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History of India

Medieval Indian History (Part - 2)

Mughal Empire

Babur (1484-1530)

• Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, descended from his father’s side in the 5th generation from Timur. and through his mother in the 15th generation from Chenghiz Khan. Reasons for his Indian expedition.

• TheOttomans defeated the Safavids and the Uzbeks controlled Trans oxiana forcing Babur’s imperial impulses towards India.

• Meagre income of Kabul, Desire to emulate Timur was the cause of Babur’s invasion to India. He was invited to attack India by Daulat Khan Lodi, Subedar of Punjab; Ibrahim Lodi’s uncle Alamkhan Lodi and Rana Sanga.

• He was successful in his 5th expedition. In the Battle of Panipat 20th April 1526. he finally defeated Ibrahim Lodhi. Babur was the first one to entitle himself as the ‘Padshah’. Some important wars by Babur are as following:-
  Battle of Panipat (1526)- Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi
  Battle of Khanwa (1527)- Babur defeated Rana Sanga
  Battle of Chanderi(1528)- Babur defeated Medini Rai

• After the Kushans, he was the first to bring Kabul and Kandahar into the Indian empire, which provided stability since it was the staging post of invasions of India. This helped in promoting trade since these towns were the starting points of caravans meant for China in the east & Mediterranean in the west. Babur

• Babur’s effective use of field cannon and matchlockmen ensured the success of his much smaller force. The Lodi Sultan had failed to integrate firearms into his military machine, and thus proved unable to meet the Mughal challenge. Ibrahim Lodi along with over fifteen thousand soldiers, perished on the battlefield.

• Babur, like his men, was also not too enthused about India. This can be discerned from his autobiography, the Tuzuk-i-Baburi, in which he notes that Hindustan was “a country of few charms”. But Babur was equally certain that his destiny did not lie in poverty-stricken Kabul.

• Babur now solemnly declared that they were engaged in a religious war, jihad, to keep afloat the banner of Islam in a pagan land. In a dramatic gesture, he broke wine vessels and renounced drinking before the assembled troops. He also abolished tamgha (stamp duty) for Muslims.

• He had left written instructions that he be buried in Kabul. For a while his body was entombed in the Aram Bagh in Agra, opposite the present site of the Taj Mahal. Sometimes between 1539 and 1544, however, his remains were transported to his final resting place in Kabul, at a site he himself had chosen.

• The char baghs, the symmetrically laid out gardens with flowing waters and fountains, were introduced into India by Babur.

• He was also a writer of great elegance, proficient in Persian, Arabic as well as his native Turkish. The Tuzuk-i-Baburi, besides being a refined piece of prose writing, is an invaluable source material for understanding the times in which he lived. Babur died in 1530.

Humayun (1530-40 & 1555-56)

• Upon the death of Babur, Humayun succeeded his father, but as per the Timurid tradition, was forced to share power with his brothers. Thus, Mirza Sulaiman was given Badakshan. Mirza Kamaran inherited Kabul and Qandahar, while Askari and Hindal received territories to administer within India.

• Humayun exhibited considerable military skills and personal valour in the campaign against Bahadur Shah and even managed to defeat him. Yet the Mughal forces withdrew without either deposing the ruler or annexing the kingdom.

• In 1537. Sher Khan invaded Bengal and besieged the ruler, Mahmud Shah, at his capital, Gaur.

• Humayun marched to the aid of the Bengal ruler. But instead of relieving Gaur, he laid seige to the Chunar fort, which had recently come into Sher Khan’s possession. This faulty strategy facilitated Sher Khan’s eventual takeover of Bengal.

• Sher Khan further enhanced his prestige and position in the Afghan­Mughal battle at Chausa in 1539, where Humayun’s forces were completely routed and Humayun himself narrowly escaped alive. Sher Khan now assumed the title of Sher Shah.

• A final battle between the two forces near Kanuaj in 1540 could not tilt the scales in favour of the Mughals. The Afghans had triumphed politically once again and Sher Shah emerged as the new ruler of north India.

