Early Muslim Invasions and Their Impact
The first Muslim invaders of India were the Arabs. Their activities were practically confined to the lower Indus regions - the Sinclh - and the outer fringe of the Indian political life and civilization. Their occupation of Sindh was only an episode in Indian history, full of interest in its own way, but not destined to influence seriously the Political and economic structure of Hindu India.
But the movement of the Ghaznavides and the Ghorides had a far-reaching effect, and eventually completely changed the political-map of the Post-Harsha Period. These invaders gradually warned themselves into the heart of India, and finally assumed the role of the earlier Hindu Empire - builders like Chandra Gupta, Samudra Gupta and even Harsha. The sovereign Power passed into the hands of the Muslim Sultan who exercised it according to his light and the circumstances of the time.
Establishment of the Mughal Empire
In 1526 the Mughal Empire was established in India by Babar, who is regarded as most attractive personality in all history. Most of his life spent out side India but conquered most of places and establish the mughal rule. Flora A. Steele, writes about Baba, "it would be sheer per-versity to treat him solely in reference to the part he played in India, as this would be to V deprive ourselves of no less than thirty six years of the very best of company".
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| A painting of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire. |
The life of Babar can be categorise into different periods (1) early adventures upto his conquest of Kabul (1494-1505); (2) Babar as King of Kabul (1504-25); and (3) Babar in India (1525- 30).
India was always rennained week whenever the external invaders inveted India. There are so nnany reasons. Sporadic population living in different parts of India with their diverse culture, language, religious faith and that is why there were small kings with a small territory who did not have any effective means of communication with each other.
They do not have any collective planning to save this vast country and due to these reason. Babar invents India and established Mughal emperor, The Mughals were very much rich so far as arms, technology and their political machineries are concerned. So the Indian native Kings were early defeated and overpowered with their method of warfare. The Mughals were Physically better as compare to Indians and they had unity as they follow one religion i.e. Islam as compare to Indians who have many goddesses. Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and all later Mughals were ruled according to their ability and wisdom and will. Initially they stay in northern part of India due to good and favourable climatic condition but gradually step over other parts of this country. During Aurangzeb time the Mughal Empire reached its Zenith when apparently almost the whole of India was within his empire.
Babar turned to India when his repeated attennpted to gain Power in his central Asian homeland and failed, but eventually a discontented faction at the Lodi Court in Delhi invited him to intervence. He defeated the Sultan Ibrahim-ll at Panipat in 1526, and in the next year, the Rajput Chiefs at Kanwa near Agra. Yet these victories were only a beginning, there was a yet no solid structure of Mughal Power, and the reaction of the Afghan Chiefs, led by Sher Shah Suri, caused Babur's son Humayun to flee from northern India to Singh and then to Afghanistan for fifteen years. Only the weakness of Sher Shah's successors allowed Humayun to return in 1555 and established himself in Delhi and Agra.
Expansion and Consolidation Under Akbar
During Bariam Khan's regency, the territories of the Mughal empire had been expanded. Apart from Ajmer, the most important conquests during this period had been that of Malwa and Garh Katanga, Malwa was being ruled, at that time, by a young prince, Baz Bahadur, His accomplishments included a mastery of music and poetry. Stories about the romance of Baz Bahadur and Rupmati who was famous for her beauty as well as for music and poetry are well known. During his time, Mandu had become a celebrated centre for music. The army, however, had been neglected by Baz Bahadur. The expedition against Malwas led by Adham Kha, son of Akbar's foster-mother, Maham Anaga. Baz Bahadur was badly defeated (1561) and the Mughals took valuable spoils, including Rupmati. However, she preferred to committ suicide to being dragged to Adham Khan's harem. Due to the sneseless cruelities of Adham Khan and his successor, there was a VII reaction against tlie Mughals wlVicti enabled Baz Baliadur to recover Malwa.
After dealing witii Bairam Ktian's rebellion, Akbar sent another expedition to i\/lalwa. Baz Bahadur had to flee, and for some time he took shelter with the Rama of IVlewa
After wander about from one area to another, he finally repaired to Akbar's court and was enrolled as a Mughal mansabdar. The extensive country of Malwas thus came under Mughal rule.
