THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

Mughal Nobility The nobles of the Mughal period formed a privileged class. Most of them were foreigners such as Turks and Afghan many of them settled down in India and made it their permanent home. The emperor encouraged new elements to join his service, and Iranians came to form an important block of the Mughal […]

The mighty Mughal empire which had ruled over a large part of the subcontinent was teetering at the verge of collapse. The weakness of the empire was exposed when Nadir Shah imprisoned the Mughal Emperor and looted Delhi in 1739. The weak successors and demoralization of the Mughal army also paved the way for it.

Aurangzeb ascended the throne in 1658 after getting rid of all the competitors for the throne, Dara Shukoh, Shuja and Murad, in a war of succession. He assumed the title Alamgir, World Conqueror. The Jats and Satnamis and also the Sikhs revolted against him. His reign of fifty years falls into two equal parts. During

Shah Jahan was the fifth Mughal ruler after Babur, Humayun, Akbar and Jahangir. After winning the war of succession post the demise of his father Jahangir, Shah Jahan successfully ruled the empire for 30 years. Shah Jahan (Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram) was one of the most successful emperors of the Mughal Empire. His Deccan policy was

Prince Salim succeeded with the title Jahangir (Conqueror of World) in 1605. His son Khusrau revolted but was defeated and imprisoned. One of his supporters, Guru Arjun, the fifth Sikh Guru, was beheaded. For Jahangir, the most irksome internal problem was that of the Rana of Mewar, head of the Sisodia clan of Rajputs at

Akbar ruled India from 1556 to 1605 AD. He was the son of Humayun, who ruled over India for 26 years. In large the Mughals surely came to annex India under Babur, but they were unlike other cruel rulers who plundered India. The Mughals in fact helped India to flourish under their kingship. He succeeded

Humayun left India in 1540 and married Hamida Banu Begum on his way to Sind. When they stayed in Amorkot, a Hindu kingdom ruled by Rana Prasad, Akbar was born in 1542. Humayun then proceeded to Iran and sought help from its ruler. He later defeated his brothers, Kamran and Askari. In the meantime the

Sher Shah Sur emperor of north India in the Islamic Sur (Afghan) dynasty of 1540–57 who organized a long-lived bureaucracy responsible to the ruler and created a carefully calculated revenue system. For the first time during the Islamic conquest the relationship between the people and the ruler was systematized, with little oppression or corruption. His

The founder of the Sur dynasty was Sher Shah, whose original name was Farid. He was the son of Hasan Khan, a jagirdar of Sasaram in Bihar. Sher Shah waged extensive wars with the Rajputs and expanded his empire. His conquests include Punjab, Malwa, Sind, Multan and Bundelkhand. His empire consisted of the whole of

Humayun was not a soldier like his father Babur. He was faced with the problems of a weak financial system and the predatory Afghans. Bahadur Shah, the ruler of Gujarat, also posed a great threat. Humayun’s brother Kamran who was in-charge of Kabul and Kandahar extended his authority up to Punjab. Humayun remembering the promise