• He expanded the frontiers of the empire, but lost it to the Afghan leader Sher Shah Sur. who drove him into exile. Humayun tool: refuge in the court of the Safavid ruler of Iran. In 1555 Humayun defeated the Surs, but died a year later.

• Humayun spent the next fifteen years in exile, in search of allies to reclaim his throne.

• Disillusioned, he finally left India in 1544 for the Safavid court in Persia, where further troubles awaited him. The ruler. Shah Tahmasp, forced him and his followers to recant Sunni Islam and accept the Shi’i faith as the price for shelter and help.

Sur Empire(1540-55)

Sher Shah (1540-45)

• The original name of Sher Shah, the founder of Sur empire, was Farid. He began his career with the administration of his father Hasan’s iqta at Sahasram in south Bihar. Later he moved to the court of the Afghan ruler of Bihar, Sultan Muhammad Nuhani, who gave Urn the title ‘Sher Khan’ for his bravery.

• After expelling Humayun from India, Sher Shah captured the chain efforts from Malwa to Marwar, but the ruler of Kalinjar, who sympathised with Humayun, remained defiant. So Sher Shah decided to capture this fort and launched the attack. But he was very badly burnt and died due to a freak accident in 1545.

• Sher Shah was particularly perturbed by the activities of Raja Maldeo of Marwar. Sher Shah got the better of him in the battle of Samel in 1544. As a consequence of his defeat, the neighbouring Rana at Mewar felt constrained to surrender Chittor to Sher Shah. He also realised jaziya from the Hindus.

• He maintained tight control over the administration, delegatng no real powers to his ministers and officers, and in fact set up an efficient espionage system to keep himself informed of their activities.

• He divided the army into three segments, the sawars, the elephants, and the footmen, with the sawars serving as the linchpin of the entire organisation.

• His personal force, known as the royal Khasa Khail, consisted of one lakh fifty thousand sawars.

• He also revived the system of dagh and chehra which Alauddin Khilji had successfully introduced some centuries ago.

• Sher Shah also improved communications within his empire. He restored the Grand Trunk Road, the Uttarapatha of ancient times which ran from Tamralipti (Bengal) to Purushpur (modern Peshawar) and beyond. He built a road running from Agra to Jodhpur and Chittor and another from Lahore to Multan.

• The medieval historian. Badauni states that Sher Shah issued a public proclamation that from Bengal to western Rohtas which was a four-month journey, as also from Agra to Mandu, a sarai, a well, and a mosque be established at every kroh and an imam (prayer leader) appointed. A Muslim and an Hindu were also to be recruited to provide water to members of their respective communities.

• Sher Shah died in 1545 after a brief rule of five years.

Successors

• After Sher Shah’s death, his second son, Jalal Khan, was crowned, adopting the title Islam Shah. Islam concentrated on breaking the clique of Afghan leaders whom his father had tamed and trained. But he died early in 1552.

• Before Humayun reconquered Delhi in 1555, three different rulers were crowned. In 1555, just a decade after Sher Shah’s death, Humayun defeated Sikandar, the Sur ruler of Punjab, reoccupied Delhi and revived the moribund Mughal reign. During this time the real power lay in the hands of a Brahmin general, named Hemu.

Sur Administration

• He continued the central machinery of administration which had developed during the Sultanate period. A number of villages comprised of Pargana, which was under the charge of Shiqdar, who looked after the law and order and general administration.

• As before, the village (mauza) was the lowest unit of revenue. The hereditary chiefs of the villages were responsible for tax collection in their areas and functioned as intermediaries between the state and the peasants.

• A group of villages, varying between fifty and hundred or more than hundred, formed a pargana, which was headed by a shiqdar. The latter discharged both civil and military duties and also helped revenue officers (amils) in the realisation of land revenue.

• Other officials at pargana level were the khazanadar (treasurer), the munsif-i-khazano (treasury inspector), and the qanungo (in -charge of maintaining revenue records).

