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This chapter has been published in the book INDIA & Southeast Asia to 1800.
Mughal Conquest of India 1526-56
Delhi Sultanate 1300-1526
Independent North India 1401-1526
Zahir ud-Din Muhammad Babur was the founder of the Mughal empire in India. His father was a direct descendant of the powerful Timur, and his mother was from the family of Genghis Khan. Babur was born February 14, 1483 and was only eleven when he inherited his father's kingdom of Farghana (in modern Uzbekistan). It took him three years to win control of Samarqand from his cousin. A rebellion at Farghana caused him to lose both, but Babar regained Farghana in 1498 and Samarqand two years later from the Uzbek chief Shaibani Khan. His struggle with the Uzbeks kept Babur busy for a dozen years. With help from Mongols, Babur crossed the Hindu Kush and conquered Kabul in 1504. The next year he went through the Khyber Pass, crossed the Indus and raided the Afghans near Tarbila. In 1507 Shaibani Khan attacked Khurasan and captured Herat. Babur left Qandahar and went east on a second raid. When Shaibani withdrew from Qandahar, Babur proclaimed himself Padishah (Emperor). Iran's Safavid ruler Shah Isma'il defeated the army of Shaibani, who was killed in 1510. Babur made an alliance with the Persians, who helped him take Bukhara. His cousin had driven away the Uzbeks, and Babur marched into Samarqand. Uzbeks led by Shaibani's nephew did defeat Babur twice at Bukhara in 1512. Babur retired to Kabul, and little is known of him until he began his conquest of India in 1519.
In his Memoirs Babur wrote that he invaded India five times. A prince once quoted Sa'di that ten dervishes can sleep on one rug, but two princes cannot rest in one climate. Babur replied that a dervish given a loaf of bread would share half of it; but a prince gaining a country would covet another. He returned from Peshawar in order to secure Kabul and besiege Qandahar, which finally surrendered in 1522. Two years later Babur crossed the Indus and defeated the Lodi's Afghan army near Lahore. Daulat Khan was not satisfied with what Babur gave him, but Dilawar Khan accepted rule over Sultanpur; 'Alam Khan claimed the Delhi crown and was given Dipalpur. When Daulat Khan took Dipalpur, 'Alam Khan fled to Kabul and ceded Lahore to Babur; but while Babur was fighting the Uzbeks, 'Alam Khan joined Daulat Khan and attacked Ibrahim Lodi's camp at Delhi. However, their army was routed and dispersed as 'Alam Khan escaped.
When Babur marched on Delhi, he wrote that he had an army of 12,000; but some say he had twice that with the Indians that had joined. Babur may have exaggerated the army of Ibrahim Lodi which he estimated at 100,000 with a thousand elephants. Babur used at least two cannons and match-lock guns when he won the important battle at Panipat in 1526. Ibrahim Lodi and 15,000 of his men were killed. Babur was proclaimed emperor of Hindustan and went from Delhi to Agra, which his son Humayun had captured. Babur sent Humayun to fight the Rajputs, and he took Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Kalpi, and Gwalior. In another major battle Babur's army defeated 80,000 Rajputs led by Rana Sanga of Mewar at Khanua in 1527. In Malwa the leader Medini Rai fought desperately as Chanderi was taken by force in January 1528. Biban defeated a Mughal force and escaped to Bengal, and in the east Ibrahim's brother Mahmud Lodi in Bihar gathered an army of 100,000. In his third major victory Babur defeated them at Gogra after crossing the Ganges in 1529. Babur wrote his Memoirs and some poetry in Turki, poems in Persian, and a treatise on Islamic law. Babur's son Humayun became ill; but the ailing Babur offered his life for his son's and died on December 30, 1530. Humayun recovered and became the second Mughal emperor.
Babur's dying advice to Humayun was to be generous to his brothers. Kamran governed Kabul and Qandahar; Askari and Hindal were allowed to administer portions of India. Within a year Askari had helped Kamran take over the Punjab from Humayun's governor. In Gujarat after Muzaffar II's son Sikander was murdered, his brother Bahadur Shah came out of exile, executed the murderer, and gained the throne of Gujarat by sending a force to defeat and kill his brother Latif Khan. In 1528 Sultan Bahadur Shah invaded the Deccan, returning to Ahmadabad two years later. The Portuguese attacked the coast of Gujarat in 1530 but could not capture the island of Diu. Gujarat's Bahadur Shah annexed Malwa and besieged the Rajput fortress of Chitor.
