O LEVEL NOTES History and Culture of Pakistan Chapter 2 Mughal Empire

 

O LEVEL NOTES

History and Culture of Pakistan

Q. Who were Mughals and how long their empire lost?

Ans. In the early sixteenth century the Mughals invaded India and established a huge Muslim Empire. The area they ruled was as large as the whole of Europe and this empire lasted for more than three centuries. The first Mughals were a ruling family from central Asia. The first Mughal emperor in India was Zahir-ud-din Muhammad or Babur. After the death of his father Babur was ruled in Turkestan since the age of 12 years. Two great conquering generals i.e. Gangiz Khan and Taimur, were his ancestor. The dynasty founded by Babur called “House of Taimur” which later known as Mughal which became most famous name of his dynasty in Indian subcontinent.

Q. How Babur conquered India?

Ans. Emperor of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodhi was unable to control discontentment of his people, who called Babur to invade India. Babur was eager to expand his territory find this opportunity and marched to Delhi from Kabul through Punjab and met Ibrahim in Battle of Panipat in 1526. Besides his less army, ten to one, Babur’s clever use of firearms and artillery gave him great victory.

God made the victory easy for us. The battle was over in half a day and around 20,000 of Ibrahim’s men were killed. Those who fled from the battlefield were followed. Our men captured nobles of every rank during the afternoon Ibrahim’s body were found. His head was brought to my court.

(An account of the Battle of Panipat written by Babur in his memoirs)

Q. How was Babur different from the invaders from the North?

Ans. Invaders from north invaded India, plundered and returned instead of making any stable government in Babur was a Muslim and area he conquered was Hindu. He believed every battle in India as Jihad. But once he captured a territory he treated Hindu generously and with dignity.

Q. What views did Babur have on how the empire should be ruled?

Ans. He divided his new lands into feudal estates and appointed capable persons to administer these lands and collect taxes. He made sure that local rulers must accept him as their leaders. He did not allow any disobedience in this regard.

Q. How Babur saved life of his son?

Ans. But unfortunately he lived only four years in India and died at the age of forty eight years old. Babur’s son fell seriously ill and Babur prayed that his son Humayun should be spared and his life be taken instead. That is exactly what happened.

Q. What difficulties did Humayun face?

Ans. Humayun, son of Babur, succeeded thorn after the death of his father in 1530. He faced following difficulties;

·         Weak Leadership of Humayun: The Mughal army was a collection of persons from various ethnic groups whose loyalty depended on strong leadership. But Humayun was not as strong leader as his father.

·         Disloyal it of his brothers particularly his younger brother kamran. But in 1549 he get rid from this difficulty and had him blinded and sent to Mecca.

·         Afghan chiefs challenged Humayun’s authority. One of them, Sher Shah Suri who defeated Humayun in battle and established Suri Dynasty which lasted for only 15 years.

What misfortune happened to Humayun?

Humayun spend fifteen years to regain his territories and he managed to restore his control in all the lands that Babur had won in 1555. But his success was short lived. Just one year later he tripped on his own robes on the steps of his library and fell to his death.

Q. What aspects made Humayun a weak and strong Leader?

Ans. Humayun as strong leader:

·         He was a persistent leader who eventually overcomes his rivals as he regained his territory after fifteen years of consistent struggle.

·         He was a skilled administration.

·         He supported research in science and reglion.

·         He set down rules on the most efficient ways to manage agriculture and irrigation.

Humayun as weak leader

·         He showed too much mercy on the battle field and even allowed opponents to surrender instead of crushing them in battle. Such opponents created hurdles again and again.

·         He had spent large sums on an extravagant lifestyle.

         Mughal Empire foundation to decline 

      

Frist Mughal who laid the foundation of Mughal Empire in subcontinent was Zahir-ud-din Mohammad Babar. He defeated Ibrahim Lodhi in Battle of Panipat in 1526. But he was died in 1530.

His son Hamayun became an emperor in 1930. He struggled for ten year to restore his authority, but failed. Sher Shah Suri seizes control from Hamayun and become emperor in 1540 to 1545. After his death his family ruled till 1555. Then again Hamayun regain his throne in 1555. But after one year he was died due to tripped on his own robes on the steps of his library.

After death of Hamayun his son Akbar become emperor at the age of 13 in 1556. He was greatly influenced by Sufi beliefs. He introduced Din-e-Elahi which was mixture of Hinduism and Islam. He ruled for fifty years and his religion was ended with his life. He died in 1605.

After death of Akbar, his son Jehangir became emperor. He singed a commercial treaty with British.

The Jehangir’s son Khurram, took throne with the title of Shah Jahan. He was responsible for the building of Taj Mahal in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. He fought costly and ineffective war against Persians and in modern day Uzbekistan. He defeated Portuguese after they tried to forcibly convert Muslim girls to Christianity.

In 1657 Shah Jahan fell seriously ill. But his four sons Murad, Dara Sheikhu, Shah Shuja and Aurangzeb were at mature age, governor of his respective provinces, wanted to become emperor and issued coins of their names. They started fight against each other for throne. That led to war of succession. But in 1758 after defeating imperial army and his four brothers who died while fighting with each other, Aurangzeb Alamgir become emperor. He took his father in prisoner in 1758 in Agra till his death in 1666. He was buried in Taj Mahal.

Aurangzeb Alamgir did several mistakes that weaken the foundation of Mughal empire. For example,

·        he fought war against Rajputs from 1679-81 and rebellion of Sikhs, Satnamis in Mewar and Jats in Gokal.

·        Even he started a tough campaign against Pathan in North Western Frontier.

·        Perhaps the most costly war with Marathas i.e. 25 years. Shivaji was defeated and imprisoned but fled away from prison and gave very difficult time to aurangzeb.

·        Costly and ineffective wars with Marathas and Pathans and other rebellion

·        Construction of costly luxurious buildings

·        Imposition of heavy taxes on general public to meet expenditure of his costly wars

Aurangzeb introduced several reforms like,

·        Appointing censors of public morals,

·        Banning the consumption of Alcohol

·        Stopping singing and dancing at court

·        Determining the maximum length of beards

·        Abolishing many local taxes from traders but local people were paid heavy taxes

Aurangzeb ruled fifty years and his empire larger that it had ever been stretching from Kashmir to Karnataka and Gazni to Chittagong

Aurangzeb had three sons and he wanted to divide his empire them. But again fighting broke out and victor Muazzum established himself as emperor. But he survived for few years. Muazzum had four sons and who fought for throne but only Jahandar shah survived and murdered within a year. After him, Mohammad Shah become emperor in 1719 and ruled for thirty years.

After Mohammad shah, his son Ahmad shah become emperor, but he was soon imprisoned by his own court and died in captivity. His successor, Allamgir II, was assassinated on the orders of his chief minister and next emperor Shah Alam II remained in Bihar and not come to Delhi for next twelve years. But in Battle of Buxar 1764, he was defeated at the hands of British. After the death of aurganzeb alamgir with in ten years, twelve different emperors claimed to be king.

After Shah Alam II defeat British took control Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa and in 1803 they occupied Delhi and placed emperor under British protection. Shah Alam II’s son Akbar II rules a part of Delhi. His son Bahadur Shah II expelled for his part in the 1857 war of independence and died in exile in Rangoon.