• A number of parganas constituted a sarkar. The Munsif or Amil looked after the collection of land revenue.Above the Pargana was the Shiq or Sarkar under the charge of the shiqdar-i-shiqdaran and munsif-i-munsifan. A number of Sarkars were grouped into a province.

• Civil cases of pargana were heard by Amin and criminal cases by a Qazi or Mir-i-Adal. He introduced the principle of local responsibility for local crimes. Muqqadams were punished for failure to find culprits.

• Grand Trunk Road was built from Sonargaon (Bengal) to Attock (NWFP). He also built 17(H) sarais (rest houses) which also served as dak chuukis.

Various Diwans

Revenue System

• Land was measured using the Sikandari-gaz (a unit of measure introduced by Sikandar Lodi) One third of the average was fixed as tax. The peasant was given a patta (title deed) and a qabuliyat ( deed of agreement) which fixed the peasants rights and taxes Zamindars were removed and the taxes were directly collected.
• Assessment of land revenue on the basis of measurement of land. Drawing up of the schedule of rates.
• Classification of land into three categories on the basis of their yield (good, bad and middling).
• Computation of the produce of three kinds of land and fixing 1/3rd of their average as the land revenue.
• All internal customs and duties were abolished. Only 2 duties were levied.
• He introduced the silver rupiya

Akbar (1556-1605)

• Akbar was born in 1542 at Amarkot, when his father. Humayun was in flight from India. Akbar was 14 yeal’s old when he was crowned at Kalanaur in 1556 but he could consolidate his position only after the second war of Panipat (5th November 1556), fought against Mohammad Adil Sur’s Wazir— Vikramaditya (Hemu).

• Hailing from a poor mercantile family, Hemu had risen by sheer dint of ability to the post of head of the intelligence department under the Afghan ruler, Islam Shah Sur. Subsequently, he was appointed Chief Minister by Adil Shah.

• Hemu captured Ajmer and Delhi after defeating the Mughal forces stationed there. He then declared himself independent, and invoking the sanskritic monarchical traditions, assumed the title of Raja Hemchandra Vikramaditya.

• Between 1556-60: Akbar ruled under Bairam Khan’s regency. Bairam Khan, Akbar’s tutor and wazir for the first four years of his reign, retrieved the situation , by denying Hemu time to consolidate his hold on Mughal territory and forcing him to an early fight.

• Akbar’s position was further strengthened during Bairam Khan’s regency, as the Mughals won a series of battles in quick succession and warded off other Afghan contenders.

• Akbar married Bairam Khan’s widow and took his infant son under his protection. The child, Abdul Rahim Khan Khana, was to become one of the leading officers of the empire and a Hindi poet of note.

• The government now came to be dominated by Akbar’s foster mother, Maham Anaga and her relatives especially her son Adham Khan.

• Mughal expansion continued during this period, with Adham Khan commanding the invasion of the kingdom of Malwa. Its ruler, Baz Bahadur, an accomplished musician and poet, was badly defeated and fled. The chief queen, Rupamati, preferred to take her life than become a Mughal captive.

• These atrocities created widespread revulsion against the Mughals and facilitated Baz Bahadur’s exertions to regain his kingdom. This necessitated the recall of Adham Khan, a second Mughal invasion of Malwa, and the final annexation of the kingdom.

• In 1564, Akbar attacked the powerful and rich Gond kingdom of Gondwana. Its queen, Rani Durgawati, a Chandella princess from Mahoba, fought valiantly but killed herself to avoid capture when defeat seemed inevitable. A large number of royal women committed jauhar.

• Between 1561 and 1567: Akbar was engulfed by a serious challenge from his Uzbek (Central Asian) nobles. While Akbar fought a series of battles with his Uzbek nobles, his half brother, Mirza Hakim, governor of Kabul, besieged Lahore and was proclaimed emperor of Hindustan by the Uzbeks.

• Mirza Hakim was forced to withdraw to Kabul, the Mirzas suppressed, and the Uzbeks routed by 1567.

