the mughal empire--7/8/25

08 Jul 2025

the mughal empire--7/8/25

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Today's selection--from Bankrolling Empire by Sheth. Expanding the Mughal Empire:

“The Mughal Empire refers to a broad political and territorial phenomenon in South Asia between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, with vestiges surviving well into the nineteenth. As a political tour de force, the Mughals gained ground through military exploits and grew their influence by building infrastructure, establishing administration, and harnessing revenues from agrarian produce and trade. The founding patriarch Babur was a Central Asian warlord pushed out by rival elites from his native Fergana Valley. His parents were direct descendants of famed military commanders; his father belonging to the lineage of Timur (1336-1405) and his mother to that of Genghis Khan (1162-1227). In fact, it was from his mother and grandmother that he learned political intrigue, recounted in vivid detail in his memoir, Baburnama.18 Babur was only eleven years old when his father died. This destabilized his personal and political position. In 1504, at the age of twenty-one, he set out with his mother, brothers, and upward of 300 men to explore opportunities south of his native land. An adroit military commander, Babur captured Kabul by the end of October 1504. He was immediately impressed with its vibrant bazaars, which annually attracted 20,000 merchants who sold slaves, white cloth, refined sugar, and aromatic roots. Merchants earned a whopping 300 percent profit or more on items sold. As the principal depot for Hindustan, Babur noted that goods from Khurasan, Iraq, Anatolia, and China could be found at Kabul.

“Babur expressed a desire to explore India, or Hindustan as he referred to it, as early as 1504 during excursions across the Indus River. His chance would come years later in 1525-6, when he marched some 12,000 troops at the astonishing pace of twenty-five to forty km (15 to 25 miles) per day into northern India. There, he lured the reigning ruler of northern India, Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, into battle just north of Delhi at Panipat. Defeating his rival's large but poorly organized army, he quickly took Delhi and Agra. Babur noted, ‘On our first coming to Agra, there was remarkable dislike and hostility between its people and mine, the peasantry and soldiers running away in fear of our men.’ Indigenous nobles, including descendants of former Hindu kings such as Bikramajit, offered jewels, amongst which was the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, weighing more than 105 carats. Such sparkling studs failed to placate Babur. He was instead interested in building the foundations of a new political state.

“Babur was not particularly pleased with Hindustan. For him, it was a place of business. He notes that:

“Hindustan is a country of few charms. Its people have no good looks; of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits there is none; of genius and capacity none; of manners none; in handicraft and work there is no form or symmetry, method or quality; there are no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, muskmelons or first rate fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or cooked food in the bazars, no hot-baths, no colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks.

The empire at its greatest extent c. 1700, under Aurangzeb

“What Hindustan did have was cheap labor, gold and silver, and sophisticated counting systems including measurements for time, weight, and distance. For Babur, precision counting was proof enough that there was great wealth in Hindustan. It was also the first time he had come across settled tribes and vast lands under cultivation with a wide variety of crops. Such a landscape was starkly different from the unforested grasslands of his home in Fergana Valley.

“Babur's greatest challenges came not from the people of Hindustan, but from members of his own entourage. India's humid weather ruined weapons, books, clothing, utensils, and homes, which he especially noted did not last long. Shortly after arriving, a massive heat wave in Agra caused many deaths. Given such environmental discomforts, ‘the greater part of the begs. [nobles] and best braves became unwilling to stay in Hindustan.’ Calling a council, Babur said:

“Without lands and retainers, sovereignty and command (padshiihliq wa amirliq) are impossible. By the labors of several years, by encountering hardship, by long travel, by flinging myself and the army into battle, and by deadly slaughter, we, through God's grace, beat these masses of enemies in order that we might take their broad lands. And now what force compels us, what necessity has arisen that we should, without cause, abandon countries taken at such risk of life? Was it for us to remain in Kabul, the sport of harsh poverty?

“It was this entrepreneurial spirit that enabled Babur to expand his fledgling empire across key areas in northern India as captured in Map I.I.

"Not wanting to return to the vagaries of mountain life, Babur focused

on consolidating authority in Hindustan. He fought Indian kings, or rajas, including the Rajput Maharana Sanga of Mewar and rival Afghan lords in Bengal. These men were muqti's under the Lodi Sultan defeated earlier at Panipat, and now desired autonomy as regional rulers. Babur also employed architects and masons from near and far to construct mosques, tanks, and especially gardens. Babur died in 1530, having laid the foundation on which his son Humayun and grandson Akbar would build a mighty empire.

“Accounts of Humayun are less detailed, yet we know he faced rivals

across northern India. In 1531, he overcame the Raja of Kalinjar some 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Agra, and by 1535 had chased Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat into the first of several exiles. In 1537, he moved east to fight the powerful Afghan Sher Shah Sur in modern Bihar. These were dynamic campaigns for money and resources, and victories were short lived. Defeated warriors would reclaim lost lands as soon as Humayun left the area. Sher Shah was an especially worthy opponent, nearly drowning Humayun in 1539 and forcing him into exile as far as Herat. As a long-term guest of the Safavid court out west, Humayun rallied resources to reclaim power in India. Finally, in 1555, he defeated the Sur army in Punjab, enter;d Delhi, and rekindled Mughal aspirations in the region. Unfortunately, Humayun died unexpectedly in January 1556 after tumbling from a staircase.