When Humayun defeated rebelling Afghans in 1532, Sher Khan came over to his side. The aggressive Bahadur Shah took over Malwa and forced the Rana of Mewat to submit in 1533. His Gujarat army captured Chitor in 1535; the women and children burned themselves in jauhar, and the last men fought to their deaths. Bahadur tried to maintain friendly relations with both the Sur house and the Mughal Humayun; but his Gujarat and Malwa armies were destroyed trying to keep Humayun out of Malwa in 1535. Humayun then invaded Gujarat and took the Champaner fort with immense treasure, chasing Bahadur Shah all the way to the island of Diu. Bahadur Shah resumed ruling Gujarat after the Mughals left in May 1536, but the next year he was lured into a meeting with the Portuguese and was killed trying to escape. Bahadur Shah had no heir, and the Portuguese took Diu during the struggle for power in Gujarat. With help from a Turkish armada of 66 ships the Gujarat army attacked Diu in 1538, but conflicts between their generals resulted in defeat and departure of the Turks. Mewar's Maharana Vikramaditya had fled Chitor but upon returning was murdered by Vanavir in 1536. Vanavir also tried to murder the prince Uday Singh, but his loyal nurse helped him escape and let Vanavir kill her own son in his place. Uday Singh gathered forces and ended Vanavir's usurpation by defeating him near Maholi in 1540. Uday Singh fought futile wars with Marwar's Maldev.
Farid was named Sher Khan for having killed a tiger. He rose to become the governor of Bihar and defeated an attack from Bengal. While Humayun was in Gujarat, Sher Khan gained part of Bengal and much gold when Mahmud Shah sued for peace. In 1537 Sher Shah invaded Bengal and besieged Gaur, reducing it while Humayun was besieging Chunar. While Humayun entered Gaur in 1538, Sher Shah took over Mughal territories in north Bihar, Jaunpur, and Kanauj, blocking Humayun from Delhi as Hindal retreated and claimed the throne, heading toward Delhi; but his brother Kamran made Hindal submit at Agra. When Humayun tried to go to Agra, he was defeated by Sher Khan and his Afghan fighters in 1539. Humayun barely survived, and his demoralized Mughal army was defeated again by Sher Khan the next year at Kanauj.
Humayun escaped and went to Lahore while Sher Khan went back to Gaur to destroy the remnant of the Mughal army and imprison a rebelling governor. Sher Khan became Sher Shah and organized his empire while Humayun, unable to get help from his brothers, fled all the way to the Safavid court in Iran. After subjugating Malwa in 1542, Sher Shah invaded central India. He promised to let those capitulating at Fort Raisin go unmolested, but the Afghans treacherously attacked the Rajputs, who killed their own women and children to protect them from disgrace. Sher Shah also used forged letters before defeating Marwar ruler Maldev in a bloody battle in 1544. While capturing a fort in Kalinjar, Sher Shah was killed by a gunpowder explosion in 1545.
Sher Shah has been admired by many for setting up a brilliant administrative system. He held centralized power but divided the empire into 47 sarkars for administration. Each sarkar was made up of villages that each had two officers, a treasurer, a writer of Hindi, and a writer of Persian to keep accounts. Sher Shah was experienced at surveying land. Considering agriculture most important, he made sure farmers had what they needed, though he taxed them at one-fourth of their produce, preferably in cash. The coins he minted became the standard for centuries. He reformed tariffs by having customs collected only at frontiers and places of sale. Several long roads were built and were lined with shade trees and provided with rest stations that also served as post-houses for communication. Local leaders were expected to police their communities or face the consequences. Sher Shah administered justice equally to high and low, judging many cases himself. He disciplined soldiers and reduced corruption by paying fair salaries. Sher Shah's energetic leadership is strongly contrasted to the indolent Humayun, who was criticized for letting opium delay his actions.
Sher Shah was succeeded by his son Jalal Khan, who took the name Islam Shah Sur and continued his father's administrative system. However, he suspected that his older brother 'Adil Khan wanted the throne. Islam Shah had already put to death Kalinjar's Kirat Singh and seventy of his officers. When Islam Shah tried to arrest 'Adil Khan, he fled. So many were imprisoned and had their property confiscated that nobles became suspicious, and tribal jealousies revived, especially among the Niyazis, who retreated to Kashmir but were annihilated by the Chak tribe.