When Akbar had dealt with the rebellion of the Uzbek nobles he forced Asaf Khan to sgorge his illegal gain. He restored the kingdom of Garh-Katanga to Chandra Shah, the younger son of Sangram Shah, after taken ten forts to round off the kingdom of Malwa.
During the next ten years, Akbar brought the major part of Rajasthan under his control and also conquered Gujarat and Bengal. A major step in his campaign against the Rajput states was the siege of Chittor. This redoubtable fortress, which had faced a number of sieges in its history, was considered a key to central Rajasthan.
One of the most important problems facing Akbar was the system of land revenue administration. Sher Shah had instituted a system by which the cultivated area was measured and a central schedule (ray) was drawn up, fixing the dues of the peasant cropwise on the basis of the productivity of land. This schedule was converted every year into a central schedule of prices. Akbar adopted Sher Shah's system. But it was soon found that the fixing VIII of central schedule of prices often led to considerable delays, and resulted in great hardship to the peasantry. Since the prices fixed were generally those prevailing at the Imperial Court, and thus were higher than in the countryside the peasants had to part with a large share of their produce.
Akbar, therefore, reverted to a system of annual assessment. The qanungos, who were hereditary holders of land as well as local officials conversant with local conditions, were ordered to report on the actual produce, state of cultivation, local prices etc.
A number of other systems of assessment were also followed under Akbar. The most common and perhaps, the oldest was called batai or ghalla-bakshi. In this system, the produce was divided between the peasants and the state in fixed proportion.
A third system which was widely used in Akbar's time was nasaq. It seems that it meant a rough coalculation of the amount payable by the peasant on the basis of what he had been paying in the past. Other local methods of assessment also continued in some areas.
Akbar was deeply instrested in the improvement and extension of cultivation, He asked amil to act like a father to the peasants. He was to advance money by was of loans (taccav) to the peasants for seeds, implements, animals, etc. in times of nee, and to recover them in easy instalments.
Hardly any changes were made by Akbar in the organisation of local government. The pargana and the sarkar continued as before.
The chief officers of the sarkar were the fajudar and the IX amalguzar. The former being in charge of law and order, and the latter responsible for the assessment and collection of the land revenue.
The territories of the empire were divided into jagir, khalisa and inam. Income from khalisa villages went directly to the royal exchequer. The inam lands were those which were allotted to learned and religious men Jagirs. Were alloted to nobles and members of the royal family including the queens. The amalguzar was required to exercise a general supervision over all types of holdings so that the imperial rules and regulations for the assessment and collection land revenue were followed uniformly. Only autonomous rajas were left free to continue their traditional land revenue system in their territories. Even there, Akbar encouraged them to follow the imperial system.
Mughal Administration and Governance
Akbar paid great attention to the organsiation of the central and provincial governm-ents. His system of central government was based on the structure of government which had evolved under the Delhi Sultanat, but the functions of the various departments were carefully organised and meticulous rules and regulations were laid down for the conduct of affiairs. Thus, he gave a new shape to the system and breathed new life into it.
Akbar's relations with the Rajputs have to be seen against the wide background of Mughal policy towards the powerful rajas and zamindars of the country.
The Rajput policy of Akbar proved beneficial to the Mughal state as well as to the Rajputs. The alliance secured to the Mughal empire the servbices of the bravest X warriors in India. Tfie steadfast loyalty of the Rajputs became in innportant factor in the consolidation and expansion of the ennpire. The alliance ensured peace in Rajasthan, and enabled the Rajputs to serve in far flung part of the ennpire without worrying about the safety of their homelands.
Akbar's Rajput policy was continued by his successors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, Jahangir, whose mother was a Rajput princes, had himself a Kacchawaha princess as well as a Jodphur princess.
Akbar alos revised the education syllabus, laying more emphasis on moral education and mathematics, and on secular subjects such as agriculture geometry, astronomy, rules of government, logic, history, etc.
