The Mughal Empire

AIN-I-AKBARI (Book)

  1. Written by Abul Fazl, Minister - one of 9 jewels
  2. large project - precious resource material for knowing the administration and culture during the reign of Akbar.
  3. The Ain- i- Akbari is divided into five books:
    i. The first book - imperial household.
    ii. The second book - the servants of the emperor, the military and civil services.
    iii. The third book - Imperial administration.-> regulations for the judicial and executive departments and the divisions of the empire.
    iv. The fourth book - information about Hindu philosophy, science, social customs and literature.
    v. The fifth book - the wise saying of Akbar and an account of the ancestry and biography of the author Abul Fazl

TAJ MAHAL (Monument)

  1. The Taj Mahal - built by Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.
  2. mausoleum (impressive building) - Agra - bank of river Yamuna.
  3. designed by Ustad Isha Khan - made of pure white marble.
  4. main structure - on a high platform- four corners of this platform is a minaret (tall thin tower to pray)
  5. central dome - like a inverted lotus, octagonal chamber, graves are in an underground lower chamber.
    A. The entire structure -marble and the walls with floral designs of semi precious stones- method of decoration is called pietra dura
    B. architectural forms developed by the Mughals like massive domes of marble, pietra dura inlay work and kiosks(chhatris)
    C. UNESCO World Heritage site - 1983
    D. Seven Wonders of the World in 2007

JAMA MASJID (Mosque)

  1. Built by Shah Jahan and is the biggest mosque in India
  2. huge courtyard - 1000s of people at a time - eleven arches of which the central arch rises above the roof level.
  3. built on a lofty basement with majestic flight of steps - gateway on three sides of the courtyard - four towers and two 40 m high minarets.

Red Fort

  1. Built by Shah Jahan -shift his capital to Delhi.
  2. banks of river Yamuna
  3. Used Red sandstone and marble
  4. massive walls and two gateways.
  5. Western Gateway - known as Lahori Gate - used for the emperor’s ceremonial purposes
  6. buildings - Diwan-i-Aam and Diwan-i-Khas
  7. The Diwan-i-Khas - lavishly ornamented hall - Peacock Throne.
  8. Later Aurangzeb built the Moti Masjid in the Red Fort.
  9. Prime Minister - unfurls national flag - Independence day

AKBAR

1. POLITICAL CONQUESTS

2. RAJPUT POLICY

3. STEPS TOWARDS
INTEGRATION

4. SOCIAL & EDUCATIONAL
REFORMS

  1. Akbar - 13 years old when he ascended the throne- guided by his tutor Bairam Khan.
  2. Second battle of Panipat (1556) the Mughal forces led by Bairam Khan defeated Hemu the Wazir of Adil Shah
  3. Established in Delhi and Agra,
  4. Battle of Haldighati in 1576 , the Mughal Army led by Raja Man Singh fought with Maharana Pratap the ruler of Mewar. Maharana Pratap fought with great courage but had to escape from the battlefield - heavily wounded
  5. Akbar died in 1605 but the time he died, his authority extended from Assam in the east to Kabul and Kandahar in the north-west and Ahmednagar, Berar and Khandesh in the Deccan.
  1. The Rajput policy -one of his greatest achievements.
    1. Akbar's marriage was an alliances with the Rajput rulers.
    2. Bhara Mal, the ruler of Amber married his younger daughter Harkha Bai to Akbar.
    3. Religious freedom to his wives - followed Hinduism honoured their parents and relations in the nobility.
    4. Ended the centuries-old animosity between the Muslim rulers and the Rajputs.
    5. Rajputs were made equal partners in the Mughal government, it affected the public policies of the Mughals - growth of a composite culture

