Mughal India

Peter Clarke

Description

The Mughal Dynasty dominated India for three centuries, rivalling the greatest rulers of Europe and the East in its power and splendour. Under such enlightened rulers as Akbar the Great in the 16th century and Jahangir and Shah Jahan in the 17th century, this vast Muslim Empire covered an area from the Kashmir and Afghanistan in the north and west to the Deccan in the south at its height. The English East India Company set up its operations in India after being granted a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 and it developed into an organisation powerful enough to raise its own army and conquer more and more territory. This book focuses on the key events from the reign of the Emperor Shah Jahan, who masterminded the creation of the Taj Mahal between 1631 and 1653, through to the final demise of the Mughal Dynasty and the rise and ultimate takeover by the British in 1858, marking the beginning of the Raj, which would rule over India until 1947.Interspersed throughout the book are short sections in italics that describe other relevant major world events happening at that time to give some context with what was happening in India.

Informations

• Publié par: Peter Clarke
• Date de parution: 07 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912022199
• Langue: English

Extrait

Mughal India
From the Taj to the Raj
By
Peter Clarke
2017 Peter Clarke
Peter Clarke has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
First published in eBook format in 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-912022-19-9
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
Contents
Introduction
Background
Early Mughal Emperors - Pre Shah Jahan Years (1526 - 1628)
Early English Years (1600 - 1614)
Early English Colonisation in America
The Shah Jahan Years (1628 - 1658)
The English Civil War
War of Succession
The Aurangzeb Years (1658 - 1707)
Post Aurangzeb Years
English Expansion (1613-1714)
The Great Plague (1665) and the Great Fire of London (1666)
The War of Spanish Succession
Mughal decline British rise (1715-1815)
The War of Austrian Succession
The Seven Years War
The Mysore Conflict
The American War of Independence
Napoleon in Egypt - the Battle of the Nile
Britain and the Maratha Empire
The Napoleonic Wars
The End of the Mughal Dynasty (1815-1857)
Abolition of the Slave Trade
The Industrial Revolution
The 1857 Mutiny
Mughal Dynasty Timeline
Governors-General of India 1773 - 1858
Glossary of Characters (in alphabetical order)
Suggested Further Reading
Introduction
The Mughal Dynasty dominated India for three centuries, rivalling the greatest rulers of Europe and the east in its power and splendour. Under such enlightened rulers as Akbar the Great in the 16 th century and Jahangir and Shah Jahan in the 17 th century, this vast Muslim Empire covered an area from the Kashmir and Afghanistan in the north and west, to Bengal in the east and to the Deccan in the south, at its height.
Jahangir had gradually become addicted to opium and, therefore, was less and less effective as Emperor. So much so that his wife, Nur Jahan, took control and was effectively supreme sovereign over the Empire. Her father and brother had been in the Emperor s Inner Court as faithful advisers and military generals. When it came to appointing a successor to the failing Jahangir, her father was not around to help as he had died two years earlier. Nur Jahan favoured her son, Shahriyar, to succeed Jahangir, but her brother sided with Prince Khurram, who prevailed in the conflict that followed. When Prince Khurram acceded to the throne, in 1628, he took the title of Shah Jahan.
Throughout this conflict to succeed Jahangir, Shah Jahan had received faithful support from his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal and three years into his reign, she died in childbirth. Shah Jahan was bereft with grief and vowed to build the most magnificent mausoleum to remember her life and as a token of his love for her.
Shah Jahan commissioned the building of the Taj Mahal in 1631.
After Shah Jahan came Aurangzeb and, during the 18 th and early 19 th centuries, internal divisions, further succession conflicts and weak Emperors, all at a time when the British presence was expanding, ultimately led to the Empire s decline.
The English East India Company was granted a Royal Charter in 1600 under the name of Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies . The Charter granted the Company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope. They set up operations in India and, following early conflicts with the Dutch and the French, they expanded into an organisation powerful enough to raise its own army and conquer more and more territory. This all came to a head in 1857 with the Indian Mutiny, the event which effectively marked the end of the Mughal Dynasty and the beginning of the British Raj.
This book provides a brief background of the early Mughal Emperors and then focuses on the period from Emperor Shah Jahan, the creator of the Taj Mahal, through to the end of the Dynasty in 1858 and the rise and ultimate takeover by the British, marking the beginning of the British Raj, which would rule over India until 1947. Interspersed throughout this text are short sections in italics which put events in India into context by describing other relevant major events happening around the world at the same time.