He also gave patronage to artists, poets painters and musicians so much so that his court became famous for the galaxy of famous pepoepi there or the navaratna. Thus, under Akbar the state became essentially secular, liberand enlightened in social matters, and a promoter of cultrual integration.
The fifty years reign of Akbar the Great now followed. The mughal hold on northern and central India was made firm. Malwa and the independent Rajput states, Gujrat and Khandesh were secured, and by 1576 Bengal was restored once more to the control of Delhi. The north-western frontier gateway to India for so many invaders, was secured by the acquisition of Kabul and XI Qandahar, although the latter town was to be a bone of contention with the F^ersians for a long time to come, in the Deccan, the northern tier of the successor-states to the Bahmanids were either directly annexed or made to acknowledge Akbar's supermacy, but the military and administrative control of the Mughals was not yet strong enough for full authority to be exercised there; this was to be the work of Aurangzeb.
On the diplomat level, the initially friendly relations with the safavids were exchanged for an agreement with the Ozbeg 'Abdullah Khan over the demarcation of respective territories. There was also contact with the ottomans over the common threat from the Portuguese in the Indian ocean, but the distance between Delhi and Istanbul were too vast for a Sunni Grand Alliance to emerge.
Akbar was thus undeniably a great general and statesman, but he is perhaps more interesting as a thinker and religious reformer. This syncretistic Din-l-ilahi shows his deep intellectual curiosity about religious in general. Hindus participated to a greater extent than usual in the administration and direction of the empire. It was under Akbar that the governmental system of the "empire took shape, and he welded together into a ruling class diverse ethnic elements, comprising Turks, Afghans, Persians, and Hindus.
This class formed the mansabdaris.holders of official appointments who were obliged to provide a certain number of troops. Official salaries were in part paid by Jagirs or land grants, which were not , however, hereditary like the iota's of the Islamic lands further west. Although the ruler himself had teoretically xn unbridled secular authority, the early Mughals at least were benevolent rather than tyrannical despots; moreover, the very vastness of the empire inhibited over-centralization.
Akbar's successors Jahangir and Shah Jahan continued the Policy of enforcing obedience over outlying parts-over the Rajputs of Mewar, the Shi's Sultanates of Deccan, the Portuguese on the coast of Bengal - but Shah Jahan's ambitions of uniting central Asia and India in a ground Sunni empire only ended in failure and loss of Prestige.
In a savage succession war after Shah Jahan death, Aurangzeb twice defeated his brother Dara Shikoh and began a fifty-year's reign.
He brokes with the liberal and electic traditions of his Predecessors. He attacked lax social and religious practices, which had grown up in Muslim India under the allprevading influence of the surrounding Hindu majority society, attempting a reformation at on of the lines enunciated in the eighteenth century by Shah Wali-Allah of Delhi. In Part, Aurangzeb's Policy was a reaction against the renewed giver, intellectual and material of the Hindusim; yet the continued to let Hindus form an integral part of the mughal military and administrative structure. His military efforts were at first directed at strengthening the northwestern frontier, where fierce fighting was necessary assert control over the Pathans.
Latterly, he became increasingly concerned over the Deccan: the remaining Shi Sultanates were completely extinguished, and the Marathas XIII checked; yet this last success was only temporary, and the hgiherPoint of Muslim influence in the Deccan under Aurangzeb was never to be reached again. Aurangzeb's death in 1707 began the agonizing decline of the Mughals. A series of ephemeral rulers was raised to Power, whilst the outlying provinces of the empire fell into the hands of such groups as the Martha's, fats, Sikhs, and Rohilla Afghans. Nadir Shah's invasion of India in 1738-9 and the occupation of Delhi, and the subsequent compaigns of Ahmad Shah Durrani, dealt the empire material and moral blows from which it never recovered on all sides, Hindu fortunes were reviving, and the factor of the English was now significant in the interior of the subscontinent as well as in the coastlands - whilst the English were extending their Power through Bengal to Oudh, Central India, and Rajputana, the Mughals in Delhi could only look on helplessly.