Measures to promote greater understanding between Hindus and Muslims

  1. abolished the poll tax or jizyah for non-Muslims
  2. abolished the pilgrim tax on bathing at holy places such as Prayag and Benaras.
  3. abolished the practice of forcibly converting prisoners of war to Islam.
  4. enrolled a number of Hindus into the nobility (highest social class/ titles). While most of these were Rajput Rajas, many of whom entered into matrimonial alliances with Akbar, mansabs (rank/ position) were given to others on the basis of their competence .
  5. In 1575 - built Ibadat Khana or the Hall of prayer at Fatehpur Sikri - call selected theologians of all religions, mystics and intellectuals and discuss religious and spiritual matters.
  6. Issued a Declaration or Mahzar - Akbar the supreme of final arbiter (person with power) in religious matters and replaced the power of the ulema (a body of Muslim scholars who are recognized as having specialist knowledge of Islamic sacred law and theology.)
  7. new faith called Din-i-Ilahi - the principle of oneness of God -stressed on virtues like courage loyalty and justice . It also demanded loyalty to the Emperor . The basic purpose of forming Din-i-Ilahi was Sulh-kul or universal harmony which governed all public policies of Akbar.
    8. translation department for translating works in Sanskrit, Arabic and Greek into Persian . The Singhasan Battisi , the Atharva Veda and the Bible - translated. - followed by the Quran, the Mahabharata, the Gita and the Ramayana.
  1. Kotwals to check the forcible practice of Sati.
  2. Legalized widow remarriage.
  3. Against anyone having more than one wife unless the first wife could not bear children
  4. raised the age of marriage to 14 for girls and 16 for boys.
  5. revised the educational syllabus, laying more emphasis on moral education and mathematics and on secular subjects like agriculture, geometry astronomy logic and history.

Administrative system
of the Mughals

ROLE OF THE EMPEROR

  1. Centralised state based on military power. It rested on two pillars - the absolute authority of the emperor and the strength of the army.
  2. According to Abul Fazl, the office of a true ruler - divine illumination . Thus the Mughal emperor endowed with the divine light was regarded as the vice- regent of God on Earth.
  3. The Emperor ruled the empire with paternal love towards his subjects without distinction of sect or creed.
  4. He was the head of the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary and the supreme commander of the armed forces. He made laws and issued administrative ordinances. The royal uzuk was affixed to all his farmans.

Important Ministers

  1. Early years of Akbar’s reign, Bairam Khan was the vakil.. After his death, the office of the Vakil was stripped of all its powers and it was made more or less honorary.
  2. The head of the revenue department - wazir known as the diwan or diwan-i-ala. - responsible for all income and expenditure.
  3. The head of the military department was called the mir bakshi. - head of the intelligence and information agencies of the Empire
  4. The judicial department was headed by the qazi. - post sometimes combined with the chief of sadar - responsible for charitable and religious matters

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

MANSABDARI &
LAND REVENUE SYSTEM

  1. The Empire - divided into twelve provinces or subahs - further divided into sarkars and each sarkar was further divided into paraganas or mahals.
  2. Each subah - headed by one governor called the subahdar or sipah salar or nazim. He was usually a mansabdar of high rank.
  3. His functions -maintenance of law and order, enforcement of imperial decrees, administration of criminal justice and the smooth collection of revenue.
  4. The provincial diwan was in charge of revenue administration of the province. His responsibilities similar to those of the central diwan.
  5. The other important officials in the province were faujdar, kotwal, bakshi, sadr qazi and muhtasib. These officials were appointed by the centre.

A. MANSABDARI SYSTEM


  1. Introduced by Akbar - unique feature of the administrative system of the Mughal Empire.
  2. Every officer was assigned a rank or a mansab.
  3. The mansabdars formed the ruling group in the Mughal Empire.
  4. The lowest rank in the system was 10 and the highest was 5000 for nobles.
  5. It was a grading system used by the Mughal to fix rank, salary and military responsibility.
  6. These ranks were divided into zat and sawar. Zat fixed the personal status of a person and the salary due to him. The higher the zat, the more prestigious was the noble’s position in court and the larger his salary.
  7. The sawar rank indicated the number of cavalrymen or sawar a mansabdar was required to maintain. For every 10 cavalrymen, the mansabdar had to maintain twenty horses.
  8. The mansabdars received their salaries as revenue assignments called jagirs. Most of the mansabdars did not actually reside or administer these jagirs. They only had the right to the revenue of their assignments which was collected for them by their servants while the mansabdars themselves served in some other part of the country.
  9. Jahangir reduced the average rate of zat salary from 240 per annum to 200 per annum.
  10. Shahjahan reduced the number of sawars a noble was required to maintain.
  11. During Aurangzeb’s reign, there was a huge increase in the number of mansabdars leading to a shortage of jagirs.

LAND REVENUE
SYSTEM**

  1. A uniform system of measurement was established for calculating the land tax.
  2. Todarmal drew up schemes for effective tax collection.
  3. This system enriched the state treasury.
  4. The state also give loans to poor farmers which ushered in progress in agriculture, trade and industry