• Akbar’s encounter with the Rajputs began on a fairly harmonious note. In 1562, Bhara Mal, ruler of the small state of Amber, allied with Akbar to ward off pressure from a hostile Mughal governor. He gave his daughter in marriage to the Emperor and joined imperial service along with numerous relatives, including his son, Bhagwan Das, and grandson, Man Singh.

Akbar’s Conquests

• Akbar’s earliest campaigns were against Durgawati of Garh-Katanga (Gond & Rajput principalities) followed by Chittor (Rana Udai Singh); Ranthambor (Rao Surjan Hada). The two powerful forts of Rajasthan—Ranthambor and Chittor (guarded by Jaimal)—were captured by the Mughals.

• If Akbar was to be the master of Hindustan, it was imperative that he subjugate Mewar, which, besides its political importance, also linked the trade routes of the Gangetic plains with the western coast.

• Hence, in 1567, he led his army into a jihad against the state, then ruled by Udai Singh. As the Mughals laid seige to Chittor; the fortified capital city, the Rana, on the advice of his nobles, made a tactical retreat to the hills, leaving the fort in charge of the legendary warriors, Jairnal and Fatha.

• The Emperor also went on foot to the dargah, of Muinuddin Chishti in Ajmer for thanksgiving.

• In 1569, employing massive siege guns. Akbar surrounded the fort of Ranthamhor, then under Rai Surjan Hada, a vassal of Udai Singly. The Rai surrendered when it became apparent that he would not be able to withstand the imperial assault.

• The redoubtable Rana Pratap ascended the throne of Mewar in 1572 on the death of Udai Singh.

• Having been rebuffed in his attempts to persuade the Rana to accept Mughal suzerainty and render personal homage, Akbar ordered Man Singh to lead the campaign against the Rajput ruler. In 1576, a bitter battle was fought at the Haldi Ghati Pass.

• The Rana suffered enormous hardships, but the assistance of the Bhil chiefs enabled him to continue his defiance.

• After 1579, however, the Mughal pressure on the Rana eased as revolts in eastern India and developments on the north-west frontier increasingly engaged the Emperor. The Rana seized this opportunity to recover a major portion of his kingdom.

• Akbar also faced trouble in Marwar, another premier Rajput state. Its ruler, Chandrasen, dissatisfied with the Emperor’s interventions in his family affairs, revolted and waged guerilla warfare against the Mughals.

• In 1571, Akbar shifted from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri, a new city constructed on his orders. Its principal architectural features were the great congregational mosque, and the tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, Akbar’s spiritual guide.

• In 1572, Akbar began a fresh round of conquests. He first marched against, Gujarat, a fertile and prosperous region, home to a flourishing textile industry and on of the busiest seaports of Hindustan. He captured the capital city Ahmedabad, without much difficulty. The king, Muzaffar Shah and almost all his nobles capitulated.

• Akbar faced a rebellion in Gujarat in 1572. which was crushed and following which he built the Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri.

• In 1574, Daud Khan, the ruler of Bengal, declared himself independent of Akbar, forcing the latter to take the field himself. Daud Khan fled on the approach of the imperial army and Akbar formally annexed Bengal and Bihar.

• However, Daud Khan managed to regain Bengal, necessitating a second Mughal invasion in 1576, which ended in his capture and execution.

• In 1585, Akbar transferred his capital to Lahore in order to effect a greater integration of, the north-west into the Mughal Empire.

• In 1595, Baluchistan and Qandahar also came into Mughal hands.

• During this period, Kashmir (1585) and Sindh (1591) too came under imperial sway.

• In 1592, Raja Man Singh, governor of Bihar, annexed Orissa, which was made part of suba Bengal.

• Akbar’s deccan campaign began in 1591 with the siege of Ahmednagar {defended by Chand Bibi). Ahmednagar soon resurrected itself under the leadership of Malik Amber.

• However, the other Deccani Sultans spurned the imperial offer, Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar adopted a distinctly unfriendly tone, but his death in 1595 and the ensuing struggle for succession gave Akbar an opportunity to intervene. The deceased Sultan’s sister, Chand Bibi, championed the cause of Burhan’s infant son and also elicited support from the Bijapur sovereign, who was her relative.