Shah Alam-ll was an English Pensioner, and in 1858 the last Mughal was deposed and exiled for complicity in the Indian Mutiny.
Centralized administration, organized on systematic line, was a notable feature of the Mughal Empire very largely it was a creation of Akbar (1963-1014/1556-1605). At the center, the Emperor appointed ministers such as the Wakil. whose office after Bysam Khan (d.967/1560) became largely titular and was often unoccupied. The diwan-l'a'ia or head of the revenue and finance department came to be the most important minister. He controlled revenues realized in the emperor's personal domain (Khalisa), XIV determined the assessment figures (djama) on wliose basis djagirs were assigned, and was in cliarge of payment of ail expenditure, including cash salaries. He issued instructions to his subordinates, called diwans in the Provinces (Subas).
The mir bakhshi was in charge of grants of mansabs (Salarydetermining ranks), up keep of the army and the intelligence service. He had his own subordinates (bakhshis) in the Subas. The Sadar at-Sudur was in charge of appointments of judicial officers and charity grants, again with subordinates called Sadrs Pasted in each Suba.
Akbar divided the empire into Sub as, each having a governor (Sipahsolar, Sahib-l-suba, nazim) appointed by the Emperor. The governor's Powers were greatly restricted by other officers,the diwan. the bakhshi and the Sadr, who were directly subordinate only to the respective ministers at the center. Each Suba. was divided- into Sarkars. maintained largely for territorial identification. Fawdjdars mained law and order over areas which did not necessarily coincide with Sarkars reach Sarkars was divided among parganas. each having a Muslim Judge (Kadi) and two Semi-hereditary official called Kanungo and Chaudhari, who were concerned with tax-collection.
The holders of mansabs or mansabators of the Mughal Empire received their pay either in cash (nakd) or in from of assignments or areas of lands from which they were entitled to collect the land revenue and all other taxes imposed or sanctioned by the Emperor. These assignments were known as draaaers. XV though sometimes the term Klta. used by the Delhi Sultans, who also employed. Land which was reserved for the income of the crown was called Khalisa. and such areas which were due to be assigned, but were for the time being managed by imperial officers, were known as pavbaki. Territories assigned in lieu of the salary due to a mansabdar were termed djagirs. or more precisely tankh-w-ah djagirs.
The holders of mansabs or mansabators of the Mughal Empire received their pay either in cash (nakd) or in from of assignments or areas of lands from which they were entitled to collect the land revenue and all other taxes imposed or sanctioned by the Emperor. These assignments were known as draaaers. XV though sometimes the term Klta. used by the Delhi Sultans, who also employed. Land which was reserved for the income of the crown was called Khalisa. and such areas which were due to be assigned, but were for the time being managed by imperial officers, were known as pavbaki. Territories assigned in lieu of the salary due to a mansabdar were termed djagirs. or more precisely tankh-w-ah djagirs.
The Mughal rulers consolidated the administrative system which had developed under Akbar. Jahangir (1605-27),and Shah Jahan (1628-58) maintained' the alliance with the Rajputs, and tried to further broaden the Political base of the empire by allying with powerful sections such as the Afghans and Marathas. The embellished their capitals with beautiful buildings, many of them in marble, and tried to make the mughal court the centre of the cultural life in the country. The Mughals played a Positive role in establishing India's relations with neighboring Asian Power such as Iran, the Uzbeks, and the offomen Turks, thereby opening up greater avenues for India's foreign trade. Trade concessions given to various European trading companies were also aimed at Promoting India's foreign trade. But a no. of negative features came to the surface during the period. The growing Prosperity of the ruling classes did not filter down to peasants and workers. The Mughal ruling class remained oblivious of the growth of Science and technology in the West. The Problem of succession to the throne created instability, thus posing a threat to the Political system as well as to the economic and cultural development.
