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in

EARLY MUSLIM INVASIONS

The Arab Conquest of Sind
• By the 8th Century AD, the Arabs had acquired a core position from Spain to India, connecting the trade
of Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
• During the early years of the 8th Century, the Umayyads reached the height of their power and created
the largest ever-Mulsim state that existed.
• Arabs were also attracted by the wealth of India.
• However, the reason for the invasion of Sindh was to avenge the plunder of Arab Ships by pirates of

E
Debol. King Dahir refused to punish the pirates.
• Hajjaj the governor of Iraq despatched an army under Muhammad Bin Qasim.
•

•
killed. OR
At Rawar, in AD 712 Muhammad Bin Qasim attacked Dahir who was defeated. Dahir was caught and

Muhammad Bin Qasim now proceeded forward and within a short span he conquered various important
places in Sind including Brahmanabad.
SC
• Muhammad Bin Qasim conquered the major portion of Sind up to the lower Punjab.
• Many Arabs settled down in Sind and established relations with the local population. The Arab influence
continued for a long period with pockets of Muslim influence established in various parts of Sind.
Mahmud of Ghazni
GS

• In all Mahmud Ghazni invaded India 17 times during AD 1000-1026.

• Mahmud Ghazni was Son of Sabuktigin, the founder of Ghazni dynasty & Turkish slave commander.
• Mahmud himself claimed descent from the Iranian legendary king Afrasiyab.
• He was the first Muslim ruler to penetrate deep into India.
• He led 17 expeditions in all into India from A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1027. The initial raids were directed against
the Hindusahi rulers who at the time held Peshawar and the Punjab.
• The chief motive of Mahmud invasions in India was the desire to secure its wealth.
• On the north-western frontier of India there were three principal kingdoms.
• The Brahmana dynasty of the Shahiyas ruled over a wide territory, extending from Kashmir to Multan
and from Lambhan to Sarhind.
• To the south of it lay the Shia kingdom of Multan, and the principality of Mansura where the Arab
dynasty held authority.
• Mahmud attacks on India were an attempt to fulfil his ambition to make Ghazni the formidable power
in the politics of Central Asia.
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• Mahmud’s raids into India were only to acquire the famous wealth of India which would help him to
consolidate his vast rule in Central Asia.
• The Ghaznavids had their control on parts of Punjab and Sind which continued till AD 1135.
• Firddausi, who wrote Shah Nama in which he glorified the ancient Iranian heroes, was the poet laureate
of Mahmud.
• Alberuni, who wrote ‘Kitabul-Hind or An Enquiry Into India’ had accompanied him to India along with
his corps of army.

E
OR
SC

• The Ghaznavid conquest of the Punjab and Multan completely changed the political situation in north
India.
• Mahmud’s invasions exposed the weak defence of Indian kingdoms and opened possibility of attacks in
future by the Turks.
GS

Muhammad Ghori
• Towards the middle of the twelfth century two new powers rose to prominence - the Khwarizmi empire
based in Iran and the Ghurid empire based in Ghur in north-west Afghanistan.
• The power of the Ghurids increased under Sultan Alauddin who earned the title of ‘Jahansoz’ or the ‘world
burner’. He ravaged Ghazni and burnt it to the ground.
• In A.D. 1173, Shahabuddin Muhammad also known as Muizzuddin Muhammad bin Sam (called Muhammed
Ghori) ascended the throne of Ghazni.
• Muhammad Ghori conquered Multan and Uchh from Karmatia rulers in A.D. 1175.
• In A.D. 1178, he tried to penetrate into Gujarat but was defeated and completely routed by the Chalukya
ruler of Gujarat, Mularaja II, near Mount Abu.
• After that Muhammad Ghuri attacked Punjab using Khybar pass. Peshawar was occupied in A.D. 1179-
80. By A.D.1182, the whole of Sind was subdued.
• Next he captured Lahore, deposed Khusru Malik, the Ghaznavid prince, and annexed Punjab to his
dominions.
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• With Lahore as the base, he first thoroughly consolidated his position in the Punjab.
• Muhammad Ghori’s possession of Punjab and his attempt to advance into the Gangetic Doab brought him
into direct conflict with the Rajput ruler Prithivaraja Chauhan.
• The conflict started with claims of Bhatinda.
• In the first battle fought at Tarain in AD 1191, Ghori’s army was routed and he narrowly escaped death.
• Prithviraj conquered Bhatinda but he made no efforts to garrison it effectively. This gave Ghori an
opportunity to re-assemble his forces and make preparations for another advance into India.
• The Second Battle of Tarain (AD 1192) is regarded as one of the turning points in Indian History. The
Indian forces were more in number but Turkish forces were well organised with swift moving cavalry and
the bulky Indian forces were no match against the superior organisation, skill and speed of the Turkish
cavalry.
• The Turkish cavalry was using two superior techniques.

E
– The first was the horse shoe which gave their horses a long life and protected their hooves.

•
–
power in the battle.
OR
The second was, the use of iron stirrup which gave a good hold to the horse rider and a better striking

Prithviraj tried to escape but was captured near Sarsuti.

• After Tarain, Ghori returned to Ghazni, leaving the affairs of India in the hand of his trusted slave general
SC
Qutbuddin Aibak.
• In AD 1194 Muhammad Ghori again returned to India. and gave a crushing defeat to Jai Chand at
Chandwar near Kanauj.
• Thus the battle of Tarain and Chandwar laid the foundations of Turkish rule in Northern India.
• On his way to Ghazni, Muhammad Ghuri was killed while encamping at Dhamyak on the Indus.
GS

• His general Qutbud-din Aibak declared himself Sultan at Delhi in A.D. 1206.
• The political achievements of Muhammad Ghori in India were long lasting than those of Mahmud of
Ghazni. While Mahmud Ghazni was mainly interested in plundering Muhammad Ghori wanted to establish
his political control.
Notes

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DELHI SULTANATE - ADMINISTRATION

AND SOCIETY
The Delhi Sultanate (1200-1400 AD)
• After Muhammad Ghuri's death, his nephew Ghiyasuddin Mahmud became the ruler of Ghur, but he was
in constant fear of internal revolts and foreign invasions.
• TajuddinYalduz, NasiruddinQubacha and Qutbud-din Aibak - the three able and trusted Turkish nobles of
Muizuddin each one of them aspired for independence.
• Ghiyasuddin Mahmud could not suppress their revolts and hence immediately after the dealth of Muizuddin,
partition of his empire started. Yalduz succeeded at Ghazni and as the ruler of Ghazni wished to bring
India also under his suzerainty.

E
• Qubacha who had held Multan and Uchh since 1205, occupied the whole of Sind and decided to declare
his independence.
OR
• The Indian possession of Muizuddin was held by Qutbud-din Aibak.
• The establishment of Delhi Sultanate which existed from A.D. 1206 to 1526 had five different dynasties
- the Slave (Mamluk Sultans), Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyids and Lodis.
• Not only they extended their rule over North India, but also they penetrated into the Deccan and South
SC

India.
• Their rule in India resulted in far-reaching changes in society, administration and cultural life.
SLAVE DYNASTY
• The dynasty founded by the Ilbari Turks is generally called the 'Slave Dynasty' or 'Mamluk Dynasty'
because many of the important rulers of this dynasty had originally been slaves like Qutbud-din who was
GS

a slave of Mahmud Ghuri and Iltutmish who in turn was slave of Qutbud-din.
• QutbuddinAibak was a Turkish slave who had risen to high rank in Muhammad Ghori's army.
• After Muhammad Ghori's death in AD 1206, the control of his Indian possessions was passed on to
QutbuddinAibak.
• Aibak was the first independent Muslim ruler of Northern India, the founder of Delhi Sultanate.
• Aibak had to face many revolts from Rajputs and other Indian chiefs.
• TajuddinYaldauz, the ruler of Ghazni, claimed his rule over Delhi. NasiruddinQabacha, the governor of
Multan and Uchch aspired for independence.
• Aibak was able to win over his enemies by conciliatory measures as well as a display of power.
• He defeated Yaldauz and occupied Ghazni.
• The successor of Jaichand, Harishchandra had driven out the Turks from Badayun and Farukhabad.
• Aibak re-conquered both Badayun and Farukhabad.
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• QutbuddinAibak was brave, faithful and generous and due to his generosity he was known as "Lakh
Baksh".
• Most of the scholars consider Aibak as the real founder of Mulsim rule in India.
Iltutmish (A.D. 1210 - 1236)
• On Aibak's death in A.D. 1210 his adopted son Aram Shah succeeded to the throne but he was shortly
after removed by Iltutmish, Qutbud-din's slave and governor of Budaun.
• Iltutmish's elevation was resented by many Turkish nobles while Qubacha, the governor of Sind and
Yalduz, the governor of Ghazni rose in open revolt.
• Yalduz was defeated near Tarain in A.D. 1215 and Qubacha was finally subdued in A.D. 1228.
• Ali Mordan Khan of Bengal and Bihar, who had rebelled, was suppressed.
• The revolt of Hindu rulers at Gwalior and Ranthambore who had declared their independence were

E
tackled.
QutbuddinAibak (AD 1206-1210)
•
OR
In Bihar and Bengal, a person called Iwaz had taken the title of Sultan Ghiyasuddin minted under the
leadership of Changiz Khan in pursuit of Jalaluddin, a prince of Khwarizm who had fled to Punjab and
sought asylum in Iltutmish's court.
• India was in imminent danger of being overrun by the Mongols but Iltutmish's acting with precedence,
SC
refused asylum and slaved the infant Turkish empire from the wrath of the Mongol warlord.
• In A.D. 1229 Iltutmish received a role of honour and a patent of investiture from Al MustansirBildah,
the reigning caliph of Baghdad who confirmed him Sultan-Azmi (great Sultan).
• In return Iltutmish described himself as the 'Lieutenant' of the caliph and the name of caliph was
inscribed on the coins issued by him and this strengthened his position still more.
GS

• It has his authority the sanction of the man honoured in whole of the Islamic world.
• He issued a purely Arabic coinage of silver and was the first to do so.
• He was the real founder of Delhi Sultanate and an architect of its administration.
• He had eliminated the refractory nobles from all-important posts and had organized a band of his own
forty trusted nobles called 'Turkan-I-Chihalgani'.
• He completed QutabMinar in A.D. 1231-32 named after a Sufi saint KhwajaQutb-ud-din Kaki, a native
of Ush area in Baghdad.
• He extended the screen walls of the Quwwatul Islam Mosque constructed by Qutb-ud-din.
• Minhaj-us-Sirad, his contemporary historian too praised him.
Raziya (1236-1240)
• Although Iltutmish nominated his daughter Raziya as his successor, the Qazi of Delhi and Wazir put
RuknuddinFeroz on the throne.
• When the governor of Multan revolted, Ruknuddin marched to suppress that revolt and Raziya with the
support of Amirs of Delhi seized the throne of Delhi Sultanate.
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• She appointed an Abyssinian slave Yakuth as Master of the Royal Horses.

• Raziya discarded the female apparel and held the court with her face unveiled and even went for hunting
and led the army which aroused resentment among the Turkish nobles.
• In 1240, Altunia, the governor of Bhatinda revolted against her.
• She went in person to suppress the revolt but Altunia killed Yakuth and took Raziya prisoner. In the
meantime, the Turkish nobles put Bahram, another son of Iltutmish on the throne.
• Raziya won over her captor, Altunia, and after marrying him proceeded to Delhi but was defeated and
killed.
• The fall of Raziya paved the way for the ascendancy of the Forty.
Nasirud-din-Mahmud (A.D. 1246-1266)
• After Raziya's fall, two weak rulers Bahram (A.D. 1240-420 and AluddinMasud (A.D. 12142-46) followed
in quick succession. Their brief inglorious rule was marked by nothing else but the invasions of Mongols.

E
• In A.D. 1246 Nasirud-din Mahmud, another son of Iltutmish ascended the throne. He was a man of
peaceful and pious disposition and an excellent calligraphist spending his leisure time in copying Quran.
OR
• Nasiruddin placed all powers into the hands of his Prime Minister Balban. They worked in perfect
harmony except on one occasion when Balban was removed from office for a brief period (A.D. 1253)
at the instigation of Imadud-din Raihan, the leader of the part of Indian Mulsim nobles.
• As Prime Minister, Balban ruled with a strong hand and crushed the rebellious governors of Bengal, Avadh
SC

and Sind, defended the Mongols who had marked into the Punjab in A.D. 1257.
• Balban swooped upon the hilly country of Mewat and punished the Mewati marauders.
• The frontier posts were strongly garrisoned under his able cousin Sher Khan for checking the Mongol
inroads and suppressed the refractory elements.
• After the death of Nasirud-din who had no son, Balban, ascended the throne.
GS

• The contemporary chronicler Minhaj-us-Sirad had held a high post (chief Quazi) under the Sultan Nasirud-
din and dedicated his Tahaqat-i-Nasiri to his patron.
Balban (AD 1266-87)
• The struggle between the sultan and the Turkish nobles continued, till one of the Turkish chiefs, Ulugh
Khan, known in history by the name of Balban, gradually arrogated all power to himself and finally
ascended the throne in AD 1266.
• When Balban became the Sultan, his position was not secure and many Turkish chiefs were hostile to him;
the Mongols were looking forward for an opportunity for attacking the Sultanate, the governors of the
distant provinces were also trying to become independent rulers, the Indian rulers were also ready to revolt
at the smallest opportunity.
• The law and order situation in the area around Delhi and in the Doab region had deteriorated. In the
Ganga-Yamuna doab and Awadh, the roads were infested with the robbers and dacoits, because of which
the communication with the eastern areas had become difficult.
• Some of the Rajput zamindars had set up forts in the area, and defied the government.
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• The Mewatis had become so bold as to plunder people up to the outskirts of Delhi.
• To deal with these elements, Balban adopted a stern policy.In the Mewat many were killed. In the area
around Badayun, Rajput strongholds were destroyed.
• Balban ruled in an autocratic manner and worked hard to elevate the position of the Sultan. And did not
allow any noble to assume great power.
• He even formulated the theory of kingship.
• The historian Barani, who was himself a great champion of the Turkish nobles, says that Balban remarked
'whenever I see a base born ignoble man, my eyes burn and I reach in anger for my sword (to kill him)."
• It is not known if Balban actually said these words but his attitude towards the non-Turks was that of
contempt.
• Balban was not prepared to share power with anyone, not even with his own family.

E
• Balban was determined to break the power of the Chahalgani.
• To keep himself well informed, Balban appointed spies in every department.
•

•
OR
He also organised a strong centralized army, both to deal with internal disturbances, and to repel the
Mongols who had entrenched themselves in the Punjab and posed a serious threat to the Delhi Sultanate.
Balban re-organised the military department (diwan-i-arz) and deployed army in different parts of the
country to put down rebellion.
SC
• The disturbances in Mewat, Doab, Awadh and Katihar were ruthlessly suppressed.
• Balban also secured control over Ajmer and Nagaur in eastern Rajputana but his attempts to capture
Ranthambore and Gwalior failed.
• In AD 1279, encouraged by the Mongol threats and the old age of Sultan the governor of Bengal, Tughril
Beg, revolted, assumed the title of Sultan and had the khutba read in his name.
GS

• Balban sent his forces to Bengal and had Tughril killed. Subsequently he appointed his own son Bughra
Khan as the governor of Bengal.
• In order to impress the people with the strength and awe of his government, Balban maintained a
magnificent court.
• He refused to laugh and joke in the court, and even gave up drinking wine so that no one may see him
in a non-serious mood.
• He also insisted on the ceremony of sijada (prostration) and paibos (kissing of the monarch's feet) in the
court.
• Balban was undoubtedly one of the main architects of the Sultanate of Delhi, particularly of its form of
government and institutions.
• By asserting the power of the monarchy, Balban strengthened the Delhi Sultanate, but even he could not
fully defend northern India against the attacks of the Mongols.
• Moreover, by excluding non-Turkish from positions of power and authority and by trusting only a very
narrow racial group he made many people dissatisfied which led to fresh disturbances and troubles after
his death in AD 1287.
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• After his death the nobles raised his grandson Kaiquabad to the throne.

• Kaiquabad was soon replaced by his son, Kaimurs, who remained on the throne for a little over three
months.

• During Balban's reign, Firoz had been the warden of the marches in north-west and had fought many
successful battles against the Mongols.

• He was called to Delhi as Ariz-i-Mumalik (Minister of War).

• In AD 1290 Firoz took a bold step by murdering Kaimurs and seized the throne.

• A group of Khalji nobles led by him established the Khalji dynasty.

• Some scholars call this event as the 'dynastic revolution' of AD 1290.

• It brought to an end the so called slave dynasty and Firoz ascended the throne under the title of
JalaluddinKhalji.

E
THE KHALJI DYNASTY (1290-1320)

• The advent of the Khalji dynasty marked

OR
the zenith of Muslim imperialism in India.

• The founder of the Khalji dynasty was

JalaluddinKhalji. He was generous and
lenient.
SC

• Malik Chhajju, nephew of Balban was

allowed to remain the governor of Kara.

• His leniency was misunderstood as

weakness.
GS

• When Chhajju revolted, it was suppressed

but he was pardoned.

• When the thugs (robbers) looted the

country, they were allowed to go after a
severe warning.

• In 1292 when Malik Chhajju revolted for

the second time, he was replaced by his
son-in-law, AlauddinKhalji.

• In 1296 AlauddinKhalji took an expedition

to Devagiri and returned to Kara.

• During the reception there, AlauddinKhalji

treacherously murdered his father-in-law
JalaluddinKhalji and usurped the throne of
Delhi.
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AlauddinKhalji (AD 1296-1316)

• Alauddin decided to revive Balban's policies of ruthless governance and decided to curb the powers of
the nobles and interference of Ulema in the matters of the state.
• He also faced, a few rebellions in succession during the early years of his rule.
• According to Barani, the author of Tarikh-i-FiruzShahi, Alauddin felt that there were four reasons for these
rebellions which were the inefficiency of the spy system, the general practice of the use of wine, social
intercourse among the nobles and inter marriage between them and the excess of wealth in the possession
of certain nobles.
• In order to prevent the reoccurrence of these rebellions, Alauddin formulated certain regulations and
implemented them.
(i) Families that had been enjoying free land to support themselves should pay land tax for their
holdings. This curbed the excess of wealth owned by some people.

E
(ii) The Sultan reorganized the spy system and took measure to make it more effective.
(iii) The use of liquor and intoxicants was prohibited.

OR
(iv) The nobles were ordered not to have social gatherings or inter-marriages without his permission.
Alauddin established a huge permanent, standing army to satisfy his ambition of conquest and to
protect the country from Mongol invasion.
• As regards Alauddin's theory of kingship, it was essentially secular and he said, "I do not know whether
SC
this is lawful or unlawful; whatever I think to be for the good of the state or suitable for emergency, that
I decree,"
• He refuted the suzerainty of the Caliph and did not allow any power independent of the state to guide
his policies.
• In view of his territorial and administrative achievements, he may be called one of the greatest Sultans
GS

of Delhi.
• Alauddin had a refined taste for art and culture and gave patronage to many artists and men of letters
including the celebrated poet Amir Khusrau who was his poet laureate.
• Some of his architectural works are Alai Fort or Koshak-i-Siri (or Siri Fort) with seven gates which was
the second capital of Alauddin and also of Islamic Delhi, the gateway of the QutabMinar, better known
as the Alai Darwaza, are gems of Indo-Islamic style.
Expansion of Delhi Sultanate
• AlauddinKhalji sent his army six times against the Mongols. The first two was successful. But the third
Mongol invader Khwaja came up to Delhi but they were prevented from entering into the capital city. The
next three Mongol invasions were also dealt with severely. Thousands of Mongols were killed. The
northwestern frontier was fortified and Gazi Malik was appointed to as the Warden of Marches to protect
the frontier.
• The military conquests of AlauddinKhalji include his expedition against Gujarat, Mewar and the Deccan.
He sent Nusrat Khan and Ulugh Khan to capture Gujarat in 1299. The king and his daughter escaped
while the queen was caught and sent to Delhi. Kafur, an eunuch, was also taken to Delhi and later he
was made the Malik Naib - military commander.
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• In 1301, Alauddin marched against Ranthampur and after a three month's siege it fell. The Rajput women
committed jauhar or self-immolation.

• Alauddin next turned against Chittor. The siege lasted for several months. In 1303 Alauddin stormed the
Chittor fort. Raja Ratan Singh and his soldiers fought valiantly but submitted.

• The Rajput women including Rani Padmini performed jauhar. This Padmini episode was graphically
mentioned in the book Padmavath written by Jayasi.

• AlauddinKhalji's greatest achievement was the conquest of Deccan and the far south which was ruled by
four important dynasties - Yadavas of Devagiri, Kakatiyas of Warangal, Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra and
the Pandyas of Madurai.

– His first target was Rai Karan (the earlier rule of Gujarat), who had now occupied Baglana, and
defeated him.

– The second expedition was against RaiRamachandra, the ruler of Deogir who had earlier promised
to pay tribute to Sultan but did not pay. Ramachandra surrendered after little resistance to Malik

E
Kafur and was treated honourably. He was kept a guest at Alauddin's court and was given a gift of
one lakh tankas and the title of RaiRayan. He was also given a district of Gujarat and one of his
OR
daughters was married to Alauddin. Alauddin showed generosity towards Ramachandra because he
wanted to have Ramachandra as an ally for campaigns in the South.

• After AD 1309 Malik Kafur was despatched to launch campaign in South India.

• The first expedition was against PratabRudradeva of Warangal in the Telengana area. This siege lasted for
SC

many months and came to an end when Rai agreed to part with his treasures and pay tribute to Sultan.

• The second campaign was against DwarSamudra and Ma'bar (modern Karnataka and Tamil Nadu). The
ruler of DwarSamudra, VirBallala III realized that defeating Malik Kafur would not be an easy task, hence
he agreed to pay tribute to Sultan without any resistance.

• In the case of Ma'bar (Pandya Kingdom) a direct decisive battle could not take place. However, Kafur
GS

plundered as much as he could including a number of wealthy temples such as that of Chidambaram.

• According to Amir Khusrau, Kafur returned with 512 elephants, 7000 horses, and 500 mans of precious
stone.

• The Sultan honoured Malik Kafur by appointing him Naib Malik of the empire.

• Alauddin's forces under Malik Kafur continued to maintain a control over the Deccan kingdoms.

Reforms of Alauddin Khalji

• Alauddin's measures to control the markets were one of the most important policy initiative.

• Since Alauddin wanted to maintain a large army, he therefore, lowered and fixed the price of the commodities
of daily use.

• To control the prices, Alauddin set up three different markets for different commodities in Delhi.

• These markets were the grain market (Mandi), cloth market (SaraiAdl) and the market for horses, slaves,
cattles, etc.
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• To ensure implementation, Alauddin appointed a superintendent (Shahna-i-Mandi) who was assisted by an

intelligence officer.

• Apart from Shahna-i-Mandi, Alauddin received daily reports of the market from two other independent
sources, barid (intelligence officer) and munhiyans (secret spies).

• Any violation of Sultan's orders resulted in harsh punishment, including expulsion from the capital,
imposition of fine, imprisonment and mutilation.

• Control of prices of horses was very important for the Sultan because without the supply of good horses
at reasonable price to army, the efficiency of the army could not be ensured.

• Low price in the horse market were ensured by putting a stop to the purchase of horses by horse dealers
and brokers (dalals) in Delhi market.

• AlauddinKhalji maintained a large permanent standing army and paid them in cash from the royal treasury.

E
• According the Ferishta, he recruited 4,75,000 cavalrymen.

OR
• He introduced the system of dagh (branding of horses) and prepared huliya (descriptive list of soldiers).

• In order to ensure maximum efficiency, a strict review of army from time to time was carried out.

• AlauddinKhalji died in 1316.

• Although the Sultan was illiterate, he patronized poets like Amir Khusrau and Amir Hasan.
SC
• He also built a famous gateway known as Alai Darwaza and constructed a new capital at Siri.

Qutbud-din Mubarak Khalji (A.D. 1316-1320)

• Malik Kafur set aside the claims of the heir apparent Khizr Khan and crowned an infant son of the late
Sultan and began to rule in his name.
GS

• Soon after another son of Alauddin murdered Kafur and ascended the throne as Qutbud-din Mubarak
Shah. His only noteworthy acts were to march to Devagiri (A.D. 1318) and dispatch an army to Gujarat.

• Qutbud-din Mubarak Shah own WazirKhushrau Khan had him murdered.

• Ghazi Malik collected a large army and appeared before Delhi.

• Khushrau was defeated and killed, and Ghasi Malik ascended the throne as GhiyasuddinTughlaq in A.D.
1320.

THE TUGHLAQ DYNASTY (1320-1414)

• The founder of the Tughlaq dynasty was GhiyasuddinTughlaq.

• GhiyasuddinTughlaq sent his son Juna Khan/Ulugh Khan to fight against Warangal. He defeated
Pratabarudra and returned with rich booty.

• Ghiyasuddin laid the foundation for Tughlaqabad near Delhi.

• Ulugh Khan was said to have treacherously killed his father and ascended the throne with the title
Muhammad bin Tughlaq in 1325.
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E
OR
SC
GS

Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325-1351)

• Muhammad bin Tughlaq was a very attractive character in the history of medieval India owing to his
ambitious schemes and novel experiments.
• His enterprises and novel experiments ended in miserable failures because they were all far ahead of their
time.
• He was very tolerant in religious matters.
• He maintained diplomatic relations with far off countries like Egypt, China and Iran.
• He also introduced many liberal and beneficial reforms, but all his reforms failed.
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• Contemporary writers like Isami, Barani and IbnBattutah were unable to give a correct picture about his
personality.

• Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the only Delhi Sultan who had received a comprehensive literary, religious
and philosophical education.

• The regions of the Deccan which were conquered by the Khaljis had stopped paying tribute and were
proclaiming independent status.

• Muhammad Tughlaq while a prince (called Juna Khan) led the early expeditions against RaiRudraDev
who was defeated after a prolonged conflict and Warangal was now annexed under direct control of the
Sultanate.

• Ma'bar was also defeated. The whole region of Telangana was divided into administrative units and made
part of the Sultanate.

E
• In contrast to AllauddinKhalji's policy the Tughlaqs annexed the Deccan region.

• Bhanudeva II, the ruler of Jajnagar in Orissa had helped RaiRudraDev of Warangal in his battle against

•
Delhi Sultans.
OR
Muhammad bin Tughlaqled an army against him in AD 1324 and defeated Bhanudeva II and annexed
his territory.

• In Bengal there was discontent of nobles against their Sultan. The dissatisfied nobles invited the Tughlaq
SC
prince to invade their ruler. The army of Bengal was defeated and a noble Nasiruddin was installed on
the throne.

• The Mongol invasions from the North-West region were rocking the Sultanate on regular intervals. In AD
1326-27 a big Mongol assault under Tarmashirin Khan took place. Muhammad Tughlaq decided to secure
the frontier. The region from Lahore to Kalanur including Peshawar was conquered and new administrative
GS

control was established.

• Besides, the Sultan also planned invasions of Qarachil region (In present day Himachal) and Qandhar but
did not succeed. In fact these schemes resulted in heavy loss.

Transfer of Capital

• One of the controversial measures of Muhammad bin Tughlaq was that he transferred his capital from
Delhi to Deogir (Daultabad).

• According to Dr. Mahdi Hussain, the Sultan wanted to maintain both Delhi and Daultabad as his capitals.

• As per Barani, in AD 1326-27, Sultan decided to shift his capital from Delhi to Deogir (Daultabad) in
the Deccan because it was more centrally located.

• According to IbnBatuta, the people of Delhi used to write letters containing abuses to the Sultan, therefore,
in order to punish them Sultan decided to shift the capital.

• Isami say that it was a place at a safer distance from the North West frontier and thus-safe from the
Mongols.
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• In view of different versions it is difficult to assign one definite reason for this shift.

• The entire population was not asked to leave only the upper classes consisting of shaikhs, nobles, ulema
were shifted to Daultabad.

• No. attempt was made to shift the rest of the population.

• Though Muhammad bin Tughlaq built a road from Delhi to Deogir and set up rest houses but the journey
was extremely harsh for the people.

• Large number of people died because of rigorous travelling and the heat.

• Due to growing discontent and the fact that north could not be controlled from south, Muhammad
decided to abandon Daultabad.

• However, the plan improved ties between the north and south. Apart from territorial expansion the social,
cultural and economic interactions also grew.

E
Token Currency

• Another controversial project undertaken by Muhammad bin Tughlaq was the introduction of "Token
OR
Currency".

• According to Barani, the Sultan introduced token currency because the treasury was empty due to the
Sultan's schemes of conquest as well as his boundless generosity.

• Some historians are of the opinion that there was a shortage of silver worldwide at that time and India
SC

too faced the crisis therefore, the Sultan was forced to issue copper coins in place of silver.

• Muhammad introduced a copper coin (Jittal) in place of silver coin (tanka) and ordered that it should be
accepted as equivalent to the tanka.

• However, the idea of token currency was new in India and it was difficult for traders and common people
to accept it.
GS

• The State also did not take proper precautions to check the imitation of coins issued by the mints.

• Government could not prevent people from forging the new coins and soon the new coins flooded the
markets.

• According to Barani, the people began to mint token currency in their houses.

• However the common man failed to distinguish between copper coin issued by the royal treasury and
those which were locally made. Thus the Sultan was forced to withdraw the token currency.

Taxation in Doab and Agricultural Reforms

• The failure of above two experiments affected the prestige of the Sultan and enormous money was
wasted.

• In order to overcome financial difficulties, Muhammad bin Tughlaq increased the land revenue on the
farmers of Doab (land between Ganges and Yamuna rivers). It was an excessive and arbitrary step on the
farmers.
Notes

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• A severe famine was also ravaging that region at that time and resulted in a serious peasant revolts. They
fled from the villages but Muhammad bin Tughlaq took harsh measures to capture and punish them. The
revolts were crushed.
• The Sultan realized later that adequate relief measures and the promotion of agriculture were the real
solution to the problem.
• He launched a scheme by which takkavi loans (loans for cultivation) were given to the farmers to buy
seed and to extend cultivation.
• A separate department for agriculture, Diwan- i- Kohi was established. Model farm under the state was
created in an area of 64 square miles for which the government spent seventy lakh tankas.
• This experiment was further continued by FirozTughlaq.
Rebellions
• The latter part of Muhammad bin Tughlaq's reign witnessed a spate of rebellions by the nobles and

E
provincial governors.
• The rebellion of Hasan Shah resulted in the establishment of the Madurai Sultanate.
•
•
In 1336 the Vijayanagar kingdom was founded.
In 1347 Bhamini kingdom was established.
OR
• The governors of Oudh, Multan and Sind revolted against the authority of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
SC
• In Gujarat Taghi rose in revolt against the Sultan who spent nearly three years in chasing him.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq's health became worse and he died in 1351.
• According to Baduani, the Sultan was freed from his people and the people from the Sultan.
• According to Barani, Muhammad bin Tughlaq was a mixture of opposites.
GS

• Muhammad bin Tughlaq's reign marked the beginning of the process of its decline.
Firuz Tughlaq (A.D. 1351-1388)
• Firuz Tughlaq formulated his aims in accordance with his own character and the circumstances of his
assumption of power. He had been asked by the nobles to accept the crown to save the state from
ruination.
• Firuz was a man of religious bent of mind and he preferred to rule in conformity with the Sharia.
• He abolished many irksome taxes, keeping only those four allowed by the Quranic law.
• He took special interest in development of agriculture. He proved irrigation facilities by constructing five
canals and advanced loans to the needy.
• He opened a hospital named Darush-Shifa for the poor in Delhi; created a department of charity called
Diwan-i- Khairat and provided employment to 1,80,000 slaves.
• He organized slavery into an institution and opened a department of slaves (Diwan-i-Bandgane).
• He opened schools and colleges, laid out 1200 gardens and orchards in the vicinity of Delhi.
• He built a number of mosques and founded several towns like Firuzabad, Fatehabad, Jaunpur and Hissar.
Notes

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• He repaired the QutabMinar, which had been struck by a lightening.

• The chief architect of Firuz was Malik GhaniSahana.
• He tried to solve the unemployment problem by starting an employment bureau.
• Firuz was born of a Hindu mother that is why he made loud demonstration of his zeal for Islam and
contempt for Hinduism.
• He imposed Jizya even on the Brahmanas.
• Worst, he burnt a Brahmana who practiced his right in public.
• He did not allow the Hindus to build new temples.
• The Sultan desecrated the shrines of Jagnnath and Jwalamukhi, imposed restrictions on Hindu fairs,
destroyed all new temples and forbade repair of old ones.
• He was a devout Muslim of the orthodox Sunni sect and was intolerant of the practices of the Shias as

E
well.
• He entertained great regard for the Caliph of Egypt and styled himself as his deputy and twice received
OR
the roles of honour from him.
• Firuzrevieded the Jagir system and increased the salaries of the nobles.
• Due to his very mild rule corruption became rampant in almost every branch of administration.
SC

• His military administration was dislocated.

• He marched twice to recapture Bengal in A.D. 1353-54 and 1339, but failed on both the occasions and
the province was lost to the Sultanate.
• The outlying areas of the empire began to fall apart.
• Before he died he could see clear symptoms of the coming disorder and confusion and when Firuz died
GS

in A.D. 1388, a virtual civil war broke out among the scions of the royal house.
• Timur marched into India in A.D. 1398 and defeated Nasiruddin Mahmud.
• Timur Plundered Delhi who returned to Samar Qand leaving his Indian possessions in the charge of Syed
Khizr Khan of Sind.
THE SYEDS
• Before his departure from India, Timur appointed Khizr Khan as governor of Multan.
• Khizr Khan captured Delhi and founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414.
• Khizr Khan tried to consolidate the Delhi Sultanate but in vain and died in 1421 and was succeeded by
his son, Mubarak Shah.
• Muhammad Shah who succeeded Mubarak Shah was always busy against conspirators and gradually lost
control over his nobles. Buhlul Khan Lodi dominated everything.
• Muhammad Shah died in 1445 and was succeeded by his son Alam Shah (1445-1451) the weakest of the
Sayyid princes. He handed over the throne to Buhlul Lodi and retired to Badaun.
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THE LODIS

E
OR
SC
GS

Bahlul Lodi (A.D. 1451-1489)

• Bahlul Lodi crowned himself in April 1451 and assumed the title of Abu MuzaffarBahlul Shah.
• He issued coins in his own name which was also included in the Khutba.
• His accession to power was resented by the king of Jaunpur, who himself claimed the throne.
• A long-drawn war followed ending the annexation of the Sarqi kingdom of Baglul (A.D. 1484).
• He also brought almost the entire region, now called Uttar Pradesh, under his control.
• When he died in A.D. 1489 the Sultanate comprised the territories from the Punjab to Varanasi.
SikandarLodi (A.D. 1489-1517)
• SikandarLodi was the successor of Baglul Lodi.
• He built a new capital at Agra and through his relentless wars and conquests added to the Delhi Sultanate.
• He was the greatest and the ablest of the Lodi dynasty.
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• He held the Afghan nobles in check, encouraged agriculture, and made roads safe for travel. In his times
harvests were plentiful, food cheap and the people contented.
• He ordered the land to be measured and rent fixed accordingly.
• He introduced a yard which measured 30 inches and was known as Sikandar Yard.
• He himself was a poet and lover of music and is reported to have written a book 'Bulrukni'.
• However, with advancing years he turned into a bigot and undertook measures prejudiced to the Hindus.
He tried to disown his Hindu origin by persecuting the Hindus.
Ibrahim Lodi (A.D. 1517 - 1526)
• When Sikandar Lodi died, the nobles divided the empire between his two sons and Ibrahim was made
king of Delhi.
• The governor of Bihar declared independence and that of Punjab, Daulat Khan, invited Babar, the ruler
of Kabul, to invade Hindustan and oust Ibrahim from the throne.

E
• In A.D. 1525, Babar came marching towards Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi advanced to meet him and a sanguinary
battle was fought in Panipat on April 21, 1526.
OR
• Babar emerged victorious, who occupied Agra and Delhi and laid the foundation of Mughal empire in
India.
CHALLENGES FACED BY THE SULTANATE
• With the establishment of the Mughal Empire the rule of Delhi sultanate came to an end.
SC

• During more than 300 years of its rule the Delhi sultanate went through various ups and downs but
survived as a political force.
Attacks by Mongols and others
• Since its inception the major threat to the sultanate came in the form of Mongol invasions.
GS

• Mongols were nomadic groups who inhabited the steppes north of China and east of Lake Baikal.
• They formed a huge nomadic empire under Chengiz Khan in the 12th century.
• From 13th century onwards they repeatedly attacked the Delhi Sultanate.
• The Sultans as a policy appeased them and also at times confronted.
• Balban and AllauddinKhalji confronted them with full military might.
• During Khalji's time Mongols under QultlugKhwaja even besieged Delhi and caused a lot of damage.
• The last significant attack of Mongols was by Tarmashirin during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq.
• A lot of energy and resources of the Sultans were spent in facing these invasions but they could not
destroy the sultanate.
• Another important attack which shook the foundation of the sultanate was by Timur in 1398.
• The weakness of the Delhi Sultanate was made even worse by Timur's invasion of Delhi (1398).
• Timur was a son of the Chief of Chagtai branch of Turks.
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• When he invaded India he was the master of almost whole of Central Asia.
• Timur's raid into India was a plundering raid and his motive was to seize the wealth accumulated by the
Sultans of Delhi over the last 200 years.
• Sultan Nasiruddin and his WazirMalluIqbasl faced Timur but were defeated.
• Timur entered Delhi and stayed for 15 days and ordered general massacre and large number of Hindu and
Muslim including women and children were murdered.
• Before leaving India Timur's invasion indicated the downfall of Delhi Sultanate.
• Delhi Sultanate lost control over Punjab andTimur appointed Khizr Khan, the ruler for Multan who
controlled Punjab also.
• After the fall of Tughlaq dynasty Khizr Khan occupied Delhi and became the ruler of Delhi Sultanate.
He laid the foundation of Saiyyid Dynasty.

E
Inner Conflict of Nobility
• Three hundred years of Delhi Sultanate witnessed five dynasties ruling over it.
•

•
Sultan and the nobility (Umara).
OR
The main reason for change of dynasties and deposing of rulers was a constant struggle between the

Soon after the death of Aibak they started fighting over the question of succession and finally Iltutimish
emerged victorious.
SC

• Iltutimish created a group of loyal nobles called Turkan-i-Chihiligani ('The Forty').

• After the death of Iltutimish various factions of the group of forty got involved in making their favourite
son/daughter as the sultan.
• In ten years five sultans were changed and after that the Sultan who occupied the throne (Nasiruddin
GS

Mahmud) for 20 years, hardly ruled and one of the powerful noble Balban was defacto sultan.
• Balban succeeded Nasiruddin after his death.
• Almost similar events happened after the death of each powerful sultan (Balban, AlauddinKhalji,
FirozTughlaq and others.)
• Since there was no well defined law of succession each noble tried to either crown himself or support
some favourite heir of the dead sultan.
• Finally Afghans replaced the Turks as sultan with the accession of Bahlol Lodi.
Provincial Kingdoms
• Another consequence of this conflict was declaration of independence by various provincial heads in the
regions.
• As a result a number of independent Afghan and Turkish kingdoms emerged. Important ones of such
states were Bengal (Lakhnouti), Jaunpur, Malwa, Gujarat, the Bahmani kingdom in the Deccan etc.
• Quite often these states were at war with the Sultanate.
• The whole process weakened the sultanate.
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Resistance by Indian Chiefs

• The sultans had to face the resistance from Indian chiefs at regular intervals.
• The Rajput chiefs in Rajputana (Mewar, Ranthambhor, Chittor etc.), Warangal, Deogiri&Ma'bar in Deccan
and South, the king of Dhar, Malwa in Central India, Jajnagar in Orissa and a host of smaller chieftains
were constantly at war even after successive defeats.
• All these struggles weakened the sultanate.

E
OR
SC
GS
Notes

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THE DELHI SULTANATE (ECONOMIC, SOCIAL

& CULTURALLIFE)
Administration
• The establishment and expansion of the Delhi Sultanate led to the evolution of a powerful and efficient
administrative system.
• At its zenith the authority of Delhi Sultan had extended as far south as Madurai.
• Although the Delhi Sultanate disintegrated, their administrative system made a powerful impact on the
Indian provincial kingdoms and later on the Mughal system of administration.
• The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic state with its religion Islam.

E
• According to the theological basis, Muslims believe that Islamic society and government should be
organised on the basis of divine injunctions of the Quran. The saying and doings of Prophet Muhammad,

• OR
collectively known as hadis, began to be supplemented with the above.
The ulema (Muslim theologians) gave various religons on the basis of the Quran and the hadis to meet
different situations and problems, which are together known as the Sharia (Islamic Law).
• According to secular basis, Zawabit (rules and regulations framed by the Sultans) were also used for a
SC
smooth and efficient running of the administration.
• The doctrine of farr or farrah (supernatural effulgence or radiance) was first enunciated in the Shah Namah
by firdausi, according to whom the God endows the rulers with farr, which symbolises the divine favour.
• Among the Delhi Sultans, Balban was the first to exhibit his awareness of the doctrine when he remarked
that 'the king's heart is the mirror of the divine attributer'.
GS

• Amir Khusrau observed that Kaiqubad was endowed with the farr.
• The Sultans considered themselves as representatives of the Caliph. They included the name of the Caliph
in the khutba or prayer and inscribed it on their coins.
• Although Balban called himself the shadow of God, he continued to practice of including the name of
Caliph in the khutba and coins.
• Iltutmish, Muhammad bin Tughlaq and FirozTughlaq obtained mansur or letter of permission from the
Caliph.
• The office of the Sultan was the most important in the administrative system. He was the ultimate
authority for the military, legal and political activities.
• There was no clear law of succession during this period. All the sons had equal claim to the throne.
• Iltutmish even nominated his daughter in preference to his sons, but such nominations or successions were
to be accepted by the nobles.
• Sometimes ulemas played crucial role in accepting the succession to the throne.
• However, the military superiority remained the main factor in matters of succession.
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• Limits to Sultan's authority in the framing of new rules and regulations the authority of the Sultan was
circumscribed and every ruler could not govern the kingdom in complete disregard of the advice of the
ulema or theologians as Ala-ud-din Khalji and Muhammad Tughlaq had been able to do. The power of
the nobility also blunted their authority to some extent. When there was a weak ruler on the throne, the
nobles, and the ulema particularly, dominated him.
• But during the reign of Balban, Ala-ud-din Khalji or Muhammad Tughlaq, checks by the nobles, and the
ulema proved ineffective.
• The Sultans were not powerful enough to rule the land in complete disregard of the sentiments of the
Hindus and, the numerical inferiority of the Muslims gave them little or no opportunity to interfere with
local government.
• During the Sultanate period the administrative apparatus was headed by the Sultan who was helped by
various nobles.
• There was a council of Ministers Majlis-i-Khalwat to assist the Sultan. The entire bureaucracy acted under
his control and supervision. He was assisted by a number of officials, chief among whom were the

E
following: -
– Deputy Sultan or Naib: Appointment to this post was generally made only when a ruler was weak or
OR
minor. The Naib enjoyed practically all the powers of the Sultan on his behalf and exercised a general
control over the various departments of the governments.
– Wazir: He was the head of the finance department and next to the Sultan was the highest dignitary of
the state. But if there was a Naib Sultan, he ranked above the Wazir. The department of the Wazir was
SC

called Diwan-i-Wazarat. He had a number of powerful assistants, three among whom deserve particular
mention-NaibWazir (chief's deputy), Mushrif-i-Mumalik (Accountant General) and MustaufiMumalik
(Auditor General).
– Ariz-i-Mumalik: He was the chief of military staff and was responsible for the organisation, maintenance
and control over the armed forces of the state. His department was called Diwan-i-Arz. He was not the
ex-officio commander-in-chief of the forces.
GS

– Sadr-us-Sudur: He was the head of the ecclesiastical department. He was in charge of public charities and
was also responsible for enforcing conformity to Islam. It was he who made grants in cash or land for the
construction and maintenance of mosques, tombs, khanqahs, Madarsas and Maktabs.
– Qazi-ul-Quzal: He was the head of judicial department and usually the post of the chief Sadr and the
chief Qazi were combined in a single person.
– Dabir-i-Khas or Amir Munshi: He was the head of the records department, which was called Diwan-I-
Insha. The Farmans of the Sultan were issued from his department also while all high-level correspondence
passed through his hands.
– Barid-i-Mumalik: He was the head of the information and intelligence department. Dakchaukis or news
outposts were also under his control.
Officers connected with the court and royal household were principally six -
• Vakil-i-dar: He looked after the royal palace and personal attendants of the sovereign.
• Barbak: His duty was to maintain the dignity of the court.
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• Amir-i-Hajib: He scrutinized all visitors to the court.

• Amir-i-Shikhar: He organized royal hunting.
• Amir-i-Majlis: He made arrangements for assemblies, feasts and special celebrations.
• Sar-i-Jandar: He was the personal bodyguard of Sultan.
Provincial Government
• The whole kingdom was divided into a number of provinces, but the provincial administration under the
Sultans was neither strong nor efficient.
• In the earlier stages, a nobleman was assigned unconquered or semi-conquered territory in Jagir and he was
acknowledged the governor of all the land he could subdue by his armed forces.
• With the increasing power of the Sultan a correct provincial administration was evolved wherein the
whole empire was divided into a number of provinces which varied from 20-25.

E
• The largest number of provinces was held by Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
•
Local Administration
•
OR
The provincial administration was placed under governors or Walis or Muqtas.

Provinces were divided into Shias and were headed by a Shiqdar.

SC
• The Shiqswere further divided into Parganas which comprised a number of villages and was headed by
the Amil.
• Villages were the basic unit of administration and continued to enjoy a large measure of self government.
• The most important official of the village was the village headman called Muqaddam.
• Other important functionaries were Khats, Chaudharies, etc. Most of the towns had a Kotwal and Qazi.
GS

Caliph-Sultan Relationship
• Most of the Sultans kept up the pretence of regarding the caliph as the legal sovereign while they
themselves were the caliph's representatives.
• Most of them included the name of the caliph in the khutba (prayer) and the sikka (coin) and adopted
titles indicative of their subordination to the caliph.
• As against this, three rulers emphasised their own importance.
– Balban used to say that after the Prophet the most important office was that of the sovereign and
called himself the 'Shadow of God'.
– Muhammad bin Tughlaq assumed this style during the early years of his reign and although Balban
had retained the name of the caliph in the khutba andsikka, Muhammad made no mention of caliph
anywhere.
– But, neither Balbannor Muhammad bin Tughlaqhad the audacity to call himself the caliph. The only
person who had done this was AllaudinKhalji.
• Only three Sultans sought, and secured a mansur or ‘letter of investiture’ from the caliph.
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– The first among them was Iltutmish.

– Next Muhammad bin Tughlaq tried to pacify the ulema by securing an investiture from the Abbasid
caliph in Egypt.
– After him Firoz also sought and secured it twice.
• Muslims in general regarded office of the caliph as incumbent on the Sultan to show respect to the caliph,
and opposition to the Sultan, who had been recognised by the caliph as his deputy, was regarded as
contrary to the Law. Hence the Sultans kept up the pretense of subservience to the caliph just to exploit
the popular Muslim sentiments in their favour.
• Law of Succession according to Islamic ideals, essential attributes of a sovereign required that he should
be a male adult, suffering from no physical disability, a free Muslim, having faith in Islam and acquainted
with its doctrines, and he should be elected by the people.
• However in practice there were several violations of the prescribed criteria for being elected to the
throne.

E
– Raziya was raised to the throne despite her womanhood.
– Minority proved no bar in the case of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
OR
– Qutub-ud-din Aibak's authority was recognised even before his manumission. Kaiqubad remained the
Sultan as a paralytic.
– Nasir-ud-din Khusrau had no special reverence for Islam and yet he was accepted as the Sultan of
Delhi.
SC

– Ala-ud-din Khalji frankly admitted his ignorance of the sharia but nobody dubbled him a unfit to rule
on that score.
• As far as election was concerned, it had never existed in Islam. At best, support of a few leading men
was regarded as tantamount to election by the people. This farce or peculiar type of election was tried
in the case of Iltutmish, Ghiyasoud-din Tughlaq and FirozTughlaq.
GS

ECONOMY
• After consolidating their position in India, the Delhi Sultans introduced reforms in the land revenue
administration. The lands were classified into three categories:
1. Iqta land - lands assigned to officials as iqtas instead of payment for their services.
2. Khalisa land - land under the direct control of the Sultan and the revenues collected were spent for
the maintenance of royal court and royal household.
3. Inam land - land assigned or granted to religious leaders or religious institutions.
Iqta System
• The institution of the Iqta had been in force in early Islamic world as a form of reward for services to
the state.
• In the caliphate administration it was used to pay civil and military officers.
• After the establishment of the Sultanate iqta system was introduced by the Sultans.
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• The army commanders and nobles were given territories to administer and collect the revenue. The
territories thus assigned were called iqta and their holders as iqtadar or muqti.
• In essence this was a system of payment to the officers and maintenance of army by them.
• Gradually rules and regulations were laid down to organize the whole system.
• Through the years it became the main instrument of administrating the Sultanate.
• Further the sultans could get a large share of the surplus production from different parts of the vast
territories through this system.
• From the 14th century Walis or muqtis who are commanders of military and administrative tracts called
Iqta.
• Their exact powers varied according to circumstances.
• In due course the muqti was given complete charge of the administration of the iqta which included the

E
task of maintaining an army.
• The muqti was to help the sultan with his army in case of need. He was expected to maintain the army

•
and meet his own expenses with the revenue collected.
OR
From the time of Balban the muqti was expected to send the balance (fawazil) of the income to the centre
after meeting his and the army's expenses. This means that the central revenue department had made an
assessment of the expected income of the Iqta, the cost of the maintenance of the army and the muqti's
SC
own expenses. This process became even more strict during the time of AlauddhinKhalji.
• As the central control grew, the control over muqti's administration also increased.
• The Khwaja (probably same as Sahib-i-Diwan) was appointed to keep a record of the income of the Iqtas.
It was on the basis of this record that the Sultan used to make his revenue demands.
• A barid or intelligence officer was also appointed to keep the Sultan informed.
GS

• During the reign of Muhmmad-bin-Thughlaq a number of governors were appointed on revenue sharing
terms where they were to give a fixed sum to the state.
• During the time of Feroze Shah Tughlaq the control of state over iqtas was diluted when iqtas became
hereditary.
• The peasantry paid one third of their produce as land revenue, and sometimes even one half of the
produce. They also paid other taxes and always led a hand-to-mouth living. Frequent famines made their
lives more miserable.
• Sultans like Muhammad bi Tughlaq and FirozTughlaq took efforts to enhance agricultural production by
providing irrigational facilities and by providing takkavi loans. They also encouraged the farmers to cultivate
superior crop like wheat instead of barley.
• Firoz encouraged the growth of horticulture. Muhammad bin Tughlaq created a separate agricultural
department, Diwani Kohi.
Taxation
• The fiscal policy of Turkish Sultans of India was modeled on the theory of finances of the "Hanafi
School" of Sunni Jurists".
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• Only four different sources of revenue were sanctioned by the Quran - Kharaj, Khams, Jaziya and Zakat,
but the Sultanate of Delhi charged about two dozen extra taxes. Following were the few important taxes:
– Zakat: The religious taxes were collectively known as the Zakat. This was realized from well to do
Muslims amounting at the rate of 1/40th of one's property.
– Jizya: It was levied on non-Muslims in return for the protection of life and property and exemption
from military services. Women, children, indigent and the Brahmanas were exempted from it.
– Kharaj: It was the land tax realized from non-Muslims.
– Khums: It was the tax on mines, treasure trove and share in war booty.
– Sharaf: It was the irrigation tax charged at the rate of 1/10th of the produce. This was imposed by
FiruzTughlaq.
– Abwafs: It was the extra taxes like housing tax, grazing tax, etc.
• During the Sultanate period, the process of urbanization gained momentum. Lahore, Multan, Broach,

E
Anhilwara, Laknauti, Daulatabad, Delhi and Jaunpur were important among them.
• Delhi remained the largest city in the East.
OR
• The growth of trade and commerce was described by contemporary writers. Barani, a contemporary
historian, gives an excellent account of their riches.
• Political unification of major parts of India removed the political as well as economic barrirs.
• India exported a large number of commodities to the countries on the Persian Gulf and West Asia and
SC

also to South East Asian countries.

