AYUSH RAJ

BA (H) HISTORY, II YEAR

ROLL NO – 22
Q. Gunpowder was the key which unlocked the doors of Akbar’s
conquests. Elaborate.
The creation of the Mughal Empire was more than a political transition. The
achievements of Babur and his successors and even those of their enemies
irrevocably changed the nature of warfare in South Asia. A new style of
combat built around gunpowder, infantry and combined arms tactics replaced
an old order based on the warhorse and elephant. This process changed not
only how Indian armies fought on the battlefield but how they were
assembled, deployed, supported and financed. As these armies evolved they
posed unique challenges to the states that maintained them and required the
creation of new civilian institutions political, administrative and economic.
The transformation reached its culmination in the 17th century, when the
Mughal Empire emerged as what was arguably the world’s most powerful
state—guarding borders from Central Asia to the southern tip of India,
keeping more than a million soldiers under arms and controlling nearly a
quarter of the world’s economic output. What had started as a ragtag band of
fallen nobles and soldiers of fortune armed with a few newfangled weapons
and clever tactics had become the “Moguls” of myth and legend, regarded
with awe and fascination by their Western contemporaries and enshrined in
their languages as the very embodiment of wealth and success.
Under the first three Timurid rulers of India, gunpowder artillery had
certainly emerged as an important equipage of war, contributing significandy
to the establishment of a highly centralized state structure under Akbar and to
the consolidation of Mughal rule in the conquered territories.
During the reign of Akbar, gunpowder played a very important and key role
in the siege of grand forts. The gunpowder empires hypothesis by McNeill
and Hodgson which basically states that the success of the Mughal empire
was determined by the use of gunpowder right from Babur’s times. P.K.
Gode has mentioned that in the second half of the 15th century cannon and
musket were being used in Gujarat, Malwa and Kashmir but the most
effective military strategy was adopted by Akbar. There is no denying the
fact that Akbar was a great general and an excellent administrator. However
Gode’s works are influenced by the English translations or on the information
reproduced in secondary works which leaves a significant part of the original
Persian chronicles unnoticed.
The conquests of the Chitor, Ranthambor and Kalinjar from 1568 to 1569
played a huge role in furthering the establishment of the Mughal Empire
under Akbar. Chitor, the capital of Mewar, was a fortified city and not a
proper citadel and hence it was difficult to conquer a well-structured fortress
like Chitor. Udai Singh was the ruler of Chitor and he had acquired the
knowledge that Akbar was short of siege equipment, hence he prepared
Chitor for a siege instead. Akbar set up a camp outside Chitor on 20 October,
1567 with the help of Asaf Khan Harawi who was the jagirdar of Bayana, the
nearest Mughal territory to Chitor. The initial attacks from the Mughal forces
did not bear any fruit and in turn suffered heavy losses from the archers and
musketeers on the walls. Eventually two mines and a sabator trench were
excavated along with the casting of a twenty five pounder gun in the camp.
Rajah Tudar Mal and Khan Mir –i Bahr were the supervisors for the
excavation of the sabat. The charges under the wall were exploded and that
made a large breach in the walls of the fort. The death of Jaymal Singh
brought down the spirits of the Rajput army as he was the officer in charge of
Chitor. Akbar ordered a massacre the next day for which three hundred
elephants were used. Abu al- Fazl’s reports state that eight thousand members
of the garrison died, nearly thirty thousand peasants were imprisoned or
executed and only a few Rajput musketeers could escape.
The siege of Ranthambor in 1568 (976) followed a nearly similar pattern of
conquest to Chitor. The construction of sabatallowed the Mughal forces to
carry fifteen heavy guns to the hill top. The guns were called zarbzanand
fired balls weighing three hundred pounds and this in turn made it fairly easy
for the Mughal army to breach the walls and damage the buildings. Massacre
was avoided through the treaty between Surjan and Akbar. Kalinjar was ruled
by Rajah Ram Chand, who was also the ruler of the principality of Bhath or
Pannah. As soon as Ram Chand came to know about the fall of Chitor and
Ranthambor, he decided to submit and sent pishkash to Akbar. Streusand
mentions that the three sieges do not support the gunpowder hypothesis given
by McNeill and Hodgson. It was moreover difficult to maintain sieges as
carrying heavy guns overland became a problem. The military system
supplanted the existing elephant based system. J.F. Richards has mentioned
that Akbar spent a large part of his resources on the construction of fortresses
at Agra, Allahabad, Lahore and Ajmer. Akbar, for establishing his personal
and dynastic supremacy, ordered the construction of FatehpurSikri.
It becomes important to understand the significance of Mughal forts as
bulwarks against revolt. The evidences for this can be traced down from the
incidents of Sultan Khusraw’s revolt against Jahangir in 1606 and this was
the time when Dilavar Khan the governor- designate of Lahore prepared the
city for defence against Dilavar Khan. The gunpowder hypothesis needs to be
revised as this and other incidents where the artillery or the infantry armed
