THE MOGUL EMPIRE
BABUR 1526-1530
• He founded the empire in
1526 when he defeated a
Delhi sultan
• His army of 12,000
defeated the sultan’s
100,000 men
• Moguls were descendants
of the Mongols, Turks,
Iranians and Afghans
Babur
• Educated warrior
• Fond of poetry
• Created Persian gardens wherever
he conquered, missed cool
climate of his homeland (see
painting)
• Ruled North India from 1526-30
• Died before the his administrative
skills in consolidating the empire
were tested.
• Empire passed to his son
Humayan
BABUR
• He had to fight to keep order in his society
• After his victory at Kanwaha on March 10,
1527 he became the absolute ruler of North
India
• He spent the rest of his life trying to
organize his empire and build his capital,
Agra
• He died on 12/26/1530
Humayan
• Alternated between
great energy and
indolence
• Lost empire to rival,
had to flee to Safavid
empire (Persia / Iran)
for help
• Son Akbar born
during exile, left
behind with mother
and guardian
Humayan’s Tomb
• With help of Safavids, Humayan regained the empire, 1555
• Shortly thereafter, fell down stairs of his observatory,
probably under the influence of either opium or alcohol, and
died (1556)
• In the words of one chronicler, he “stumbled out of this life
much as he had stumbled through it”.
AKBAR 1556-1605
• He was Babur’s grandson
and took the throne at 13
• He spent most of his reign
making and changing
administrative policies
• Added many new
territories to the empire
and built the largest army
in Mogul history
Akbar
(Ruled 1556-1605)
Akbar Restrains Hawa'i, an Enraged Elephant
by Basawan with Chitra c. 1590
AKBAR
• He was one of the first Mogul rulers to
effectively rule the diverse ethnic make-up
of the empire
• Akbar, a Muslim, appointed Hindus to high
ranking positions
• He encouraged intermarriage
• He accepted all religions and sects
Jahangir
• Often drunken and cruel,
his later years found him
often incapacitated by
opium and alcohol abuse
• Married a 34 year-old
Persian widow he renamed
Nur Jahan (“Light of the
World”). She would
become one of the strongest
personalities of the Mogul
period
Painting commissioned by Akbar
celebrating the birth of Jahangir
Jahangir
• Nur Jahan was the de facto
ruler of the Mogul empire for
the last half of Jahangir’s reign,
due to his indolence and
inebriation. She schemed to get
her relatives in positions of
power
• Replaced by his son Prince
Khurram, who he renamed
Shah Jahan (“Emperor of the
World”)
SHAH JAHAN 1627-1658
• Prince Khurram took
the throne at 35 and
changed his name to
Shah Jahan (King of
the World)
• He spent most of his
time trying to expand
south
SHAH JAHAN
• He was a competent commander with a
strict sense of justice
• During his rule he built palaces, mosques
and gardens
• The best known structure is the Taj Mahal
• When he became sick his sons fought for
control of the empire
SHAH JAHAN
• Eventually his son Aurangzeb captured the
throne and imprisoned his father at Fort
Agra because he supported Dara Shukoh
(an older son)
• Although it sounds harsh, most Mogul
rulers killed their fathers upon succession
TAJ MAHAL
• Shah Jahan built the
mausoleum for his
wife Mumtaz Mahal in
Agra
• It took 23 years to
complete
• It is constructed of
materials from India
and all over Asia
What did Mumtaz Mahal* look like?
•
According to art historian Milo Beach, "There are
paintings that are labeled 'Mumtaz Mahal,' but they
are simply generalized depictions of a Mughal
beauty. There's virtually no contemporary account
of her, because none of the historians would have
had contact with her. . . Under Mohammed's law of
"purdah," the law of the veil, women were obliged to
hide their faces from public view. The only women
depicted in paintings were court dancers and
entertainers; it was taboo to paint royal women. . .
Royal women were kept in seclusion, but that has
nothing to do with the power they held. They clearly
were extremely powerful. Shah Jahan's father,
Jahangir, married a woman named Nur Jahan who
was really the person who ran the empire for the
second half of Jahangir's reign, when he became
addicted to opium and alcohol. He barely functioned
as an emperor, and she ran the country."
*birth name: Arjumand Banu Begum
TAJ MAHAL
• The structure is 1900’ x 1000’
• There is a lot of Persian influence
• While imprisoned Shah Jahan could see the
Taj from his window
• Legend claims that Shah Jahan had the eyes
of the architect gouged out so nothing as
beautiful could be created again.
• When he died he was buried next to his wife
The Taj from a window at Fort Agra
Aurangzeb
(Ruled 1658 - 1707)
• In 1657, Shah Jahan fell seriously ill,
triggering the succession battle among his
sons.
• The more tolerant and scholarly son Dara
Shikoh was defeated by Aurangzeb, a more
pious Moslem.
• Shah Jahan recovered, but it was too late for
Aurangzeb to back down. He had Shah Jahan
imprisoned and the head of Dara Shikoh sent
to him in jail. Shah Jahan lived out his life
looking at the Taj Mahal from his prison
window.
• Aurangzeb killed all his brothers and any
other collateral male relatives deemed a
threat.
Aurangzeb takes Shah Jahan
Prisoner
Mughal Expansion Under Aurangzeb
• Aurangzeb also known as
Alamgir (“World Conqueror”)
• Aurangzeb launched military
campaigns that eventually
added most of the Deccan and
South India to the empire
• The cost of these expeditions
would later weaken the empire
Cost of Aurangzeb’s Deccan Campaigns
• Casualities: approximately 100,000 lives per year for the last
several decades of his attacks, often the result of capturing a
Maratha fort one week, losing it the next, then recapturing it.
• A moving capital city of tents 30 miles in circumference, over
250 bazaars, 500,000 camp followers, 50,000 camels, and 30,000
elephants, all of whom had to be fed
• The Deccan was stripped of its wealth. Famine and bubonic
plague took even more lives among civilians
• The anger of Hindus was raised against this Moslem king as a
result of his cruelty to non-believers. Ex. the Maratha ruler
Sambhaji was captured, tortured, and butchered to death
• Nearing 90, Aurangzeb finally withdrew in 1705, reading and
copying the Qur’an in preparation for his death. He confessed to
his son, “I came alone, and I go as a stranger. I do not know who
I am, nor what I have been doing. I have sinned terribly, and I do
not know what punishment awaits me.”
End of Mughal Empire
• While at the beginning of the eighteenth century the Mughal empire looked strong, it
was beginning to decline and decay
• Weak rulers, regional and factional rivalries, and foreign invasion all eventually
brought the empire to an end
• The incursions of the Europeans, especially the British and the French, were setting
the stage for the next period of Indian history(division and British conquest)
• Last emperor sent into exile by British following Great Mutiny of 1857