fort opened. This was the last conquest of Akbar.
• In 1601, Akbar returned to Agra to deal with his rebellious son Salim.
• On October 17, 1605 Akbar died following severe dysentery. His mausoleum is located at Sikandra.
• Akbar observed the external forms of the Sunni faith until 1575, when his association with Shaikh Mubarak and his two sons, Faizi and Abul Fazal, produced change in his views.
• Akbar got a building called Ibadat-Khana or the House of Worship constructed at Fatehpur Sikri, with a view to discussing philosophical and theological questions.
• Hari Vijaya Suri, Vijaya Sen Suri and Bhanuchandra Upadhaya were prominent Jain teachers who were called by Akbar to attend the philosophical and theological discussions.
• Akbar floated a new religion, called Din-i-Ilahi, based on his discussions with people of different religions.
• Akbar abolished the pilgrim tax in the eighth year of his reign, and the jaziya in the ninth year.
• A week after Akbar’s death, Salim succeeded to the throne of Agra and assumed the title of Nur-ud-din Mohammed Jahangir Padshah (Emperor) Ghazi (Holy warrior).
• Five months after his accession to the throne, Jahangir faced rebellion by his son Khusrav. The Prince and his troops were defeated by the Mughal army near Jalandhar and Khusrav was captured along with his principal followers, Husain Beg and Abdul Aziz.
• The fifth Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev was sentenced to death by Jahangir for helping Prince Khusrav with a sum of money. The execution of Guru Arjan Dev estranged the Sikhs, till then a peace-loving community, and turned them into foes of the Mughal Empire.
• In May 1611, Jahangir married Noor Jahan, origi-nally known as Mihir-ul-nisa. The emperor, who styled himself Nor-ud-din, conferred on his new wife the title of Noor Mahal (Light of the palace), which was soon changed to Noor Jahan (Light of the world). She was the daughter of Mirza Ghiyas Beg, a Persian adventurer.
• Jahangir was known to have had several secret love affairs with the ladies of the court. One famous love of Jahangir was Anarkali, for whom he raised a beautiful marble tomb at Lahore.
  The most distinguished triumph of Mughal imperialism during the reign of Jahangir was its victory over the Rajputs of Mewar.
• In the Deccan, war dragged on throughout his reign against the kingdom of Ahmadnagar. The kingdom of Ahmadnagar was then served by its Abyssinian minister Malik Ambar, one of the greatest statesmen that Medieval India produced.
• A partial success was gained by Mughals in 1616, when Prince Khurram captured Ahmadnagar and some other strongholds. For this victory Khurram was rewarded by his father with the title of Shah Jehan (King of the world).
• The first serious disaster of the Mughal empire during the reign of Jahangir was loss of Kandhar. Deceiving the Mughal officers by gifts, Shah Abbas, one of the greatest rulers of Asia in his time, besieged Kandhar in 1621, and finally took it in June 1622.
• Shah Jehan revolted against Jahangir with help of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan, an officer in the Mughal court. He was, however, defeated by Mughal forces led by Mahabat Khan, at Balochpur, near Delhi, in 1623. Shah Jehan was then chased from province to province and final-ly, in 1625, he reconciled with his father and retired to Nasik with his wife Noor Jahan, a niece of Mumtaz Mahal, and youngest son Murad. His other sons, Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb, were sent to the imperial court, probably to serve as hostages to ensure his good behaviour.
• The success of Mahtab Khan excited the jealousy of Noor Jahan and this hostility drove him to rebellion. Mahtab Khan took Jahangir as prisoner on the banks of Jhelum, while the emperor was on his way to Kabul. However, Jahangir managed to escape from prison and went to Rohtas where troops loyal to him had collected in a large force. Mahtab Khan ultimately made peace with Jahangir, but this triumph remained short-lived as Jahangir died on October 27, 1627. His body was buried in a beautiful tomb at Shah-dara, near Lahore, on the banks of Ravi.
• Jahangir had a Chain of Justice, bearing sixty bells, fastened between the Shah Bhurj in the Agra fort and a post on the road, near the bank of Yamuna. The chain could be shaken by the humblest of his subjects to bring their grievances to his notice.
• The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (Memoirs of Jahangir) is a brilliant proof of his literary attainments. Himself a painter, Jahangir was a patron of art and literature and a lover of nature.
• Jahangir made no departure from his father’s policy of admitting Hindus to the higher public service. Man Singh, Kalyan Singh, son of Todar Mal, and Vikramadit were three Hindu governors during his reign.
• Jahangir also tried to control the practice of sati among Hindus. He passed orders that Hindu widows should not be compelled to become sati without his government’s permission. He also tried to put a stop to female infanticide.
• Jahangir was fond of the company of the Vaishnava leader Jadurup and held many discussions with him at Ujjain and Mathura, as a result of which he came to the conclusion that Hindu Vedanta and Muslim sufism were almost identical.