In 1545 Humayun promised to promote the Shi'a faith and was given 14,000 Persian soldiers. They besieged Qandahar, and Bairam Khan was sent to Kabul, where Askari surrendered. The Persians took over Qandahar and would not help Humayun; so he broke his agreement and drove them out. Hindal joined Humayun as he headed back to Kabul, and his other brother Kamran fled after many of his men deserted to Humayun. He and Kamran fought over Kabul for several years until Humayun had Kamran blinded and sent to Mecca in 1553. When ailing Islam Shah learned that Humayun had crossed the Indus, he went to meet him but died in Gwalior in 1554. His 12-year-old son Firuz Shah was murdered by Sher Shah's brother Nizam, who seized the throne as Muhammad 'Adil Shah. He vainly tried to win loyalty from the Afghan nobles by bestowing treasure and titles, but he aroused their fears by executing two of his supporters. This caused the empire to break into regions ruled by his relatives. Ibrahim Khan Sur attacked 'Adil Shah and captured Delhi. Though outnumbered, Sikander Shah came from the Punjab and defeated Ibrahim Shah to take Delhi and Agra in 1555.
At the same time Humayun invaded India and captured Lahore. Like his father Babur, Humayun had cut down on his use of opium, renounced alcohol, and even became a vegetarian for a year in order to purify himself for his conquest. Sikandar sent 30,000 cavalry; but they were defeated by the Mughal archers led by Bairam Khan. Sikandar Shah himself led 80,000 cavalry, but he was defeated by the smaller Mughal army led by Humayun at Sirhind. 'Adil Shah's general Himu defeated Ibrahim's Afghans and then Bengal's Shams-ud-din Muhammad Shah, whose army was also on the march. Humayun occupied Delhi and Agra in July; but on January 24, 1556, he fell down the stairs of his Delhi library and died.
After Muzaffar II's son Sikander was murdered, another son Bahadur Shah came out of exile, executed the murderer, and gained the throne of Gujarat by sending a force to defeat and kill his brother Latif Khan. In 1528 Sultan Bahadur Shah invaded the Deccan, returning to Ahmadabad two years later. The Portuguese attacked the coast of Gujarat in 1530 but could not capture the island of Diu. The aggressive Bahadur Shah also took over Malwa and forced the Rana of Mewat to submit in 1533. He tried to maintain friendly relations with both the Sur house and the Mughal Humayun; but his Gujarat and Malwa armies were destroyed trying to keep Humayun out of Malwa in 1535. Humayun then invaded Gujarat and took the Champaner fort with immense treasure. Bahadur Shah resumed ruling Gujarat after the Mughals left in May 1536, but the next year he was lured into a meeting with the Portuguese and was killed trying to escape. Bahadur Shah had no heir, and the Portuguese took Diu during the struggle for power in Gujarat. With help from a Turkish armada of 66 ships the Gujarat army attacked Diu in 1538, but conflicts between their generals resulted in defeat and departure of the Turks.
Akbar's Tolerant Empire 1556-1605
Humayun's 13-year-old son Akbar was in the Punjab when his father died but was proclaimed emperor. The Hindu general Himu occupied Agra and took Delhi from its governor Tardi Beg, proclaiming himself Raja Vikramaditya. Bairam Khan executed Tardi Beg while Akbar was hunting. In November 1556 Himu's army outnumbered the Mughal forces at Panipat; but after an arrow penetrated his eye, Akbar's army was victorious, capturing Himu's 1500 elephants. Bairam Khan and Akbar beheaded Himu. Young Akbar entered Delhi, and Bairam Khan sent Pir Muhammad to gain Himu's treasure and to drive Haji Khan out of Alwar. Akbar and Bairam Khan forced Sikandur Sur to leave the Mankot fort and flee to Bengal, and then they occupied Lahore and gained Multan in the Punjab. A Mughal siege of Gwalior for a year forced it to surrender in early 1558. After gaining Ajmer, the gateway to Rajasthan, Akbar returned to Delhi. The remaining Sur prince Ibrahim was defeated, and Jaunpur was annexed. Bairam Khan aroused resentment by dismissing his rival Pir Muhammad and appointing a Shi'a theologian as religious minister. Using his female relatives, in 1560 Akbar was able to remove Bairam Khan, who agreed to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. He resented being packed off by Pir Muhammad and had to be defeated by Atga Khan. On his way through Gujarat, Bairam Khan was murdered by an Afghan avenging his father's death.