• Overseas trade was under the control of Multanis and Afghan Muslims.
• Inland trade was dominated by the Gujarat Marwari merchants and Muslim Bohra merchants.
• Introduction of the institution of dalals or brokers (dalal, meaning one who acts as an intermediary, is
GS

Arbic in origin), facilitated commercial transactions on a large scale.

• Construction of roads and their maintenance facilitated for smooth transport and communication.
Particularly the royal roads were kept in good shape.
• Sarais or rest houses on the highways were maintained for the convenience of the travelers.
• Cotton textile and silk industry flourished in this period.
• Sericulture was introduced on a large scale which made India less dependent on other countries for the
import of raw silk.
• Paper industry had grown and there was an extensive use of paper from 14th and 15th centuries.
• Other crafts like leather-making, metal-crafts and carpet-weaving flourished due to the increasing demand.
• The royal karkhanas supplied the goods needed to the Sultan and his household. They manufactured costly
articles made of gold, silver and gold ware.
• The nobles also aped the life style of Sultans and indulged in luxurious life. They were well paid and
accumulated enormous wealth.
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Causes for Changes in Urban Economy

• The foremost cause was the immigration of artisans and merchants from the Islamic East to India,
bringing with them their crafts, techniques and practices.
• Secondly, there was an abundant supply of docile trainable labour obtained through large scale enslavement.
• Finally, the Delhi Sultans established a revenue system though which a large share of agricultural surplus
was appropriate for consumption in towns.
• Contemporary historians like Isami give us a good account of the immigration of artisans and merchants
to India.
• The large number of captive obtained for enslavement in the military campaigns were trained as artisans
by their captors, and they later became free artisans by obtaining or buying their freedom.
• Thus the immigration and enslavement were responsible for the growth of urban centres and crafts, and

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their sustenance was provided by the increase in the revenues with the establishment of the new land
revenue system.
•
Coins of Delhi Sultanate
•
OR
The ruling class, who appropriated a large part of the country's surplus, spent most of it in towns.

The gold coins which Muhammad of Ghur struck in imitation of the issues of the Hindu kings of Kanauj,
with the goddess Lakshmi on the obverse, are without a parallel in Islamic History.
SC
• For the first forty years the currency consisted almost entrirely of copper and billon: hardly have any gold
coins been struck and silver coins of the earlier Sultans are scarce.
• Iltutmish issued several types of the silver tanka, the earliest of which has a portrait of the king of
horseback on the obverse. The latest type bears witness to the diploma in investiture he had received from
the Khalifa of Baghdad, AI Mustansir.
GS

• One silver tanka was divided into 48 jitals during the Khalji rule and 50 jitals during the Tughlaq rule.
• Gold coins or dinars became popular during the reign of AlauddinKhalji after his South Indian conquests.
• Copper coins were less in number and dateless.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq had not only experimented token currency but also issued several types of gold
and silver coins. They were minted at eight different places. At least twenty five varieties of gold coins
were issued by him.
• Gold, though minted by Masud, Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, Balban and Jalal-ud-din Khalji, was not common
until Ala-ud-din Khalji had enriched his treasury by conquests in south India.
• These gold coins are replicas of the silver in weight and design.
• Ala-ud-din, whose silver coins are very plentiful, changed the design by dropping the name of the caliph
from the obverse and substituting the self laudatory titles, the second Alexander, the right hand of the
Khalifate.
• His successor, Mubarak, whose coins are in some respects the finest of the whole series, employed the
old Indian square shape for some of his gold, silver and billon. On his coins appear the even more arrogant
titles, the supreme head of Islam, the Khalifa of the Lord of heaven and earth.
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• Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq was the first Indian sovereign to use the title Ghazi (Champion of the faith).
• Most of the coins struck in billon by these early Sultans, including Muhammad of Ghur, are practically
uniform in size and weigh (about 56 grains).
• The coins of Ala-ud-din Khalji are the first to bear dates. The earliest copper coins of this period is small
and insignificant. All copper coins are dateless.
• Muhammad binTughluq, has been called the Prince of moneyers. Not only do his coins surpass those of
his predecessors in execution, especially in calligraphy but his large output of gold, the number of his
issues of all denominations the interest of the inscriptions, reflecting his character and activities, his
experiments with the coinage, entitle him to a place among the greatest moneyers of history.
• For earliest gold and silver pieces Muhammad bin Tughluq retained the old 172.8 grain standard of his
predecessors. His first experiment was to add to tesem in the first years of his reign, gold dinars of 201.6
grains and silver aslis of 144 grains weight. Muhammad bin Tughluq's gold and silver issues, like those
of his predecessors, are identical in type. One of the earliest and most curious of these was struck both
at Delhi and Daulatabad, in memory of his father. It bears the superscription of Ghiyas-ud-din accompanied

E
by the additional title, al-Shahid (the Martyr).
• The early gold and silver, of which about half a dozen different types exist, were minted at eight different
OR
places, including Delhi. And at least twenty five varieties of his billon coinage are known. There appear
to have been two scales of division, one for use at Delhi and other for Daulatabad and the south. In the
former the silver tanka was divided into forty eight, and in the latter into fifty jitals.
• The gold of Firoz Shah is fairly common, and six types are known. Following his predecessors example
SC

he inscribed the name of the caliph on the obverse and his own name on the reverse.
• Firoz associated the name of his son, Fath Khan, with his own on the coinage.
• Gold coins of subsequent kings are exceedingly scarce; the shortage of silver is even more apparent. Only
three silver pieces of Firoz have ever come to light, but the copper coins are abundant.
• The coinage of the later rulers, though abounding in varieties is almost confined to copper and billon
GS

pieces.
• During the whole period, with but two exceptions, one mint name appears, Delhi.
• The long reign of Firoz established his coinage as a popular medium of exchange; and this probably
accounts for the prolonged series of his posthumous billon coins, extending over a period of forty years.
• The coinage of the Lodhi family, despite the difference in standard, bears a close resemblance to that of
the Sharqi King of Jaunpur.
SOCIAL LIFE
• There was little change in the structure of the Hindu society during this period. Traditional caste system
with the Brahmins on the upper strata of the society was prevalent.
• The subservient position of women also continued and the practice of sati was widely prevalent.
• The seclusion of women and the wearing of purdah became common among the upper class women. The
Arabs and Turks brought the purdah system into India and it became widespread among the Hindu
women in the upper classes of north India.
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• The Muslim society remained divided into several ethnic and racial groups. The Turks, Iranians, Afghans
and Indian Muslims developed exclusively and there were no intermarriages between these groups. Hindu
converts from lower castes were also not given equal respect.
• The Muslim nobles occupied high offices and very rarely the Hindu nobles were given high position in
the government.
• The Hindus were considered zimmis or protected people for which they were forced to pay a tax called
jiziya. In the beginning jiziya was collected as part of land tax.
• FirozTughlaq separated it from the land revenue and collected jiziya as a separate tax. Sometimes Brahmins
were exempted from paying jiziya.
• Autonomous Chieftains constituted the most prosperous rural section Though they were now a defeated
ruling class, they were still powerful in their respective areas and continued to live a luxurious life as in
the pre-Muslim period.

E
• Maqaddams and Small Landlord had a better standard of life, for they readily misused their power in order
to exploit the ordinary peasants.
•
OR
The peasantry, known as the balahars, paid one third of their produce as land revenue, sometimes even
one half of the produce. Besides land revenue, they paid certain other taxes which prove that taxation
during this period was as much, if not higher than, as in the previous period.
• The peasants were always living at the subsistence level which was easily denied by the frequent wars,
SC
thus resulting in large scale, and not so infrequent, famines.
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
• The art and architecture of the Delhi Sultanate period was distinct from the Indian style.
• The Turks introduced arches, domes, lofty towers or minarets and decorations using the Arabic script.
They used the skill of the Indian stone cutters.
GS

• They also added colour to their buildings by using marbles, red and yellow sand stones.
• In the beginning, they converted temples and other structures demolished into mosques.
• For example, the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque near QutubMinar in Delhi was built by using the materials
obtained from destroying many Hindu and Jain temples, but later, they began to construct new structures.
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• The most magnificent building of the 13th century was the QutubMinar which was founded by Aibek
and completed by Iltutmish. This seventy one metre tower was dedicated to the Sufi saint
QutbuddinBakthiyar Kaki. The balconies of this tower were projected from the main building and it was
the proof of the architectural skills of that period.
• Later, AlauddinKhalji added an entrance to the QutubMinar called Alai Darwaza. The dome of this arch
was built on scientific lines.
• The buildings of the Tughlaq period were constructed by combining arch and dome. They also used the
cheaper and easily available grey colour stones.
• The palace complex called Tughlaqabad with its beautiful lake was built during the period of
GhyasuddinTughlaq. Muhammad bin Tughlaq built the tomb of Ghyasuddin on a high platform.
• The Kotla fort at Delhi was the creation of FirozTughlaq.
• The Lodi garden in Delhi was the example for the architecture of the Lodis.
Music
•

E
New musical instruments such as sarangi and rabab were introduced during this period.
OR
• Amir Khusrau introduced many new ragas such as ghora and sanam. He evolved a new style of light
music known as qwalis by blending the Hindu and Iranian systems.
• The invention of sitar and table was also attributed to Amir Khusrau.
• The Indian classical work Ragadarpan was translated into Persian during the reign of FirozTughlaq.
SC

• PirBhodan, a Sufi saint was one of the great musicians of this period.
• Raja Man Singh of Gwalior was a great lover of music. He encouraged the composition of a great musical
work called Man Kautuhal.
GS
Notes

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E
Literature
OR
• The Delhi Sultans patronized learning and literature and many of them had great love for Arabic and
SC
Persian literature.
• Learned men came from Persia and Persian language got encouragement from the rulers.
• Besides theology and poetry, the writing of history was also encouraged.
• Some of the Sultans had their own court historians. The most famous historians of this period were
GS

HasanNizami, Minhaj-us-Siraj, ZiauddinBarani, and Shams-SirajAfif.

• Barani'sTarikhi- FirozShahi contains the history of Tughlaq dynasty.
• Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote Tabaqat-i-Nasari, a general history of Muslim dynasties up to 1260.
• Amir Khusrau (1252-1325) was the famous Persian writer of this period. He wrote a number of poems.
He experimented with several poetical forms and created a new style of Persian poetry called Sabaqi- Hind
or the Indian style. He also wrote some Hindi verses.
• Amir Khusrau'sKhazain-ul-Futuh speaks about Alauddin's conquests.
• Sanskrit and Persian functioned as link languages in the Delhi Sultanate.
• Zia Nakshabi was the first to translate Sanskrit stories into Persian. The book Tutu Nama or Book of the
Parrot became popular and translated into Turkish and later into many European languages.
• The famous Rajatarangini written by Kalhana belonged to the period of Zain-ul-Abidin, the ruler of
Kashmir.
• Many Sanskrit works on medicine and music were translated into Persian.
• In Arabic, Alberuni'sKitab-ul-Hind is the most famous work.
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• Regional languages also developed during this period.

• Chand Baradi was the famous Hindi poet of this period.
• Bengali literature had also developed and Nusrat Shah patronized the translation of Mahabaratha into
Bengali.
• The Bakthi cult led to development of Gujarati and Marathi languages.
• The Vijayanagar Empire patronized Telugu and Kannada literature.
INDIA ACCORDING TO ALBERUNI
• Abu'lRayanAlberuni was a philosopher scientist, whoseDitab-al-Hind was the first and most important
discussion on Indian sciences, religion and society by an outsider.
• Alberuni’s knowledge and interest covered many other areas such as astronomy, geography, logic, medicine,
mathematics, philosophy, religion and theology.

E
• He was attached to Mahmud's court and accompanied him to India during various raids.
• Alberuni'sKitab al Hind or Tahkik-i Hind is the survey of Indian based on his study and observations in
OR
India between 1017 and 1030.
• To get a proper grip of the situation, he learned Sanskrit so that he might go to the sources of Hindu
thought and religion.
• He learnt Sanskrit to acquire first hand information. He read the religion texts and met the learned Indians.
SC

• His approach was scientific and religious prejudices do not mar the quality of his observations.
• He Quoted form the Bhagavat Gita, Vishnu Puran, Kapil'sSankhya and the work of Patanjali.
Alberuni's observation of Indian society can be studied under six major sub-heads:
• Caste-ridden Society
GS

– The complete caste structure of Indian society did not go unnoticed by Alberuni.
– One notable observation of Alberuni was that the Vaishyas were also fast degeneration to the rank
of Sudras.
– He noted the absence of any significant difference between the Vaishyas and the sudras, who lived
together in the same town and village and mixed together in the same house.
– By the 11th century it seems that the Vaishyas come to be treated as Sudras virtually and legally.
– The alliance of convenience between the Brahmanas and the ruling Kshatriyas was a fact that
Alberuni refers to indirectly.
– He also refers to a class of untouchables which existed in the society called antyaja.
– Alberuni lists eight antyaja castes below the status of the Sudras.
– Some of the names of untouchable castes that are mentioned by him are: Bhodhatu, Bhedas,
Chandala, Doma, and Hodi.
• Closed Society
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– The closed attitude of society, lacking dynamism did not go untouched by Alberuni..
– The area within which a Brahmana could live was fixed and a Hindu was not generally permitted to
enter the land of the Turks. All this makes sense in the context of "feudal localism" which ruled out
or other types of connection between one region of the country and another.
– According to Alberuni the isolationist attitude of Indians was further buttressed by a false sense of
superiority.
– In his opening chapter Alberuniwrote that the Indians belived that there is no county like theirs, no
nation like theirs, no king like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs." The Indian are by
nature niggardly in communication what they know and they do not believe in exchange of ideas.
They take the greatest possible care to with hold their knowledge from men of another caste, from
among their own people, and even more from any outsider.
• Stagnant Knowledge

E
– While the rich heritage of the past knowledge is highlighted by Alberuni when he refers to the various
'sidhantas' and the progress made in astronomy and mathematics, but he paints a very pathetic
picture of the 11th century.
–
OR
According to Alberuni, "The Indians are in a state of utter confusion, devoid of any logical order,
and they always mix up with silly notions of the crowd.I can only compare their mathematical and
astronomical knowledge to a mixture of pearls and sour dates. Both kind of things are equal in their
eyes since they cannot raise themselves to the method of a strictly scientific deduction."
SC
• Social Evils
– Alberuni mentions evil social practices within the Indian society like child-marriage, sati,low position
of women in general and widows in particular.
– He mentions that Hindus marry at a very young age.
– If a wife loses her husband due to death she cannot remarry.A widow has only two options, either
GS

the remain a widow as long as she lives, or to burn herself (sati). The latter option was generally
preferred because as a widow she was ill-treated.
• Religious Beliefs and Practices
– Alberuni, who had carefully studied the Hindu religion's philosophy and institutions, found no difficulty
in marking out the trinity gods (three deities of the Hindu religion) and philosophy of the Upanishads.
– He says that the belief in a multitude of gods is vulgar and is a typical of the un-educated. Educated
Hindus believe god to be one and Enternal. Hindus considered the existence of god as real because
everything that exists, exists through god.
– Alberuni also learned all about the Hindu concept of transmigration of soul. He explains that Indians
believed that every act of this life will be rewarded or punished in the life to come, and the final
emancipation of a human being is possible only through true knowledge. He terms all these beliefs
of the Indian as narrow-mindedness.
– According to Alberuni, insularity at every level was the characteristic feature of India in the 11th
century and the price of this insularity was the disruption of the country by the coming of the Turks.
• Scientific Knowledge and legal System
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– Although Alberuni is critical of the scientific knowledge of Indians, sometimes he has praised their
knowledge.
– He made great effort to understand the Indian legal system.
– He noted every practical aspect of the legal system and points out the difference between these and
the legal theories as expounded in the law books like Manusmriti,
– He also praises the weights and measure system and distance measurement system of Indians.
– He also notices the many variations of the Indian alphabets.
– He provides interesting geographical data and took into account local astronomical and mathematical
theories.
– While making his profound observation, Alberuni, did not pay a partisan role and condemned Mahmud
Ghazni's destructive activities.
– He was perhaps the first Muslim to have undertaken the study of Indian society on such a major

E
scale.
– Where Alberuni was not very sure of his own knowledge, he frankly admitted it.
OR
– According to Alberuni,the fact that Indians had started depending on tradition heavily was a hindrance
to genuine intellectual quest. He felt that learning and scientific spirit suffered because they had been
sub-ordained to religion.
SC
GS
Notes

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RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

• The Medieval period is considered as an age of great cultural synthesis in India and during this period a
new phase of cultural development was initiated.
• The Turks and Mughals introduced fresh ideas and helped in giving rise to new features in the areas of
religion, philosophy and ideas.
• The synthesis between different cultures gave birth to new philosophical and religious traditions, ideas.
SUFISM
• Sufism or tasawuf is the name for various mystical and movements in Islam.

E
• It aims at establishing direct communion between god and man through personal experience of mystery
which lies within Islam.
•

•
OR
Every religion gives rise to mystical tendencies in its fold at a particular stage of its evolution. In this
sense, Sufism was a natural development within Islam based on the spirit of Quaranic Piety.
The Sufis while accepting the Shariat did not confine their religious practice to formal adherence and
stressed cultivation of religious experience aimed at a direct perception of god.
SC
• There developed a number of Sufi orders of silsilah in and outside India. All these orders had their specific
characteristics. However, there were a number of features which are common to all Sufi orders.
• Sufism stressed the elements of love and devotion as effective means of the realization of God. Love of
God meant love of humanity and so the Sufis believed service to humanity was tantamount to service
to God.
GS

• In Sufism, self discipline was considered an essential condition to gain knowledge of God by sense of
perception.
• While orthodox Muslims emphasise external conduct, the Sufis lay stress on inner purity.
• While the orthodox believe in blind observance of rituals, the Sufis consider love and devotion as the only
means of attaining salvation.
• According to Sufis one must have the guidance of a pir or guru, without which spiritual development is
impossible.
• Sufism also inculcated a spirit of tolerance among its followers.
• Other ideas emphasised by Sufism are meditation, good actions, repentance for sins, performance of
prayers and pilgrimages, fasting, charity and suppression of passions by ascetic practices.
Growth of Sufism in Islamic World
• Sufism began to acquire the form of an organised movement with the establishment of the Turkish rule
under the Ghaznavis and then under the Seljuqs in various parts of central Asia and Iran in the later 10th
and 11th centuries.
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• The period marks the development of two parallel institutions in the Islamic world - the Madarasa system
(seminary, higher religious school) in its new form as an official institution of orthodox Islamic learning
and the Khanqah system as an organized, endowed an permanent centre for Sufi activities.
• Another salient feature of Sufism during this period was the emergence of Sufi poetry in Persian.
• While Arabic literature on mysticism is in prose, Persian literature is in poetry.
• Sufi poetry in Persian in the form of narrative poems (mannavis) reached its peak during the 12th and
13th centuries.
• Al-Ghazzali was the most outstanding sufi author.
• One of the most authentic and celebrated manual of sufism was KashfulMahjub written by Al-Hujwiri.
Sufi movement in India
• The Sufi movement in India commenced in the 11th century A.D. Al Hujwiri, who established himself
in north India was buried in Lahore and regarded as the oldest Sufi in the sub-continent.

E
• Among the important Sufi Orders in the history of Medieval India were those of the Chishtitiya,
Suhrawardiya, Qadiriya and Naqshbandiya.
OR
• Chisti and the Suhrawardisilsilahs were popular during the Sultanate period.
• The Suhrawardis were active in Punjab and Sindh while the Chishti’s were active in Delhi, Rajasthan and
parts of the western Gangetic plains. By the end of the sultanate period Chishti’s spread to the eastern
regions of the Gangetic plain (Bihar and Bengal) and into the Deccan.
SC

• During the medieval period the Sufis played an important role in interpreting and elaborating on Islamic
theological concepts like WahdatulWujud (unity of being) and also encouraged the development of
practices like Ziyarat (the practice of visiting tombs).
The ChishtiSilsilah
• The Chisti Order was established in India by MuinuddinChishti who moved to India after the invasion
of Muizzuddin Muhammad Ghori and subsequently to Ajmer in 1206.
GS

• The fame of KhwajaMuinuddin grew after his death in 1235.

• His grave was visited by Muhammad Tughlaq after which the mosque and dome were erected by Mahmud
Khalji of Malwa in the fifteenth century.
• The patronage of this dargah peaked after the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar.
• The Chishtis believed in love as the bond between God and individual soul and tolerance between people
of different faiths.
• They accepted disciples irrespective of their religious beliefs.
• They associated with Hindu and Jain yogi’s, and used simple language.
• The Chishti presence in Delhi was established by QutbuddinBakhtiyar Kaki who settled in Delhi from his
homeland in Trans-oxiana in 1221. This was at the time of the Mongol invasions when there was a steady
flow of people from central Asia fleeing from the Mongols.
• QutbuddinBakhtiyar Kaki presence in Delhi was a threat to the Suhrawardis who sought to force him to
leave by leveling charges against him. The Sultan of Delhi, Iltutmish, dismissed these attempts eventually
forcing the Suhrawardis to relent.
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• The Chishtipirs laid great emphasis on the simplicity of life, poverty, humility and selfless devotion to
God.
• The renunciation of worldly possessions was regarded by them as necessary for the control of the senses
that was necessary to maintain a spiritual life.
• KhwajaMuinuddinChishti argued that highest form of devotion to God was to redress the misery of those
in distress, fulfilling the need of the helpless and to feed the hungry.
• Chisti’s refused to accept any grant for their maintenance from the Sultans.
• The other important Chishti Baba FariduddinGanj-i-Shakar, established himself at Hansi (in Haryana) on
the route between Multan and Lahore.
• NizamuddinAuliya, was the best known Chishti saint of the Sultanate period. He lived in the fourteenth
century, during a period of political change and turmoil. During his lifetime he was witness to the
establishment of the Khalji rule after the death of Balban and subsequently the establishment of the

E
Tughlaq’s.
• There are numerous stories surrounding the life of NizamuddinAuliya, famous among them were stories

•
respect of many. OR
of his confrontations with the Sultans of Delhi. The Khwaja is said to have maintained a strict policy of
not involving himself with the various groups and factions of the Sultan’s court in Delhi earning him the

NasiruddinChiraghDehlvi was another of the Chishti saint of Delhi. He played an active role in the
political affairs of the period.
SC
• In the 13th century the Chishti Order was established in the Deccan by ShaikhBurhanuddinGharib.
• Between the 14th and 16th centuries many Chishti Sufis migrated to Gulbarga. This was accompanied
with a change where some of the Chishtis began accepting grants and patronage from the ruling
establishment.
• Muhammad Banda Nawaz was among the famous pirs in the region.
GS

• The Deccan city of Bijapur emerged as an important centre for Sufi activity.
The Suhrawardi Silsilah
• This Silsilah was founded by ShihabuddinSuhrawardi in Baghdad.
• It was established in India by BahauddinZakariya who founded the Suhrawardi Order, based in Mutan,
which was under the control of Qubacha.
• BahauddinZakariya was critical of Qubacha and openly favored Iltutmish over his rival.
• BahauddinZakariya’s ways were different from that of the Chishtis.
• The Suhrawardis, unlike the Chishtis, accepted, maintenance grants from the Sultans.
• They believed that a Sufi should possess the three attributes of property, knowledge and hal or mystical
enlightenment.
• Suhrawardi saints argued that this was necessary to ensure that they served the poor better.
• BahauddinZakariya stressed on the observance or external forms of religious belief and advocated a
combination of ilm (scholarship) with mysticism.
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• Practices like bowing before the sheikh, presenting water to visitors and tonsuring the head at the time
of initiation into the Order that the Chishtis had adopted were rejected. After his death the silsilah
continued to play an important role in Punjab and Sindh.
Naqshbandi Silsilah
• In India this order was established by Khwaja Bahauddin Naqshbandi.
• From the beginning the mystics of this Order stressed on the observance of the Shariat and denounced
all innovations or biddat.
• Sheikh BaqiBillah the successor to KhawajaBahauddinNaqshbandi settled near Delhi, and his successor
Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi attempted to purge Islam from all liberal and what he believed were ‘un-Islamic’
practices.
• He opposed the listening of sama (religious music) and the practice of pilgrimage to the tombs of saints.
• He opposed interaction with Hindus and Shias.

