Political Unification under the Mughals

Kapil Kumar

The Mughal Empire or Mogul Empire, self-designated as Gurkani (meaning "son-in law") was an empire based in the Indian Subcontinent, established and ruled by  a MuslimPersianatedynasty of Chagatai Turco-Mongol origin that extended over large parts of  the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan.  

The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the founder Babur's victory over Ibrahim  Lodi, the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in the First Battle of Panipat (1526). The Mughal  emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claimed  direct descent from both Genghis Khan (founder of the Mongol Empire, through his  son Chagatai Khan) and Timur (Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire).  During the reign of Humayun, the successor of Babur, the empire was briefly interrupted by  the Sur Empire. The "classic period" of the Mughal Empire started in 1556 with the ascension o  fAkbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir, the region enjoyed  economic progress as well as religious harmony, and the monarchs were interested in local  religious and cultural traditions. Akbar was a successful warrior. He also forged alliances with  several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to  the Mughal dominance of northwestern India, but most of them were subdued by Akbar.  All Mughal emperors were Muslims; while Akbar was Muslim most of this life, he followed a  new religion in the latter part of his life called Deen-i-Ilahi, as recorded in historical books  like Ain-e-Akbari and Dabestan-e Mazaheb.  

The Mughal Empire did not try to intervene in the local societies during most of its existence, but  rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practicesand diverse and inclusive  ruling elites,leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.Newly coherent social  groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, the Rajputs, the Pashtuns, the Hindu  Jats and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through  collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience.  

The reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, between 1628–58 was the golden age of Mughal  architecture. He erected several large monuments, the best known of which is  the TajMahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi,  and the Lahore Fort. The Mughal Empire reached the zenith of its territorial expanse during the  reign of Aurangzeband also started its terminal decline in his reign due to Maratha military  resurgence under ShivajiBhosale. During his lifetime, victories in the south expanded the  Mughal Empire to more than 3.2 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles), ruling over more than 150 million subjects, nearly one quarter of the world's population a the time, with  a combined GDP of over $90 billion.  

By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, and won over several Mughal  provinces from the Punjab toBengal, and internal dissatisfaction arose due to the weakness of the  Mughal Empire's administrative and economic systems, leading to the break-up of the empire  and declaration of independence of its former provinces by the Nawab of Bengal, the Nawab of  Awadh, the Nizam of Hyderabad and other small states. In 1739, the Mughals were crushingly  defeated in the Battle of Karnal by the forces of Nader Shah, the founder of the Afsharid  dynasty in Persia, and Delhi was sacked and looted, drastically accelerating their decline. During  the following century Mughal power had become severely limited and the last emperor, Bahadur  Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. He issued a firman supporting  the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East  India Company for treason, imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon. The last remnants of the empire  were formally taken over by the British, and the Government of India Act 1858 let the British  Crownformally assume direct control of India in the form of the new British Raj.  

Explanations for the decline  

Historians have offered numerous explanations for the rapid collapse of the Mughal Empire  between 1707 and 1720, after a century of growth and prosperity. In fiscal terms the throne lost  the revenues needed to pay its chief officers, the emirs (nobles) and their entourages. The  emperor lost authority, as the widely scattered imperial officers lost confidence in the central  authorities, and made their own deals with local men of influence. The imperial army, bogged  down in long, futile wars against the more aggressive Marathas, lost its fighting spirit. Finally  came a series of violent political feuds over control of the throne. After the execution of emperor  Farrukhsiyar in 1719, local Mughal successor states took power in region after region  Contemporary chroniclers bewailed the decay they witnessed, a theme picked up by the first  British historians who wanted to underscore the need for a British-led rejuvenation.  

Since the 1970s historians have taken multiple approaches to the decline, with little consensus on  which factor was dominant. The psychological interpretations emphasize depravity in high  places, excessive luxury, and increasingly narrow views that left the rulers unprepared for an  external challenge. A Marxist school (led by IrfanHabib and based at Aligarh Muslim  University) emphasizes excessive exploitation of the peasantry by the rich, which stripped away  the will and the means to support the regime.Karen Leonard has focused on the failure of the  regime to work with Hindu bankers, whose financial support was increasingly needed; the  bankers then helped the Maratha and the British. In a religious interpretation, some scholars  argue that the Hindu Rajputs revolted against Muslim ruleFinally other scholars argue that the very prosperity of the Empire inspired the provinces to achieve a high degree of independence,  thus weakening the imperial court.  

Influence on South Asia  

South Asian art and culture  

A major Mughal contribution to the Indian subcontinent was their unique architecture. Many  monuments were built by the Muslim emperors, especially Shah Jahan, during the Mughal era  including the UNESCO World Heritage Site TajMahal, which is known to be one of the finer  examples of Mughal architecture. Other World Heritage Sites include Humayun's  Tomb, FatehpurSikri, the Red Fort, the Agra Fort, and the Lahore Fort  

The palaces, tombs, and forts built by the dynasty stand today  in Agra, Aurangabad, Delhi, Dhaka, FatehpurSikri, Jaipur, Lahore, Kabul,Sheikhupura, and  many other cities of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.With few memories of Central  Asia, Babur's descendants absorbed traits and customs of South Asia,^[50] and became more or  less naturalized.  