• The Emperor was forced to leave the Deccan in April 1601 to deal with the revolt of his son, Prince Salim.

• Akbar’s last campaign was against Asirgarh, resulting in the annexation of Khandesh( 1601). Akbar conquered Kandahar in 1595.

Jahangir (1605 - 27)

• In 1605, when it became obvious that Akbar’s end was near, Prince Salim was in turn faced with an attempted coup by his eldest son, Prince Khusrau, who was aided and abetted by Raja Man Singh Kachhwaha and Mirza Aziz Koka (whose daughter was married to the Prince).Khusrau also received patronage of Guru Arjun Dev, revolted against Jahangir. The fifth Sikh Guru Arjun Dev was later sentenced to death for his blessings to the rebel prince.

• On the refusal to pay the fine, Guru Arjun’s son, Hargovind was imprisoned in the fort of Gwalior.

• Jahangir’s wife, Nurjahan (daughter of Itimad-daulah) exercised tremendous influence over the state affairs. She was made the official Padshah Begum.

• In 1611, a significant phase in the Emperor’s life commenced with his marriage to an Iranian widow, Mehrunissa, the daughter of his nobleman, Itimad-ud-daulah. The new queen soon became the favourite of the Emperors’ wives, and was given the title, Nur Jahan (Light of the World).

• Her father was made the imperial diwan, while her brother, Asaf Khan, became a leading mansabdar.

• The vaulting position of the Empress’s family was further cemented by the marriage of Asaf Khan’s daughter, Arjumand Banu (the future Mumtaz Mahal), with Jahangir’s second son and heir-apparent; Prince Khurram, in 1612.

• Khurram (Shahjahan) supported by his father-in-law, Asaf Khan, also revolted against Jahangir but the two soon reconciled. His military general, Mahabat Khan revolted and abducted him but Nurjahan saved him due to her diplomatic efforts.

• Finally, in 1613, the Emperor positioned himself at Ajmer to personally supervise operations then entrusted to his son, Prince Khurram (the future Shah Jahan).

• In Jahangir’s time, however, the Raja of Kangra felt confident enough to take on the Mughals. The imperial forces took almost three years to subjugate this tiny kingdom.

• Jahangir, thereby, became the first Muslim ruler to conquer Kangra and himself went there in 1620 to celebrate the Mughal accomplishment. He killed a bullock within the fort precincts and constructed a mosque in the area.

• A Safavid attempt to reoccupy it in the early years of Jahangir’s reign ended in failure, but Jahangir’s illness in 1622 enabled the Persians to win back Qandahar.

• Jahangir faced a formidable opponent in Malik Amber (an Abyssinian) in his expedition to Ahmednagar. Shahjahan’s military capacity was proved during the expeditions undertaken during Jahangir’s reign and Ahmednagar was annexed (1601). After a decade of warfare, the Mughals finally overwhelmed Ahmadnagar in 1616.

• Jahangir directed Prince Khurram to assume command of the Deccan operations. Khurram won a major battle against Malik Ambar, who consented to hand over Berar and Ahmadnagar to the Mughals. Khurram also obliged Bijapur and Golconda to pay heavy fines.

• In 1621, when Prince Khurram heard that the Emperor was critically ill, he ordered the secret murder of his elder brother, the blinded Prince Khusrau.

• Nur Jahan’s machinations on behalf of her son-in-law, Prince Shahryar; goaded Prince Khurram into open revolt. Though defeated by Jahangir’s army, Khurram remained in rebellion, fleeing from one part of the empire to another in search of allies.

• Ultimately, he agreed to a truce under which he remained governor of the Deccan provinces and sent two of his sons, Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb, as hostages to his father’s court.

• He established Zanjir-i-Adal at Agra Fort for the seekers of royal justice.

• John Hawkins resided at Agra for two years (1609-11). He was given the mansab of 400. Sir Thomas Roe (1615-18) was ambassador of James I. He was well read and wrote his memoirs Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri in Persian.