Adham Khan and Pir Muhammad led the invasion of Malwa. When Adham Khan did not send the spoils to Akbar, the young Emperor went to make sure he did. Akbar did the same thing to Khan Zaman after he defeated some Afghans. In 1562 Akbar made a pilgrimage to Ajmer and married a Hindu princess. Akbar abolished the enslavement and forced conversion to Islam of war prisoners and their families. After the murder of prime minister Atga Khan, Akbar hit Adham Khan with his fist and had him thrown from a terrace twice so that he was dead. The Emperor re-appointed Mun'im Khan; but to make sure no one person controlled him, Akbar made the decisions and had them carried out by four ministers for financial, military, judicial and religious affairs, and household, which included buildings, roads, and canals. He ended pilgrimage taxes on Hindus and the hated jiziya poll tax on non-Muslims. Akbar fell in love with the beautiful wife of Shaikh 'Abdul-Wasi at Delhi and reminded him that according to the law of Genghis Khan, a husband must divorce any woman the Emperor desired. The Shaikh did so, and at her urging Akbar began searching for other noble beauties. This angered his subjects so much that the Emperor was wounded by an arrow in an assassination attempt. After that, Akbar no longer molested the wives and daughters of his subjects.
Akbar was intent on creating an empire. Among his "Happy Sayings" he wrote, "A monarch should be ever intent on conquest; otherwise his enemies rise in arms against him."5 He sent Kara governor Asaf Khan to subdue the kingdom of Gondwana in 1564, but he too failed to send all the captured elephants to Akbar. That year while Akbar married a Khandesh princess, another Uzbek, Malwa governor Abdullah Khan, revolted. Khan Zaman was descended from Babur's Uzbek nemesis Shaibani, and he resented the Persians at Akbar's court. After defeating Afghans in Bihar, Khan Zaman dismissed Akbar's messengers. Iskandar Khan and Ibrahim Khan joined the Uzbek revolt and defeated a Mughal army at Kanauj. Akbar marched out of Agra with a large army to chastise the Uzbeks but forgave them in 1566 when Khan Zaman negotiated. When Akbar's half-brother Muhammad Hakim was driven out of Kabul by a Badakshani army, Timurid nobles proclaimed him emperor and attacked Delhi while Hakim was besieging Lahore. Loyal Mughals forced the Timurid princes (Mirzas) to retreat to Mewar and Rajasthan while Akbar forced his brother Hakim to fall back to Kabul. Akbar then attacked the Uzbeks by the Ganges; Khan Zaman was killed, and Bahadur Khan was captured and executed. Akbar marched to Allahabad and sacked Benares for closing its gates to him.
Nobles struggled for power in Gujarat as the boy Sultan Mahmud III was on the throne. A second siege of Diu had failed in 1547. Mahmud was kind to Muslims but oppressed the Hindus. In 1554 the young noble Burhan and his attendants murdered Mahmud, his prime minister Asafkhan, and twelve nobles; but Burhan was quickly cut down while sitting on the throne. I'timad Khan acted as regent for the young Sultan Ahmad Shah III. When Khandesh sultan Mubarak Shah invaded and tried to claim the throne of Gujarat, Nasir-ul-mulk took the opportunity to capture Ahmadabad; but I'timad Khan with help from Saiyad Mubarak managed to regain control. I'timad Khan did not like Ahmad Shah mixing with foreigners and had him killed in 1561, replacing him with a twelve-year-old named Muzaffar Shah III. I'timad Khan tried to deflect the powerful Changiz Khan by suggesting he invade Nandurbar, and he did so; but after failing to take Thalner, Changiz Khan turned his army on Ahmadabad and defeated I'timad Khan in 1567. Changiz Khan was murdered by Jhujhar Khan while playing polo, and I'timad Khan returned to power the next year. The death of Saiyad Miran in 1572 caused dissension in Gujarat, enabling Akbar's Mughal army to invade and take over the country. I'timad Khan and other nobles were named governors, and Akbar departed; but he had to come back the next year and defeated a larger force, ending Gujarat independence in 1573.
Akbar had his army encircle an area sixty miles in diameter near Lahore and herd the wild animals together. In five days about 15,000 animals were killed by arrows, muskets, spears, and swords. At Thanesar the Emperor observed a spectacle in which 300 feuding Sanyasis defeated 500 rival Jogis in a performance battle in which many were killed. When Akbar besieged Mewar's capital of Chitor in 1567, Maharana Udai Singh fled to the hills. After Akbar killed Jaimall with a musket shot, Rajput women sacrificed themselves in the fire of jauhar. As the fortress of Chitor fell, 30,000 were slaughtered, according to Abul Fazl's estimate. Kaviraj Shyamaldas reported that 39,000 died fighting, and Akbar executed the remaining one thousand. A thousand Kalpi musketeers managed to escape by pretending they were Mughals removing prisoners. Using such force as well as diplomacy, Akbar was able to bring the Rajputs into his empire. In 1569 Ranthambhor and Kalinjar submitted, and the next year Akbar married Bikaner and Jaisalmer princesses. Mewar's Udai Singh died in 1572, but his son Pratap raised a large army that was defeated by the Mughals in 1576 at Haldighat. Pratap escaped and survived until 1597, but Mewar suffered as he ordered killed any farmer who cultivated food for the occupying Mughal army. The fortresses of Chitor and Ranthambhor were added to the imperial bulwarks at Lahore, Agra, Allahabad, and Ajmer.