Mughal influence can be seen in cultural contributions such as  

∙ Centralized, imperialistic government which brought together many smaller kingdoms  ∙ Persian art and culture amalgamated with Indian art and culture  

∙ New trade routes to Arab and Turkic lands.  

∙ The development of Mughlai cuisine  

∙ Mughal Architecture found its way into local Indian architecture, most conspicuously in the  palaces built by Rajputs and Sikh rulers.  

∙ Landscape and Mughal gardening  

Although the land the Mughals once ruled has separated into what is now India, Pakistan,  Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, their influence can still be seen widely today. Tombs of the  emperors are spread throughout India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.  

The Mughal artistic tradition was eclectic, borrowing from the European Renaissance as well as  from Persian and Indian sources. Kumar concludes, "The Mughal painters borrowed individual  motifs and certain naturalistic effects from Renaissance and Mannerist painting, but their  structuring principle was derived from Indian and Persian traditions."  

Science and technology 

Muhammad SalihThattvi headed the task of creating a seamless celestial globe using a secret  wax casting method, the famous celestial globe was also inscribed with Arabic and Persian  inscriptions.  

Astronomy  

While there appears to have been little concern for theoretical astronomy, Mughal astronomers  continued to make advances inobservational astronomy and produced nearly a hundred Zij  treatises. Humayun built a personal observatory near Delhi. The instruments and observational  techniques used at the Mughal observatories were mainly derived from the Islamic tradition. In  particular, one of the most remarkable astronomical instruments invented in Mughal India is the  seamless celestial globe.  

Alchemy  

Sake Dean Mahomed had learned much of Mughal Alchemy and understood the techniques used  to produce various alkali and soaps to produce shampoo. He was also a notable writer who  described the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the cities of Allahabad and Delhi in rich detail  and also made note of the glories of the Mughal Empire.  

Sake Dean Mahomed was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both Kings George  IV and William IV.  

Technology  

See also: History of gunpowder: India  

FathullahShirazi (c. 1582), a Persian polymath and mechanical engineer who worked for Akbar,  developed a volley gun.  

Akbar was the first to initiate and use metal cylinder rockets known as bans particularly  against War elephants, during the Battle of Sanbal.  

In the year 1657, the Mughal Army used rockets during the Siege of Bidar Prince Aurangzeb's  forces discharged rockets and grenades while scaling the walls. SidiMarjan was mortally  wounded when a rocket struck his large gunpowder depot, and after twenty-seven days of hard  fighting Bidar was captured by the victorious Mughals  

Later, the Mysorean rockets were upgraded versions of Mughal rockets used during the Siege of  Jinji by the progeny of the Nawab of Arcot. Hyder Ali's father Fatah Muhammadthe constable at Budikote, commanded a corps consisting of 50 rocketmen (Cushoon) for the Nawab of Arcot.  Hyder Ali realised the importance of rockets and introduced advanced versions of metal cylinder  rockets. These rockets turned fortunes in favour of the Sultanate of Mysore during the Second  Anglo-Mysore War, particularly during theBattle of Pollilur. 

Conclusion  

The Indian economy remained as prosperous under the Mughals as it was, because of the  creation of a road system and a uniform currency, together with the unification of the  countryManufactured goods and peasant-grown cash crops were sold throughout the world. Key  industries included shipbuilding (the Indian shipbuilding industry was as advanced as the  European, and Indians sold ships to European firms), textiles, and steel. The Mughals maintained  a small fleet, which merely carried pilgrims to Mecca, imported a few Arab horses  in Surat. Debal in Sindh was mostly autonomous. The Mughals also maintained various river  fleets of Dhows, which transported soldiers over rivers and fought rebels. Among its admirals  were YahyaSaleh, Munnawar Khan, and Muhammad SalehKamboh. The Mughals also protected  the Siddis of Janjira. Its sailors were renowned and often voyaged to China and the East African  Swahili Coast, together with some Mughal subjects carrying out private-sector trade.  

Cities and towns boomed under the Mughals; however, for the most part, they were military and  political centres, not manufacturing or commerce centres Only those guilds which produced  goods for the bureaucracy made goods in the towns; most industry was based in rural areas. The  Mughals also built Maktabs in every province under their authority, where youth were taught  the Quran and Islamic law such as the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri in their indigenous languages.  

The Bengal region was especially prosperous from the time of its takeover by the Mughals in  1590 to the seizure of control by the British East India Company in 1757. In a system where  most wealth was hoarded by the elites, wages were low for manual labour. Slavery was limited  largely to household servants. However some religious cults proudly asserted a high status for  manual labour.  

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