E
• He criticised the new status accorded by Akbar to many non-Muslims, the withdrawal of the Jizyah and
the ban on cow slaughter.
OR
• He believed that he was the mujaddid (renewer) of the first millennium of Islam.
• He maintained that the relationship between man and God was that between the slave and the master and
not the relation of a lover and beloved.
• He emphasized the individual’s unique relation of faith and responsibility to God as creator.
SC

• He tried to harmonize the doctrines of mysticism and the teachings of orthodox Islam.
The QadriSilsilah
• The Quadiriyyasilsilah was popular in Punjab.
• Sheikh Abdul Qadir and his sons were supporters of the Mughals under Akbar.
GS

• The pirs of this Order supported the concept of Wahdat al Wajud.

• Among the famous Sufis of this order was Miyan Mir who had enrolled the Mughal princess Jahanara
and her brother Dara as disciples.
• The influence of the sheikh’s teachings is evident in the works of the princeDara.
• Shah Badakhshani another pir of this silsilah while dismissing orthodox elements, declared that, the infidel
who had perceived reality and recognised it was a believer and that a believer who did not recognise reality
was an infidel.
• During medieval period there was constant tension between the liberal and orthodox views in Islam.
• The sufis featured on both sides, while there were those like the Chishtis who held a liberal view and
argued in favour of assimilation of local traditions there were others like Sheikh Abdul Haqq of the
Qadiriyyasilsilah who held the view that the purity of Islam was being diluted.
• This Orthodox view was represented by the ulema that argued from the perspective of being upholders
of the Shariat.
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• The liberal opinion found its voice among many sufis who argued against the narrow definition of Islamic
laws by the ulema.
BHAKTI MOVEMENT
• In the ninth century Sankara started a Hindu revivalist movement giving a new orientation to Hinduism.
• His doctrine of Advaita or Monism was too abstract to appeal to the common man.
• Moreover, there was a reaction against the Advaita concept of Nirgunabrahman (God without attributes)
with the emergence of the idea of Sagunabrahman (God with attributes).
• In the twelfth century, Ramanuja, who was born at Sriperumbudur near modern Chennai, preached
Visishtadvaita.
• According to RamanujaGod is Sagunabrahman. The creative process and all the objects in creation are real
but not illusory as was held by Sankaracharya. Therefore, God, soul, matter are real. But God is inner

E
substance and the rest are his attributes. He also advocated prabattimarga or path of self-surrender to God.
He invited the downtrodden to Vaishnavism.
•

•
OR
In the thirteenth century, Madhava from Kannada region propagated Dvaita or dualism of Jivatma and
Paramatma. According to his philosophy, the world is not an illusion but a reality. God, soul, matter are
unique in nature.
Nimbarka and Vallabhacharya were also other preachers of Vaishnavite Bhakti in the Telangana region.
SC
Sankaracharya
• Sankaracharya was a Nambudiri Brahman born in Kaladi, Malabar.
• He was originally a worshiper of Shiva.
• He gave an entirely new turn to the Hindu revival movement by providing it with a solid philosophical
background through the reinterpretation of ancient Indian scriptures, particularly the Upanishads.
GS

• Sankaracharya advocated the philosophy of “Advaita” the monism of the Vedanta by giving a brilliant
exposition to the entire range of the Vedic religions and spiritual thought.
• Having lost his father in his childhood, Sankaracharya become a sanyasi, while in his teens and began to
roam around in search of true knowledge and wisdom.
• A genius by birth and intensely religious by outlook and social heritage, he received instruction in religious
scriptures and philosophy at Kashi.
• Sankaracharya renewed and systematised Vedanta philosophy by stressing on its main principle of monism
(evalaadvaita or absolute non-dualism).
• Sankaracharya started a vigorous campaign for the revival of Hinduism based on the solid foundation of
Vedic philosophy and ancient Indian cultural tradition in order to check the growth of Buddhism and
Jainism.
• He recognised the ascetic order of sanyasis on the pattern of Buddhist sangha and launched a campaign
for the popularisation of Hinduism.
• He composed extensive commentaries on the Brahmasutra and chief Upanishad and traveled all around
India to highlight the cultural unity of India.
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• The mathas also began propagating and became the centre of Vedic religion.
• The mathas, among many, included Jaganathpuri in the east, Sringeri in the South, Dwarka in the west and
Badrinath in the north.

• Sankaracharya was an orthodox Brahmin for whom the Vedic literature was sacred and unquestionably
true.

• In order to harmonise the many paradoxes of Vedic tradition, he had to take recourse to a philosophy of
“ double standard of truth” (already known in Buddhism). It meant that on the everyday level of truth,
the world was produce by Brahma, and it went through an evolutionary process similar to that taught by
the Sankhya school of philosophy. But on the highest level of truth, the whole universe including the God
was unreal, i.e., the world in maya, an illusion and figment of imagination,

• Therefore, Shankarcharya believed that ultimately the only reality was the Brahman, the impersonal world
soul of the Upanishads with which the individual soul was identical.
• Sankaracharya also believed that god and the created world was one and the difference which is evident

E
is due to ignorance.
OR
• According to him, the way to salvation was to realize by means of meditation and knowledge that god
and the created beings were one and same. At the deepest level of meditation “nirvikalpasamadhi”, the
complete identity between god and the individual is realized.

• It is the goal of everyone to know, realize, feel and display in action this identity. When this is accomplished
all sufferings, birth and death cease. This identity has been termed as “sachidanand Brahman” by
SC

Sankaracharya.
• Sankaracharya’s ‘Brahman’ is not really different from the concept of ‘nirvana’ of Mahayana Buddhism.

• It is a fact which was well recognised by his opponents who called him “crypto-Buddhist.”

• However, Shankarcharya proved the Buddhist scholars wrong and was able to show that Buddhist
GS

metaphysics was only a poor imitation of the metaphysics of Sanatan dharma.

• The philosophy of Sankaracharya had far reaching consequences for the India society. For example, the
monsticSankaracharya (mathas) which he established in the four corners of India served as an effective
step towards the physical and spiritual unification of India.

• By the able use of arguments he reduced all the apparently self-contradicting passages of the Upanishads
to a consistent system which has remained the standard of Hinduism to this day.

• Sankaracharaya passed away at KedarNath at the age of 32.

• Later on Ramanuja combined Sankara’sAdvaitavada with the VaishnavaPancharatra theology which claimed
that Vishnu is the very foundation of the universe.
• The impact of Ramanuja’s writings and his long service as priest of the famous Vishnu temple at Srinangam
made his ideas widely known among the Vaishnavites and he is justly regarded as the founder of
Srivashnavism.

• The Vedantic Philosophy of Sankaracharya was revived by Vivekanand in the second half of the 19th
century.
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The Bhakti movement in North India

• The bhakti movement in the north included socio-religious movements that were linked to one of the
acharyas from the south and is sometimes seen as a continuation of the movement that originated in the
south.
• Though there were similarities in the traditions of the two regions, the notion of bhakti varied in the
teachings of each of the saints.
• The Nirguna’s like Kabir rejected the varnaashrama and all conventions based on caste distinction and
championed new values, helping the emergence of new groups and new unorthodox/protestant sects.
• The Saguna’s like Tulsidas on the other hand upheld the caste system and the supremacy of the Brahmins.
They preached religion of surrender and simple faith in a personal god and had a strong commitment to
idol worship.
Monotheistic Bhakti

E
• Kabir was the earliest and most influential Bhakti saint in north India.
•
•
•
OR
He was a weaver and spent a large part of his life in Banaras.
His poems were included in the Sikh scripture, the AdiGranth.
Among those who were influenced by Kabir were Raidas, who was a tanner by caste from Banaras, Guru
Nanak who was a Khatri from Punjab and Dhanna who was a Jat peasant from Rajasthan.
SC
• There are similarities in the teachings of the various monotheistic Bhakti saints in North India.
• Most of the monotheists belonged to the low castes and were aware that there existed a unity in their
ideas.
• They were also aware of each other’s teachings and influence and in their verses they mention each other
and their predecessors in a manner suggesting ideological affinity among them.
GS

• All of them were influenced by the Vaishnava concept of Bhakti, the Nathpanthi movement and Sufism.
• Their ideas seem to be a synthesis of the three traditions.
• The importance given to the personal experience of Bhakti saint with God was another common feature
among the monotheistic bhakti saints.
• Nirguna bhakti and not saguna bhakti was what they believed in. They had adopted the notion of bhakti
from Vaishnavaism but they gave it a nirguna orientation.
• Though they called God using different names and titles their God was non-incarnate, formless, eternal and
ineffable.
• The Bhakti saints refused any formal association with the organized dominant religions of the time
(Hinduism and Islam) and criticized what they regarded to be the negative aspects of these religions.
• They rejected the authority of the Brahmans and attacked the caste system and practice of idolatry.
• They composed their poems in popular languages and dialects spoken across north India which enabled
them to transmit their ideas among the masses. It also helped their ideas to spread rapidly among the
various lower classes.
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Vaishnava Bhakti
• In the 14th and early 15th centuries Ramananda emerged as a popular Vaishnava bhakti saint in north
India.
• Though he was from the south he lived in Banaras because he considered it to be the link between the
South Indian bhakti and North Indian Vaishnava bhakti traditions.
• He looked upon Ram and not Vishnu as the object of bhakti.
• He worshiped Ram and Sita and came to be identified as the founder of the Ram cult in north India.
• He like the monotheist bhakti saints also rejected cast hierarchies and preached in the local languages in
his attempt to popularize the cult.
• His followers are called Ramanandis.
• Tulsidas also championed the bhakti cause.
• In the early 16 century Vallabacharya, a popular bhakti saint popularized the Krishna bhakti.
•

E
Among those who followed Vallabacharya’sfootsteps were Surdas and Mira Bai.
OR
• Surdas popularized Krishna cult in north India.
• Mirabai was a great devotee of Krishna and she became popular in Rajasthan for her bhajans.
• Tulsidas was a worshipper of Rama and composed the famous Ramcharitmanas, the Hindi version of
Ramayana.
SC

• The Vaishnava bhakti movement in Bengal was very different form its counterparts in north India and the
south and was influenced by the Vaishnava bhakti tradition of the Bhagavatapurana and the Sahajiya
Buddhist and Nathpanthi traditions. These traditions focused on esoteric and emotional aspects of devotion.
• In the 12th century, Jayadeva was an important bhakti saint in this tradition. He highlighted the mystical
dimension of love with reference to Krishna and Radha. Chaitanya was a popular bhakti saint from the
GS

region; he was looked upon as an avatara of Krishna. Though, he did not question the authority of the
Brahmans and the scriptures. He also popularized the sankirtan (group devotional songs accompanied with
ecstatic dancing). With him the bhakti movement in Bengal began to develop into a reform movement
with the notions of caste divisions that came to be questioned.
• In Maharashtra the bhakti movement drew its inspiration from the Bhagavatapurana and the Siva Nathpanthis.
Jnaneswar was a pioneer bhakti saint of Maharashtra. His commentary on the Bhagavad Gita called
Jnanesvari served as a foundation of the bhakti ideology in Maharashtra. Arguing against caste distinctions
he believed that the only way to attain God was through Bhakti. Vithoba was the God of this sect and
its followers performed a pilgrimage to the temple twice a year. The Vithoba of Pandarpur became the
mainstay of the movement in Maharashtra.
• Namdev (1270–1350) was another important bhakti saint from Maharashtra. While he is remembered in
the north Indian monotheistic tradition as a nirguna saint, in Maharashtra he is considered to be part of
the varkari tradition (the Vaishnava devotional tradition).
• Some of the other important bhakti saints of Maharashtra were the saints Choka, Sonara, Tukaram and
Eknath. Tukaram’s teachings are in the form of the Avangas (dohas), which constitute the Gatha, while
Eknath’s teachings that were in Marathi attempted to shift the emphasis of Marathi literature from
spiritual to narrative compositions.
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Importance of the Bhakti Movement

• The importance of the bhakti movement was very great.
• Various preachers spoke and wrote in the regional languages and thus, the bhakti movement provided an
impetus for the development of regional languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, etc.
• Through regional languages they made direct appeal to the masses. A
• s the caste system was condemned by the bhakti saints, the lower classes were raised to a position of great
importance.
• The importance of women in society was also increased because the bhakti movement gave equal importance
to them.
• Moreover, the bhakti movement gave to the people a simple religion, without complicated rituals.
• They were required to show sincere devotion to God.

E
• The new idea of a life of charity and service to fellow people developed.

•
•
GURU NANAK
OR
The teachings and philosophy of Guru Nanak form an important part of Indian philosophical thought.
His philosophy consists of three basic elements: a leading charismatic personality (the Guru), ideology
(Shabad) and Organization (Sangat).
SC
• Nanak evaluated and criticized the prevailing religious beliefs and attempted to establish a true religion,
which could lead to salvation.
• He repudiated idol worship and did not favour pilgrimage nor accept the theory of incarnation.
• He condemned formalism and ritualism.
GS

• He laid emphasis on having a true Guru for revelation.

• He advised people to follow the principles of conduct and worship: sach (truth), halal (lawful earning),
khair (wishing well of others), niyat (right intention) and service to the lord.
• He denounced the caste system and the inequality it caused.
• He argued that the caste and honour should be judged by the acts or the deeds of individuals.
• He laid stress on concepts of justice, righteousness and liberty.
• His verses mainly consist of two basic concepts, Sach (truth) and Naam (name).
• The bases of the divine expression for him were formed by, the Sabad (the word), Guru (the divine
precept) and Hukam (the divine order).
• He introduced the concept of Langar (a community kitchen).
• Guru Nanak identifies himself with the people or the ruled.
• Though the Sikh guru’s stressed on equality the social differentiation among the followers continued. It
was only towards the end of the 17th century that Guru Gobind Singh reasserted the idea of equality.
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• In 1699 Guru Gobind Singh attempted to resolve the differences among the various Sikh groups and
created the Khalsa. This institution removed the masands as intermediaries. Thereafter every Sikh was to
have a direct link with the Guru. To create a sense of unity among the Sikhs the Guru started some
practices which were to be followed by Sikhs. These were initiation through the baptism of the double
edged sword, wearing uncut hair, carrying arms, adopting the epithet Singh as part of the name.
• The idea of Guru Panth was another institutional idea that emerged during this period. It sanctified the
collective authority of the KhalsaPanth, which equated the Panth with the Guru.
• Guru Nanak in his last days had nominated a successor and paid homage to him, this gave rise to the idea
that the Guru and the Sikh were interchangeable.
• This created a problem for the institution of the Sangat (that was a collective body of the Sikhs) in which
God was said to be present.
• When Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa he chose the panjpiyare (the five beloved) and requested
them to administer the pahul (amritchakhha) to him.

E
• With this the difference between the Guru and the Khalsa was symbolically removed. Guru Gobind Singh
is believed to have said that the Khalsa is his own roop (form).
OR
• Guru Arjun compiled the Guru Granth Sahib.
• After the death of Guru Gobind Singh the tenth Guru the tradition of guru ended.
• It was believed that the spirit of the guru did not pass onto any successor but instead remained within
“ShriGurugranth Sahib”.
SC
GS
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VIJAYANAGAR AND BAHMANI KINGDOMS

VJAYANAGAR EMPIRE
Sources
• The sources for the study of Vijayanagar are varied such as literary, archaeological and numismatics.
• Krishnadevaraya's Amukthamalyada, Gangadevi's Maduravijayam and Allasani Peddanna's Manucharitam
are some of the indigenous literature of this period.
• The Moroccan traveler, Ibn Battuta, Venetian traveler Nicolo de Conti, Persian traveler AbdurRazzak and
the Portuguese traveler Domingo Paes were among eminent foreign travelers who left valuable accounts

E
on the socio-economic conditions of the Vijayanagar Empire.
• The copper plate inscriptions such as the Srirangam copper plates of Devaraya II provide the genealogy

•
and achievements of Vijayanagar rulers.
OR
The Hampi ruins and other monuments of Vijayanagar provide information on the cultural contributions
of the Vijayanagar rulers.
• The numerous coins issued by the Vijayanagar rulers contain figures and legends explaining their tittles and
SC
achievements.
GS

Political History
• The Vijayanagarempire was founded in 1346 as a direct response to the challenge posed by the sultanate
of Delhi.
• The empire was founded by brothers, Harihara and Bukka. Their dynasty was named after their father,
Sangama.
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• There are several theories with regard to the origin of this dynasty. According to some scholars, they had
been the feudatories of the Kakatiyas of Warangal and after their fall they served the Kampili state.
• Another view says that they were the feudatories of the Hoysalas and belonged to Karnataka.
• Harihara and Bukka were helped and inspired by contemporary scholar and a saint Vidyaranya for the
establishment of their kingdom. It is believed that to commemorate the memory of their guru, the
brothers established the city of Vidyanagar or Vijayanagara on the banks of river Tungabhadra.
• The empire included people from different cultural regions, the Tamil, Telegu and Karnataka region who
all spoke different languages and belonged to different cultures.
• Between 1336 and 1565, Vijayanagar was ruled by three different dynasties- Sangama, who remained in
power till 1485; the Saluva who remained in power till 1503 and the Tuluvas.
• The last dynasty was the Aravidu dynasty that ruled till seventeenth century.
• Foreign travellers like Nicolo Conti, FernaoNuniz ,DomingoPaes, Duarto Barbosa and AbdurRazzaq wrote
about the magnificence of Vijayanagar.

E
Krishna Deva Raya (1509 - 1530)
OR
• The Tuluva dynasty was founded by ViraNarasimha.
• The greatest of the Vijayanagar rulers, Krishna Deva Raya belonged to the Tuluva dynasty. He possessed
great military ability. His imposing personality was accompanied by high intellectual quality. His first task
was to check the invading Bahmani forces.By that time the Bahmani kingdom was replaced by Deccan
Sultanates.
SC

• The Muslim armies were decisively defeated in the battle of Diwani by Krishna Deva Raya.
• Then he invaded Raichur Doab which had resulted in the confrontation with the Sultan of Bijapur, Ismail
Adil Shah. Krishna Deva Raya defeated him and captured the city of Raichur in 1520. From there he
marched on Bidar and captured it.
GS

• Krishna Deva Raya's Orissa campaign was also successful.

• He defeated the Gajapathi ruler Prataparudra and conquered the whole of Telungana.
• He maintained friendly relations with the Portuguese.
• Albuquerque sent his ambassadors to Krishna Deva Raya.
• Though a Vaishnavaite, he respected all religions. H
• e was a great patron of literature and art and he was known as Andhra Bhoja.
• Eight eminent scholars known as Ashtadiggajas were at his royal court.
• AllasaniPeddanna was the greatest and he was called AndhrakavitaPitamaga. His important works include
Manucharitam and Harikathasaram.
• PingaliSuranna and Tenali Ramakrishna were other important scholars.
• Krishna Deva Raya himself authored a Telugu work, Amukthamalyadha and Sanskrit works,
JambavatiKalyanam and Ushaparinayam.
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• He built the famous Vittalaswamy and HazaraRamaswamy temples at Vijayanagar.

• He also built a new city called Nagalapuram in memory of his queen Nagaladevi.
• Besides, he built a large number of Rayagopurams.
• After his death, Achutadeva and Venkata succeeded the throne.
• During the reign of Rama Raya, the combined forces of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkonda and Bidar
defeated him at the Battle of Talaikotta in 1565.
• This battle is also known as RaksasaThangadi.
• Rama Raya was imprisoned and executed. The city of Vijayanagar was destroyed. This battle was
generally considered to mark the end of the Vijayanagar Empire.
• However, the Vijayanagar kingdom existed under the Aravidu dynasty for about another century.
• Thirumala, Sri Ranga and Venkata II were the important rulers of this dynasty.

E
• The last ruler of Vijayanagar kingdom was Sri Ranga III.
Administration
•
•
OR
The king enjoyed absolute authority in executive, judicial and legislative matters.
He was the highest court of appeal.
SC
• The succession to the throne was on the principle of hereditary.
• Sometimes usurpation to the throne took place as SaluvaNarasimha came to power by ending the Sangama
dynasty.
• The king was assisted by a council of ministers in his day to day administration.
• The Empire was divided into different administrative units called Mandalams, Nadus, sthalas and finally
GS

into gramas.
• The governor of Mandalam was called Mandaleswara or Nayak.
• Vijayanagar rulers gave full powers to the local authorities in the administration.
• Besides land revenue, tributes and gifts from vassals and feudal chiefs, customs collected at the ports, taxes
on various professions were other sources of income to the government.
• Land revenue was fixed generally one sixth of the produce.
• The expenditure of the government includes personal expenses of king and the charities given by him and
military expenditure.
• In the matter of justice, harsh punishments such as mutilation and throwing to elephants were followed.
Army and Military Organisation of the Vijayanagar Empire
• In order to wage continuous warfare there was a need to keep a large army.
• Artillery was important and well bred horses were maintained.
• The Vijayanagar rulers imported high quality horses from across the Arabian Sea from Arabia and other
Gulf countries.
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• The port of Malabar was the centre of this trade and trade in other luxury commodities. The Vijayanagar
rulers always attempted to control the port of Malabar.
• Like the Bahamanis, the Vijayanagar state also was familiar with the use of firearms and employed
Turkish and Portuguese experts to train the soldiers in the latest weaponry of warfare.
• One of the rayas, Deva Raya II enrolled Muslims in his armed services, allotted them jagirs and erected
a mosque for their use in the city.
• The walls of the forts to counter the firearms were now made thick and special kinds of door with fortified
walls front were constructed.
• On the walls of the forts, special kinds of big holes were made to rest the guns. Special kinds of parapets
were constructed on the forts to put the canons on it.
• Firearms were used. Some firearms were small and comprised of rifles and pistols. Some like canons were
heavy and had to be put on a bullock cart or on an elephant and pushed into the battlefield.
• One of the important characteristics of the Vijayanagar administration was the amaranayaka system. In

E
this system, the commander of the Vijayanagar army was called the nayaka. Each nayaka was given an
area for administration.
OR
• The nayaka was responsible for expanding agricultural activities in his area. He collected taxes in his area
and with this income maintained his army, horses, elephants and weapons of warfare that he had to supply
to the raya or the Vijayanagar ruler. The nayaka was also the commander of the forts.
• Some of the revenue was also used for the maintenance of temples and irrigation works. The amara-
SC

nayakas sent tribute to the king annually and personally appeared in the royal court with gifts to express
their loyalty.
• In the seventeenth century, several of these nayakas became independent and established separate states.
• The feudal Nayankaras used to maintain their own soldiers, forces and elephants. They were a powerful
section that challenged the Vijayanagar authority, weakened its internal structures and contributed to the
GS

defeat of the Vijayangar in the battle of Talikota.

Social Life
• AllasaniPeddanna in his Manucharitam refers the existence of four castes - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas
and Sudras - in the Vijayanagar society.
• Foreign travelers left vivid accounts on the splendour of buildings and luxurious social life in the city of
Vijayanagar.
• Silk and cotton clothes were mainly used for dress.
• Perfumes, flowers and ornaments were used by the people.
• Paes mentions of the beautiful houses of the rich and the large number of their household servants.
• Nicolo Conti refers to the prevalence of slavery.
• Dancing, music, wrestling, gambling and cock-fighting were some of the amusements.
• Chidambaram speak the glorious epoch of Vijayanagar. They were continued by the Nayak rulers in the
later period.
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• The metal images of Krishna Deva Raya and his queens at Tirupati are examples for casting of metal
images.
• Music and dancing were also patronized by the rulers of Vijayanagar.
Economic Condition
• According to the accounts of the foreign travelers, the Vijayanagar Empire was one of the wealthiest parts
of the world at that time.
• Agriculture continued to be the chief occupation of the people.
• The Vijayanagar rulers provided a stimulus to its further growth by providing irrigation facilities.
• New tanks were built and dams were constructed across the rivers like Tunghabadra. Nuniz refers to the
excavation of canals.
• There were numerous industries and they were organized into guilds.

E
• Metal workers and other craftsmen flourished during this period.
•
•
•
Vijayanagar was also a great centre of trade. OR
Diamond mines were located in Kurnool and Anantapur district.

The chief gold coin was the varaha but weights and measures varied from place to place.
SC
• Inland, coastal and overseas trade led to the general prosperity.
• There were a number of seaports on the Malabar coast, the chief being Cannanore.
• Commercial contacts with Arabia, Persia, South Africa and Portugal on the west and with Burma, Malay
peninsula and China on the east flourished.
• The chief items of exports were cotton and silk clothes, spices, rice, iron, saltpeter and sugar.
GS

• The imports consisted of horses, pearls, copper, coral, mercury, China silk and velvet clothes. The art of
shipbuilding had developed.
Cultural Contributions
• The temple building activity further gained momentum during the Vijayanagar rule.
• The chief characteristics of the Vijayanagara architecture were the construction of tall Raya Gopurams
or gateways and the Kalyanamandapam with carved pillars in the temple premises.
• The sculptures on the pillars were carved with distinctive features. The horse was the most common
animal found in these pillars.
• Large mandapams contain one hundred pillars as well as one thousand pillars in some big temples. These
mandapams were used for seating the deity on festival occasions.
• Also, many Amman shrines were added to the already existing temples during this period.
• The most important temples of the Vijayanagar style were found in the Hampi ruins or the city of
Vijayanagar.
• Vittalaswamy and HazaraRamaswamy temples were the best examples of this style.
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• The Varadharaja and Ekamparanatha temples at Kanchipuram stand as examples for the magnificence of
the Vijayanagara style of temple architecture.
• The Raya Gopurams at Thiruvannamalai and Chidambaram speak the glorious epoch of Vijayanagar.
• They were continued by the Nayak rulers in the later period.
• The metal images of Krishna Deva Raya and his queens at Tirupati are examples for casting of metal
images.
• Music and dancing were also patronized by the rulers of Vijayanagar.
• Different languages such as Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil flourished in the regions.
• There was a great development in Sanskrit and Telugu literature.
• The peak of literary achievement was reached during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya.
• He himself was a scholar in Sanskrit and Telugu.

