The Mughal Empire
18-3
Early History of the Mughals
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*The Mughals are an Islamic group who were
the descendants of the Mongols, invaded
and conquered India.
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The Word Mughal is the Indian word for
Mongol
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700-1000 AD the Indians prevented Mongol
invasions
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1000 AD the Sultan Mahmud destroys many
Indian cities and makes Delhi a Sultan capital
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1398 Timur the Lame destroys Delhi as an
example to other Indian cities
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*Between 1100-1600 the interaction
between the Hindu and Muslim societies can
best be described as a period of conflict
alternated with periods of religious
toleration and peaceful coalition.
Timur took large parts of Northern India and other
parts he looted and destroyed in a brutal fashion.
Five Great Mughal Leaders
1. Babur
2. Akbar
3. Jahangir and Nur Jahan
4. Shah Jahan
5. Aurangezeb
Babur Finds the Mughal Empire
• 1492 Babur becomes king
at the age of 11
• He is a descendant of
Timur the Lame and
Genghis Kahn
• At first his kingdom was
small and in the area of
present day Uzbekistan
and Tajikistan
Sultan Babur’s lineage
Babur Finds The Mughal Empire
• Babur was a brilliant
military strategist and
understood his men
• Babur is able to win a
commanding victory
over the sultan of Delhi
– His army was greatly
outnumbered 12,000 to
100,000
Babur’s conquest is shown as
purple
Akbar the “Great One”
• Grandson of Babur
• A military conqueror
• Believed in war for its
own sake
– always on the offensive
conquering new lands
– His armies relied on heavy
artillery to take fortified
cities
• He will unify a land of a
100 million people
Akbar’s conquest is shown as
dark orange
The Religion of Akbar
• Akbar was born a Muslim
• He believed in and
practiced religious
tolerance.
– *He had wives who were
Christian, Hindu and Muslim
(proof that he was tolerant of
other religions)
– He abolished religious taxes
for non-Muslims
• *He started his own religion
called the "Divine Faith".
– It combined
• Hinduism,
• Jainism
• Islam
Akbar the Great
The Golden Age of Akbar
• A mixture of many cultures
– Persian is the Lingua Franca and the language of the
high court
– *Hindi was the most common vernacular language
(Still the most important language in India today)
– *Urdu (from the soldiers camp) was the language of
the Army- A mixture of Arabic, Persian and Hindi
The Golden Age of Akbar
• Arts flourished- Example is "Miniatures" small highly detailed and
colorful paintings
• Literature-the writing of the book Akbarnamah (Book of Akbar)
• A great period of revived architecture
– Akbar built the capital city of Fatehpur Sikri city
– abandoned only after 15 years due to a lack of reliable water source
Palace at Fatehpur Sikri
The Reign of
Janghira and Nur Jahan
• Jahangir was the the son of Akbar. He was a weak ruler, but his
Persian wife was a skilled politician. Her name was Nur Jahan
Nur Jahan- A Woman of Power
• The Woman
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Persian wife
Hunt tigers
Rode horses
Composed poetry
Designed clothes
• She manipulated the offices
of state to insure her power
– She put her father in the
position of Prime Minister of
the Mugal Court
– She position Khusrau, son of
Jahangir as the future
emperor
Nur Juhan- Wife of Janghira
The Reign of
Janghira and Nur Jahan
• Nur Jahan and Jahangir did not
practice religious tolerance like
Akbar
• They supported only Islam
•
Khusrau rebellion
– Son against father
– he turned to the Guru Ajun a Sikhs
for support
– Khusrau is defeated and ordered to
be blinded
• *The Sikhs practiced a religion
that combined beliefs of
Buddhism, Hinduism and Sufism
called Sikhism
– *Main goal was to build a close and
loving relationship with God through
meditation
Emperor Janghira receiving his two sons,
Khusrau and Parviz
Shah Jahan
• Grandson of Akbar
• Feared all rivals to the
throne and had them
assassinated
• Loved two things
– beautiful buildings
– Wife- Mumtaz Mahal
• Under Shah Jahan there
were great famines, high
taxes and war
Mumtaz Mahal
• Mumtaz Mahal was the
wife of Shah Jahan
– She died at 38 giving
birth to her 14th child
– Shah Jahan was heart
broken
The Taj Mahal
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*Shah Jahan ordered the building of the Taj Mahal as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal’s body
Perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings in the world
• Made of white marble and jewels
• Single towering marble dome and four slender towers
• Inside is a glittering garden of a thousand carved marble flowers inlaid with precious
stones
Site for the Muslim faithful today
*One of the finest examples of Mughal architecture, blending Persian, Islamic and Indian
styles
Aurangezeb
• ruled from 1658-1707
• Master military strategist
• Aggressive empire builder
• The Mughal empire
expands to its greatest
extent
Aurangezeb’s conquests is
shown as light orange
The Reign of Aurangezeb
• Rigidly enforced Islamic law- Shari’a
– no drinking, no gambling or other vices
– appointed censors to police his subjects morals
• Did not practice religious tolerance
– taxed non-Muslims
– Hindus removed from high positions
– Hindu temples destroyed
• He made too many enemies and could not
hold the empire together.