Map of major states

Map of major cities
Background
Early Mughal Emperors - Pre Shah Jahan Years (1526 - 1628)
Just before the Mughal conquest, at the beginning of the 16 th century, India comprised a vast number of kingdoms, of varying power, ruled by Hindu and Muslim sovereigns.
The Mughal Dream dates back to the time when Amir Temur (Tamerlane) was ruling in Central Asia, from his capital in Samarkand. In order to impose his authority over all territories along the Great Silk Road and to ensure that his Empire was protected, he turned his attention to India and the riches that lay beyond by capturing the main stronghold of Delhi.
In 1398, Temur successfully captured the city from the ruling Sultan. Before he returned to Samarkand, he established a succession principle on the Sultanate and it was this inheritance to which Babur laid claim when he conquered the subcontinent over a century later.
Emperor Babur (1526 - 1530)
Babur was the great, great, great-grandson of Amir Temur, himself a descendant of Genghis Khan. Like his ancestors, Babur had harboured ambitions to conquer India and, in 1525, he was invited to collaborate against the ruling Sultan, Ibrahim Lodi. At the Battle of Panipat in 1526, Babur s own forces overran those of Ibrahim Lodi, who was killed. Babur was quickly preoccupied in protecting the treasures of Delhi and Agra from pillage. He sent his son, Humayan, to Agra to secure the fort whilst he advanced on Delhi.
One significant item of treasure that was secured was a huge diamond that had been owned by the Lodi Dynasty, which he called the Diamond of Babur . Over time it would become known as the Koh-i-Nur diamond.
Babur proclaimed himself Emperor and proceeded to lay the foundations of a new dynasty, soon to be called by the name Mughal - a Persian word meaning Newcomers from the Land of the Mongols . He only ruled for four years during which time he focussed on consolidating control over his newly conquered territory by enlarging it but also by quelling any rebellion.
Babur was a Muslim and whilst many Indian Muslim rulers pledged allegiance to the new conquerors, the defenders of Hinduism, most notably the Rajputs of Rajasthan rose up in revolt. Whilst Babur was able to suppress this revolt, because he was more of a warrior than an administrator, he did not introduce too many significant administrative changes from that which he had inherited.
His new kingdom consisted of a system of provinces, each controlled by a Governor, who was responsible for collecting taxes and returning them to the Central Treasury. The treasures amassed in the course of Babur s invasion were considerable but he squandered a lot in generous distributions to his allies.
Babur died in 1530 and his son, Humayan, succeeded him as Emperor at the age of 23. He devolved some of his power to his three half-brothers. Kamran took control of Kabul and the Punjab while Askari and Hindal controlled revenue from areas to the north and east of Delhi.
Emperor Humayan (1530 - 1540) (1555 - 1556)
Humayan was perceived as a weak Emperor as he had a penchant for opium and studying the stars rather than ruling an Empire. To the east, in Bihar and Bengal, Humayan had to confront a formidable enemy in the Afghan, Sher Shah, whose father had served with Ibrahim Lodi against Babur. Humayan suffered a humiliating defeat and had no alternative than to retreat and abandon his kingdom - not a very auspicious start for a dynasty that was to rule for the next 300 years.
For the next five years, Sher Shah was effectively the ruler over Humayan s domain. Whilst Humayan was in exile, Sher Shah organised himself by settling in Delhi, conquering Agra and Lahore and protecting the province of Punjab with a line of fortifications. He also organised the construction of a network of roads linking the Punjab with Bengal and Agra with Burhanpur and Rajasthan. This facilitated trade across the region and increased the wealth in the treasury.
Sher Shah died in 1545, but he had overseen a reorganisation of the Empire that maybe should have been achieved under Babur. His son, Islam Shah Sur succeeded him but was completely ineffective and when he died in 1554, it left the door open for Humayan, who had spent his exile in Kabul, to return to reclaim his rightful place as Emperor.
His return only lasted 2 years before he died in tragic circumstances. Humayan was a lover of astronomy and spent long periods observing the stars. One evening in 1556, he was taken by surprise by a call to prayer and in hurrying down the steps from his star-gazing vantage point, he caught his foot in the folds of his cloak and fell down the steps to his death, breaking his skull. Once again the Mughal Dynasty was in a position of weakness.
He was buried in a tomb constructed in Delhi which is the first example of a great Mughal garden mausoleum and was the inspiration for many later monuments, including the Taj Mahal.

Humayan s Tomb in Delhi
Humayan s son Akbar s accession to power in 1556 marked a turning point in the history of this relatively new power base.
Emperor Akbar (1556 - 1605)
Akbar was only 13 years old when his father died, so he was assisted by Humayan s trusted companion whilst in exile, Bairam Khan. Once again, there were threats to the young Emperor. In the east, th