E
• His famous court poet AllasaniPeddanna was distinguished in Telugu literature.
BAHMANI KINGDOM
OR
• The Deccan region was a part of the provincial administration of the Delhi Sultanate.
• In order to establish a stable administration in the Deccan, Mohammad bin Tughlaq appointed amiran-
i-sada/ Sada Amir, who were the administrative heads of hundred villages.
• From 1337 the conflict between the officers in Deccan and Delhi sultanate accelerated which led to the
SC

establishment of an independent state in the Deccan in 1347 with the capital at Gulbarga in Andhra
Pradesh.
• Its founders Haran Gangu assumed the title AlauddinHasanBahman Shah as he traced his descent from
the mythical hero of Iran, Bahman Shah and the kingdom was named after him, the Bahamani Sultanate.
• After Mohammad bin Tughlaq there were no attempts by the Delhi Sultanate to control the Deccan
GS

region, therefore, the Bahamani Sultans without any checks annexed the kingdom.
• There were a total of fourteen Sultans ruling over this kingdom. Among them, AlauddinBahman Shah,
Muhammad Shah I and Firoz Shah were important.
• Ahmad Wali Shah shifted the capital from Gulbarga to Bidar.
• The power of the Bahmani kingdom reached its peak under the rule of Muhammad Shah III. It extended
from the Arabian sea to the Bay of Bengal. On the west it extended from Goa to Bombay. On the east,
it extended from Kakinada to the mouth of the river Krishna.
• The success of Muhammad Shah was due to the advice and services of his minister Mahmud Gawan.
• One of the important acquisitions was the control over Dabhol, an important port on the west coast.
• Under Bahman Shah and his son Muhammmad Shah, the administrative system was well organised.
• The kingdom was divided into four administrative units called 'taraf' or provinces. These provinces were
Daultabad, Bidar, Berar and Gulbarga.
• Muhammad I defeated the Vijayanagar kingdom and consequently Golconda was annexed to Bahamani
kingdom.
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• Every province was under a tarafdar

who was also called a subedar.
• Some land was converted into
Khalisa land from the jurisdiction
of the tarafdar. Khalisa land was that
piece of land which was used to run
expenses of the king and the royal
household.
• Further the services and the salary
of every noble was fixed. Those
nobles who kept 500 horses were
given 1000,000 huns annually.
• If short of the stipulated troops, the

E
tarafdar would have to reimburse the
amount to the central government.
• Nobles used to get their salary either
in cash or in form of grant of land
or 'jagir' .
OR
• Bahamani ruler depended for
military support on his amirs.
SC

• There were two groups in the ranks of amirs: One was the Deccanis who were immigrant Muslims and
had been staying for a long time in the Deccan region. The other group was Afaquis or Pardesis who had
recently come from Central Asia, Iran and Iraq and had settled in the Deccan region recently.
• Between both these groups there was always tension to appropriate better administrative positions and
because of their feuds, the stability of the Bahamani Sultanate was affected.
GS

• For the first time in India both Bahamani and Vijaynagar kingdoms used gunpowder in the warfare.
• The Bahamanis were already familiar with the use of firearms. They employed Turkish and Portuguese
experts to train the soldiers in the latest weaponry of warfare.
Mahmud Gawan
• One of the most important personalities in the Bahamani kingdom was Mahmud Gawan. The Bahmani
kingdom reached its peak under the guidance of Mahmud Gawan.
• Mahmud Gawan's early life is obscure. He was an Iranian by birth and first reached Deccan as a trader.
He was granted the title of 'Chief of the Merchants' or Malikut-Tujjar by the Bahamani ruler, Humayun
Shah.
• The sudden death of Humayun led to the coronation of his minor son Ahmad III. A regency council was
set for the administration and Mahmud Gawan was its important member.
• He was made wazir or the prime minister and was given the title of 'Khwaju-i-Jahan.'
• The history of Bahmani kingdom after this period is actually the record of the achievements of Mahmud
Gawan.
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• He lived a simple life and was magnanimous. He was also a learned person. He possessed a great
knowledge of mathematics.
• He made endowments to build a college at Bidar which was built in the Persian style of architecture.
• He was also a military genius. He waged successful wars against Vijayanagar, Orissa and the sea pirates
on the Arabian sea.
• His conquests include Konkan, Goa and Krishna-Godavari delta and thus he expanded the Bahmani
Empire through his conquests.
• Despite of being an Afaqui he was liberal and wanted a compromise between the Afaquis and the
Deccanis.
• He controlled the kingdom in an efficient manner and provided it stability.
• Gawan conquered the Vijayanagar territories up to Kanchi.
• On the western coast, Goa and Dhabol were conquered. Losing these important ports was a great loss for

E
Vijayanagar.
OR
• Bahamani strengthened its trading relations with Iran and Iraq after gaining control over Goa and Dabhol.
• His administrative reforms were were aimed to increase the control of Sultan over the nobles and provinces.
• Gawan carried out many internal reforms and attempted to put an end to the strife in the nobility. Royal
officers were appointed in each province for this purpose. Most of the forts were under the control of
SC

these officers.
• In order to curb the military power of the tarafdar, Gawan ordered that only one fort of each province
was to be under the direct control of the provincial tarafdar.
• The remaining forts of the province were placed under a Qiladar or commander of the forts. The Qiladar
was appointed by the central Government.
GS

• However, soon after his death, the governors declared their independence and the Bahamani kingdom
broke up.
• In the fifteenth and the sixteenth century, some amirs in Bidar, Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bijapur and
Berar established independent sultanates of their own and formed new states.
• These were the NizamShahis of Ahmadnagar, the AdilShahis of Bijapur, the QutbShahis of Golconda,
and the ImadShahis of Berar and the BaridShahis of Bidar.
• They formed a league of states and strengthened them by matrimonial alliances.
• They maintained the traditional rivalry with the Vijayanagar rulers.
• Golconda and Bijapur entered into matrimonial alliances and led the Battle of Talikota against Vijayanagar.
• They finally succumbed to the Mughal armies.
Conflicts between the Vijayanagar and the Bahamani Kingdoms
• There were constant conflicts between the Vijayanagar and the Bahamani kingdoms over the control of
Raichur doab which was the land between rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra.
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• This area was fertile and rich in mineral resources. The famous diamond mines of Golconda were located
in the eastern part of the doab region.
• The geography of both the kingdoms was such that expansion was possible only across Tungabhadra in
the Deccan.
• It appears that the battles between the two were not conclusive and the status quo was maintained.
• Sometimes, Bahamani had an advantage and sometimes, Vijayanagar had an advantage. For instance, in
1504, the Bahamani managed to reconquer the Raichur doab. However, with the ascent of Krishna Deva
Raya, the Bahamanis lost Raichur, Mudkal, Nalgonda and other inland towns.
• An important result of these wars was that both the powers were so involved amongst themselves that
they never realized the increasing power of the Portuguese on the coast of South India.
• Besides, continuous warfare exhausted the resources of both the states and weakened them.

E
• The other areas of conflict were the Marathwada region and the deltaic region of Krishna-Godavari.
• Both regions had fertile areas and important ports that controlled trade to the foreign countries.
•

•
OR
The fertile area in the Marathwada region was the Konkan belt that also had the port of Goa which was
an important region for trade and export and import especially import of horses from Iraq and Iran.
Often, the battles between the Vijayanagar and the Bahamani states are perceived as Hindu-Muslim
conflicts, but the above mentioned reasons show that the struggle was not due to any religious differences.
SC
• Territorial and economic motives were the main causes for the war.
• Despite hostilities between the two states, there were times when they also co-operated with each other.
• Krishna Deva Raya, for example, supported some claimants to power in the Sultanates and took pride in
the title "establisher of the Yavana kingdom".
GS

• Similarly, the Sultan of Bijapur intervened to resolve succession disputes in Vijayanagra following the
death of Krishna Deva Raya.
• There were also sharing and exchange of ideas, especially in the field of art, literature and architecture.
Notes

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OTHER REGIONAL STATES

• The fifteenth and early sixteenth century was the crucial period between the death of the last Tughlaq king
in 1413 AD and emergence of a new Turkish power in the sub-continent- the Moghuls.
• There were two main process at work in Muslim India at this point of time:
– the disintegration of Delhi sultanate, and
– the rise of independent regional kingdoms.
• The centralizing authority of Delhi Sultanate ceased to be paramount power in Indian political life, and
its power and position were taken over by other regional kingdoms, which were more powerful than the
Delhi sultanate with better organized state machinery.

E
• Many of these states also centers of artistic activity.
• Though the Delhi Sultanate has fallen from its former glory during this period, it continued to be viewed
OR
as symbol of prestige and source of wealth for which many factions struggled and fought.
• The Deccan states, and Bengal in the east, and Sindh and Multan in the west had broken away towards
the end of Muhammad- bin -Tughlaq’s rule, and after some feeble efforts, Firuz saha reconciled himself
to this loss.
SC

• Follwing the Timurid invasion, the governors of Gujarat, Malwa and Jaunpur (in the east of Uttar Pradesh)
declared themselves independent, while Khizr Khan assumed full powers in the Punjab.
• With the expulsion of the Muslim governor from Ajmer, the various states of Rajputana also asserted
their independence.
• While these various provincial kingdoms and Rajput states fought against each other, it would be wrong
GS

to consider the 15th century a period of decadence and decline in north India.
• Politically, warfare between the various states rarely extended beyond the border regions, with a definite
pattern of balance of power emerging between the states located in the various regions, - east, west and
north.
• In the west, Gujarat, Malwa and Mewar balanced and checked the growth of each others’ power.
• In the east, Bengal was checked by the Gajapati rulers of Orissa, as also by the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur.
• In the north, while Kashmir remained aloof, the rise of the Lodhis at Delhi towards the middle of 15th
century led to a long drawn out struggle between them and the rulers of Jaunpur for the mastery of the
Ganga -Yamuna doab.
• The balance of power began to break down by the end of the 15h century. With the final defeat of
Jaunpur by the Lodis, and the extension of their rule from Punjab upto the borders of Bengal, the
Sultanat of Delhi had been virtually re-established and the heat was on eastern Rajastahan and Malwa.
• Meanwhile, Malwa started disintegrating due to internal factors, leading to a sharpened rivalry between
Gujarat and Mewar. Thus, Malwa once again became the cock-pit of the struggle for mastery of north
India.
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• Culturally, the new kingdoms which arose tried to utilize local cultural forms and traditions for their own
purposes. This was mostly manifested in the field of architectures where efforts were made to adopt and
adapt the new architectural forms developed by the Turks by utilitarian local forms and traditions.
• In many cases; encouragement was given to local languages, while political necessity compelled many of
them to establish a closer association with Hindu ruling elites. This, in turn, had an effect on the processes
of cultural rapprochement between the Hindus and the Muslims which had been working apace.
REGIONAL STATES
Bengal
• After conquest by Bakhtiyar Khalji in A.D.1204, Bengal in a freakish nature continued to be ruled by
governors appointed by the Delhi Sultans.
• Its long distance from Delhi tempted its governors to seek sovereignty, hence rebellions were a recurrent
feature in Bengal.

E
• The history of Bengal as an independent kingdom may be dated from A.D. 1338 hen one Fakhruddin
taking advantage of Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s troubles proclaimed himself ruler of eastern Bengal as

•
OR
Sonargaon its capital under the title of Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah.
Shortly after, Alauddin Ali Shah (A.D. 1339-1342) established its authority in western Bengal with Lakhnauti
as its capital.
• About A.D. 1342, Ilyas, an officer of Alauddin Ali Shah, made himself independent ruler of the entire
Bengal, assuming the title of Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah and founded Ilyas Shahi dynasty.
SC

• He overran Tirhut and went as far as Kathmandu in Nepal (A.D. 1346). He then exacted a tribute from
the ruler of Orissa. He also defeated the ruler of Sonargaon and annexed his dominions.
• Firuz Tughlaq attempted twice to capture Bengal but failed.
• The rule of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty continued till A.D. 1415 when it was superceded by that of Raja
GS

Ganesha; though it was recovered in about A.D. 1442.

• But there followed a period of weak monarches and the throne was finally seized by Malik Andil, an
Abyssinian commander of the Ilyas Shahi army.
• The Abyssinian regime covered a short period of 6 years (A.D. 1487-1493) and comprised three weak
rulers.
• Then the throne was occupied by one Syed Hussain, who assumed the title of ‘Alauddin Hussain Shah’.
His long reign (A.D. 1493-1519) is noted for public works and for promotion of Bengali literature.
• Chaitanya, the famous Hindu reformer, enjoyed Alauddin Hussain Shah’s patronage and was able to
propagate his ideas freely.
• Alauddin Hussain Shah was succeeded by his son Nusrat Shah, a contemporary of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi.
• The Afghan rebel chiefs who were rising against the Sultans sided with Nusrat Shah who is said to have
conquered Tirhut. Subsequently, he made a treaty with Babar, and was assassinated soon after in A.D.
1532.
• Then decline set in and there followed a quick succession and one Mahmud Shah was overthrown in A.D.
1538 by Sher Khan Suri and sought shelter with Humayun who had then advanced in Bihar with the
object of suppressing Sher Khan.
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• Humayun turned out the latter, and sat on the throne of Gaur (the other new capital) as emperor for three
months. But Sher Khan defeated Humayun at Chausa and recovered the independence of Bengal.
• But after his death Bengal fell under confusion till it was annexed to the Mughal empire in A.D. 1575.
Jaunpur
• Jaunpur is now in Varanasi division in eastern Uttar Pradesh on the banks of river Gomati.
• It was a prosperous province in the eastern part of the Delhi Sultanate.
• The governor of Jaunpur was Malik Sarwar, who was a prominent noble during Feroz Shah Tughlaq’s
period.
• In 1394, Sultan Nasiruddin Mohammad Shah Tughlaq made him a minister and gave him the title of
Sultanu-Sharq which means the master of the east. Thereafter, he was known as Malik Sarwar Sultanus
Sharq.
• After Timur’s invasion and the weakening of the Delhi Sultanate, Malik Sarwar took advantage of a weak

E
political situation and declared himself independent.
• Malik Sarwar was succeeded by his son Mubarak Shah Sharqi. The Sultan struck coins in his name.
OR
• During the period of Mubarak Shah Sharqi, the ruler of the Delhi sultanate was Mahmud Shah Tughlaq,
who tried to annex Jaunpur, but failed. Thereafter, there were constant tensions between the various rulers
of Jaunpur and Delhi Sultanate.
• The Sharqi Sultans made several attempts to conquer Delhi, but they could never be successful.
SC

• In 1402, Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, Mubarak Shah’s brother became the Sultan and ruled Jaunpur for thirty four
years.
• Ibrahim was also a scholar, well versed with Islamic theology and law, music and fine arts. He was a great
patron of architecture.
• A distinct style of architecture evolved called the Sharqi style that had some Hindu influence.
GS

• At its height, the Sharqi Sultanate extended from Aligarh in western Uttar Pradesh to Darbhanga in north
Bihar in the east and from Nepal in the north to Bundelkhand in the south.
• It was during the reign of Hussain Shah Sharqi (1458– 1505) Bahlol Lodhi attacked Jaunpur in 1484 and
Hussain Shah had to flee.
• Finally, Sikandar Lodhi who succeeded Bahlol Lodhi annexed Jaunpur. Hussain Shah died and the Sharqi
dynasty came to an end.
Kashmir
• Kashmir is in the northern part of India. In the eleventh century, the rulers were followers of Saivism, and
Saivism became the central religion in Kashmir. It was a closed kingdom.
• Albiruni, the Arab traveller who visited India during this period remarked in his work, Al-Hind that no one,
not even Hindus from outside was allowed access to Kashmir.
• In 1320s, the ruling dynasty of Kashmir could not check the devastating Mongol invasions.
• It therefore, lost all public support. In 1339, Shamsuddin Shah deposed the Saiva ruler and became the
ruler of Kashmir. From this period onwards, Islam influenced the Kashmiri society.
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• A group of Sufi saints known as the Rishis propagated a religion that combined features of Hinduism and
Islam Sufi saints and refugees migrated from Central Asia to Kashmir and further influenced the society
and religion.
• Gradually, the poorer section of the population started converting to Islam. The state encouragement to
Islam took place when the Kashmiri Sultan, Sikandar Shah (1389–1413), issued an order that all Hindus
especially, the brahmanas living in his kingdom should embrace Islam or leave his kingdom.
• These orders were issued at the instance of the king’s minister, Suha Bhatt who was a Hindu and had
recently converted to Islam.
• Perhaps, one of the greatest rulers of Kashmir was Zainul Abidin (1420–1470). He was an enlightened
ruler and called back those Hindus who had left the state due to the persecution of Sikandar Shah. He
abolished jaziya and prohibited cow slaughter and gave the Hindus important state posts. A large number
of temples were repaired and new ones constructed.
• Abul Fazl, the court historian of the Mughal Emperor Akbar noted that Kashmir had one hundred and

E
fifty big temples.
• Sultan Zainul Abidin married the daughters of the Hindu raja of Jammu. Some scholars call Zainul

•
Shah or the great king of Kashmiris. OR
Abidin as the Akbar of Kashmir. Under him, Kashmir became prosperous and he was called the Bud

The Sultan Zainul Abidin contributed to the agricultural development of Kashmir by constructing dams
and canals. Agricultural records were maintained. During the period of famine and other natural calamities,
SC
relief in terms of loans and grains and fodder was provided to the peasants.
• Sultan Zainul Abidin also introduced reforms in the currency. He introduced market control and fixed
prices of the commodities. Traders and merchants were asked to sell the commodities at fixed prices.
Sultan also subsidized the import of the commodities which were scarce in the state.
• To make up for the shortage of salt, he imported salt from Ladakh and helped the traders in every
possible way.
GS

• Sultan also paid attention to the development of handicrafts. He sent some people to Samarqand for
training of paper making and book binding.
• Sultan also encouraged stone cutting and polishing and many other crafts. He introduced carpet and shawl
making, which make Kashmir famous till day.
• Sultan also founded the towns of Zaingir, Zainket and Zainpur and laid out the islands on the Dal Lake.
• His chief engineering achievement was the Zaina Lanka, an artificial island in the Woolur Lake on which
he built his palace and mosque.
• He was a great scholar of Persian, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Arab languages and patronised the Sanskrit and
Persian scholars.
• Under his patronage, the Mahabharat and Kalhana’s Rajatarangini were translated into Persian and many
Persian and Arabic works were translated into Hindi.
• He himself was a poet and wrote poetry under the pen name ‘Qutb’.
• After him weak rulers ascended the throne of Kashmir and there was confusion. Taking advantage of this,
Mirza Haider, Babur’s relative occupied Kashmir.
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• In 1586, Akbar conquered Kashmir and made it a part of the Mughal Empire.
Gujarat
• Gujarat was annexed to the Delhi Sultanate in 1297 by Alauddin. From that time it was ruled for long
time by Muslim governors appointed by the Delhi Sultans.
• Sultan Nasiruddin Muhammad, sixth king of the Tughlaq house, appointed in A.D. 1391, Zafar Khan as
governor of Gujarat.
• In A.D. 1407, he took the title of Sultan Muzaffar Shah and founded the Muzaffari Dynasty which
continued till A.D. 1573 when it was annexed by Akbar to the Mughal empire.
• Of the fourteen kings of this dynasty, the most important are three – Ahmad Shah I, Mahmud Begara,
also known as Mahmud I and Bahadur Shah.
• Ahamd Shah (A.D. 1411-1443) was a grandson of Muzaffar Shah and is remembered for founding the city
of Ahmadabad on the Sabarmati. He died at Ahmedabad in A.D. 1442.

E
• Ahmad Shah’s grandson, Mahmud I (A.D. 1449-1511), commonly known by his surname Begara, was by
far the most eminent Sultan of Gujarat. Champaner was rechristened by him as Muhammadabad.
OR
• Towards the close of his reign, he attempted, in alliance with Egypt, to check the power of the Portuguese
who monopolized the lucrative trade which passed through Egypt and Red Sea to India. After his death,
the decline of the empire began.
• Only Bahadur Shah (A.D. 1526-1537) proved to be a capable ruler. He invaded Mandu fort and entered
the city unopposed. The king of Malwa, Mahmud Khalji II, was taken prisoner and his territory was
SC

annexed to Gujarat in A.D. 1591.

• Bahadur Shah also captured the fortress of Ujjain, Bhilsa and Raisen completing the conquest of Malwa.
• In A.D. 1535, he captured Chittor. By this time, the Mughal emperor, Humayun as it is felt it necessary
to stem the tide of Bhadur’s conquests he marched into Malwa and occupied Mandasor.
• In the reign of the last ruler Muzaffar III, Akbar annexed Gujarat to his empire.
GS

Sind
• Sind retained some degree of independence, the desert of thar being a fairly effective barrier to frequent
communications with Rajastan and Delhi.
• The Arabs who conquered Sind in 8th century after reverses they met with appear to have lost interest
in enlarging their indian possessions.
• During the period of the sultanate Sind was ruled by obscure tribes.
• In 1520 Shah Beg Arghun the governor of Kandhar having been driven out of Afghanistan by Babur
migrated to Sind, conquered it and laid the foundation of the Arghun dynasty. His son shah Hussain
consolidated his conquest by annexing Multan.
• At the time Babur’s invasion the power was Arghuns was in Sind was at its height.
Malwa
• Iltutmish attacked Chilsa and Ujjain but the kingdom had continued to be under the paramara rulers and
their feudatories.
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• It became a province of the Delhi Sultanate in A.D. 1310 under Alauddin.

• In A.D. 1390 one Delawar Khan Ghauri was made governor of Malwa, but from A.D. 1401 he ruled
independently without a formal proclamation.
• In A.D. 1406 he died and Alp Khan ascended the throne with the title of Hushang Shah.
• He made Mandu his capital, strenghthened its defences and decorated its residential buildings, palaces,
mosques and tombs.
• He died in A.D. 1935 and was buried in a marble tomb at Mandu.
• Mahmud Khalji, a cousin and minister of the new ruler Muhammad Shah Ghauri, murdered him and
seized the throne (A.D. 1436).
• His war with Rana Kumbha of Chittor was inconclusive. Strangely enough, both sides claimed success,
and while the Rana of Mewar erected the tower of victory at Chittor, the Sultan of Malwa built a seven-
storeyed column at Mandu to commemorate his triumph.

E
• In A.D. 1469 Mahmud Khalji died at Mandu at the age of sixty-eight.
•

•
OR
Mahmud Khalji was succeeded by his eldest son, Muhammad Shah, under the title of Sultan Ghiyasuddin
(A.D. 1469). After his accession he waged only one war with Raimal, the Rana of Chittor and was
defeated. He is credited with the construction of Jahaz Mahal.
Muhammad Shah was succeeded in A.D. 1500 by Nasir Shah. After Nasir Shah’s death in A.D. 1510,
his third son ascended the throne with the title of Mahmud Khalji II.
SC
• Mahmud Khalji II conferred the office of wazir on Medini Rai.
• Mahmud was defeated and killed by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Baz Bahadur proclaimed independence
and assumed regal power and title after his father’s death in A.D. 1555.
• Baz Bahadur fell in love with Rupmati who was noted for her gift of music and poetry.
GS

• Baz Bahadur was the last independent ruler of Malwa. Malwa was finally annexed to the Mughal empire
in A.D. 1562.
Khandesh
• The kingdom of Khandesh was situated in the valley of Tapti, its Governor Malik Raja declared his
independence of the Delhi sultanate and ruled his small realm wisely and well until his death in 1399.
• From the very beginning the Sultanas of Gujarat were desirous of establishing their supremacy over
Khandesh. Hence the two kingdoms were at war.
• Under the last notable monarch Adil Khan Farrukhi ( I457- I503) great progress was made in the country.
• For some time the little kingdom lingered on as a political entity until at last Akbar’s reign saw its close.
Rajputana
• Mewar with its capital at Chittor was the most extensive and powerful state in Rajasthan.
• Babur’s contemporary on the throne was the famous Rana Sangram Singh popularly known as Rana
Sangha.
• He was a man of the great military powers and was a terror to the muslim states.
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• Devoted to military activites all through his life his body bore the signs of eighty wounds in addition to
an eye blinded and a leg crippled.
• He fought successfully against Gujarat and repulsed an invasion of Mewar by Ibrahim Lodhi.
• Rana Sangha helped Medini Rai against Mehmud II of Malwa who was taken as captive to Chittor.
• The economic resources and the military forces of Mewar were thoroughly organized and it was clear that
any other power aiming at supremacy in Hindustan would have to contest it with him.
• In the Deccan that is beyond Vindhyas two formidable empires viz. the Bahamani Kingdom (the Muslim
Kingdom) and the Vijyanagar Kingdom (The Hindu Kingdom) had been founded during the rule of
Muhammed Bin Tughluq.
Social and Cultural Conditions
• The Indian society in the beginning of 16th century was divided into two distinct communities – Hindus
and Muslims. But socially the country was passing through a period of transition from conflict to co-
operation between Hindus and Muslim.
•

E
The bitterness between the Hindus and Muslims had gradually subsided. Islam had come to stay in India
OR
and Muslim culture had become a part of the Indian society.
• The Turks – Afghan rulers and their followers were shedding their foreign ways and were becoming
Indiansied.
• More over a large number of Hindus converted as Muslims, though these Hindustani Muslims were
SC

considered inferior to the pure foreign blood.