“Humayun's thirteen-year-old son and successor Akbar inherited only a sliver of land, and certainly no forts, as his hereditary patrimony. Akbar consolidated influence over the years via effective leadership, outright war, and diplomacy through money and marriage. Akbar grew the Mughal Empire by assimilating regional elites into his fledgling apparatus, the impressive extent to which is conveyed in Map 1.2. This included Muslim elites like the Sayyids of Barha in 1557, who had previously served the L’oodis, as well as powerful Hindu Rajput lineages. Raja Bharmal of Amber in present-day Jaipur was brought into imperial relations through marriage, with his daughter Hira Kunwari being wed to Akbar in a significant coming together of Rajput-Mughal relations. Kunwari gave birth to Akbar's successor Jahangir, firmly connecting Rajput rule in Rajasthan to the fortunes of the Mughal Empire.

“Akbar recognized talent and relied on principles of meritocracy, broadly interpreted, to involve experts in empire building. For example, Raja Todar Mal, a self-professed Hindu who was often ridiculed for his idolatry, was also an expert in managing land revenue and organizing the state's fiscal apparatus. Todar Mal entered Mughal service at an unknown but certainly low rank. At the end of his career, he retired at the rank of 4,000/4,000, a very high position suggesting that exceptional abilities were recognized and rewarded by the emperor.

“Akbar was also a formidable military commander who expanded his influence through conquest. He captured Bihar in 1574 followed by Bengal in 1576, Malwa in 1561, and the Rajput forts of Chittorgarh and Ranthambore in 1568 and 1569, respectively. This gave Akbar access to immense wealth and territory, paving the way to conquer the prized coastal province of.Gujarat in 1572-3. It was during this conquest that Akbar was delighted by the soothing sound of waves crashing at Cambay port. Having µever seen the ocean before, this experience must have been exhilarating. By annexing Gujarat, Akbar united the agrarian heartland of the Mughal Empire, including lands of the Gangetic basin and the Punjab plains, with the maritime trade of the Arabian Sea. This not only expanded commercial activity, but enabled foreign merchants, goods, and ideas to permeate Mughal domains. Akbar made further military campaigns in Kashmir (1586-7), Sindh (1591-2), Orissa (1592-3), and touched on territories in the Deccan plateau between 1596 and 1601. However, these were not as decisive as earlier wins.

“Prince Salim Jahangir became emperor in 1605. While Akbar inherited the throne at thirteen and immediately entered military tournaments of the day, Jahangir was educated at court and became accustomed to sedentary life. Two of his younger brothers died prematurely due to alcoholism, and Jahangir himself was addicted to opium. In 1600, he rebelled against his father, Emperor Akbar, while serving as Governor of Allahabad, although he later made amends, finally ascending to the throne aged thirty-six on October 23, 1605. Jahangir inherited a stable political organization from Akbar including an enranked nobility comprising ethnic Persians, Uzbeks, Turanis, Hindustani Muslims, Afghans, and Hindu Rajput chiefs. In addition to its ethnic diversity, Jahangir's reign was also an important milestone in growing Mughal influence

through the visual display of plenty. Foreign observers began noticing the vastness of Jahangir's domain, the riches of his court, and especially his love for hunting, wine, and opium. It was also during Jahangir's reign that foreign trading companies bearing Dutch, Portuguese, and English flags made inroads into Hindustan.

“Take, for example, comments by English merchant William Hawkins, who led the very first English East India Company embassy to the Mughal court in 1609. He was impressed by Jahangir's large daily expenditure, some 50,000 rupees per day, not including 30,000 rupees dedicated separately to the women of the court. To fund his spending, Jahangir harnessed revenues from his five great provinces, Punjab, Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, and Burhanpur. Yet even these areas were not free from local resistance. Paranoid about such sources of opposition, Jahangir at times accused his own courtiers of disloyalty and even executed them publicly at court. Jahangir inherited a robust administration from Akbar. His prosperity was further enhanced by foreign traders who sought permission to conduct business in exchange for choice gifts. Foreign traders brought gold and silver, which was converted into Mughal coin and used to pay for goods. These coins became a preferred medium for trade since state taxes were also assessed in Mughal currency.

“Jahangir was obsessed with rare stones and could not "abide that any man should have any precious stone of value. His jeweler at Agra was a Vania named Hiranand, likely a Jain, who brought jewels to the court, and whose home Jahangir also visited at least once to make purchases. Jahangir was especially interested in stones above five carats. Although records say that he only paid about one-third of their market value, merchants were likely compensated with other favors and privileges if they offered the emperor the very first look at precious wares for sale. Figure 1.1 presents pictorial evidence from the seventeenth century which suggests that nobles also dedicated resources to regularly cleaning and inventorying jeweled ornaments and gold coins in their possession. It was through the selling of gemstones to Jahangir's court that the Jhaveris of Ahmedabad started earning favor in Mughal circles.

“After reigning for twenty-two years, Jahangir died in 1627 at the age of fifty-eight. Shortly after, his son Muhammad Khurram, better known as Shah Jahan, was enthroned at Agra. Shah Jahan was a military man with considerable experience as a provincial governor and commander in Rajasthan and in the Deccan. Ruling between 1628 and 1658, Shah Jahan commissioned magnificent works of art including the famed Taj Mahal and the walled capital city of Shahjahanabad at Delhi in 1639. Shah Jahan enhanced Mughal imperial life and political grandeur through expansion west towards Sindh in modern Pakistan, and further north towards his ancestral home in Balkh near Uzbekistan. Of Shah Jahan's various campaigns, the Deccan region towards southern India captured his imagination the most. He had earlier served there as a princely governor and was enticed by the agricultural and mining wealth of the region. By 1647, Shah Jahan's sphere of influence extended from Sindh to Sylhet, and down into central India. ShahJahan's court historian Lahori notes that annual revenues tallied to 220 million rupees. Combining the revenues of more than twenty-three provinces, this was more than 20 percent greater than income during Jahangir's time and more than had ever been achieved by the Mughal state since its inception.”