• Jahangir was usually liberal and tolerant towards all religions, but at times sanctioned repressive measures against Muslim heretics. Shaikh Rahim of Lahore, who was a religious leader of a sect, was imprisoned in the fortress of Chunar. Qazi Nurullah was put to death on account of being a notable Shia writer. Shaikh Ahmad Sarhindi was imprisoned in the fortress of Gwalior, but was released later and sent back to Sarhind with gifts.
• In 1577 Akbar undertook the reform of the currency and appointed Khwaja Abdus Samad Shirazi, a noted painter and calligraphist, to be the superintendent of the imperial mint at Delhi. Besides Delhi, provinical mints were located at Lahore, Jaunpur, Ahmedabad, Patna and Tanda (in Bengal).
• The silver coin issued during Akbar’s reign was round in shape, like its modern successor, and was known as rupee. It weighed 172 grains.
• Akbar also introduced a square rupee called Jalali, but it was not as popular as the round rupee.
• The chief copper coin was the dam or paisa or fulus. It weighed 323.5 grains or almost 21 grams.
• The ratio between the dam and the rupee was 40 to 1. The lowest copper coin was jital. 25 jitals made one paisa.
• The most common gold coin was the Ilahi, which was equal to 10 rupees in value.
• The biggest gold coin was the shahanshah. It weighed a little over 101 tolas and was used mostly in high value business transactions.
• The coins bore calligraphic inscriptions containing name and titles of the emperor and the place and year of mintage. Very few coins had figures inscribed on them.
• The judicial system of Mughals was based on Islamic law. As it was not possible in practice to enforce Islamic law on Hindus, a compromise was effected. While criminal cases continued to be decided according to the Islamic law in all cases, Hindu law was administered in deciding civil and religious disputes in which the parties were Hindus.
• Although Akbar had rejected the Islamic theory of kingship, he made no fundamental change in the judicial system. One important change introduced by Akbar in the judicial system was to restrict the scope of Islamic law and to extend that of general or customary law of the land so as to make it include as many causes as possible.
• Akbar did not apply Islamic law of capital punishment for apostasy from Islam or for propagating Hinduism or Christianity.
• Akbar appointed Hindu judges to decide the causes of Hindus.
• The king was the highest judge in the Mughal empire. The next judicial authority was the qazi, who was appointed by the emperor and worked during his pleasure.
• Originally, the chief qazi’s main qualifications used to be his knowledge of Islamic theology and his narrow sectarian views. Akbar, however, appointed to this post men of liberal religious outlook and broad sympathies towards all sections of the society.
• Chief qazi was paid his salary in cash, as also was given an assignment of land entitled Madad-i-Mash or subsistence allowance.
• Qazis were assisted by muftis, whose main duty was to interpret the law and issue a fatwa.
• Akbar’s police administration was divided into three categories of urban, district and village police.
• In all cities and towns kotwal headed the local police. His main duty was to see that the life of the city continued undisturbed. Besides, he had to examine weights and measures, keep an eye on the currency and enforce Akbar’s social legislation.
• Kotwal was personally held responsible for the value of property stolen in case he failed to discover the thief.
• The kotwal was authorised to inflict punishment on offenders. However, he was not empowered to inflict capital punishment.
• In the district the law and order was maintained by the faujdar. His main duties were the policing of the roads of the district and suppressing of disorders of all kinds.
• The village headman was responsible for policing at the village level.
• The imperial service during Akbar’s reign was organized on bureaucratic principles, but was military in organization and outlook.
• The most flourishing towns during Akbar’s regime were Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Delhi, Allahabad, Benaras, Lucknow, Lahore, Multan, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Patna, Rajmahal and Dhaka.
• The most important industry of the time was cultivation of cotton and manufacture of cotton cloth. The principal centres of cotton manufacture were Jaunpur, Benaras, Patna, Burhanpur, Lucknow, Khairabad and Akbarpur.
• Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Lahore were important centres of silk-weaving.
• The principal outlets for foreign sea-borne trade during Akbar’s regime were Cambay, Surat and Broach in Gujarat, Lahori Bandar in Sindh, Bassein, Chaul and Dabul (modern Bhabol) in the Ratnagiri district, Goa and Bhatkal, Calicut and Cochin in Malabar, and Negapatnam and Masulipatnam on the east coast, and Satgaon, Sripur, Chatgaon and Sonarghat in Bengal. Two main land routes for exports were Lahore to Kabul and beyond, and from Multan to Kandhar and beyond.
• Gold and silver were not allowed to be exported during the Akbar’s regime. Only imports were allowed.
• Among the popular indoor games during Akbar’s reign were chaupar, phansa and pachisi. Akbar was particularly fond of chandalmandal and pachisi.
• The Tajak, a well-known work of Astronomy, and the Tazuk-i-Baburi, or the memoirs of Babur, were translated into Persian during Akbar’s reign.