• Jahangir died in 1627, and Khurram was ante to mount the throne, partly due to the deft manoeuvrings of his father-in-law. Asaf Khan.

Shahjahan (1628-58)

• Immediately after his accession, Shah Jahan ordered the execution of his brother. Prince Shahryar; the two sons of his brother, Prince Khusrau; and the two sons of Jahangir’s brother, Prince Daniyal.
• In 1612 he married Arzmand Banu Begum who became famous as Mumtaz Mahal.
• Stretching from Sind to Sylhet and from Balkh to the Deccan, its annual assessed revenues stood at a mind-bogglig 8,800 millions dams. up from 7.000 million dams, two decades earlier under Jahangir.
• The new capital city of Shahjahanabad, the Taj Mahal, the all-marble structures at Agra Fort, continue to evoke appreciation for their aesthetic appearance and fine workmanship.
• The magnificence of his Peacock Throne continued to be recalled long after it was carried away by Nadir Shah.
• The Bundelas had established their capital at Orcha on the Betwa River in the early sixteenth century.
• A member of the Bundela clan, Bir Singh Deo, had arranged the murder of Abul Fazl at Prince Salim’s request.
• Bir Singh had also aided Jahangir in suppressing the revolt of his son, the future Shah Jahan. Consequently, when Bir Singh’s son, Jujhar Singh, arrived at the court of Emperor Shah Jahan, an inquiry was ordered into the assets of his late father. Alarmed at this turn of events, Jujhar Singh fled to his home state with the Mughal army in hot pursuit.
• In 1634, Jujhar Singh again landed himself in trouble by attacking the neighbouring Gond kingdom, killing its ruler Bhim Narayan, and seizing the treasure founded at Chauragarh fort.
• Overtakn by Mughal troops, two sons and one grandson were converted to Islam and one who refused to do so, slain. Jujhar Singh and his eldest son were in turn killed by a group of Gonds.
• In 1636, the murder of a trader-emissary of the Mughals provoked an Ahom-Mughal war.
• In 1632, he defeated Potugese and annexed Ahmednager in 1636 and the Nizam Shahi ruler taken prisoner. Many Muslim members of the state’s ruling class were assimilated into Mughal service, as were a few Marathas.
• Shah Jahan then ordered the two remaining states of Bijapur and Golconda to accept Mughal sovereignty and pay annual tribute. The ruler of Golconda promptly acceded to these demands, but military action was ceded to enforce Bijapur’s Compliance.
• Shah Jahan’s other obsession in the north-west was the recovery of Qandahar from the Persians. Here he met with initial success. In 1638, the Persians commander of Qandahar, following differences with the Safavid ruler, Shah Safi, surrendered the fort to the Mughals and entered their service.
• He sent his armies to Balkh and Badakshan in Central Asia in order to secure the defence of north- western India. Shah Jahan who had recovered Kandahar (1638) from the Iranians but lost it again (1649) despite three campaigns under Prince Murad, Aurangzeb and Dara.
• The War of succession took a notorious turn during Shahjahan’s reign and his two daughters Jahan Ara and Roshan Ara supported his two sons, Dara and Aurangzeb, respectively.
• Shahjahan’s reign is described by French traveller Bernier and Tavernier and the Italian traveller Manucci. Peter Mundi described the famine that occured during Shah Jahan’s time.

Dara Shukoh

• Dara’s attempt to understand the Quranic concept of marmuz (mysterious, symbolic) led him to study Hindu scriptures, specially the Upanishads. Data reasoned that since the Quran clearly stated that every land had been provided spiritual guidance by the Almighty, India too must have had divinely revealed scriptures. He believed that the Vedas and the Upanishads belonged to that category.

• The Quranic concept of murmuz, he felt, could be understood by studying the Upanishads.

• Consequently, assisted by Brahmin scholars, he translated fifty-two Upanishads into Persian, the collective work being known as the Sirr-i­Akbar.

• This impressive feat convinced him that the Upanishads were the original expression of the ‘Oneness of God.’

