Indian History

Q.1. Salimgarh Fort, lying adjacent to the Red Fort in Delhi, was built by (A) Jahangir (B) Shah Jahan (C) Islam Shah Suri (D) Bahadur Shah Zafar Answer (C) Jalal Khan who ascended the throne with the title of Islam Shah after the death of Sher Shah Suri, the founder of Sur dynasty. Islam Shah is more popularly known as Salim Shah. The fort he built in Delhi is also known as Salimgarh Fort, lying adjacent to the Red Fort.  Before India got Independence from the British Rule, prisoners from the Indian National Army (INA) were also imprisoned in this fort from 1945 until India's independence in August 1947. Hence, Salimghar Fort is now renamed as Swatantrata Senani Smarak in memory of the prisoners who died in this fort prison.

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier  (1605–1689)  was a French traveller and a merchant in gems who made six voyages to India between 1630 and 1668 during the reign of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Being a dealer of diamonds made him well equipped to elaborately discuss about diamonds and diamond mines of India.  His travel account, entitled Travel in India, first appeared in 1676. His another book Le Six Voyages de J. B. Tavernier- The Six Voyages of J. B. Tavernier was also published in 1676, and translated into English by Dr. C. V. Ball in 1889.  The gem-studded Peacock Throne (Takht-i-Taoos), commissioned by Shah Jahan and housed in the Diwan-i-Khas in the Red Fort of Delhi, was described by Tavernier as “the richest and most superb throne which has ever been seen in the world.” The Peacock Throne was taken to Persia by Nadir Shah who invaded India during the reign of Raushan Akhtar who ascended the Mughal throne under the title of Muhammad Shah in 1719.  Tavernier died in...

Taj Mahal is an architectural feat that marks a height of Mughal architecture.  Synonymous with beauty and elegance, the world beating landmark of Taj Mahal was built by the order of fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan between 1631 and 1648 in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal who was his third wife. Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 in childbirth at the age of 39 at Burhanpur,     Taj Mahal is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Taj Mahal was the result of the labour of over 12, 000 workers, over a period of 22 years. The cost incurred on the construction in those times was 50 (5 million) Rupees. Sometimes, the design of Taj Mahal is credited to a Venetian, Gernimo Verrones. According to whispers, Shah Jahan had its architects blinded, so that they could never again replicate a monument so grand and majestic. However, these claims are not verified and not confirmed by the historians.

Zaibunissa Palace / Image Credit Mughal princess Zeb-un-Nisa was the eldest child of sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. She was a poetess of considerable merit and wrote under the pen name of Makhfi (meaning Hidden One in Persian). She produced a brilliant collection of beautiful poems which were published after her death in 1702 as Diwan-i-Makhfi. Born in 1738 in Daulatabad in Deccan, Zeb-un-Nisa seems to be antithetical to what Auranzeb stood for.  Strained relationship between Zeb-un-Nisa and Aurangzeb had led the father to imprison the daughter for the last 20 years of her life at Salimgarh Fort which lies adjacent to the Red Fort  in Delhi. Her grandfather, the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, had betrothed her to Sulaiman Shikoh, the eldest son of Dara Shikoh, elder brother of Aurangzeb. The marriage, however, did not take place. This is because as soon as Shah Jahan fell ill in September, 1657, it sparked a deadly war of succession among his four sons – Dara Shikoh, Shuja,...

                                             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.

     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 strangle...

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...

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 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 th...

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 ...

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 ...

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 Fa...