CH-9

KINGS AND CHRONICLES ;THE MUGHAL COURTS

POINTS TO REMEMBER

THE MUGHALS AND THEIR EMPIRE

 The name Mughal derives from Mongol

 They referred to themselves as Timurids descendants of Turkish on the
paternal side
 Babur the first Mughal ruler , related to Ghenghiz Khan from his mother’s
side . He spoke Turkish
 The name Mowgli, the young hero of Rudyard Kipling’s JUNGLE BOOK
derived from it

CHRONOLOGY OF MUGHAL RULERS

 Zahiruddin Babur, Farghana by the warring Uzbeks, he first established

himself at Kabul and then in 1526 in India after first battle of Panipat
 His successor, Nasiruddin Humayun (1530-40) expanded the frontiers of
the empire ,but lost it to the Afghan leader Sher Shah Suri
 Jalaluddin Akbar (1556-1605) the greatest of all, succeeded in extending
the frontiers to the HINDUKUSH mountains and checked the expansionist
designs of the Uzbeks of Iran
 Jahangir (1605-27), Shah Jahan (1628-58) and Aurangzeb (1658-1707)
 After 1707 ,the death of Aurangzeb, the power of the dynasty diminished

FROM TURKISH TO PERSIAN

 Mughal chronicles were written in Persian

 The Mughals were Chaghtai Turks by origin and Turkish was their mother
tongue, Babur use this language to write chronicles
 Akbar made Persian the Mughal court language
 Akbar had good cultural and intellectual relation with Iran
 Official records were also written in Rajasthani, Marathi and Tamil
  A new language sprang out , Urdu mixture of Persian and Hindavi
 Akbarnama was written in Persian
 Babur’s memoirs were tanslated from the Turkish into Persian
Baburnama
 Ramayan and Mahabharata were also translated in Persian ,
Mahabharata known as Razmnama

THE MAKING OF MANUSCRIPTS

 The centre of manuscript production was the imperial Kitabkhana

(library) or scriptorium
 Paper makers were needed to prepare the folios of the manuscript
 Calligraphers to copy the text
 Gliders to illuminate the pages, painters to illustrate scenes
 Bookbinders to set them in ornamental covers
 Akbar’s favourite art of calligraphy was NASTALIQ, A fluid style with long
horizontal strokes using a trimmed reed with a tip of 5 to 10 mm called
qalam dipped in carbon ink siyahi

THE PAINTED IMAGE

 Paintings served not only to enhance the beauty of a book

 Abul fazl described painting as ‘ a magical art’
 Portrayal of human beings prohibited in Quran and Hadis
 Prophet forbidden the depiction of living beings
 Interpretations of the Sharia changed with time
 The Safavids kings of Iran patronized the finest artists for example-
Bihzad, Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad famous painters accompany
emperor to Humayun to Delhi

ABUL FAZL

 Abul Fazl grew up in the Mughal capital of Agra

 He knew Arabic, Persian, Greek Philosophy and Sufism
 He was an independent thinker
 He opposed the view of the conservative Ulama
  Akbar appointed him as an advisor and a spokesperson for his policies

THE AKBARNAMA

 In 1589 Abul Fazl worked on the Akbarnama for thirteen years

 The AKBARNAMA is divided into three books of which the first two are
Chronicles
 The third book is the Ain-i-Akbari
 The first volume contains the history of mankind from Adam to one
celestial cycle of Akbar’s life (30 years)
 The second volume closes in the forty- sixth regnal year(1601) of Akbar
 The Akbarnama provide all aspects of Akbar’s empire- geographic, social,
administrative and cultural

THE BADSHAHNAMA

 A pupil of Abul Fazl , Abdul Hamid Lahori is known as the author of the
BADSHANAMA
 Shah Jahan commissioned Lahori to write a history of his reign modeled
on the AKBARNAMA
 The Badshahnama is divided into three volumes of ten lunar years each
 The first and second volume were revised by SADULLAH KHAN , SHAH
JAHAN’S wazir contains emperors rule (1627-47)
 Edited versions of AKBARNAMA and BADSHAHNAMA was first published
by the Asiatic Society of Bengal
 AKBARNAMA was translated into English by ENRY BEVERIDGE

THE IDEAL KINGDOM: A DIVINE LIGHT

 Mughal artist from the seventeenth century began to portray emperors

wearing the HALO ,a round divine light which could be seen on European
paintings of Christ and the virgin Mary to symbolize the light of god
 Shihabuddin Suhrawardi was first developed the idea of divine light
according to him there was a hierarchy in which the divine light was
transmitted to the king
A UNIFYING FORCE: SULH-I-KUL