• The Muslims were the dominant class in the state enjoying considerable prestige.
• Muslims followed the teachings of the Quaran and muslim traditions. The holy men were consulted on
important questions of religions and state but their advice was not always followed.
• The Hindus were divided into castes, the Sudras being the lowest in society.
GS

• Slavery was common and there was sale and purchase of slaves.
• The life of Hindus was governed by the rules laid down in the Smritis and they led pure and dignified
lives, restricted by the convention of their caste. Sati was prevalent in certain parts of India.
• Foreign writers like Ibn Batuta and Nicolo Conti testify to the practice of Sati in the state of Delhi and
Vijyanagar empire in the Deccan.
• The property right of women were recognized and they were declared absolute owners of their stridhana
which they could dispose of without any interference from their husbands.
• Caste distinctions were rigidly observed.
• Although India was politically divided yet culturally she was becoming one.
• It was during this period that the saints of the Bhakti movement played a very important part in abridging
the gulf between Hinduism and Islam.
• The reformers of the Bhakti cult such as Ramanand, Chaitanya, Namdev and particularly Kabir and
Nanak stressed the need of Hindu-Muslim unity.
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• The work of these saints was supplemented by the Sufi mystics of the day.
• Close cooperation between Hindus and Muslims had an interesting side effect; it led to the growth of
vernacular languages like Hindi Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati.
Economic Conditions
• The Indian economy so far as its agricultural and material wealth was concerned was quite sound and
there was general prosperity.
• Agriculture was in flourishing condition. In normal times the peasants produced so much corn that after
satisfying the needs of the country it was exported to foreign lands.
• However, on account of frequent invasions villages were built and destroyed very often.
• India had brisk inland and foreign trade.
• There was a lot of trade with Malaya, China, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran and Tibet.

E
• Many kinds of industries like textile industry sugar, mental and paper industries were found in most parts
of the country.
•
OR
People lived a life of ease and comfort. The common man though poor had few needs and did not suffer
from starvation.
Military Conditions
SC
• Militarily India was weak at the beginning of 16th century.
• The Indian as well as the Muslim rulers no doubt maintained huge armies but there was not much of
discipline and training.
• The military organization was based upon feudalism. The Indian rulers did not have direct control over
their troops. They depended upon feudal nobility for the supply of most of the fighting men. Therefore
GS

these soldiers were more loyal to their immediate masters than to the kings.
• Moreover the training and the military skill differed from contingent to contingent. There was no uniformity
in their actions on the battle field.
• The Indian rulers were also ignorant of the latest invasions in the field of military science, including the
use of artillery which had become quite popular with the countries of Central Asia who had borrowed
from the West.
• The use of elephants in the advance guard, the lack of reserve force and the absence of second-in-
command in the battle fields were some of other defects in the Indian Military organization.
• The Delhi army under the Lodhis was not a national force. It was organised on clannish basis. The Lodhis
had failed to safeguard the north western frontier which gave Babur a free hand to deal with the Indian
situation as he pleased. Such were the political, social, economic and military conditions of India on the
eve of Babur’s invasion in 1526.
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MUGHAL (BABUR & HUMAYUN) AND SUR DYNASTY

Babur
• Babur (Zahiruddin Muhammad) was the founder of the Mughal Empire in India.
• Babur was related to Timur from his father’s side and to Chengiz Khan through his mother.
• Babur succeeded his father Umar Shaikh Mirza as the ruler of Farghana, but was soon defeated by his
distant relative and as a result lost his kingdom.
• He became a wanderer for sometime till he captured Kabul from one of his uncles.
• Then, Babur took interest in conquering India and launched three expeditions between 1519 and 1523.

E
• The opportunity to fullfil his ambition came to Babur when he was invited to India by discontented party,
Daulat Khan Lodhi the most powerful noble of the Punjab and Alam Khan an uncle of Ibrahim Khan
Lodhi sought Babur to help to
OR
fight against Ibrahim Lodhi.
• India was then distracted by
ambitions, rivalries and
disaffection of nobles and the
SC

Delhi sultanate existed only in

name.
• Babur, a man of adventurous spirit
at once responded to the call
which presented him an excellent
opportunity for giving effect to his
GS

long cherished ambition.

• This was his fourth expedition in
which he occupied Lahore in 1524
and such occupation was not what
Daulat Khan desired.
• He had hoped that Babur would
retire after a raid leaving the field
clear for him and so he turned
against him and Alam Khan also
joined hands with him.
• Babur had to retire to Kabul to
collect re-enforcements.
• Babur soon re-occupied the Punjab
in 1525 and Daulat Khan Lodhi
submitted to Babur.
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• On the eve of Babur’s invasion of India, there were five prominent Muslim rulers – the Sultans of Delhi,
Gujarat, Malwa, Bengal and the Deccan – and two prominent Hindu rulers – Rana Sangha of Mewar and
the Vijayanagar Empire.
• Most of the soldiers and officers of Daulat Khan Lodhi joined the ranks of Babur.
• Babur got rid of all the self seeking Afghan nobles of the Punjab.
• He received messages of support from disaffected and opportunists nobles of Ibrahim’s court and Rana
Sangha of Mewar is also said to have sent him an invitation for a joint invasion of Delhi.
Military Conquests
• On 21st April 1526 the first Battle of Panipat took place between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi, who was killed
in the battle.
• One of the causes of Babur’s success in the battle was that Babur was seasoned General whereas Ibrahim

E
was a head strong, inexperienced youth. As Babur remarks he was ‘an inexperienced man, careless in his
movements, who marched without order, halted or retired without method and engaged without foresight.’
•

•
OR
Babur was the master of a highly evolved system of warfare which was the result of a scientific synthesis
of the tactics of the several Central Asian people. While Ibrahim fought according to the old system then
in existence in the country.
Babur had a park of artillery consisting of big guns and small muskets while Ibrahim’s soldiers were
absolutely ignorant of its use.
SC
• Also, Ibrahim did not get the backing of his people which weakened his power.
• Moreover his army was organised on clannish basis.
• The troops lacked the qualities of trained and skilful soldiers.
• Babur was right when he recorded in his diary that the Indian soldiers knew how to die and not how to
GS

fight.
• On the other hand Babur’s army was well trained and disciplined and shared the ambition of conquering
rich Hindustan.
• Babur occupied Delhi and sent his son Humayun to seize Agra.
• Babur proclaimed himself as “Emperor of Hindustan”.
• His subsequent victories over Rana Sangha of Mewar and the Afghans secured his position as the ruler
of India. He marched against Babur and in the Battle of Khanua (near Agra) held in 1527 Babur won a
decisive victory over him. Babur assumed the title Ghazi.
• This battle supplemented Babur’s work at Panipat and it was certainly more decisive in its results.
• The defeat of the Rajputs deprived them of the opportunity to regain political ascendancy in the country
for ever and facilitated Babur’s task in India and made possible the foundation of a new foreign rule.
• In 1528, Babur captured Chanderi from another Rajput ruler Medini Rai.
• In 1529, Babur defeated the Afghans in the Battle of Gogra in Bihar.
• By these victories, Babur consolidated his power in India.
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• Babur died at Agra in 1530 at the age of forty seven.

Estimate of Babur
• Babur was a great statesman and a man of solid achievements.
• He was also a great scholar in Arabic and Persian languages.
• Turki was his mother tongue and he wrote his memoirs, Tuzuk-i-Baburi in Turki language. It provides a
vivid account of India.
• He frankly confesses his own failures without suppressing any facts.
• He was also a naturalist and described the flora and fauna of India.
Humayun
• Humayun succeeded Babar in December 1530 at the young age of 23 and the newly conquered territories
and administration was not yet consolidated.

E
• Unlike Babur, Humayun did not command the respect and esteem of Mughal nobility.
• The Chaghatai nobles were not favourably inclined towards him and the Indian nobles, who had joined
OR
Babur’s service, deserted the Mughals at Humayun’s accession.
• He also confronted the hostility of the Afghans mainly Sher Khan in Bihar on the one hand and
Bahadurshah, the ruler of Gujarat, on the other.
• As per the Timurid tradition Humayun had to share power with his brothers.
SC

• The newly established Mughal empire had two centres of power; Humayun was in control of Delhi, Agra
and Central India, while his brother Kamran had Kabul and Qandhar and by subsequently annexing the
Punjab, had deprived him of the main recruiting ground of his army.
• However, the granting of the Punjab and Multan had the advantage that Humayun was free to devote his
attention to the eastern part without having to bother about his western frontier.
GS

• In A.D. 1532, Humayun first turned his arms against the Afghans, who under Sultan Mahmud Lodi
threatened his position in the east and defeated the Afghan forces which had conquered Bihar and overrun
Jaunpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh at a place called Daurah near Lucknow.
• After this success Humayun besieged Chunar then held by the able Afghan chief named Sher Khan.
• Sher Khan showed a submission and Humayun made a fatal mistake in allowing Sher Khan to retain
possession of Chunar.
• Humayun was anxious to return to Agra as he had to face the growing power of Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.
• The attitude of Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was hostile to Humayun from the very beginning. Humayun
defeated Bahadur Shah but could not retain his conquest as he was soon recalled to the east to meet the
revolt of Sher Khan.
• Humayun marched into Bengal but Sher Khan did nothing to oppose him as his object was to lure
Humayun into the interior and then to cut off his communication.
• In the Battle of Chausa (A.D. 1539) Humayun was completely defeated by Sher Khan.
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• In 1540 Humayun had one more encounter with Sher Shah at Bilgram near Kannauj but again met with
a crushing defeat and was compelled to leave Hindustan.
• The battle of Kannauj (A.D. 1540) was bitterly contested and it decided the issue between Sher Khan and
the Mughals.
• Humayun now became a prince without a kingdom; Kabul and Qandhar remaining under Kamran.
• Wandering Humayun found temporary refuge at Amarkot from where he made his way to Persia.
• The Persian king Shah Tahmasp, agreed to help him on condition that Humayun should conform to the
Shia creed.
• Humayun yielded to the necessity and conquered Kabul and Qandhar from his brother Kamran, with the
help of Persian troops.
• Freed from his brother’s opposition Humayun was now in a position to attempt the reconquest of India.

E
• He had secured the services of an able officer named Bairam Khan and the time was also favourable to
him.
•
•
OR
Humayun defeated the Afghan forces of Sikandar Sur and occupied Agra and Delhi (A.D. 1555).
It is clear that the major causes of Humayun’s failure against Sher Khan was his inability to understand
the nature of the Afghan power.
• Due to existence of large numbers of Afghan tribes scattered over north India, the Afghans could always
SC
unite under a capable leader and pose a challenge.
• In 1556, Humayun died after tumbling down from the staires of his library.
• His peaceful personality, patience and non-provocative methods of speech earned him the title of Insan-
i-Kamil (Perfect Man), among the Mughals.
GS

Sher Shah (The Second Afghan Empire)

• The first Afghan kingdom under the Lodis was replaced by the Mughals under Babur in 1526.
• After a gap of 14 years Sher Shah succeeded in establishing the Afghan rule again in India in 1540.
• Sher Shah and his successors ruled for 15 years and this period is known as the period of second Afghan
Empire.
• The founder of the Sur dynasty was Sher Shah, whose original name was Farid.
• He was the son of Hasan Khan, a jagirdar of Sasaram in Bihar.
• Later, Farid served under the Afghan ruler of Bihar, who gave him the title Sher Khan for his bravery.
• He defeated Humayun at the Battle of Chausa and became the ruler of Delhi in 1540.
• Sher Khan was a great tactician and able military commander.
• Sher Shah waged extensive wars with the Rajputs and expanded his empire.
• His conquests include Punjab, Malwa, Sind, Multan and Bundelkhand.
• His empire consisted of the whole of North India except Assam, Nepal, Kashmir and Gujarat.
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• Sher Shah after his death in 1553 was succeeded by his son Islam Shah.
• Islam Shah had to face a number of conflicts with his brother Adil Khan and many Afghan nobles.
• The Afghan empire was substantially weakened. Humayun saw an opportunity and moved towards India
who again captured his lost kingdom by 1555 and ended the second Afghan Empire.

E
OR
SC
GS

Sher Shah’s Administration

• Although Sher Shah’s rule lasted for five years, he organized a brilliant administrative system.
• The central government consisted of several departments. The king was assisted by four important
ministers:
1. Diwan –i- Wizarat – also called as Wazir - in charge of Revenue and Finance.
2. Diwan-i-Ariz – in charge of Army.
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3. Diwan-i-Rasalat – Foreign Minister.

4. Diwan-i-Insha – Minister for Communications.
• Sher Shah’s empire was divided into forty seven sarkars.
• Chief Shiqdar (law and order) and Chief Munsif (judge) were the two officers in charge of the administration
in each sarkar.
• Each sarkar was divided into several parganas. Shiqdar (military officer), Amin (land revenue), Fotedar
(treasurer) Karkuns (accountants) were in charge of the administration of each pargana.
• There were also many administrative units called iqtas.
Land Revenue System
• Sher Shah’s most striking contribution was made in the field of revenue.

E
• Sher Shah, however, as the only sovereign who is known to have gained a practical experience in managing
a small body of peasants before rising to the throne came with his scheme of revenue settlement readymade
and successfully tested by experiment. It was but an extension of the system introductioned by him at

•
Sasaram.
OR
As a monarch, he unilatereally decided that the best system of assessment must be based on actual
measurement. According, the empire was surveyed.
• In order to ensure the accuracy of measurement and honestry of collection he fixed the wages of the
SC
measurers and the collectors.
• The uniform system of measurement in spite of strong opposition from some quarters, was enforced all
over the empire, with the exception of Multan where political turmoil could endanger the security of the
State.
• But in Multan too, a record was kept of the settlement made between the government and the cultivator,
GS

and the latter was given a title deed (Patta) in which conditions of the settlement were specifically stated.
• According to the schedule of Sher Shah’s assessment rates the revenue on perishable articles was fixed
in cash rates, but for all the principal staple crops, the land was classified into three classes-good, middling
and bad.
• After the average produce of the three was added, one-third of the total was taken as the average produce
of each bigha for revenue purposes.
• Of this, one-third was demanded as the share of the government. It could be paid in cash or in kind though
the former mode was preferred. In case of cash payments, the state demand was fixed according to the
prices prevalent in the near markets and a schedule of crop of crop rates was preserved indicating the
method and the rates of assessment.
• The state gave a patta to each cultivator, which specified the state demand. The cultivator was also obliged
to sign a qabuliat (deed of agreement) promising to honour the revenue due from him. Both the documents
contained information on the size of the plot.
• Sher Shah’s revenue settlement has been unanimously acclaimed. And it has been contended hat it
provided the basis for Todar Mal’s bandobust in Akbar’s reign, as also for the Ryotwari system in British
India.
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• Notwithstanding its obvious strengths it would be unrealistic to describe his revenue settlement as a
master-piece; for the system was not without defects.
• Sher Shah was the first ruler who considered the welfare of the people as essential for the interests of the
state.
• He was benign in times of drought and famine. The state, under such circumstances, would lend money
and material to the cultivators.
• He instructed the army not to damage any crops and in any damage, to adquately compensate.
Other Reforms
• He removed the currency which had debased under the later Turko-Afghan regimes and instead issued well
executed coins of gold, Silver and Copper of a uniform standard.
• His silver rupee which weighed 180 grams and contained 175 grains of silver was retained throughout the
Mughal period as also by the British East India Company, till 1885.

E
• Besides the coins of smaller fractions of a rupee, the copper coins too had fractions of half quarter, eighth
and sixteenth.
OR
• Sher Shah gave every possible encouragement to the trade and commerce and took a number of measures
for this purpose.
• He did away with all the internal custom duties with the exception of the two. These two duties were
charged at the time of entry of the goods in the kingdom and at the time of the actual sale.
SC

• Foreign goods were permitted to enter Bengal duty free.

• Sher Shah paid special attention to the safety and convenience of the merchants and had issued specific
instructions to his officers in this regards.
• Sher Shah not only took necessary measures to ameliorate the condition of the people but also paid
attention to the promotion of education. He gave liberal grants to both the Hindu and Muslim educational
GS

institutions.
• The Hindus were free to regulate their educational institutions and Sher Shah did not interfere in their
working.
• Similarly, the Muslim educational institution were mainly attached with mosques and imparted elementary
education to the children.
• To help the poor and brilliant students he awarded liberal scholarships.
• Sher Shah also made liberal provisions for the support of blind, the old, the weak, widows etc.
• Sher Shah had also improved the communications by laying four important highways. They were:
1. Sonargaon to Sind
2. Agra to Burhampur
3. Jodhpur to Chittor
4. Lahore to Multan.
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• Primarily planned for military purposes, these highways proved equally effective for the growth of trade
ans commerce.
• Along both sides of these roads, Sher Shah ordered the planting of fruit trees and the sinking of fresh
wells.

E
OR
• Another important feature of the public works comprised the building of the Serais (Rest-houses).
SC
• The Serais were fully furnished, with well equipped kitchens and cooks for both the Hindus and the
Muslims.
• Sher Shah also repaired about 1,700 Caravan Serais for the efficiency of the royal posts.
• Soon, the Serais functioned as post offices and marketing centres and Sher Shah posted news-readers in
the various Serais to keep abreast of the local gossip.
GS

• Rest-houses were built on the highways for the convenience of the travelers.
• Police was efficiently reorganized and crime was less during his regime.
• The Shiqdars and the Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaran were responsible for the maintenance of law and order in
Parganas and Sarkars.
• The village headmen were obliged to look after their areas.
• The largest responsibility rested with the Muqaddams and Chowdharies, who were severely punished, in
case they failed to detect the crimes.
• The military administration was also efficiently reorganized and Sher Shah borrowed many ideas like the
branding of horses from Alauddin Khalji.
Estimate of Sher Shah
• Sher Shah remained a pious Muslim and generally tolerant towards other religions. He employed Hindus
in important offices.
• He was also a patron of art and architecture. He built a new city on the banks of the river Yamuna near
Delhi. Now the old fort called Purana Qila and its mosque is alone surviving.
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• He also built a Mausoleum at Sasaram, which is considered as one of the master pieces of Indian
architecture.
• Sher Shah also patronized the learned men.
• Malik Muhammad Jayasi wrote the famous Hindi work Padmavat during his reign.
• After Sher Shah’s death in 1545 his successors ruled till 1555 when Humayun reconquered India.
Fall of the Sur Dynasty
• After the death of Sher Shah his son Islam Shah came to the throne in I545. Though he did not inherit
the Qualities of his father yet he kept his heritage intact for 8 years. After his death, in October 1553
the Sur dynasty began to disintegrate.
• The Afghan empire was partitioned and was ruled by three independent Nobles namely Ibrahim Khan Sur
in Delhi and Agra, Muhammad adil Shah In the East and the Punjab under Sikander Shah.
• The various provinces of Malwa, Rajputana, Bengal and Bundelkhand proclaimed independence.

E
• The ongoing political chaos provided Humayun with the needful opportunity to stage a come back in
India.
OR
• He defeated Sikander Sur in a battle near Sirhind in 1555 and occupied Delhi and Agra.
• The Second Afghan Empire like the first one once again fell to the tribal concepts and political intrigues
of the Afghan nobility.
SC

• The field was left to the Mughals and Akbar used every opportunity to retrieve the Mughal prestige and
power.
GS
Notes

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MUGHAL DYNASTY (AKBAR ONWARDS)

Akbar (1556-1605)

• Akbar was at Kalanaur in Punjab at the death of Humayun’s death and therefore his coronation took place
in Kalanaur itself in 1556.

• Humayun’s favourite and confidant Bairam Khan, who served as the regent and tutor of the Mughal
emperor from 1556 to 1560. He became the wakil of the kingdom with the title of Khan-i-Khanan.

• One of the major achievements of Bairam Khan’s regency period was the defeat of Hemu and the Afghan
forces who were posing a serious threat to the Mughal Empire. In the second Battle of Panipat in 1556,

E
Hemu was almost on the point of victory. But an arrow pierced his eye and he became unconscious. The
Mughal victory was decisive.

•
OR
Bairam Khan consolidated the Mughal empire. After five years he was removed by Akbar due to court
intrigues and sent to Mecca. But on his way Bairam was killed by an Afghan.

Akbar started a policy of expansion after overcoming initial problems and consolidating his hold on the
throne. The major political powers spread in different parts of the country were:
SC
i) The Rajputs who were spread throughout the country as independent chiefs and kings, and were
concentrated mainly in Rajasthan.

ii) The Afghans held political control mainly in Gujarat, Bihar and Bengal.

iii) Khandesh, Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Golkonda and few other kingdoms in South India and Deccan were
GS

quite powerful.

iv) Kabul and Qandhar, though ruled by Mughal Akbar Military policy factions, were hostile towards
Akbar.

• Akbar’s conquered northern India from Agra to Gujarat and then from Agra to Bengal.

• He strengthened the northwest frontier and later on he went to the Deccan.

• Akbar through a systematic policy started the task of expanding his Empire.

• The first step that Akbar took after the dismissal of Bairam Khan was to put an end to the conflict within
the nobility. He demonstrated great diplomatic skills and organizational capabilities in handling it.

• Akbar started his policy of expansion with central India. In 1559–60 the first expedition was sent to
capture Gwalior before moving towards Malwa. Akbar deputed Adham Khan to lead the expedition
against Malwa in central India which was ruled by Baz Bahadur. Baz Bahadur was defeated and fled
towards Burhanpur.

• Gondwana, an independent state in Central India ruled by Rani Durgawati, widow of Dalpat Shah, was
also conquered and annexed to the Mughal empire in 1564.
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E
OR
SC

Rajasthan
• The Rajput policy of Akbar was notable. Akbar was fully aware of the importance of Rajput kingdoms
and wanted them as allies in his ambition of establishing a large empire.
• He tried to win over the Rajputs wherever possible and inducted them into Mughal service.
GS

• He also entered into matrimonial alliances with the Rajput rulers. He married the Rajput princess, the
daughter of Raja Bharamal.
• Rajputs served the Mughals for four generations and many of them rose to the positions of military
generals.
• Raja Bhagawan Das and Raja Man Singh were given senior positions in the administration by Akbar.
• The Rajput kingdoms like Merta and Jodhpur were also occupied without much resistance.
• However, Maharana Pratap, the ruler of Mewar posed most serious challenge to the Mughal emperor and
did not submit before Akbar.
• After a prolonged struggle and siege of the fort of Chittor, Akbar succeeded in defeating the Mewar
forces. However, it could not be fully subdued and some resistance from Mewar side continued for a long
time.
• After the fall of Chittor Ranthambhor and Kalinjar were captured. Marwar, Bikaner and Jaisalmer also
submitted to Akbar.
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• By 1570 Akbar had captured almost the whole of Rajasthan.

• The most important achievement of Akbar was that in spite of the subjugation of the whole of Rajasthan
there was no hostility between the Rajputs and the Mughals.
Afghans (Gujarat, Bihar and Bengal)
• Akbar’s compaign against Afghans started with Gujarat in 1572.
• One of the princes, Itimad Khan, invited Akbar to come and conquer it.
• Akbar himself marched to Ahmedabad. In a short time most of the principalities of Gujarat were brought
under his control.
• Akbar organized Gujarat into a province and placed it under Mirza Aziz Koka and returned to capital.
• Within six months various rebellious groups came together and revolted against the Mughal rule and the
Mughal governor had to cede a number of territories.

