NAME-SAIF ALI

CLASS-B.ALL.B(SF)
FACULTY- LAW
BATCH-2017-22
ROLL NO. 49
SUBJECT- HISTORY

TOPIC
MUGHAL DYNASTY
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The success and outcome of this assignment goes to lots of people who helped me
while executing this project and i extremely privileged to have got this all along the
completion of my project

I extremely thankful to my contract professor Mrs MAHALINGAM sir to gave the

opportunity to have this project in my willand giving us all support and guidance
 INTRODUCTION
Mughal dynasty, Mughal also spelled Mogul, Arabic Mongol, Muslim dynasty of Turkic-
Mongol origin that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century.
After that time it continued to exist as a considerably reduced and increasingly powerless
entity until the mid-19th century. The Mughal dynasty was notable for its more than two
centuries of effective rule over much of India, for the ability of its rulers, who through seven
generations maintained a record of unusual talent, and for its administrative organization. A
further distinction was the attempt of the Mughals, who were Muslims, to integrate Hindus
and Muslims into a united Indian state.

The dynasty was founded by a chagatai Turkic prince named babur (reigned 1526–30), who
was descended from the Turkic conqueror timur (Tamerlane) on his father’s side and from
Chagatai, second son of the mongol ruler GENGHIS KHAN on his mother’s side. Ousted
from his ancestral domain in central asia, Bābur turned to India to satisfy his appetite for
conquest. From his base in kabul he was able to secure control of the Punjab region, and in
1526 he routed the forces of the Delhi sultan Ibrāhīm Lodī at the First Battle of Panipat. The
following year he overwhelmed the Rajput confederacy under Rana Sanga of Mewar, and in
1529 he defeated the Afghans of what are now eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states. At his
death in 1530 he controlled all of northern India from the Indus River on the west to Bihar on
the east and from the Himalayas south to Gwalior.

Bābur’s son Humāyūn (reigned 1530–40 and 1555–56) lost control of the empire to Afghan
rebels, but Humāyūn’s son Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) defeated the Hindu usurper Hemu at
the Second Battle of Panipat (1556) and thereby reestablished his dynasty in Hindustan. The
greatest of the Mughal emperors and an extremely capable ruler, Akbar reestablished and
consolidated the Mughal Empire. Through incessant warfare, he was able to annex all of
northern and part of central India, but he adopted conciliatory policies toward his Hindu
subjects and sought to enlist them in his armies and government service. The political,
administrative, and military structures that he created to govern the empire were the chief
factor behind its continued survival for another century and a half. At Akbar’s death in 1605
the empire extended from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal and southward to what is now
Gujarat state and the northern Deccan region (peninsular India).

Akbar’s son Jahāngīr (reigned 1605–27) continued both his father’s administrative system
and his tolerant policy toward Hinduism and thus proved to be a fairly successful ruler. His
son, Shah Jahān (reigned 1628–58), had an insatiable passion for building, and under his rule
the Taj Mahal of Agra and the Jāmiʿ Masjid (Great Mosque) of Delhi, among other
monuments, were erected. His reign marked the cultural zenith of Mughal rule, but his
military expeditions brought the empire to the brink of bankruptcy. Jahāngīr’s tolerant and
enlightened rule stood in marked contrast to the Muslim religious bigotry displayed by his
more orthodox successor, Aurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707). Aurangzeb annexed the Muslim
Deccan kingdoms of Vijayapura (Bijapur) and Golconda and thereby brought the empire to
its greatest extent, but his political and religious intolerance laid the seeds of its decline. He
excluded Hindus from public office and destroyed their schools and temples, while his
persecution of the Sikhs of the Punjab turned that sect against Muslim rule and roused
rebellions among the Rajputs, Sikhs, and Marathas. The heavy taxes he levied steadily
impoverished the farming population, and a steady decay in the quality of Mughal
government was thus matched by a corresponding economic decline. When Aurangzeb died
in 1707, he had failed to crush the Marathas of the Deccan, and his authority was disputed
throughout his dominions.