 The emperor stood among all religions

 Mughal empire comprises Hindus, Jains, Zoroastrians and Muslims
 Abul Fazl describes the ideal of sulh-i-kul (absolute peace) as the
cornerstone of enlightened rule
 In sulh-i-kul all religions and school of thought had freedom of expression
but they did not undermine the authority of the state
 Iranians, Turanis, Afghans, Rajputs, Deccanis were given positions and
awards on the basis of their service
 Akbar abolished the tax JIZYA in 1563 based on religious discrimination
 Mughal emperors gave grants to support the temples and buildings
destroyed during war

JUST SOVEREIGNTY AS SOCIAL CONTRACT

 The emperors protects the four essences of his subjects

 Life, property , honour and faith
 In return king demands obedience and a share of resources
 Number of symbols were created four visual representation of the idea of
justice
 For example- the motif of the lion and the lamb (or goat) peacefully
nestling next to each other means both strong and weak could exist in
harmony

CAPITAL AND COURTS : THE MUGHAL CAPITAL CITIES

 The heart of the Mughal empire was its capital city

 Mughals capital cities frequently shifted during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries
 Babur took over the Lodi capital of Agra, in 1560 the fort of Agra
constructed with red sandstones
 In the 1570 Akbar decided to build a new capital FatehPur Sikri, located
on the direct road to Ajmer, where the dargah of sheikh Muinuddin Chisti
had become an important pilgrimage centre
  Akbar constructed white marble tomb for sheikh Salim Chisti
 Buland Darwaza built to remind Mughal victory in Gujarat
 In 1585 the capital was shifted to Lahore by Akbar to control north-west
frontiers
 In 1648 Shah Jahan shifted the capital from Agra to Shahjahanabad
(jamamasjid, Red Fort and Chandni Chowk)

THE MUGHAL COURT

 Centrepiece was the throne the takht symbolizes the sovereign as axis
mundi
 The canopy symbol of kingship believed to separate the radiance of the
sun from of the sovereign
 Once the emperor sat on the throne , no one was permitted to move
from his position
 The forms of salutation to the ruler indicated the person’s status
 The highest form of submission was Sijda or complete prostration
 Under Shah Jahan these rituals were replaced with Chahar Taslim and
Zaminbos (kissing the ground)
 The emperor began his day at sunrise or with personal religious prayers
 Appeared on a small balcony (the jharokha) facing the east soldiers ,
merchants , craftspersons , peasants women waiting for a view
 The emperor walked to the public hall of audience (diwan-i-aam) to
conduct the primary business of the government
 On special occasions EID, SHAB-I-BARAT and Holi the court was full of life
 The solar and lunar birthdays of the Monarch and Nauroz( the Iranian
new year) was also celebrated

TITLES AND GIFTS

 Titles were adopted by the Mughal emperors at the time of coronation or

victory over an enemy
 Title Asaf Khan one of the highest ministers originated with Asaf
 Title Mirza Raja was accorded by Aurangzeb to his two highest-ranking
nobles JAI SINGH AND JASWANT SINGH
  MIR KHAN offered rs. One lakh to Aurangzeb for the letter alif
 Other awards included the rob of honour worn by emperor, the
sarapa(head to foot), a turban or a sash (patka), jewelled ornaments
gifted by the emperor

THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD

 The term Harem used to refer domestic world of the Mughals

 Mughal household consist emperor’s wives his concubines, daughters,
sisters slaves and servants
 Polygamy was practised
 Distinction was made between wives who came from royal families
(begams), other wives (aghas) who were not noble by birth
 The concubines (aghacha) occupies the lowest position in the hierarchy of
females
 The agha and the aghacha could rise to the position of a begum
depending on the husband’s will
 NURJAHAN Mughal queen began to control financial resources
 Shah Jahan’s daughters Jahanara and Roshanara enjoyed an annual
income
 Jaha nara received revenues from the port city of Surat, also design the
bazaar of Chandni chowk (shahjahanbad)
 Gulbadan begum daughter of Babur wrote Baburnama and Humayunama
and affluent in Turkish and Persian language