Jahangir; the eldest son of Akbar, succeded to the throne without any difficulty, his younger brothers having died during the lifetime of Akbar due to excessive drinking. However, shortly after Jahangir's succession, his eldest son, Khusrau, broke-out into rebellion. Tussle between father and son for the throne was not unusual in those times. Jahangir himself had rebelled against his father, and kept the empire disturbed for some time. However, Khusrau's rebellion proved to be short lived Jahangir defeated him at a battle near Lahore and soon afterwards he was captured and prisoned.
Like Akbar, Jahangir realised that conquest could be flasting on the basis not of force but of securing the goodwill of the people. He, therefore, treated the defeated Afghan Chiefs and their followers with consideration and sympathy. After sometime, many ofthe Princes and Zamindars of Bengal detained at the court were released and allowed to return to Bengal. Even Musa Khan was released and his estates were restored. Thus after a long spell, Peace and Prosperity returned to Bengal. To cap the process, the Afghan also now began to be inducted into the Mughal nobility. The leading Afghan noble under Jahangir was KhaniJahan Lodi who rendered distinguished service in the Deccan.
By 1622, Jahangir had brought Malik Ambar to heel Patched up the long drawn out tussle with Mewar, and pacified Bengal. Jahangir was still fairly young (51), and a long era of Peace seemed to be ahead. But the situation was changed radically by XVII two developments -the Persian conquest of Qandhar which was a blow to IVlughal Prestige, and the growing failure of Jahangirs health which unleashed the latent struggle for succession annong the Princes, and led to Jockeying for Power by nobles. These developments pitch-forked Nur Jahan into the Political arena.
The djagir system in its standard form worked with tolerable efficiency down to the system in its standard form worked with tolerable efficiency down to the middle of Aurangzeb's reign (1069- 1118/1659-1707). But towards the close of that reign, owing to the increasing strain of the Deccan wars on the financial resources of the empire and the dislocation of the administration owing to the Emperor's absence from Northern India, the complicated machinery under which djagirs were assigned began to be weaken. The crises which shook the djagir system appeared in the garb of what a contemporary writer called bi-diagir (absence of djagir). More commanders and officers had to be accommodated on the imperial payrolls than could be found djagirs. Inevitably, influence and money began to count more in all djagir assignments.
The Mughal nobility was theoretically the creation of the emperor. It was he alone who could confer, increase, increase, diminish or resume the mansab of any of his subjects. It would be wrong, however, to suppose that the Mugharl nobility was open to all who could fulfill certain criteria of merit and competence to the satisfaction of the emperor. The mansabdars were not only public servants but also the richest class in the Empire and a closed aristocracy; entrance into this class was not easily available towhich had developed under Akbar. Jahangir (1605-27),and Shah Jahangir (1605-27),and Shah Jahan (1628-58) maintained' the alliance with the Rajputs, and tried to further broaden the Political base of the empire by allying with powerful sections such as the Afghans and Marathas. The embellished their capitals with beautiful buildings, many of them in marble, and tried to make the mughal court the centre of the cultural life in the country. The Mughals played a Positive role in establishing India's relations with neighboring Asian Power such as Iran, the Uzbeks, and the offomen Turks, thereby opening up greater avenues for India's foreign trade. Trade concessions given to various European trading companies were also aimed at Promoting India's foreign trade. But a no. of negative features came to the surface during the period. The growing Prosperity of the ruling classes did not filter down to peasants and workers. The Mughal ruling class remained oblivious of the growth of Science and technology in the West. The Problem of succession to the throne created instability, thus posing a threat to the Political system as well as to the economic and cultural development.
