The Mughal Empire in India
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Khilafah al-'Alam al-Islami |
The Mughal Empire in India
1526 Establishment of the Mughul Dynasty; First Battle of Panipat: Babur defeats Lodis
1526-1530 Reign of Babur
1530 Humayun succeeds Babur
1555 Humayun recovers the throne of Delhi
1556 Death of Humayun; Accession of Akbar; Interview with Akbar
1571 Foundation of Fatehpur Sikri by Akbar
1572 Akbar annexes Gujarat
1586 Annexation of Kashmir
1591 Mughul conquest of Sind
1592 Annexation of Orissa
1605 Death of Akbar and Accession of Jahangir
1607 Sher Afghan first, husband of Nur Jahan, killed
1623 Shah Jahan revolts against Jahangir
1627 Death of Jahangir; Accession of Shah Jahan
1628 Shah Jahan proclaimed Emperor
1631 Death of Shah Jahan's wife Mumtaz Mahal; The construction of Taj Mahal
1633 End of Ahmednagar Dynasty
1636 Aurangzeb appointed Viceroy of Deccan
1658 Coronation of Aurangzeb
1661 Cession of Bombay to the English; Mughul capture of Cooch Bihar
1666 Death of Shah Jahan; Shivaji's visit to Agra and escape
1678 Marwar occupied by the Mughuls
1686 English war with the Mughuls; Fall of Bijapur
1690 Peace between the Mughuls and the English
1691 Aurangzeb at the zenith of his power
1707 Death of Aurangzeb; Battle of Jajau
1714 Husain Ali appointed Viceroy of the Deccan; The treaty of the Marathas with Husain Ali
1720 Accession of Baji Rao Peshwa at Poona
1739 Nadir Shah conquers Delhi; The Marathas capture Salsette and Bassein
1740 Accession of Balaji Rao Peshwa; The Marathas invade Arcot
1742 Marathas invade Bengal
1748 First Anglo-French war
1750 War of the Deccan and Carnatic Succession; Death of Nasir Jang
1751 Treaty of Alivadi with the Marathas
1756 Siraj-ud-daulah captures CalcuttaEmpire means different things in different historical periods and in different regions. For the Mughals, empire meant establishing a new dynasty in a region other than their homeland. The Mughal emperors were from Afghanistan, northwest of India. Their family came from somewhere else, and they spoke Turkish and Persian, not Indian languages. Even so, they stayed in India and built their power there.
From 1526 to 1858, the Mughal Empire controlled much of the South Asian region. Today this area includes the countries of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The map to the right shows how much of the area the Mughals controlled at their height. The Mughal rule was established in India by Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur in 1526.
The Mughal Empire lay between the Persian Safavid Empire to the West and the Chinese Ming Dynasty to the East. Babur, Humayun, and Akbar, the first three emperors, built their political power through military, economic, and diplomatic relations with various rulers in India. One of the main things that the emperors did was to create an impression of power through their architecture and art.
1504: Babur conquers Kabul
Babur was a Chagatai Turk. He descended from his father's side from Timur and was connected on his mother's side with Genghiz Khan. In 1494, on his father's death and when he was just eleven, Babur became the king of Farghana in Central Asia. In the power struggle in Central Asia, he had to face opposition from his own relatives as also the Uzbegs. Babur's ambition was to conquer Samarkhand, the one-time capital of Timur. His two attempts to take possession of that city in 1497 and 1503 ended in failure.
In the power struggle, he was deprived of his own kingdom Farghana and had to wander homeless for a year. He could not fulfill his ambition to establish an empire in Central Asia. But during this period he made all the plans to conquer Hindustan, like his ancestor Timur. In 1504, he was able to conquer Kabul on the north-west frontier of India.
1525: Babur advances to India
After conquering Kabul, in 1511 Babur tried again to occupy Samarkhand and so took help from of Shah Ismail Safavi of Persia to fight against Shaibani Khan, the Uzbeg chief. But the Uzbegs defeated Babur in 1512. His ambition towards the north-west were foiled and so he turned his attention to India. During the period 1512 and 1525 he led many expeditions to India, but none of them proved successful. And finally in 1525-1526 he got an opportunity to advance in India.
The political instability in India proved favourable to Babur. The then ruler of Delhi Ibrahim Lodi was not able to administer properly. His nobles were not satisfied with him. The Delhi Sultanate had started disintegrating. At this time Daulatkhan Lodi, the Subhedar of Punjab invited Babur to invade India. Babur found a way to make his ambitions true. He at once responded to the invitation and marched towards Punjab and occupied Lahore in 1525.