THE IMPERIAL OFFICIALS: RECRUITMENT AND RANK

 The Mughal nobility was recruited from diverse ethnic and religious
groups
 The officer corps of the Mughals was described as bouquet of flowers
(guldasta)
 Irani and Turani nobles were present from the earliest phase
 Raja Bharmal Kachhwaha of Amber was the first rajput to join Mughal
nobility
 Akbar’s finance minister Raja Todar Mal belonged to the Khatri phase
  Aurangzeb appointed Rajputs to high positions
 Iranians gained high offices under Jahangir

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION OF MUGHALS: BEYOND THE CENTRE

 The Mughal state had provinces which were called the SUBAS, SUBAS
were looked after by DIWAN, BAKSHI and SADAR
 The head of the provincial government was thegovernor (SUBEDAR) who
reported directly to the emperor
 Each Suba was divided into various SARKARS, there were districts looked
after by FAUJDARS
 Then there was PARGANA (SUB-DISTRICT), looked after by qanungo
(keeper of the revenue records) CHAUDHARI (incharge of revenue
collection) and the Qazi

MANSABDARI SYSTEM

 Zat was numerical value which determined the rank and salary in Mughal
empire
 Nobles with a ZAT of 5000 were ranked higher than those of 1000
 There were 29 MANSABDARS with a rank of 5000 ZAT in the reign of
Akbar
 The number of MANSABDARS had increased to 79 in AURANGZEB’S reign
 More number of MANSABDARS meant more burden of expenditure on
state exchequer

MUGHAL NOBILITY : KIND OF OFFICERS

 MIR BAKSHI was the paymaster general, he used to stand in open court
on the right side of the emperor and presented all candidates for
appointment or promotion
 DIWAN-I-ALA was the finance minister and SADR-US-SADUR was
minister of grants
 MADAD-I-MAASH incharge of appointing qazia or local judges
 All these three ministers sometimes worked as an advisory body but
generally independent from each other
MUGHAL RELATION WITH OTTOMAN EMPIRE

 The main objective of Mughals relations with the Ottoman Empire was to
maintain a free movement for pilgrims and merchants in the territories
under control of the Ottoman empire
 This was true especially for the HIJAZ , that area of Ottoman Arabia where
Mecca and Madina important pilgrim centres were located
 They used to export valuable things to ADEN AND Mokha both the ports
of Red sea
 They even used to distribute the income from the sale of these goods in
charity and keepers of shrines
 But when Aurangzeb came to know about the misappropriation of funds
sent to Arabia , he stressed on their distribution in India because he
believed that “ it was as much a house of god as Mecca”

THE SAFAVID AND QANDHAR : BONE OF CONTENTION

 Mughal political and diplomatic relations was to controlling strategic

outposts of KABUL and QANDHAR
 Qandhar was a bone of contention between the Safavids and the Mughals
 The fortress town initially been in the control of Humayun reconquered in
1595 by Akbar
 Safavid court retained diplomatic relations with the Mughals, it
continued to stake claims to Qandhar
 In 1613 Jahangir sent a diplomatic envoy to the court of Shah Abbas to
plead the mughal case for retaining Qandhar , but the mission failed
 In the winter of 1622 a Persian army besieged Qandhar

JESUIT AT THE MUGHAL COURT

 Portuguese merchants established a network of trading stations in

coastal cities
 The Portuguese king interested in propogation of Christianity with the
help of the missionaries of the SOCIETY OF JESUS(THE JESUITS)
 Akbar was curious about Christianity an invite JESUIT PRIEST
  The first Jesuit mission reached the Mughal court at fateh Pur Sikri in
1580
 The Jesuits spoke to Akbar about Christianity and debated its virtues with
the Ulama

KEY WORDS TO REMEMBER

 CHAGHTAI- turks traced descent from the eldest son of Genghis Khan
 DIACHRONIC- an account traces developments over time
 SYNCHRONIC- an account depicts one or several situations at one
particular moment or point of time
 AXIS MUNDI- it is a latin phrase for a pillar or pole that is visualized as the
support of the earth
 KORNISH- it was a form of ceremonial situation in which the courtier
placed the palm of his right hand against his forehead and bent his head.
 CHAHAR TASLIM- form of salutation which begins with placing the back of
the right hand on the ground, and raising it gently till the person stands
erect, when he puts the palm of his hand upon the crown of his head
 SHAB-I-BARAT- the full moon night on the 14 shaban , the eight month of
the hijri calendar , it is the night when the destinies of the Muslims for the
coming year are said to be determined and sins forgiven
 TAJWIZ- it was a petion presented by a nobleman to the emperor,
recommending that an applicant be recruited as mansabdar