Two sons were born to Akbar in Sikri near Agra. The Emperor came there often to visit the Sufi saint Salim Chisti, who died in 1571. That year Akbar decided to make Sikri his capital. The next year he invaded Gujarat and occupied its capital Ahmadabad. Akbar had to go back in 1573 and with a force of only 3,000 overcame 15,000. Controlling Gujarat had great economic benefits and opened the way to sea voyages for Mecca pilgrimages. The Emperor instituted several reforms. Horses were branded according to the Khalji fashion revised by Sher Shah. Land assignments were changed into reserves, but this experiment lasted only five years. Officers were ranked in 33 grades according to how many horsemen they commanded from ten to 10,000, making local officers responsible for recruiting, pay, and command. Akbar urged his judges to be lenient with people, because sometimes they are hardened by punishment. When Afghan Sulaiman Karrani's son Daud Karrani became ruler of Bengal in 1572, he no longer recognized the authority of Akbar, who invaded in 1574. Daud fled to Orissa, where Akbar's general Mun'im Khan defeated him at Tukaroi. Daud tried to recover Bengal the next year but was defeated and killed in 1576. Yet Bengal nobles and Afghans continued to resist Mughal domination for the next thirty years of Akbar's reign, and Orissa was not annexed until 1592.
At Sikri in 1575 Akbar began sponsoring Thursday night debates on religion and theology in a House of Worship he had built; at first they concentrated on Islam. Akbar inquired into the behavior of religious authorities. Abdulla of Sultanpur shifted his wealth into his wife's hands temporarily in order to avoid giving the annual fortieth to charity. In another "monstrous slaughter" of wild animals that had been encircled in 1578 Akbar suddenly canceled the hunt and ordered all the animals set free; in a spiritual frenzy he distributed charity and gave gold to faqirs. Now Akbar included philosophers, Hindus, materialists, Jains, Christians, Jews, and Parsis in the discussions. Reason was used to examine various practices of the religions. Akbar had difficulty accepting Christianity's doctrines of the trinity and the incarnation. He eclectically accepted what was common to most religions while rejecting what was not essential. Here are a few of his sayings:
1. The source of misery is self-aggrandizement and unlawful desires.
2. The sorrows of men arise from their seeking their fortune before its destined time, or above what is decreed for them.
3. The concerns of men are personal to themselves, but through the predominance of greed and passion they intrude upon others.
4. Clemency and benevolence are the source of happiness and length of days.
5. The difficulty is to live in the world and refrain from evil, for the life of a recluse is one of bodily ease.
6. Men through blindness do not observe what is around them intent only on their own advantage.6
In 1579 Akbar removed the leading preacher and had himself proclaimed the supreme arbiter of all religious issues, making the reluctant Islamic legal scholars ('ulamas) sign the document. He came to believe in reincarnation, and under Zoroastrian influence he established sacred fire in the palace. Yet he disliked the dualism of light and dark, doubting the existence of Satan. He was influenced by Sufi Suhrawardi's theology of illumination and even began worshipping the sun by facing east in prayer. Akbar investigated and reformed previous pious land grants. The prohibition against repairing or building new temples was revoked as was the death penalty for apostatizing Muslims, who had been forcibly converted. Akbar's religious policy was known as universal toleration. As Hindus were appointed to high positions, Muslims became more resentful.
The revolt broke out in Bengal and Bihar, where Governor Muzaffar Khan Turbati reduced the pay of troops, enforced the branding of horses to prevent fraud, and revoked the unauthorized alienation of land. Early in 1580 Bengal officers proclaimed Akbar's half brother Mirza Hakim of Kabul emperor, and the chief judge in Jaunpur called upon Muslims to rise against Akbar. Loyal Mughal troops quickly regained Bihar, and Akbar led an army of 50,000 horsemen that drove Hakim out of Kabul. Akbar forgave his brother, but Kabul remained a problem until Hakim died in 1585. Resistance in Bihar and Bengal continued until the Afghans finally made peace in 1586, and the remaining rebels were crushed the next year. In 1582 finance minister Todar Mall revised the revenue system for surveying lands and fixing rates to make them more consistent. Akbar had divided his empire into twelve provinces, but this was increased to fifteen by the end of his reign as Berar, Khandesh, and Ahmadnagar were added.