1526: First Battle of Panipat
When Daulat Khan realised that Babur wished to conquer India for himself, he turned against him. This compelled Babur to retire to Kabul. In November 1525, he marched from Kabul again with a huge army and occupied Punjab. Babur proceeded against Ibrahim Lodi and met him on the historic field of Panipat on April 21, 1526. Babur came to India with only 12,000 soldiers while Ibrahim Lodi had a vast army of over 100,000. Babur's experience helped him win the decisive battle.
Establishment of Babur's Rule
Babur established his empire after defeating Ibrahim Lodi at the Battle of Panipat, the Rajputs under Rana Sanga of Mewar at the battle of Kanwar and the consolidated Afghans chiefs at the banks of river Ghagra. His kingdom extended from Kabul and Kandhahar in the north-west to Bihar in the east and from the Himalayas in the north to Gwalior in the south. However he was not able enjoy the fruits of his hard-earned victories. After four years of ruling India, Babur died in 1530 at the age of forty seven. He was succeeded by his son Humayun.
The Coming of Islam in IndiaThe Muslims are about 12% of India's population. But their influence on the Indian society was much stronger. The main reason was that there were many Muslims rulers in different parts of India. Most of the Muslim rulers of India were invaders from the west.
Islam was established in Saudi Arabia. But most of Islam's spreaders in India arrived from non-Arab countries. The first spreaders of Islam in India were individuals who saw in spreading Islam as a holy precept. They began coming to India from the 11th century. They arrived in India from Bukhara, Turkey, Iran, Yemen and Afghanistan. The most famous preacher of Islam in India was Khwaja Chishti, who arrived from Iran and his sect is called Sufism.But the accepted assumption in India is that most of India's Muslims were converted to Islam through the sword. Meaning the Indians were given an option between death or adopting Islam. The third option was getting examined in Islam religion along with heavy taxes.
The process of converting Indians to Islam began in the 8th century, when the Arabs began invading north India and present day Pakistan. After the Arabs other Muslims invaded India. These invasions by Muslims in India were not continuous and not all Muslim invaders were Islamic fanatics. One of the Moghul emperors, Akbar, was very liberal and he even established a new religion, Din E Elahi, which included in it, beliefs from different religions. In some of the monuments built by Akbar symbols of different religions are visible. In contrast with Akbar his great grand son, Aurangazeb, was a fanatic Muslim and during his term the non-Muslims suffered a lot. Many worshipping sites of different religions were destroyed and transformed into mosques.
Most of the Indian Muslims converted to Islam were belonged to the lower classes of the Indian society. Besides these Muslims there are also Muslims who belonged to the ruling families of the different Indian kingdoms. Some of these rulers were Hindus who actually belonged to the warrior castes of the Hindu society and adopted Islam. Others are descendants of Muslim rulers who invaded India. The different Muslim rulers of India also brought to their kingdoms Muslim mercenaries, businessmen and slaves from different parts of the world like Russia; Afghanistan; Turkey; Arab countries and Africa. These people remained in India, married local Indians and converted them to Islam. Because of the different origins as stated and because of other reasons the Muslims of India refer to themselves not only as Muslims but also with other titles.
In general the Muslims of India like the Muslim world is divided into two main sects, Sunni and Shia. And just like in the whole Muslim world there is tension between these two sects. Each sect has many different schools. There are also Muslims who claim to be the descendants from the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and the men in this community add the title Syed before their names. Other claim to be the descendants from the first Muslims and add the title Sheik. Along with these Muslim world divisions, the Indian Muslims also have other divisions.
Different communities who adopted Islam in different ways have different community names. In west India the Bohra and Khoja are Muslim communities who adopted Islam influenced by different Muslim preachers. The leader of the Khoja community is Aga Khan. The Nawait are descendants of Arab and Persian immigrants. In south India in the state of Kerala, the Mophilla community is descendants from Arab merchants. A well known Indian Muslim community is Pathan. The Pathan are Muslims who arrived from Afghanistan. They normally have their surname as Khan. The Pathan have an image of being brave, honest and righteous. Many Indians who adopted Islam adopted the surname Khan and they claim that they are Pathans, which is not always true. The original Pathans claim that they originate from the Tribes of Israel.
In the beginning of the 20th century, some reformist Muslims organizations evolved in India who wanted to adjust Islamic philosophy to the modern world. These organizations wanted to cancel polygamy and were in favor of women education.
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