E
• The leaders of rebellion were Ikhitiyar ul Mulk and Mohammad Hussain Mirza. From Agra, Akbar
marched at a rapid pace and managed to reach Ahmedabad in ten days and quickly suppressed the

•
rebellion.
OR
Bengal and Bihar which were under the control of the Afghans, were paid attention after the Gujarat
expedition. In 1574, Akbar along with Munim Khan Khan-i-Khanan marched towards Bihar. In a short
time, Hajipur and Patna were captured and Gaur (Bengal) was also taken away. With this the independent
SC
rule of Bengal was ended in 1576.
• By 1592, the Mughal mansabdar Raja Man Singh also brought the whole of Orissa under the Mughal rule.
• A series of conflicts arose in some regions of the Mughal empire in 1581. Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat and the
north-west were main centres of unrest.
• The Afghans were at the root of these problems since they were overthrown everywhere by the Mughals.
GS

• Apart from this, Akbar’s policy of strict administration of jagirs was also responsible for this.
• A new policy was adopted, according to which the jagirdars were asked to submit the accounts of the
jagirs. This created dissatisfaction and jagirdars rose in revolt.
• Akbar immediately sent a large force under Raja Todar Mal and Shaikh Farid Bakshi and a little later, Aziz
Koka and Shahbaz Khan to help Todar Mal.
• The rebels declared Akbar’s brother Hakim Mirza, who was in Kabul, as their king.
• But soon the Mughal forces were able to successfully crush the rebellion in Bihar, Bengal and adjoining
regions.
Punjab and North West
• In the Punjab, Mirza Hakim attacked Lahore. Akbar decided to march towards Lahore himself. Hakim
Mirza immediately retreated and Akbar controlled the whole region. He gave first priority to organize the
protection of North-West frontiers. After this he marched towards Kabul and conquered the territory.
Akbar gave the charge of Kabul to his sister Bakhtunnisa Begum.
• Later on Raja Man Singh was appointed governor of Kabul and it was given to him in jagir.
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• Another important development in the North-West region was the rebellion of Roshanai who captured
the road between Kabul and Hindustan.
• Roshanai was a sect established by a soldier who was called Pir Roshanai in the region. His son Jalala
was heading the sect who had large following.
• Akbar appointed Zain Khan as commander of a strong force to suppress the Roshanais and establish
Mughal control in the region. Sayid Khan Gakhar and Raja Birbal were also sent with separate forces to
help Zain Khan. In one of the operations Birbal was killed with most of his forces.
• He deputed Raja Todar Mal and Raja Man Singh to suppress the rebellion and they were successful in
defeating the Roshanais.
• Akbar annexed Kashmir to the Mughal Empire in 1586.
• Finally, by the year 1595, the complete supremacy of Mughals over North-West region was established.
Deccan

E
• After 1590, Akbar gave shape to a Deccan policy to bring these states under Mughal control.
• During this period the Deccan states were facing internal tensions and regular conflicts.
OR
• In 1591, Akbar sent offers to the Deccan states asking them to accept Mughal sovereignty, but there was
not much success.
• In 1595, the Mughal forces invaded Ahmednagar. Its ruler Chand Bibi decided to face the Mughals. She
approached Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur and Qutub Shah of Golkonda for help but with no success.
SC

After heavy losses on both sides, a treaty was worked out and Chand Bibi ceded Berar to Mughals.
• After some time Chand Bibi attacked Berar to take it back. At this point Nizamshahi, Qutabshahi and
Adilshahi troops decided to present a joint front. The Mughals suffered heavy losses but could retain their
position. Meanwhile, Adil Shah of Bijapur also expressed allegiance and offered his daughter in marriage
to Prince Daniyal and Chand Bibi also died. Now Mughal territories in Deccan included Asirgarh,
Burhanpur, Ahmedanagar and Berar.
GS

• Along with the expansion of territory Akbar initiated the policy of absorbing the chieftains into Mughal
nobility which paid rich dividends to the empire. The Mughal emperor succeeded in getting the support
of chieftains and their armies for new conquests.
• The chieftains also benefited from this policy and they could retain their territories and administer them
as they wished. In addition, they received jagir and mansab. Often they got territories in jagir bigger than
their kingdoms. It also provided them security from enemies and rebellions.
• Many Rajput mansabdars were assigned their own territories as Watan Jagir, which was hereditary and
non-transferable. The territorial expansion under Akbar gave a definite shape to the Mughal Empire.
• In terms of territorial expansion very little was added to the empire after Akbar. Some territories were
added during the regions of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb in the Deccan and North East of India.
• Akbar’s last days were rendered unhappy. His beloved friend and poet Faizi passed away in A.D. 1595.
• Two of his sons, Murad and Danyal, died of over drinking.
• In an eagerness to seize the throne Salim set himself up as an independent king at Allahabad.
• In A.D. 1602, he further wounded his father’s feelings by causing Abul Fazl to be put to death.
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• A reconciliation was brought out between the father and the son. Soon after, Akbar fell ill and died on
October 1605 A.D.
• Akbar patronized men of letters. Todarmal, Abul Fazl,. Faizi, Birbal, Tansen, Abdur Rahim Khan-i-
Khanan, Man Singh etc. were gems of his court.
Religious Policy
• Various factors were responsible for the religious policy of Akbar.
• The most important among them were his early contacts with the sufi saints, the teachings of his tutor
Abdul Latif, his marriage with Rajput women, his association with intellectual giants like Shaikh Mubarak
and his two illustrious sons – Abul Faizi and Abul Fazl – and his ambition to establish an empire in
Hindustan.
• In the beginning of his life, Akbar was a pious Muslim.

E
• He abolished the pilgrim tax and in 1562, he abolished jiziya.
• He allowed his Hindu wives to worship their own gods.
•
•
Later, he became a skeptical Muslim.
OR
In 1575, he ordered for the construction of Ibadat Khana (House of worship) at his new capital Fatepur
Sikri.
SC
• Akbar invited learned scholars from all religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism.
• He disliked the interference of the Muslim Ulemas in political matters.
• In 1579, he issued the “Infallibility Decree” by which he asserted his religious powers.
• In 1582, he promulgated a new religion called Din Ilahi or Divine Faith. It believes in one God. It
contained good points of all religions. Its basis was rational. It upholds no dogma. It was aimed at bridging
GS

the gulf that separated different religions.

• However, his new faith proved to be a failure. It fizzled out after his death. Even during his life time, it
had only fifteen followers including Birbal. Akbar did not compel anyone to his new faith.
Land Revenue Administration
• Akbar made some experiments in the land revenue administration with the help of Raja Todar Mal.
• The land revenue system of Akbar was called Zabti or Bandobast system.
• It was further improved by Raja Todar Mal. It was known as Dahsala System which was completed in
1580.
• By this system, Todar Mal introduced a uniform system of land measurement.
• The revenue was fixed on the average yield of land assessed on the basis of past ten years.
• The land was also divided into four categories – Polaj (cultivated every year), Parauti (once in two years),
Chachar (once in three or four years) and Banjar (once in five or more years).
• Payment of revenue was made generally in cash.
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Mansabdari System
• Akbar introduced the Mansabdari system in his administration.
• Under this system every officer was assigned a rank (mansab).
• The lowest rank was 10 and the highest was 5000 for the nobles.
• Princes of royal blood received even higher ranks.
• The ranks were divided into two – zat and sawar.
• Zat means personal and it fixed the personal status of a person.
• Sawar rank indicated the number of cavalrymen of a person who was required to maintain.
• Every sawar had to maintain at least two horses.
• The mansab rank was not hereditary.

E
• All appointments and promotions as well as dismissals were directly made by the emperor.
Jahangir (1605-1627)
OR
• After the death of Akbar, Prince Salim succeeded with the title Jahangir (Conqueror of World) in 1605.
• Soon after accession to the throne, Jahangir tried to win the hearts of all the people by various measures.
• He released prisoners and struck coins in his name.
SC

• He issued I2 ordinances to be uniformly implemented all over his empire :-

i) Prohibition of cesses.
ii) Regulations about highway robbery and theft
iii) Free inheritance of property of deceased person
GS

iv) Prohibition of sale of wine and of all kinds of intoxicating liquor

v) Abolition of inhuman corporal punishments
vi) Prohibition of forcible seizure of property
vii) Building of hospitals and appointment of physicians to attend the sick
viii) Prohibition of slaughter of animals on certain days
ix) Respect pay to Sunday
x) General confirmation of mansabs and jagirs
xi) Confirmation of aima lands i.e. lands devoted to the purposes of prayer and praise (of God)
xii) Amnesty to all prisoners in forts and prisons of all kinds.
• Jahangir also set up a famous chain of justice between the Shah Burj in the fort of Agra and a stone pillar
fixed on the banks of Yamuna to enable the people to approach him without any servant.
• Jahangir was a lover of art, literature and particularly painting.
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E
OR
SC

• John Hawkins resided at Agra for two years and the emperor called him Inglish Khan. Sir Thomas Roe
arrived in India in September A.D. 1615 and was granted audience at Ajmer. He was granted a Farman
GS

by prince Khurram, which gave the English reasonable facilities for trade.
• Jahangir’s rule witnessed a spate of rebellions. He suppressed the rebellion of his son Khusrau and the
prince was imprisoned. The fifth Sikh Guru Arjun was sentenced to death for his blessings to the rebel
prince.
• He also pardoned his political opponents and accorded generous treatment to them. The few changes that
Jahangir effected in the office’s of the state were intended to secure him a band of supporters.
• He rewarded Bir Singh Bundela the murderer of Abul Fazal with the dignity of Commander of three
thousand horses while Abdur Rahman was assigned the mansab of 2000.
• Mirza Ghiyas Beg a Persian immigrant father of Noor Jahan received the office of the imperial Dewan
with the title of Itimad-Ud-Dula.
• Jahangir married Nur Jahan, originally known as Mihr-ul-Nisa, in A.D. 1611.
• Taking advantage of the internal disorder in the empire in 1621 owing to the political estrangement
between Noor Jahan and Shah Jahan the Persians besieged Kandhar in 1621 and finally took it in 1622.
• Jahangir thought of elaborate preparations of war which he hoped to carry right to the Persian capital but
his plans were frustrated by Shah Jahan who refused to lead the expendition as he knew that during his
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absence from the capital Nur Jahan would do her best to ensure his exclusion from the throne and push
the claims of Shahryar her son-in-law.
• Thus, Kandhar was lost to the Mugals. Jahangir ordered prince Parvez to recover the fortress but this
could not be done owing to Shah Jahan’s rebellions.
• Jahangir decided to follow Akbar’s expansionist policy in the Deccan. But Jahangir could achieve little
success in it due to certain problems. He could not devote much attention in the crucial phase due to
Khurram’s revolt.
• The Mughal nobles were also involved in a number of intrigues and conflicts to gain some advantages
from Deccan.
• During the first three years, the Deccan regained half of Balaghat and many districts of Ahmednagar.
• Malik Ambar was the main ruler who managed to defeat Mughal forces and captured Berar, Balaghat and
parts of Ahmednagar. The Mughals could not regain control of the lost territories.
• Meanwhile Shah Jahan revolted against his father and became friends with Malik Ambar.
•

E
Malik Ambar made an attempt to capture Ahmednagar; but failing there, he took away Sholapur from
OR
Adil Shah and in alliance with Shah Jahan tried to capture Burhanpur but failed.
• Once peace was established between Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Malik Ambar was also pacified. Malik
Ambar died in 1627 and was succeeded by his son Fath Khan as Wakil and Peshwa of the kingdom.
• Fath Khan was arrogant and during his time the conflict between the Dakhnis and other nobles grew.
SC

• During the reign of Jahangir there was no addition to the Mughal territory in Deccan. In fact the Deccani
rulers weakened the Mughal authority in their states. Over ambition of Malik Ambar was an obstacle in
the way of a joint front of the Deccan states.
• During the period between the death of Jahangir and the accession of Shah Jahan, the Mughal governor
of the Deccan, Khan Jahan Lodi, with the intention of securing help in times of necessity, gave away
Balaghat to the Nizam Shah.
GS

Religious Policy of Jahangir

• Jahangir was born of a Rajput mother and had grown in the atmosphere of ‘Idabat khana’ debates. The
result was that Jahangir imbibed these liberal tendencies and his religious views became enlightened and
liberal.
• Jahangir had respect for the teachings of Islam and retained this attitude till the end of his life, but he
can by no means be described staunch or even an orthodox follower of the principles of his faith.
• He was friendly to the Christians.
• He held religious discourses with a Hindu saint named Yadurup and participated in the celebration of
Hindu festivals.
• He did not seek to revive the Jizya or the Pilgrim Tax and the Hindus still occupied high office and
enjoyed the freedom to erect new temples.
• But some of his acts reflects of his harshness and discrimination. After the conquest of Kangra, he
destroyed the local Jwalamukhi temple.
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• Similarly, he ordered destruction of the Varah temple at Pushkar near Ajmer because he was convinced
that God could never have incarnated himself in that form. But even though his action might be rationally
sound, he committed the grave error of disregarding the freedom of conscience of others in upholding his
own religious predilections.
• He suspected the Jains of having sided with Khusrau and on that ground banished them from empire.
• On the same charge, he imposed a fine of two lakhs of rupees on Guru Arjun and when he refused to
pay the fine he put him to death on charge of treason.
• When offended by the conduct of Christians, he had their church closed down.
• But the only conclusion that can be drawn from these various stray incidents is that Jahangir was not
always careful to avoid wounding religious susceptibilities of others. But it cannot be maintained that he
persecuted the Hindus, the Jains, the Christians or the Sikhs as a community. His action affected only an
individual or a particular locality and each instance of alleged religious persecution had some non-religious
motive at its base.

E
Nur Jahan
•
•
•
OR
In 1611, Jahangir married Mehrunnisa who was known as Nur Jahan (Light of World).
Her father Itimaduddauala was given the post of chief diwan.
Other members of her family also benefited from this alliance. Nur Jahan’s elder brother Asaf Khan was
appointed as Khan-i-Saman, a post reserved for the nobles.
SC
• In 1612, Asaf Khan’s daughter, Arjumand Banu Begum (later known as Mumtaj), married Jahangir’s third
son, prince Khurram (later Shah Jahan).
• It was believed by some historians that Nur Jahan formed a group of “junta” and this led to two factions
in the Mughal court.
• This drove Shah Jahan into rebellion against his father in 1622, since he felt that Jahangir was completely
GS

under Nur Jahan’s influence.

• However, this view is not accepted by some other historians. Till Jahangir became weak due to ill health,
he only took important political decisions. It is revealed from his autobiography.
• However, it is clear that Nur Jahan dominated the royal household and set new fashions based on Persian
traditions.
• She encouraged Persian art and culture in the court.
• She was a constant companion of Jahangir and even joined him in his hunting.
Shah Jahan (1627-1658)
• Shah Jahan rose in revolt against his father who ordered him to go to Kandahar. This rebellion distracted
the activities of the empire for four years.
• After Jahangir’s death in 1627, Shah Jahan reached Agra with the support of the nobles and the army and
was proclaimed emperor.
• Nur Jahan was given a pension and lived a retired life till her death eighteen years later.
• The Portugese settlement at Hoogly was destroyed by him in A.D. 1632.
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• The fort of Daulatabad was occupied occupied by Mahabat Khan in June 1633.
• After ascending the throne, Shah Jahan ordered Khan Jahan Lodi to recover Balaghat from Nizam Shah
but as the latter failed, Shah Jahan recalled him to court.
• Khan Jahan turned hostile and rebelled. He took shelter with Nizam Shah. This infuriated Shah Jahan and
he decided to follow aggressive policy towards the Deccan states. Shah Jahan’s main concern was to
recover the lost territories of the Deccan.
• He believed that independence of Ahmednagar was in the way of Mughal control in the Deccan. He
decided to isolate Ahmednagar and win over Bijapur and Marathas. He was successful. Fath Khan son
of Malik Ambar also made peace with Mughals.
• Now Mahabat Khan was appointed governor of Deccan, but the conflict with Deccan states continued.
• Finally in 1636 treaties were signed with Bijapur and Golconda which ended the conflicts in the Deccan.
• A distinct change in Mughal policy came towards 1656–57 when the treaties were ignored. Shah Jahan
asked Aurangzeb to conquer and annex the territories of Deccan kingdoms. It is argued by some historians

E
that this change of policy was to exploit resources of the Deccan states for Mughals. However, this
change did not benefit the Mughal empire in any substantial way and created more problems for future.
OR
• Shah Jahan launched a prolonged campaign in the northwest frontier to recover Kandahar and other
ancestral lands. The Mughal army lost more than five thousand lives during the successive invasions
between 1639 and 1647. Then Shah Jahan realized the futility of his ambition and stopped fighting.
War of Succession
SC

• The last years of Shah Jahan’s reign were clouded by a bitter war of succession among his four sons –
Dara Shikoh (crown prince), Shuja (governor of Bengal), Aurangazeb (governor of Deccan) and Murad
Baksh (governor of Malwa and Gujarat).
• Towards the end of 1657, Shah Jahan fell ill at Delhi for some time but later recovered. But the princes
started fighting for the Mughal throne.
GS

• Aurangazeb emerged victorious in this struggle. He entered the Agra fort after defeating Dara. He forced
Shah Jahan to surrender. Shah Jahan was confined to the female apartments in the Agra fort and strictly
put under vigil. But he was not ill-treated.
• Shah Jahan lived for eight long years lovingly nursed by his daughter Jahanara. He died in 1666 and buried
beside his wife’s grave in the Taj Mahal.
• Foreign travelers like Bernier, Travernier and Manucci have left accounts about his reign. Moti Masjid
(Agra), Red Fort (Delhi), Jama Masjid (Delhi) and above all the Taj Mahal – the mausoleum of his
beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal are his famous buildings.
Religious Policy of Shah Jahan
• Orthodox Muslims did not like the views of Akbar and Jahangir and there was some resentment among
them.
• In his early years, a policy of religious persecution and religious discrimination in favour of Islam is clearly
noticeable.
• He stopped sijda, forbade the use of the royal portrait as an adornment to the cap or the turban and
restored the use of the Hijri era in place of the Ilahi era.
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• In 1633 he ordered wholesale demolition of all newly built temples and in Benaras alone 72 temples were
destroyed. Similarly, destruction took place in Allahabad, Gujarat and Kashmir.
• He established a separate department for securing conversions to Islam. These incidents show that Akbar’s
policy of religious liberty and equality was gradually being forsaken and religious discrimination, began
under Jahangir, was gaining in virulence and scope.
• But even under Shahjahan, there was no permanent adoption of religious persecution as an integral
element of state policy. He too did not revive the Jizya.
• During the later part of his reign there is no reference to temple destruction or any other form of religious
persecution.
• He continued Jharokha darshan, tula dan and tilak.
• Nor did he deprive the Hindus of high office. 20% to 25% of the higher mansabs were still given to the
Hindus. Nor did he deprive the Hindu poets, artists and scholars of state patronage.

E
• It thus appears that in his early years he issued certain orders and did certain acts on grounds of political
expediency which proved harmful to certain individuals and localities. But he never adopted a general

•
OR
policy of discrimination, persecution and hatred and retained the affections of his Hindu subjects till the
end of his reign.
But this twin-headed policy of Shahjahan led to emergence of two rival groups in the state as the
supporters of these two policies, which proved very harmful to the state and facilitated Aurangzeb’s
accession to the throne. If he had adopted a liberal policy from the very outset, there might have been
SC
no dissensions at court.
Aurangazeb (1658-1707)
• Aurangazeb was crowned emperor at Delhi in A.D. 1658, but it was only after the final defeat of Dara
Shikoh at Deorai that he celebrated his coronation in A.D. 1659.
• He assumed the title Alamgir
GS

(World Conqueror).
• He faced serious difficulties in
the latter part of his reign. The
Jats and Satnamis and also the
Sikhs revolted against him.
These revolts were induced by
his harsh religious policy.
• Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth
Guru of Sikhs, was besieged
and taken to Delhi where he
was beheaded.
• In A.D. 1679, over the
question of succession in
Marwar, Aurangzeb interfered
and defeated the Rathors near
Pushkar and their dominion
was occupied.
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• Later Udaipur was also occupied, and the Rana of Mewar made peace with Mughals.
Deccan Policy
• The Deccan policy of the Mughals started from the reign of Akbar, who conquered Khandesh and Berar.
• Jahangir fought against Malik Amber of Ahmadnagar.
• During the Shah Jahan’s reign, Aurangazeb, as governor of Deccan, followed an aggressive Deccan policy.
• When he became the Mughal emperor, for the first twenty five years, he concentrated on the northwest
frontier.
• At that time, the Maratha ruler, Sivaji carved out an independent Maratha kingdom in the territories of
north and south Konkan.
• To contain the spread of the Marathas, Aurangazeb decided to invade Bijapur and Golkonda.
• He defeated Sikandar Shah of Bijapur and annexed his kingdom.

E
• Then, he proceeded against Golkonda and eliminated the Kutb Shahi dynasty and annexed it.
• In fact, the destruction of the Deccan kingdoms was a political blunder on the part of Aurangazeb. The
OR
barrier between the Mughals and the Marathas was removed and there ensued a direct confrontation
between them.
• Also, his Deccan campaigns exhausted the Mughal treasury. According to J.N. Sarkar, the Deccan ulcer
ruined Aurangazeb.
SC

Religious Policy
• Aurangazeb was a staunch and orthodox Muslim in his personal life.
• His ideal was to transform India into an Islamic state.
• He created a separate department to enforce moral codes under a high-powered officer called Muhtasib.
GS

• Drinking was prohibited.

• Cultivation and use of bhang and other drugs were banned.
• Aurangazeb forbade music in the Mughal court.
• He discontinued the practice of Jarokha-darshan.
• He also discontinued the celebration of Dasarah and royal astronomers and astrologers were also dismissed
from service.
• Initially Aurangazeb banned the construction of new Hindu temples and repair of old temples. Then he
began a policy of destroying Hindu temples. The celebrated temples at Mathura and Benares were
reduced to ruins.
• In 1679, he reimposed jiziya and pilgrim tax.
• He was also not tolerant of other Muslim sects. The celebration of Muharram was stopped.
• He was also against the Sikhs and he executed the ninth Sikh Guru Tej Bahadur. This had resulted in the
transformation of Sikhs into a warring community.
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• His religious policy was responsible for turning the Rajputs, the Marathas and Sikhs into the enemies of
Mughal empire.
• It had also resulted in the rebellions of the Jats of Mathura and the Satnamis of Mewar. Therefore,
Aurangazeb was held responsible for the decline of the Mughal empire.
The Revolts Against Aurangzeb
Revolt of the Jats
• Bold, brave and ferocious with a deep sense of loyalty towards their tribal organisation, the Jat peasantry
was more akin to any martial community.
• They were notorious for cattle-lifting who frequently, raided the traders between Agra and Delhi.
• Confined to the not so fertile regions of west of Agra, they constituted the marginal sections of peasantry.
• In 1669 A.D. the Jats under their leader Gokul, revolted. They killed the Faujdar and plundered the

E
Pargana of Sadabad. The rebellion soon spread to other districts.
• Aurangzeb ruthlessly suppress the rebellion. Gokul and his limbs were publicly displayed. The Jats,

OR
however, remained defiant and in 1686 A.D. once again rose in revolt, under Rajaram. He too, was slain
but his nephew, Churaman, continued the Jat resistance till Aurangzeb’s death.
Revolt of the Satnamis
• They were a peasant religious brotherbood who resided in Narnol.
SC
• Its other memebrs belonged to the low professions.
• Firmly united and militant, they never hesitated to use arms to aid the harassed members.
• Thus when a Satnami cultivator was killed by a Muslim soldier, the whole tribe arose to seek to seek
revenge and broke into rebellion.
GS

• When, of the Mughal efforts, they could not be quelled, the Mughals resorted to ruthless warfare.
• Over a thousand Satnamis were slain before peace was secured in the region.
• The Jats and the Satnamis revolts only convinced Aurangzeb of the disloyalty of the Hindus to the
Mughals state who therefore needed to be ruthlessly suppressed.
• Moreover, it also convinced him that only the emergence of an Islamic state would reduce the Hindus
to their proper place in State.
The Revolt of the Sikhs
• The Sikh organisation was founded by Guru Nanak, a devout social reformer, as a peaceful universal
brotherhood which was free from the shackles of caste and community.
• Under the next three Gurus too, the community remained peaceful and enjoyed amicable relation with
Akbar who granted Guru Ram Das a piece of land which became renowned as Amritsar.
• The fifth Guru, Arjan Singh, proved a more dynamic and zealous organiser. He wielded the community
into one compact whole. He also was the first Guru who actively participated in politics.
• Consequently, the Mughal-Sikh conflict can be traced to Jahangir’s reign. He ordered Arjan Singh’s execution.
This was done on purely grounds for sheltering the fugitive Khusrav and in no way was it accompanied
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by the religious persecution of the Sikhs. Nevertheless, the act deeply embittered the Sikhs against the
Mughals.
• Under the leader, Har Gobind, the character of the Sikh movement, for the first time, became more
militant, while its democratic social set up attracted the Jat peasantry in large numbers.
• Henceforth, any harshness towards the peasantry was regarded as an oppression by the Mughal state
towards the Sikhs.
• The military character was further developed under Guru Teg Bahadur who in order to strengthen the Sikh
interests encouraged the creation of a state within the state.
• In the earlier years of Aurangzeb’s reign, there was no conflict between Teg Bahadur and Aurangzeb.
However once the Guru publicly condemned Aurangzeb’s anti-Hindu measures as is clearly evident from
the support that he rendered to the Hindu population of Kashmir, Aurangzeb became suspicious of the
Guru’s motives.
• Their relation rapidly deteriorated and ultimately resulted in the gruesome murder of Teg Bahadur in 1675
A.D.
•

E
While Guru Teg behadur’s persecution was not accompanied by the annihilation of the sons; (Ram Rai
continued to live at the Mughal court and his sons were granted mansabs).
OR
• The last Guru, Gobind Singh, was determined to militarily strengthen his community. To unite them, he
formed the brotherhood of Khalsa which free of caste and creed, advocated equality of mankind.
• To this end, he initiated the practice of drinking water, conservated by a sword or dagger (Amrit chakna).
To distinguish the member from other communities, they were asked to wear five things—Kanghi (comb),
SC

Kachha (underwear), Kara (iron bangle), Kesh and Kirpan (sword).

• Henceforth, the Guru lived like a regal monarch, holding court, building forts with the help of his
followers who were as zealously dedicated to the cause of Skihism as the soldiers of Islam.
• Their expansionist activities inevitably led ta a clash of arms with the Mughals. The Sikhs were defeated,
his two sons were executed while the Guru ultimately escaped and settled at Anandpur.
GS

• Guru Govind Singh was murdered by an Afghan in 1708 A.D.