JahāngīrThe feast of Nōrūz at Jahāngīr's court, with Jahāngīr in the upper centre; painting in
the Mughal miniature style, early 17th century.P. Chandra

During the reign of Muḥammad Shah (1719–48), the empire began to break up, a process
hastened by dynastic warfare, factional rivalries, and the Iranian conqueror Nādir Shah’s brief
but disruptive invasion of northern India in 1739. After the death of Muḥammad Shah in
1748, the Marathas overran almost all of northern India. Mughal rule was reduced to only a
small area around Delhi, which passed under Maratha (1785) and then British (1803) control.
The last Mughal, Bahādur Shah II (reigned 1837–57), was exiled to Yangon, Myanmar
(Rangoon, Burma) by the British after his involvement with the Indian Mutiny of 1857–58.

HISTORY
The great grandson of Tamerlane, Babar, who on his mother's side was descended from the
famous Genghiz Khan, came to India in 1526 at the request of an Indian governor who
sought Babar's help in his fight against Ibrahim Lodi, the last head of the Delhi Sultanate.
Babar defeated Lodi at Panipat, not far from Delhi, and so came to establish the Mughal
Empire in India. Babar ruled until 1530, and was succeeded by his son Humayun, who gave
the empire its first distinctive features. But it is Humayun's son, Akbar the Great, who is
conventionally described as the glory of the empire. Akbar reigned from 1556 to 1605, and
extended his empire as far to the west as Afghanistan, and as far south as the Godavari river.
Akbar, though a Muslim, is remembered as a tolerant ruler, and he even started a new faith,
Din-i-Ilahi, which was an attempt to blend Islam with Hinduism, Christianity, Jainism, and
other faiths. He won over the Hindus by naming them to important military and civil
positions, by conferring honors upon them, and by marrying a Hindu princess.

Jahangir married Nur Jahan, "Light of the World", in 1611. Shortly after his death in October
1627, his son, Shah Jahan, succeeded to the throne. He inherited a vast and rich empire; and
at mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the world, exhibiting a degree of
centralized control rarely matched before. Shah Jahan left behind an extraordinarily rich
architectural legacy, which includes the Taj Mahal and the old city of Delhi, Shahjahanabad.
As he apparently lay dying in 1658, a war of succession broke out between his four sons. The
two principal claimants to the throne were Dara Shikoh, who was championed by the those
nobles and officers who were committed to the eclectic policies of previous rulers, and
Aurangzeb, who was favored by powerful men more inclined to turn the Mughal Empire into
an Islamic state subject to the laws of the Sharia. It is Aurangzeb who triumphed, and though
the Mughal Empire saw yet further expansion in the early years of his long reign (1658-
1707), by the later part of the seventeenth century the empire was beginning to disintegrate.

Aurangzeb remains a highly controversial figure, and no monarch has been more subjected
to the communalist reading of Indian history. He is admired by Muslim historians for
enforcing the law of the Sharia and for disavowing the policies pursued by Akbar; among
Hindus, laymen and historians alike, he is remembered as a Muslim fanatic and bigot. In the
event, Aurangzeb's far-flung empire eventually eluded his grasp, and considerable
disaffection appears to have been created among the peasantry. After Aurangzeb's death in
1707, many of his vassals established themselves as sovereign rulers, and so began the period
of what are called "successor states". The Mughal Empire survived until 1857, but its rulers
were, after 1803, pensioners of the East India Company. The last emperor, the senile Bahadur
Shah Zafar, was put on trial for allegedly leading the rebels of the 1857 mutiny and for
fomenting sedition. He was convicted and transported to Rangoon, to spend the remainder of
his life on alien soil.

HISTORY
The benefits could be broadly categorized into the following areas:

 Political
 Economic
 Technological
 Administrative
 Cultural
 A couple of odd ones

I have buffered the benefits list a little with achievements since the two are a little hard to tell
apart. (Some of these points have already been covered, but I felt were worth repeating.)

Stability
There was no invasion from the West for 200 years during the reign of the "Great Mughals".
In fact the western frontier was pushed firmly into present day Afghanistan. When the
Mughal Empire declined after Aurangazeb, there were two invasions within 30 years.

Akbar made peace with Hindu rulers that went beyond mere ceasefires and marriages of
convenience  That meant fewer tensions and wars, while the relations were good.

Trade and Commerce

The economy generally did well. The poor were... well poor. But the money makers benefited
from a road system and a uniform currency throughout much of the country. Under Shah
Jahan and Aurangazeb, the economy of the empire was probably higher

Military Technology
Babur is credited with the first use of canons in India which he used as a means of countering
the Sultanate's elephants.
The Mughals also pioneered the use of rockets (which Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan later
improved upon). These were used in several wars inside the country.