The Mughal rulers consolidated the administrative system which had developed under Akbar. Jahangir (1605-27),and Shah Jahan (1628-58) maintained' the alliance with the Rajputs, and tried to further broaden the Political base of the empire by allying with powerful sections such as the Afghans and Marathas. The embellished their capitals with beautiful buildings, many of them in marble, and tried to make the mughal court the centre of the cultural life in the country. The Mughals played a Positive role in establishing India's relations with neighboring Asian Power such as Iran, the Uzbeks, and the offomen Turks, thereby opening up greater avenues for India's foreign trade. Trade concessions given to various European trading companies were also aimed at Promoting India's foreign trade. But a no. of negative features came to the surface during the period. The growing Prosperity of the ruling classes did not filter down to peasants and workers. The Mughal ruling class remained oblivious of the growth of Science and technology in the West. The Problem of succession to the throne created instability, thus posing a threat to the Political system as well as to the economic and cultural development. Jahangir; the eldest son of Akbar, succeded to the throne without any difficulty, his younger brothers having died during the lifetime of Akbar due to excessive drinking. However, shortly after Jahangir's succession, his eldest son, Khusrau, broke-out into rebellion. Tussle between father and son for the throne was not unusual in those times. Jahangir himself had rebelled against his father, and kept the empire disturbed for some time. However, Khusrau's rebellion proved to be short lived Jahangir defeated him at a battle near Lahore and soon afterwards he was captured and prisoned. Like Akbar, Jahangir realised that conquest could be flasting on the basis not of force but of securing the goodwill of the people. He, therefore, treated the defeated Afghan Chiefs and their followers with consideration and sympathy. After sometime, many ofthe Princes and Zamindars of Bengal detained at the court were released and allowed to return to Bengal. Even Musa Khan was released and his estates were restored. Thus after a long spell, Peace and Prosperity returned to Bengal. To cap the process, the Afghan also now began to be inducted into the Mughal nobility. The leading Afghan noble under Jahangir was KhaniJahan Lodi who rendered distinguished service in the Deccan. By 1622, Jahangir had brought Malik Ambar to heel Patched up the long drawn out tussle with Mewar, and pacified Bengal. Jahangir was still fairly young (51), and a long era of Peace seemed to be ahead. But the situation was changed radically by two developments -the Persian conquest of Qandhar which was a blow to IVlughal Prestige, and the growing failure of Jahangirs health which unleashed the latent struggle for succession annong the Princes, and led to Jockeying for Power by nobles. These developments pitch-forked Nur Jahan into the Political arena. The djagir system in its standard form worked with tolerable efficiency down to the system in its standard form worked with tolerable efficiency down to the middle of Aurangzeb's reign (1069- 1118/1659-1707). But towards the close of that reign, owing to the increasing strain of the Deccan wars on the financial resources of the empire and the dislocation of the administration owing to the Emperor's absence from Northern India, the complicated machinery under which djagirs were assigned began to be weaken. The crises which shook the djagir system appeared in the garb of what a contemporary writer called bi-diagir (absence of djagir). More commanders and. officers had to be accommodated on the imperial payrolls than could be found djagirs. Inevitably, influence and money began to count more in all djagir assignments. The Mughal nobility was theoretically the creation of the emperor. It was he alone who could confer, increase, increase, diminish or resume the mansab of any of his subjects. It would be wrong, however, to suppose that the Mugharl nobility was open to all who could fulfill certain criteria of merit and competence to the satisfaction of the emperor. The mansabdars were not only public servants but also the richest class in the Empire and a closed aristocracy; entrance into this class was not easily available to ordinary subject, whatever their merits. The most important factor which was tal<en into account when nobles were appointed was heredity. The Khanazads. or sons and descendants of mansabdars, had the best claim of all. But sons did not normally succeed to the full mansabs of their fathers. As a result, a large portion of recruits always consisted of persons who did not belong to families of those already holding mansabs. Such persons came from a variety of classes A no. of them were Zamindars or chiefs within the Empire. The inclusion of Zamindars among the officers of the state was no innovation of the Mughals, but it is true that Akbar gave it very great importance by granting mansabs to a large number of Zamindars. Pre-eminently the Rajput chiefs. Their ancestral domains were left to them, being treated as their watandjagirs. but as government officers, ordinary djagir were assigned to them in all parts of the Empire.
