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Showing posts with the label Mughal Empire

Khairul Manzil Mosque, Delhi

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                                             Khairul Manazil, opposite Purana Qila, Delhi. Image credit   Located opposite the Purana Qila in Delhi, Khairul Manzil mosque was built in 1561 by Maham Anga, the foster mother of the Mughal emperor Akabr. She was the mother of powerful Mughal noble Adham Khan who was killed by Akbar in Agra in 1562. Meaning ‘the most auspicious of houses’ in Persian, Khair-ul-Manazil mosque on the Mathura road is Delhi’s first mosque built by the Mughals.  The arch in the middle of the prayer chamber contains the inscription that says that the mosque was built by Maham Anga.

Rebellion of Khusrau

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     Tomb of Khusrau in Khusro Bagh, Allahabad|Wikimedia Commons Khusrau was the eldest son of the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir. He was born in 1587 to Man Bai, sister of Raja Man Singh, trusted general of Emperor Akbar . With the support of the powerful nobles  Khusrau  eyed the Mughal throne and unfurled a banner of rebellion against his father . After the death of his grandfather, Akbar, in 1605, he was imprisoned in Agra Fort by Jahangir who had succeeded Akbar as the Mughal emperor. However, though he managed to escape, he was defeated by the Mughal forces in 1606.   In 1606, the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev was sentenced to death by Jahangir since he had blessed Khusrau during his rebellion against the emperor. However, famous Sufi saint Shaikh Nizam Thaneswari was banished by the emperor to Mecca for the same offence.  Khusrau was later blinded and was forced into the custody of his brother Khurram (future Shah Jahan) who eventually strangled him at Burhanpur in 1621. (The offici

Mughal Mansabdari System

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Mansabdari system was a unique feature of the administrative system of the Mughal empire. It was introduced by Akbar with a view to organizing his nobility as well as army. Under the system, all officers of the state were entitled to a mansab. Mansabdari system was, in sum, “the army, the peerage, and the civil administration, all rolled into one.”     Mansabdar (holder of a rank, or an officer) is a title derived from the word Mansab which is of Arabic origin and means a rank or a position.  Under the system, each mansabdar held a mansab (rank) and was to maintain a quota of horses, elephants, camels, beasts of burden and carts. They were paid either in cash (naqd) or allotted land (jagir). The mansabdars who received pay in cash were known as naqdi and those paid through assignments of jagirs were called jagirdars. According to the Ain –Akbari , there were thirty-three grades of mansabdars ranging from the dahbashi (commanders of 10) to the dah hazari (commanders of 10,000). Mansabs

Mulla Abdul Qadir Badayuni, Mughal Court historian

Born in 1540, Mulla Abdul Qadir Badauni, also spelt Badayuni, was a contemporary historian of Akbar in the Mughal empire. He had entered his court in 1574.  Badauni had studied together with Abdul Fazi and both had been trained by Abul Fazal’s father, Shaykh Mubarak. He had joined Man Singh’s army against Maharana Pratap in the Battle of Haldighati in 1576. A Sunni Muslim, he was an inveterate enemy of Akbar.  He had charged Akbar of working against Islam. His most important work was Tarikh-e Badauni (“Badauni’s History”), also called the Muntakhab al-Tawarikh (“Selection from History”). It is a general history of India from the time of the the Ghaznavids to the 40th year of Akbar’s reign (1595-96). He also wrote Kitāb al-Ḥadīth (“Book of Ḥadīth”), the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad. .  Tarikh-i-Alfi (“History of Thousand Years”) is another famous work by Badauni who is also credited with the translation of Singhasan Battisi , Ramayana and Mahabharata into Persian.

Ahmad Shah (1748-54): Imbecile Mughal Ruler

Ahmad Shah was a Mughal ruler whose reign lasted from 1748 to 1754. After the death of his father Muhammad Shah in 1754, he ascended the throne at an age of 22.  He was the son of Udham Bai, a dancing girl of low intellect and dubious character. Though he was a man of 22 at the time of his accession, he is said to have received no education and did not hold any civil or military office ever. A pleasure seeking ruler with debased taste, Ahmad Shah was an illiterate and indulging in sensual pursuits. Spending time with women and eunuchs for weeks, he remained content by entrusting the task of running the state to the queen mother Udham Bai and her shameless paramour and powerful eunuch Javid Khan, who dominated the affairs of the state. Javid Khan was grated the title of Nawab Bahadur and Udham Bai was got the title of Qibla-i-Alam and the rank of 50,000 horses. Her brother Man Khan, a ill-mannered professional dancer, got the title of Mutqat-ud-Daula and the rank of 6,000. During this p

Shah Jahan the Fifth Mughal Emperor

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Accession to the Throne  Shah Jahan (1628-58) was in Deccan when his father Jahangir died in the month of October in 1627. At Lahore, Nur Jahan , one of the wives of Jahangir, proclaimed her son-in-law Shahryar as the emperor, while Asaf Khan , father of Mumtaz Mahal (Shah Jahan’s wife in whose memory Taj Mahal was built) put Dawar Baksh , son of Khusrav (brother of Shah Jahan), on the throne as a stop-gap emperor till the return of Shah Jahan to Agra from Deccan. When Shah Jahan arrived at Agra in February 1628, Dawar Baksh , the “sacrificial lamb’ was deposed and sent in exile to Persia. Asaf Khan defeated, captured and blinded Shahryar . Now decks were clear for Shah Jahan who ascended the Mughal throne at Agra in February 1628. However, Shah Jahan was paid back in his own coin when during his last days when two of his own sons were executed.  Military Conquests of Shah Jahan   The first three years of Shah Jahan’s reign were marked by the rebellions of the Bundela Chief Juhar Si

Humayun : The Fugitive Mughal Emperor

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Humayun's Tomb in Delhi Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India in 1526, was succeeded by his eldest son Humayun who inherited “a monarchy which could be held together only by the continuance of war conditions which in times of peace was weak, structureless and invertebrate.”  When Babur died in 1530, Humayun was 23 years old. Since father's conquests had not been consolidated in the short span of four years, the army lacked cohesiveness and the administration an effective machinery. The name Humayun (meaning "the Fortunate”) is rather a misnomer. Though the second Mughal emperor, he had to spend his life as a wanderer almost all through his life. He lost the nascent Mughal kingdom and when he regained it, he did not live long enough to rule it. Humayun was born in Kabul in 1508. He ascended the throne  on December 30, 1530 four days after death of Babur.  The imperial treasury was almost bankrupt and beyond the frontiers powerful political forces, such a

Babur Not the real founder of Mughal Empire

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Zahirudding Muhammad Babur , better known simply today as Babur, who defeated Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate at the first battle of Panipat on the 21st April, 1526, founded the Mughal empire in India. However, it seems that this Central Asian adventurer was not interested in setting up of an empire in India.  According to eminent historian R. P. Tripathi, Babur’s conquest of Hindustan was “a result of chance thought”. As a matter of fact, he was invited to invade the Lodi ruler by some of the disgruntled nobles of the Delhi sultanate. According to some authorities, Rana of Mewar, Sangram Singh or Rana Sanga , had also entered into some kind of deal with Babur.  Babur was a descendant of Timur on his father’s side and of Chengiz khan on the side of his mother. The Mughals loved to call Timurids because they were so proud of their connections with Timur. On the death of his father U mar Shaikh Mirza , Babur inherited the ancestral principality of Farghana (