with firearms did not play an important role. Moreover the ability to breach
walls alone does not fully support the gunpowder hypothesis as mentioned by
McNeill and Hodgson. Firearms contributed to centralization, a very
significant characteristic of the gunpowder empires.
It is, therefore, understandable that the appearance of gunpowder artillery
synchronized with a distinct phase of internal consolidation leading to a
limited territorial expansion in the case of more prosperous regional
kingdoms of fifteenth century. Internal consolidation was always marked by
the strengthening of king's control over the nobles and, more importantly, by
the suppression of the local chiefs some of whom hitherto enjoyed
autonomous status on account of their large caste or tribal following and forts
held by them in peripheral zones. This is evident from the history of Gujarat
and Bahmani Empire under Mahmud Begarha (1459-1511)9 and Muhammad
Shah (1463-82) respectively. The significance of the gunpowder, artillery and
other militarily aspects are insufficient in covering all of the aspects of the
Mughal empire. Almost all of the Islamic polities suffered from inadequate
measures to ensure a proper centralized empire as the monetary systems,
rudimentary level of banking systems and the inefficiency of the systems to
ensure the distribution of salaries did not make way for the smooth
functioning of the political and administrative systems. J.F. Richards also
mentions that the Mughal polity was held together by a political economy
that was constantly fed by flows of honours and gifts. The military labour
market of the agrarian society north India witnessed the origin of two
concepts- namak which was the marketable pay of the soldier and naukarithe
honourable service in the warband. D.H.A. Kolff has mentioned that since the
zamindars or the peasants were always under the risk of experiencing some
sort of violence, armed gangs were very common in the countryside. He also
has given examples of the agriculturalists of Baroda, where the men had to
serve in the army as during the dry seasons of the year they had no work. The
troops who were getting paid from provincial land revenue greatly
outnumbered those paid directly from the central treasury. The troops who
participated in successful campaigns, usually got promotion and jagirs were
given. In order to maintain a standard order in provinces, the Mughal
provincial army had to function as contingents.The Mughal army had to
confront a series of private zamindars or peasant armies. Two officials were
involved in the tax paying or in the land revenue system at a local or
parganah level, i.e., a Qanungu who kept records of the cultivated area, crop
production and revenue demand and the other one was a chawdhri who was
usually the leading zamindar and he paid directly to the imperial recipient.
The Mughals usually received 90 per cent of the land revenue because the
imperial representative or the collector was more powerful and had no risk of
action taking against him by the ruler.
Akbar’s expansion policy also played a major role in defining his success as a
ruler. D.H.A. Kolff has described marriage alliances to be the chief factor in
establishing the political relationships with the Rajputas. The second phase of
expansion began with the absorption of the Rajput states and the annexation
of the Muslim kingdoms, Malwa, Gujarat and others. The Mughals absorbed
the principality of Pannah (1561), the Gakkhar country, the hills between the
Indus and the Beas in the Punjab and part of Marwar (1563-4). With the
exception of Mewar and Orissa, the Mughals were able to rule the major part
of the country. Akbar’s relationships with the kings of different principalities
like Amber, Jodhpur, Gujarat, Bikaner and Jaisalmer reflects that Akbar was
a great ruler.
As we have seen that the gunpowder hypothesis provided by McNeill and
Hodgson can only fit in the Mughal Empire’s framework when seen with
other aspects of the empire as well. The sieges also followed a standard
pattern where the guns usually couldn’t be used as it was difficult to drag
guns overland and instead of them the sabat played an important role. The
Mughal empire and more specifically Akbar had the ability to incorporate
several elements from different religions and culture into his governance.
Akbar’s policy of sulh –i- kul, peace for all, clearly indicates the respect he
had for different sects of the society. J.F. Richards has mentioned that by
1583 Akbar had rejected public prayer and other features of the orthodox
Islamic practices too. He has also laid emphasis on the fact that Akbar had a
great ability to maintain and establish relationships with rulers of different
principalities through the carrot and stick method combined. D.H.A. Kolff
has stated that the group of military settlers acquired a position in the
agricultural arena and according to Abu’lFazal this group of men constituted
a major part of the military from North India. The expansion of was not only
defined by the use of gunpowder, artillery and war, other significant elements
like negotiations and treaties between the Mughal rulers and other rulers as
mentioned by Douglas Streusand also should be given due weightage.
Bibliography
 Khan, Iqtidar Alam. “Early Use of Cannon and Musket in India: A.D. 1442- 1526”,

 Jos J.L. Gommans and D.H.A. Kolff.New “Warfare and Weaponry in South Asia:

1000-1800”

 Richards, John F. “The Formulation of Imperial Authority under Akbar and

Jahangir”

 Khan, Iqtidar Alam “Gunpowder and Empire: Indian Case”