Other technology
Mughal astronomers made much progress with observational astronomy.
Mughal alchemy also made notable progress.

Administration
Akbar's finance minister Raja Todarmal instituted several data collection, land settlement and
tax calculation schemes that far outlived the Mughal Empire and some that exist even today.

"Cultural" Achievements

 The Mughals ushered in the golden age of Indo-Persian culture especially with respect
to art and architecture. In some ways this is responsible for the development of the
Urdu and Hindi languages. They were great patrons of Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib
himself.
 One of Akbar's great achievements was establishing a great degree of religious
tolerance, which survived for almost 50 years after his death. He built alliances with
 the Rajputs (who till then were always at war with the Muslim rule in Delhi) and
allowed some Hindus to rise up to powerful positions in his court.
 Raja Birbal jokes (seriously!)
 Both Biryani and Haleem are said to have had their very humble beginnings in
Akbar's Mughal army.
 Though all the Great Mughals built memorable monuments, Shah Jahan was a class
apart going on a classy contruction streak building such marvels as the Taj Mahal, the
Red Fort and several mosques. He hoped to make Agra an urban center to rival
Istanbul (Constantinople).

A couple of questionable achievements

Jehangir gave the British East India Company trading rights in Surat. This broke the
Portuguese monopoly in the Arabian Sea, and also let the BEIC perpetually extend its
monopoly (with the British Govt) on trade with India, just a year before it would have been
gone for good. Maybe the British Raj would still have happened, maybe not.

Aurangazeb's religious intolerance and prosecution caused a couple of powerful groups to

rise up in opposition and build up strong states: the Marathas who would eventually dominate
even Delhi, and the Sikhs who, who would get martialized and rise to become more than a
match for the Durranis. He was the last of the Great Mughals and directly responsible for
initiating the decline of the empire. major Mughal contribution to the Indian Subcontinent
was their unique architecture. Many great monuments were built by the Muslim emperors
during the Mughal era including the Taj Mahal. The Muslim Mughal Dynasty built splendid
palaces, tombs, minars and forts that stand today in Delhi, Dhaka , Agra, Jaipur, Lahore,
Sheikhupura and many other cities of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
His successors, with fewer memories of the Central Asian homeland he pined for, took a less
prejudiced view of cultures of the Subcontinent, and became more or less naturalised,
absorbing many subcontinental traits and customs along the way. The Mughal period would
see a more fruitful blending of Indian, Iranian and Central Asian artistic, intellectual and
literary traditions than any other in India's history. The Mughals had a taste for the fine things
in life — for beautifully designed artifacts and the enjoyment and appreciation of cultural
activities. The Mughals borrowed as much as they gave; both the Hindu and muslimtraditions
of the Indian Subcontinent were huge influences on their interpretation of culture and court
style. Nevertheless, they introduced many notable changes to societies of the subcontinent
and culture, including:

 Centralised government which brought together many smaller kingdoms

 Persian art and culture amalgamated with native Indian art and culture
 Started new trade routes to Arab and Turk lands. Islam was at its very highest
 Mughlai cuisine
 The Urdu language developed from the local language Hindawi by borrowing heavily
from Persian and later Arabic and Turkish. Urdu developed as a result of the fusion of
the Indian and Islamic cultures during the Mughal period. Modern Hindi which uses
Sanskrit-based vocabulary along with loan words from Persian, Arabic and Turkish is
 mutually intelligible with Urdu. The two are sometimes collectively known as
Hindustani. This is best exemplified by the language used in Bollywood films and in
the major urban settings of the Pakistan.
 A new style of architecture
 Landscape gardening

The remarkable flowering of art and architecture under the Mughals is due to several factors.
The empire itself provided a secure framework within which artistic genius could flourish,
and it commanded wealth and resources unparalleled in the history of the Subcontinent. The
Mughal rulers themselves were extraordinary patrons of art, whose intellectual caliber and
cultural outlook was expressed in the most refined taste. Although the Hindustan they once
ruled has separated into what is now Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh their influence can still
be seen widely today. Tombs of the emperors are spread throughout India and Pakistan.
There are 16 million descendants spread throughout the continent and possibly the world.
Political development:
The Mughal rulers provided political unity to India. Several parts of the country came under
one administration.
Religious development:
Divergent views are expressed on this issue. Some scholars greatly highlight the positive
effect of the Sufi and Bhakti movements. There are others who are of the view that the effect
of these movements was very limited.