• Golconda’s march into Karnataka was led by Mir Jumla, an enormously successful first-generation Iranian immigrant. He had secured diamond mining concessions and stakes in the state’s maritime trade and commerce. He managed to rise to the post of Chief Minister. He won sizeable territory . for Golconda in Karnataka.

Aurangzeb (1658-1707)

• When, Shah Jahan fell ill, triggering off a war of succession among his sons. Dara, stationed at the court was the heir-designate; Shuja was governor of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa; Aurangzeb was in charge of the Deccan and Murad Baksh was governor of Gujarat and Multan.

• On receiving news of the Emperor’s illness, Shuja declared himself Emperor and began the march towards Agra. He was, however; defeated near Varanasi by a force led by Dara’s son, Sulaiman Shukoh, and Raja Jai Singh. Murad Baksh similarly crowned himself in Gujarat.

• Aurangzeb now established secret links with Murad and Shuja, promising ,’to recognise them as independent rulers of parts of the Empire.

• The combined troops of Aurangzeb and Murad defeated Shah Jahan’s army commanded by the Marwar ruler, Jaswant Singh Rathor.

• He defeated Dara (1659). He took the title of ‘Alamgir’ in 1659.

• He was called as Zinda Pir, the living saint.

• In 1662, Mir Jumla, Aurangzeb’s ablest general led the expedition against Ahoms.

• The Mughal conquests reached a climax during his reign, as Bijapur and Golconda were annexed in 1686 and 1687, respectively.

Revolts under Aurangzeb

• Aurangzeb’s failure to understand the root causes and nature of the rise of Marathas, gave him a formidable opponent, Shivaji.
• The first anti- imperial reaction took place in the form of Jai \ Rebellion under Gokla. Rajaram and Chinaman Satnamis.
• First Afghan rebellon was by Yusufshahi tribes of Afghanistan of Roshnai sect. Second Afghan rebellion led by Ajmal Khan.
• During his reign, ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed.

Later Mughals

Bahadur Shah I (1707-1712)

• Aurangzeb died in 1707. A war of succession started amongst his three surviving sons viz. Muazzam-the governor of Kabul, Azam-the governor of Gujarat and Kam Baksh-The governor of Bijapur. Muazzam defeated Jahandar Shah (1712-13)
• He ascended the throne with the aid of Zulfikhar Khan. His nephew, Farrukh Siyar, defeated him. He abolished Jaziya.

Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719)

• He ascended the throne with the help of Sayyid brothers. Abdullah Khan and Hussain Khan who were Wazir and Mir Bakshi respectively Farrukh Siyar was killed by the Sayyid brothers in 1719. Banda Bahadur was captured at Gurudaspur and executed.

Mohammad Shah (1719-48)

• During his reign Nadir Shah raided India and took away the peacock throne and the Kohinoor diamond. He was a pleasure loving king and was nick named Rangeela.
• Nizam ul mulk was appointed Wazir in 1722 but he relinquished the post and marched to the Deccan to found the state of Hyderabad. Bengal acquired virtual independence during the governorship of Murshid Quli Khan.
• Saddat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk who was appointed governor of Awadh by him laid down the foundation of the autonomous state.

Ahmed Shah’s (1748-1754)

• During his reign, Ahmed Shah Abdali(one of the ablest generals of Nadir Shah) marched towards Delhi And the Mughals ceded Punjab and Multan.

Alamgir(l754-l759)

• During his reign Ahmed Shah Abdali occupied Delhi. Later, Delhi was also plundered by the Marathas.

Shah Alam II (1759-1806)

• During his reign Najib Khan Rohilla became very powerful in Delhi so much so that Shah Alam II could not enter Delhi. The Battle of Buxar (1764) was fought during his reign.

Akbar Shah II (1806-37)

• During his reign Lord Hastings ceased to accept the sovereignty of Mughals and claimed an equal status.

BahadurShah II (1837-1862)

• The last Mughal king , who was confined by the British to the Red Fort. During the revolt of 1857 he was proclaimed the Emperor by the rebellions. He was deported to Rangoon following the 1857 rebellion.

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