There were nobles and high officers of other states who were given a place in the Mughal nobility on account of their experience, status and influence or of the contingents which they commanded and the territories which they controlled. For the Persian and Uzbek nobility, India had traditionally been on El Dorado where fortunes could be rapidly made. In the Deccan military necessity requiredthat the large number of nobles and officers of the independent states, both in times of peace and war, be own over to the Mughal side. They had to be granted mansabs high enough to induce them to betray their own states. Almost all the Deccani mansabdars. e.g. Bidjapuris. Hydarabadis or Marathas, belong to this category. A small portion of the mughal nobility was recruited from those who had no claims to high birth but were pure administrator or accountants. Such were the members of the castes of Khatris, Kayasths, Nagar Brahmans, etc. Finally mansab were also awarded to scholars, religious divines, men of letters, etc. Abu-l-FadI in the time of Akbar and said Allah Khan and Danishmand Khan during the reign of Shah Jahan owed their high ranks to their talents as men of letters. A few theologians and religious scholars were also awarded mansabs.
There various elements were incorporated into the Mughal Service largely as a result of historical circumstances but partly also as a result of planned imperial policy. Akbar's Policy seems to have been to integrate all these elements into a single imperial service. He often assigned officers belonging to various groups to serve under one superior officer. At the same time, the district or separate character of each group was respected. Akbar's Policy of Sulh-i-Kull. universal peace, was at least partly motivated by a desire to employ elements of diverse religious beliefs-Sunnis, Shias and Hindus - and to prevent sectarian differences among them from interfering with their loyality to the throne.
From a close scrutiny of the sources, it is clear that a marked expansion of the nobility did not take place till Aurangzeb embarked on the policy of annexing the entire Deccan. As a result of fresh recruitment made during this period, the internal composition of the nobility changed in same material respects. Abul-FadI Ma'muri summed up the changes by saying that the Khanazads, i.e. nobles belonging to families previous connected with imperial service, were the chief losers. There may be same element of exaggeration in his statement, but our evidence largely bears him out. Recruitment from aristocratic families of central Asia and Persia still continued, but on a much smaller scale. There was very little opportunity of entry left for the nonaristocratic educated classes. There may have been a few promotions of scholars like Bakhtawar Khan and Inayat Allah Khan but their number was limited. There was, however, room for adventures, who first organized their troops and established themselves as chiefs or ruler in areas outside the control of the Empire and then sought to enter imperial service. Many Maratha chiefs offer an excellent illustration of this curious procedure.
Mughal India had a currency system based on the silver rupee (178 grains); but the system was formally trimetallic, with gold and copper coins circulating at rates based on their metal values. The Mughals succeeded in issuing a coinage of great purity and uniformity from numerous mints throughout their empire. See further on Mughal coinage, 9, below. Numismatics.
Beneath the imperial structure existed a more stable class, that of Zamindaras Mukhlis (ca. 1750) defined a Zamindar as "literally meaning master of the land (Sahib-i-Zamin) but now (actually) the malik (proprietor) of the land of a village or township, who also carried on cultivation". With such superior "land-owners" at one extreme, the Zamindar also comprised the various tributary ciiiefs and autonomous Radjas. who were also caled zannindars by the mughal chancery.
It is a remarkable fact that general revenue regulations issued in the period from Al<bar and Awrangzib exclude the Zamindars from the framework of the standard revenue machinery. On the other hand, there is considerable evidence that the Zamindars paid the revenue on behalf of whole villages. A possible explanation seems to be that every locality had some land under Zamindars. who from the point of view of the revenue authorities were often simple revenue-payers of asami.
Summary assessment of land revenue and collection through Zamindars must in general have considerably simplified the task of the diagirdrs and their agents. Yet it was also from the Zamindars that they'met with the greatest opposition. A heavy assessment would deprive the Zamindars of their income and, in the case, they might use their armed retainers, backed in some cases by the peasants, to defy the diagirdars. For such defiance, a Zamindars might forfeit his Zamindari rights. But a Zamindar could not be dispossessed or appointed by any eon except by the Emperor.
The reign of Awrangzib saw a great increase in the pressure of the administration of the diagirdars upon the Zamindars as a class. Manucci declared that "usually the viceroys and governors (of the IVIughal Empire) are in a constant state of quarrel with the Hindu princes and Zamindars - with some because they wish to seize their lands; with others to force them to pay more revenu than is customary. "There was usually "some rebellion of the Radjas and Zamindars going on in the Mogul Kingdom".