• The Mahabharat was rendered into Persian by Naqib Khan, Abdul Qadir Badayuni and Shaikh Sultan of Thanesar and was named Razm-nama, the book of wars.
• The Lilawati, a Sanskrit treatise on Mathematics, was rendered into Persian by Faizi.
• Among the notable works of literature during Akbar’s regime were: Abul Fazal’s Akbar-Nama and Ain-i-Akbari, Nizamud-Din Ahmad’s Tabqat-i-Akbari, Gula-badan Begam’s Humayun-Nama and Jauhar’s Tazkirat-ul-Waqayat. Abbas Sarwani produced the Tohfa-i-Akbar Shahi alias Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi.
• Akbar ordered the compilation of the history of 1000 years of Islam, and Naqib Khan Mullah Mohammad of Thatta and Jaffer Beg were commissioned to write out the work. The book, with an introduction by Abul Fazi, became known as the Tarikh-i-Alfi.
• The reign of Akbar was golden age of Hindi poetry. The most notable luminaries of Hindi were Tulsi Das, Sur Das, Abdur Rahim Khan Khana, Ras Khan and Birbal.
• Among the famous works of Tulsi Das were Ram-charitmanas and Vinaya Patrika.
• Akbar created a separate department of painting and Khwaja Abdus Samad, one of the best painters of his court, was placed at its head.
• Abdus Samad was a Persian who had come from Shiraz. He was given the title of Shirin-qalam or ‘sweet pen’.
• Daswanth, Basawan, Kesu, Lal, Mukand, Madhu, Jagan, Mahesh, Tara, Khem Karan, Sanwla, Haribansh and Ram were some well-known Hindu painters during Akbar’s reign. They were experts in portrait painting.
• According to Abul Fazal eight modes of calligraphy were in vogue at Akbar’s court, of which the eighth kind, named Nastaliq, was specially favoured by Akbar.
• The most important calligraphist at Akbar’s court was Mohammed Hussain Kashmiri, who was given the title of Zarin Qalam. Some of the other famous calligraphists were Maulana Baqir, Mohammed Amin of Mashad, and Mir Hussein Ralanki.
• The Ain-i-Akbari gives names of 36 first-rate musicians in Akbar’s court. They were arranged in seven divisions. Each division was required to entertain Akbar for one fixed day in the week.
• Akbar himself was a skilled musician and was an expert performer on Naqqara (kettle drum).
• Tansen was the most notable musician of the age. He had been trained in a school established at Gwalior by Raja Man Singh Tomar.
• Baba Ram Das was another famous musician of Akbar’s court and was ranked next only to Tansen.
• Sur Das, besides being a great poet, was also a musician of Akbar’s court.
• The gigantic forts at Agra, Lahore and Allahabad were built by Akbar.
• The Agra fort resembles that of Gwalior. It has two main gateways, namely, the Delhi gate and the Amar Singh gate. Inside, about 500 buildings of red sandstone were built. Most of these were later pulled-down by Shahjehan.
• The greatest architectural achievement of Akbar was his new capital at Fatehpur Sikri. Three sides of Fatehpur Sikri are covered by a wall and the fourth side by an artifical lake. The walls have nine gates, of which Buland Darwaza, built of marble and sandstone, is “one of the most perfect architectural achievements in the whole of India”.
• Decorative carving was an important feature of Mughal architecture.
• Mughals brought the concept of geometrically designed gardens to India. The chief characteristic of Mughal gardens was artificial irrigation in the form of channels, basins or tanks, and dwarf waterfalls.
• The most important garden associated with Akbar is at Sikandra. In the centre of this garden stands his mausoleum.
• Akbar was illiterate. But, he acquired knowledge of theology, literature, philosophy, history, etc. by having books read out to him every day.
• Akbar was the first ruler of Medevial India to discard the Islamic basis of sovereignty and to lay down the principle that the king was the father of all his subjects, irrespective of caste, race or religion.
• Akbar sought to strengthen the society by doing away with its evils. He tried to abolish Sati, child-marriage and old-age marriage. He did not allow circumcision before the age of 12, and allowed Muslim converts to go back to their original religion if they liked.
• Akbar attempted to give his empire cultural unity by making Persian the court language and by providing in that language (either by translation or original composition) the best Hindu and Muslim thought, religious as well as secular.
• Most of the fine arts, such as architecture, painting and music were nationalised and made the common property of the Hindus and Muslims alike.
• Akbar gave his empire the political and administrative unity of the highest kind possible in that age, by giving all the provinces the same system of administration, the same set of officials, the same administrative methods, the same revenue system and the same coinage.
• Jahangir was born to Maryam-uz-Zamani and Akbar on August 30, 1569. He was named Sultan Muhammad Salim after Shaikh Salim Chishti of Fatehpur Sikri. Akbar, however, called him Shaikhu Baba.