Socio-Economic Structure of Mughal India
The peasants were largely comprehended by the names ra'aya, ra'iyyat (hence the Anglo-Indian "ryot"). That the peasants were a greatly differentiated class is suggested by the distinction made between mukaddams (headmen), Kalantran (higher-level men), etc., on the one hand, and the rezanri 'aya (smallpeasants), on the other. A farman of Awrangzib makes a separate category for peasants who were so indigent as to depend wholly on credit for their seed, cattle and subsistence. Whether the peasants had ownershiprights on the land may be doubted: but since land was not scarce, the authorities were more interested in keeping the peasants tied to the land which they had been cultivating rather than in stressing their claim to evict them. There was, in fact, a considerable migratory population among the peasants, often called paykasht. peasants tilling land away from their home villages.
The village was the unit around which peasant society revolved. It was also the real unit of assessment of the state's revenue demand, which as then distributed among villagers by the headmen and the village accountant (patwari). It had thus a financial pool, from which part from taxpayments, minor common expenses (Kharadi-i-dih) werealso met. This seems to have formed the basic factor behind the formation of the celebrated, but often elusive, Indian village community. The village had its own servants, whose status and functions have been studied by Fukazawa in an important paper based on docunnents fromlS'^ century IVIaharastitra.
.webp "a symbolic image about mughal India") |
| Mughals in India, An image |
By and large, the artisans were in the same position as the peasants: they were technically "free", but hemmed around by many constraints. Though some of them were boudn to render customary services as village servants, most of the artisans could sell their wares in the market. Need for advances, however, oftenforced them to deal only with merchants, brokers or other middlemen. A very small number worked in the workshops (Karkhanas) of nobles and merchants.
Merchants formed a numerous and fairly well protected class in the Mughal Empire. It was also quite divergent. There were on the one had, the large bands of bandijaras. or transporters go goods of bulk, moving with load-carrying bullocks over enormous distance; on the other, there were specialized bankers (sarrafs), brokers (dailals) and insurers. Some of them at the ports, also owned and operated ships.
Decline of the Mughal Empire
The Mughal empire declined rapidly after the death of Aurangzeb. The Mughal court became the scene for faction fighting among the nobles, and soon ambitious provincial governors began to behave in an independent manner. The Maratha depredations extended from the Deccan to the heartland of the empire, the Gangetic plains. The weakness of the empire was proclaimed to the world when Nadir Shah imprisoned the Mughal emperor and looted Delhi in 1739.
To what extend was the downfall of the Mughal Empire due to developments after the death of Aurangzeb, and to what extent was it due to the mistaken policies adopted by Aurangzeb ? There has been a good deal of discussion on this point among historians. While not absolving Aurangzeb from all responsibility, the recent rend has been to view his reign in the context of the economic, social, administrative and intellectual situation prevailing in the country as also the developing international trends, before and during his reign.
We know very little about the number of zamindars and their living standards. Mughal policy towards the zamindars wascontradictory.
The attempt to extend Mughal administration over Golconda, Bijapur and Karnataka, stretched the Mughal adminsitration to brealing point.
Aurangzeb's religious policy should be seen in the social, economic and political context. Aurangzeb was orthodox in his outlook and tried to remain within the framework of the islami law. But this law as developed outside India in vastly dissimilar situations, and could hardly be applied rigidly to India.
Legacy of the Mughal Empire
In the ultimate resort, the decline and downfall of the empire was due to economic, social political and institutional factors, Akbar's measures helped to keep the forces of disintegration in check for some time. But it was impossible for him to effect fundamental changes in the structure of society. By the time Aurganzeb came to the throne, the socio-economic forces of disintegration were already strong. Aurangzeb lacked the foresight and statesmanship necessary to effect fundamental changes in the structure or to pursue policies which could, for the time being, reconcile the various competing elements.