• Guru Gobind’s aspirations of founding a Sikh state were completed by Banda, who the Guru had nominated
as his military successor.
The Marathas
• The Marathas emerged in the Deccan as a vital force under Shivaji in the middle of the 17th century and
began to challenge the Mughal authority.
• Shiviji started his offensive operations in 1656 and captured the principality of Javli.
• Shivaji raided the Bijapur territory, and, in 1659, the Sultan of Bijapur sent his general, Afzal Khan, to
capture Shivaji, but Shivaji killed him.
• In 1662, the Sultan of Bijapur entered into a peace settlement with Shivaji and acknowledged him as an
independent ruler of his conquered territories.
• Aurangzeb sent Shaista Khan, the viceroy of the Deccan, with a big army against Shivaji and the Treaty
of Purandhar (1665) was signed between the two.
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• Out of the 35 forts held by Shivaji, he agreed to surrender 23 forts to the Mughals. The remaining 12 forts
(with annual income of one lakh of huns) were to be left with Shivaji.
• Shivaji was asked to pay a visit to the Mughal court at Agra. But, when Shivaji went there, he was ill-
treated and was taken a prisoner. He managed to escape, reaching Raigarh in 1666.
• Soon he conquered all the forts which he had surrendered to the Mughals.
• In 1670, he plundered Surat for the second time.
• In 1674, Shivaji made Raigarh his Capital and celebrated his coronation, and assumed the title of Chatrapati.
• Shortly, after this, he made a great expedition into southern India and conquered Jinji Vellore and many
forts in Karnataka.
• He died at Raigarh in 1680 after ruling for only six years. In this short time he founded the Maratha
kingdom, which dominated western India for a century and a half.

E
• Shivaji’s successor was his son Sambhaji.
• Many Maratha chiefs did not support Sambhaji and extended help to Rajaram the other son of Shivaji.
•

•
by Aurangzeb. OR
The internal conflict weakened Maratha power. Finally Sambhaji was captured and put to death in 1689

Sambhaji was succeeded by Rajaram as his son Sahu was still young.
SC
• Rajaram died in 1700 and was succeeded by his minor son Shivaji III under the regency of Tara Bai, his
mother.
• The failure of Aurangzeb against the Marathas was largely due to Tara Bai’s energy and administrative
genius.
• The Mughals, however, succeeded in dividing the Marathas into two rival camps - one under Tara Bai and
GS

the other under Sambhaji’s son, Sahu.

• Sahu, who for long was in the Mughal court, was released. He succeeded in deposing Tara Bai with the
help of a Chitpavan Brahman named Balaji Vishwanath.
Personality and Character of Aurangazeb
• In his private life, Aurangazeb was industrious and disciplined. He was very simple in food and dress. He
did not consume wine.
• He earned money for his personal expenses by copying Quran and selling those copies.
• He was learned and proficient in Arabic and Persian languages. He was a lover of books.
• He was devoted to his religion and conducted prayers five times a day. He strictly observed the Ramzan
fasting.
• In the political field, Aurangazeb committed serious mistakes. He misunderstood the true nature of the
Maratha movement and antagonized them. Also, he failed to solve the Maratha problem and left an open
sore. His policy towards Shia Deccan Sultanates also proved to be a wrong policy.
• His religious policy was also not successful. Aurangazeb was an orthodox Sunni Muslim. But his move
to apply his religious thought rigidly in a non-Muslim society was a failure. His antagonistic policies
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towards non-Muslims did not help him to rally the Muslims to his side. On the other hand it had
strengthened political enemies of the Mughal Empire.
Decline of the Mughal Empire
• The unity and stability of the Mughal Empire was shaken during the long and strong reign of Emperor
Aurangzeb.
• However, in spite of setbacks and adverse circumstances the Mughal administration was still quite
efficient and the Mughal army strong at the time of his death in 1707.
• This year is generally considered to separate the era of the great Mughals from that of the lesser Mughals.
• After the death of Aurangzeb the Mughal authority weakened, it was not in a position to militarily
enforce its regulations in all parts of the empire.
• As a result many provincial governors started to assert their authority. In due course of time they gained
independent status. At the same time many kingdoms which were subjugated by the Mughals also
claimed their independence.

E
• Some new regional groups also consolidated and emerged as political power with all these developments,
the period between 1707 and 1761 (third battle of Panipat, where Ahmed Shah Abdali defeated the
OR
Maratha chiefs) witnessed resurgence of regional identity that buttressed both political and economic
decentralization.
• At the same time, intra-regional as well as inter-regional trade in local raw materials, artifacts, and grains
created strong ties of economic interdependence, irrespective of political and military relations.
SC

• The new emperor, Bahadur Shah I (or Shah Alam; ruled 1707-12), followed a policy of compromise,
pardoning all nobles who had supported his rivals. He granted them appropriate territories and postings.
• He never abolished jizya, but the effort to collect the tax was not effective.
• In the beginning Shah Alam tried to gain greater control over the Rajput states of the rajas of Amber
(later Jaipur) and Jodhpur. When his attempt met with firm resistance he realized the necessity of a
GS

settlement with them. However, the settlement did not restore them to fully committed warriors for the
Mughal cause.
• The emperor's policy toward the Marathas was also that of half-hearted conciliation. They continued to
fight among themselves as well as against the Mughals in the Deccan.
• Bahadur Shah was, however, successful in conciliating Chatrasal, the Bundela chief, and Churaman, the
Jat chief; the latter also joined him in the campaign against the Sikhs.
• Jahandar Shah (ruled 1712-13) was a weak and ineffective ruler. His wazir Zulfiqar Khan assumed the
executive direction of the empire with unprecedented powers.
• Zulfiqar believed that it was necessary to establish friendly relations with the Rajputs and the Marathas
and to conciliate the Hindu chieftains in general in order to save the empire.
• Zulfiqar reversed the policies of Aurangzeb and abolished jizya.
• He continued the old policy of suppression against the Sikhs. His goal was to reconcile all those who were
willing to share power within the Mughal institutional framework.
• Zulfiqar Khan made several attempts at reforming the economic system but failed in his efforts to
enhance the revenue collection of the state.
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• When Farrukh Siyar, son of the slain prince Azimush-Shan, challenged Jahandar Shah and Zulfiqar Khan
with a large army and funds from Bihar and Bengal, the rulers found their coffers depleted. In desperation,
they looted their own palaces, even ripping gold and silver from the walls and ceilings, in order to finance
an adequate army.
• Farrukh Siyar (ruled 1713-19) owed his victory and accession to the Sayyid brothers, Abdullah Khan and
Husain Ali Khan Baraha.
• The Sayyids thus earned the offices of wazir and chief bakhshi and acquired control over the affairs of
state.
• They promoted the policies initiated earlier by Zulfiqar Khan. Jizya and other similar taxes were immediately
abolished.
• The Sayyid brothers finally suppressed the Sikh revolt and tried to conciliate the Rajputs, the Marathas,
and the Jats. However, this policy was hampered by divisiveness between the wazir and the emperor, as
the groups tended to ally themselves with one or the other.

E
• The Jats once again started plundering the royal highway between Agra and Delhi. Farrukh Siyar deputed
Raja Jai Singh to lead a punitive campaign against them but wazir negotiated a settlement over the raja's

•
head.
OR
As a result, throughout northern India zamindars either revolted violently or simply refused to pay assessed
revenues. On the other hand, Farrukh Siyar compounded difficulties in the Deccan by sending letters to
some Maratha chiefs urging them to oppose the forces of the Deccan governor, who happened to be the
deputy and an associate of Sayyid Husain Ali Khan.
SC

• Finally, in 1719, the Sayyid brothers brought Ajit Singh of Jodhpur and a Maratha force to Delhi to depose
the emperor.
• The murder of Farrukh Siyar created a wave of revulsion against the Sayyids among the various factions
of nobility, who were also jealous of their growing power.
GS

• Many of these, in particular the old nobles of Aurangzeb's time, resented the wazir's encouragement of
revenue farming, which in their view was mere shop keeping and violated the age- old Mughal notion of
statecraft.
• In Farrukh Siyar's place the brothers raised to the throne three young princes in quick succession within
eight months in 1719.
• Two of these, Rafi-ud-Darajat and Rafi-ud-Dawlah (Shah Jahan II), died of consumption.
• The third, who assumed the title of Muhammad Shah, exhibited sufficient vigour to set about freeing
himself from the brothers' control.
• A powerful group under the leadership of the Nizam-ul-Mulk, Chin Qilich Khan, and his father's cousin
Muhammad Amin Khan, the two eminent nobles emerged finally to dislodge the Sayyid brothers (1720).
• By the time Muhammad Shah (ruled 1719-48) came to power, the nature of the relationship between the
emperor and the nobility had almost completely changed.
• Individual interests of the nobles had come to guide the course of politics and state activities.
• In 1720 Muhammad Amin Khan replaced Sayyid Abdullah Khan as wazir; after Amin Khan's death
(January 1720), the office was occupied by the Nizam-ul-Mulk for a brief period until Amin Khan's son
Qamar-ud-Din Khan assumed the title in July 1724 by a claim of hereditary right.
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• The nobles themselves virtually dictated these appointments. By this time the nobles had assumed lot of
powers. They used to get farmans issued in the name of emperor in their favours.
• The position of emperor was preserved as a symbol only without real powers. The real powers seated with
important groups of nobles.
• The nobles in control of the central offices maintained an all-empire outlook, even if they were more
concerned with the stability of the regions where they had their jagirs.
• Farmans (mandates granting certain rights or special privileges) to governors, faujdar, and other local
officials were sent, in conformity with tradition, in the name of the emperor.
• Individual failings of Aurangzeb's successors also contributed to the decline of royal authority.
• Jahandar Shah lacked dignity and decency; Farrukh Siyar was fickle-minded.
• Muhammad Shah was frivulous and fond of ease and luxury. He was a pleasure loving king and was nick
named Rangeela.

E
• During the reign of Muhammad Shah, Nadir Shah raided India and took away the peacock throne and the
Kohinoor diamond.
OR
• 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
SC

of the autonomous state.

• During Ahmed Shah's reign, Ahmed Shah Abdali (one of the ablest generals of Nadir Shah) marched
towards Delhi and the Mughals ceded Punjab and Multan.
• Later on during Alamgir reign Ahmed Shah Abdali occupied Delhi. Later, Delhi was also plundered by
the Marathas.
GS

• During Shah Alam II 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.
• During Akbar Shah II reign Lord Hastings ceased to accept the sovereignty of Mughals and claimed an
equal status.
• Bahadur Shah II was 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.
Causes for the Downfall of the Mughals
• The Mughal Empire declined rapidly after the death of Aurangazeb and the causes for the downfall of
the Mughal Empire were varied.
• The vastness of the empire became unwieldy. It is quite evident that the territorial expansion of Mughal
empire achieved under Akbar continued to be the core of the empire. Its further expansion during
Aurangzeb’s reign was in Deccan and in small measure in North-East region. During Aurangzeb’s period
the Mughal empire had the largest area.
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• However, the beginning of the decline of the Mughal empire also could be traced to the rule of Aurangzeb.
• To some extent, the religious and Deccan policies of Aurangazeb contributed to its decline.
• The breaking up of the association with the potent regional forces like the Rajputs and failing relationships
with the Deccani states and Marathas shook the unity and stability of the Mughal empire.
• Under his weak successors the empire kept disintegrating and demoralization of the Mughal army also
paved the way for it.
• The Mughal court became the scene of factions among the nobles.
• The financial difficulties due to continuous wars led to the decline.
• The neglect of the sea power by the Mughals was felt when the Europeans began to settle in India.
• Further, the invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali weakened the Mughal state.

E
• The weakness of the empire was exposed when Nadir Shah imprisoned the Mughal Emperor and looted
Delhi in 1739.
•

OR
Thus the decline and downfall of the Mughal Empire was due to the combination of political, social and
economic factors.
SC
GS
Notes

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MUGHAL ADMINISTRATION, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

• The Mughals retained many features of the administrative system of the Sultanate and Shershah and
hardly any changes were made by Akbar in the organization of local government.
• Under Shershah the administrative units of Pargana (a group of villages), sarkar (a group of parganas) and
groups of sarkars (somewhat like subas or province) were placed under specific offices.
• The Pargana and the sarkar continued as before. The chief officers of the Sarkar were the ‘faujdar’ being
in charge of law and order.
• The Mughals formalized a new territorial unit called suba.
• Institutions of Jagir and Mansab system were also introduced by the Mughals. Thus change and continuity

E
both marked the Mughal administrative structure which brought about a high degree of centralisation in
the system.
OR
Mughal Administration
• Akbar’s system of central government was based on the structure of the government which had evolved
under the Delhi Sultanate, but the functions of the various departments were carefully organized, and
meticulous rules and regulations were laid down for the conduct of affairs.
SC

• The central Asian and Timurid tradition was of having an all powerful ‘wazir’ under whom various heads
of departments functioned. He was the principal link between the ruler and the administration.
• Akbar reorganized the central machinery of administration on the basis of the division of power between
various departments, and checks and balances.
GS
Notes

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The Emperor
• The Emperor was the supreme head of the administration and controlled all military and judicial powers.
• All officers in Mughal administration owed their power and position to the Emperor.
• The Emperor had authority to appoint, promote, and remove officials at his pleasure.
• There was no pressure institutional or otherwise on the Emperor.
Wakil and Wazir
• The institution of Wizarat (or Wikalat since both were used interchangeably) was present in some form
during the Delhi Sultanate also.
• The position of Wazir had lost its prominent position during the period of Afghan rulers in the Delhi
Sultanate.

E
• The position of the wazir was revived under the Mughals.
• Babur’s and Humayun’s wazir enjoyed great powers.
•

•
unlimited powers. OR
The period during which Bairam Khan (1556–60) was regent of Akbar, saw the rise of wakil-wazir with

Akbar in his determination to curb the powers of wazir later on took away the financial powers from him
which was a big jolt to wazir’s power.
SC
Diwan-i-Kul
• Diwan-i Kul was the chief diwan and was responsible for revenue and finances.
• Akbar strengthened the office of diwan by entrusting the revenue powers to the diwan.
• The diwan used to inspect all transaction and payments in all departments and supervised the provincial
GS

diwans.
• The entire revenue collection and expenditure of the empire was under his charge.
• The diwans were to report about state finance to the Emperor on daily basis.
Mir Bakshi
• Mir Bakshi looked after all matters pertaining to the military administration.
• Recommendations for appointment to mansabs, their salary papers or for promotions, etc. were made to
the emperor through him.
• He kept a strict watch over proper maintenance of the sanctioned size of armed contingents and war
equipage by the mansabdars.
• The new entrants seeking service were presented to the Emperor by the Mir Bakshi.
• The Mir Bakshi was also the head of the intelligence and information agencies of the empire.
• Intelligence officers (basids) and news reports (wakia navis) were posted to all parts of the empire. Their
reports were presented to the emperor at the court through the Mir Bakhshi.
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Sadr-us Sudur
• The Sadr-us Sudur was the head of the ecclesiastical department and his chief duty was to protect the
laws of the Shariat.
• The office of the Sadr used to distribute allowances and stipends to the eligible persons and religious
institutions.
• It made this office very lucrative during the first twenty-five years of Akbar’s reign.
• The promulgation of Mahzar in 1580 restricted his authority.
• According to Mahzar Akbar’s view was to prevail in case of conflicting views among religious scholars.
• This officer also regulated the matters of revenue free grants given for religious and charitable purposes.
• Later several restrictions were placed on the authority of the Sadr for award of revenue free grants also.
• Muhtasibs (censors of public morals) were appointed to ensure the general observance of the rules of
morality.
•

E
He also used to examine weights and measures and enforce fair prices etc.
OR
Chief Qazi
• Though the emperor was the highest judge in the empire, he was assisted by the chief qazi at the capital.
• The qazi tried all cases in matters of religious disputes according to the Islamic law.
SC

• On his recommendations, the emperor appointed qazis at the provincial and district level.
• Similarly large towns and cities had their own qazis.
• The Mufti was an authority on the Quranic law and advised and assisted the Qazi.
Mir Saman
GS

• The Mir Saman was the officer in-charge of the royal Karkhanas.
• He was responsible for all kinds of purchases and their storage for the royal household.
• He was also to supervise the manufacturing of different articles for the use of royal household.
Provincial Administration
• Akbar divided the empire into twelve subas. These were Bengal, Bihar, Allahabad, Avadh, Agra, Delhi,
Lahore, Multan, Kabul, Ajmer, Malwa and Gujarat.
• Later on Ahmednagar, Bearar and Khandesh were added.
• With the expansion of Mughal empire the number of provinces increased to twenty.
• A governor (subedar), a diwan a bakshshi, a sadr, a qazi and a waqia novis were appointed to each of the
provinces. Thus, orderly government based on the principle of checks and balances was extended to the
provinces.
• The Subedar or provincial governor was directly appointed by the Emperor. The subedar was head of the
province and responsible for maintenance of general law and order. He was to encourage agriculture, trade
Notes

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and commerce and take steps to enhance the revenue of the state. He was also to suppress rebellions and
provide army for expeditions.
• The head of the revenue department in the suba was the Diwan. He was appointed by the Emperor and
was an independent officer. He was to supervise the revenue collection in the suba and maintain an
account of all expenditures. He was also expected to increase the area under cultivation. In many cases
advance loans (taqavi) were given to peasants through his office.
• The Bakshi in the province performed the same functions as were performed by Mir Bakshi at the centre.
He was appointed by the imperial court at the recommendations of the Mir Bakshi. He was responsible
for checking and inspecting the horses and soldiers maintained by the mansabdars in the suba.
Local Administration
• The provinces or subas were divided into Sarkars.
• The Sarkars were divided into Parganas.

E
• The village was the smallest unit of administration.
•
• OR
At the level of Sarkar, there were two important functionaries, the faujdar and the Amalguzar.
The Faujdar was appointed by the imperial order. Sometimes within a Sarkar a number of Faujdars
existed. At times, their jurisdiction spread over two Sarkars even if these belonged to two different subas.
• Faujdari was an administrative division whereas Sarkar was a territorial and revenue division. The primary
SC
duty of the faujdar was to safeguard the life and property of the residents of the areas under his
jurisdiction. He was to take care of law and order problem in his areas and assist in the timely collection
of revenue whenever force was required.
• The Amalguzar or Amil was the revenue collector. His duty was to assess and supervise the revenue
collection. He was expected to increase the land under cultivation and induce the peasants to pay revenue
willingly. He used to maintain all accounts and send the daily receipt and expenditure report to the
GS

provincial Diwan.
• At the level of Pragana, the Shiqdar was the executive officer. He assisted the amils in the task of revenue
collection.
• The amils looked after the revenue collection at the Pargana level.
• The Quanungo kept all the records of land in the pargana.
• The Kotwals were appointed mainly in towns by the imperial government and were incharge of law and
order. He was to maintain a register for keeping records of people coming and going out of the towns.
• The Muqaddam was the village head man and the Patwari looked after the village revenue records.
• The services of the Zamindars were utilized for the maintenance of law and order in their areas as well
as in the collection of revenue.
• The forts were placed under an officer called Qiladar. He was incharge of the general administration of
the fort and the areas assigned in Jagir to him.
• The port administration was independent of the provincial authority. The governor of the port was called
Mutasaddi who was directly appointed by the Emperor.
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• The Mutasaddi collected taxes on merchandise and maintained a custom house. He also supervised the
mint house at the port.
Military Organization
• The military was the most important department of the state as the Mughal state was a military state.
• The Mughal Emperor was the supreme commander of the armed forces.
• The military department of the empire was under the charge of the officer known as the mir bakshi.
• The different branches of the Mughal army were the infantry, cavalry, artillery, elephants and war-boats.
• The infantry was not a well-organized force though its numerical strength was large.
• The cavalry formed an important branch of the army. It consisted of two classes- the bargir who were paid
and equipped by the state and the silahdars, the troopers who brought their own horses and equipments.
Their salary of silahdars was much higher than that of the bargirs as they had to look after the horses
and that they would have to replace horses more often.

E
• The artillery was under the charge of daroga-i-topkhana or the mir atish.
• The Mughals tried to enlist the services of Europeans who had superior skills in handling artillery.
OR
• An officer called the hazari commanded a unit of artillery of thousand men.
• The artillery was divided into two wings - heavy and light pieces. Heavy guns were used to defend or
assault a fort. Light guns were mobile and moved with the emperor.
SC

• Artillery or swivel guns were mounted on elephants and camels.

• Babur began the use of artillery on a large scale in India and his successors continued the practice with
success.
• Elephants were widely used by the Mughals. These were useful in breaking the enemies’ military formations.
They were used to opening gates of palaces or forts and for transporting goods.
GS

• As artillery was more commonly used, there was greater possibility of elephants running amuck and
injuring their own side. The elephants were used more as beasts of burden.
• The navy of the Mughals was more useful for river warfare. In lower Bengal there was a flotilla of war
boats carrying artillery up and down the river.
• On the western coast naval defense was in the hands of the Abyssinian immigrants, the Siddis of Janjira.
Foreigners were employed in the Mughal navy.
• Agra and Allahabad were important river ports.
• There was an officer called the mir bahr at important river ports. He had to supply the emperor with boats
or make a bridge across the river for the army to cross over.
Land Revenue System developed during the period of Akbar
• The system of administration elaborated by Sher Shah had fallen into confusion after the death of Islam
Shah. Akbar, therefore, had to start afresh.
• In the beginning Akbar adopted Sher Shah’s system. But was soon found that the fixing of a central (ray)
schedule of prices annually often led to considerable delays, and resulted in great hardships to the peasantry.
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• Apart from this the prices fixed were generally those prevailing at the Imperial Court, and thus were higher
than in the country-side, the peasants had to part with a larger share of their produce.
• Akbar, therefore, reverted to a system of annual assessment. Officials called ‘Karoris’ were appointed all
over north India. They were responsible for the collection of a crore of dams (Rs. 250,000) and also
checked the facts and figures supplied to the ‘quanungos’.
• On the basis of information provided regarding the actual produce, local prices, productivity etc. in 1580,
Akbar instituted a new system called the ‘dahsla’.
• Under Dahsla system, the average produce of different crops as well as average prices prevailing over the
different crops as well as average prices prevailing over the last ten (dah) years were calculated. One third
of the average produce was the state share. The state demand was, however, stated in cash. This was done
by converting the state share into money on the basis of a schedule of average prices over the past ten
years.

E
• A further improvement was made in form of zabti system. Under this system Parganas having same type
of productivity and similar prices were grouped into separate assessment circles. Thus, the peasant was
required to pay on the basis of local produce as well as local prices.
•
OR
There was a number of advantages of zabti system. As soon as the area sown by the peasant had been
measured by means of the bamboos linked with iron rings, the peasant as well as the state knew what the
dues were. The peasant was given remission in the land revenue, if crops failed on account of drought,
floods etc. Akbar introduced this system in the area from Lahore to Allahabad, and in Malwa and Gujarat.
SC
• A number of other systems of assessment were also followed under Akbar. The most common and,
perhaps, the oldest was called ‘batai’ or ghalla bakhshi. In this system, the produce was divided between
the peasants and the state in fixed proportion. The crop was divided after it had been thrashed, or when
it had been cut and tied in stacks, or while it was standing in the field. This system was considered a very
fair one, but it needed an army of honest officials to be present at the time of the ripening or the reaping
of the crops.
GS

• A third system which was widely used in Akbar’s time was ‘nasaq’. Some modern historians think that
it was merely a system of computing the peasant’s dues, not a different system of assessment. Others
think that it meant rough appraisement both on the basis of the inspection of the crops and past experience,
and thereby fixing the amount to be paid by the village as a whole. It is called ‘kankut’.
• Other local methods of assessment also continued in some areas.
• In fixing the land revenue, continuity of cultivation was taken into account.
(i) Land, which remained under cultivation almost every year, was called ‘Pohaj’. Thus it was cultivated
annually.
(ii) Parati (fallow) or land occasionally left fallow to recuperate its productive strength.
(iii) Chachar or land left fakllow for three or four years.
(iv) Banjar or land remaining uncultivated for five years and more. Law was classified further into good,
middling and bad. One-third of the average produce was the state demand, but it varied according
to the productivity of the land, the method of assessment etc.
• Akbar was deeply interested in the improvement and extension of cultivation. He asked the amil to act
like a father to the peasants. He advanced taccavi loans to the peasants for seed, implements, animals etc.
Notes

95
• Akbar used to try and indue the peasants to plough as much land as possible and to sow superior quality
crops.
• The zamindars of the area were also enjoined to co-operate in the task. The zamindars had a hereditary
right to take a share of the produce. The peasant, too, had a hereditary right to cultivate their land and
could not be ejected as long as they paid the land revenue.

• With some changes, Akbar’s settlement remained the basis of the land revenue system of the Mughal
Empire till the end of the seventeenth century.

• The ‘zapti’ system is associated with Raja Todar Mal, and is sometimes called Todar Mal’s bandobast.
• Akbar could not have been able to expand his empire and maintain his hold over it without a strong army.
For this purpose, it was necessary for him to organize the nobility as well his army. Akbar realized both
these objectives by means the mansabdri system.
Mansab & Jagir System
• Mansab is an Arabic word meaning ‘office’, ‘rank’, or ‘dignity’. Mansab was the measure of status of a
Mughal official which determined rank, salary and office. By all account it was instituted by Akbar in
1577 A.D.
• The system was the steel frame of Mughal administration in which the nobility, bureaucracy and the army
were all rolled into one. It was based on the Mongols system of decimal organization of army.

• Under Mansab system, every officer was assigned a rank (Mansab); the lowest being 10 and the highest
being 10,000. The ranks were divided into two – Zat and Sawar.
• Zat was the personal rank and fixed the person’s status, and also the salary due to him. Sawar indicated
the number of cavalrymen (Sawars) a person was required to maintain.
• At Akbar’s time no one could have a higher quota of Sawars than his Zat rank.
• But Jahangir introduced a system whereby a Mansabdar holding this rank had to maintain, and was paid
for, double the quota of troops indicated by his Sawar rank. This was called the “Du-aspa Sihaspa
System”.
• In the time of Shah Jahan an opposite modification aimed at reducing the number of Sawars – a
Mansabdar was required to maintain. A Mansabdar was expected to maintain a quota of 1/3rd, 1/4th
or even 1/5th of this Sawar rank according to the location of his Jagir and place of his service.
• Another experiment which is called ‘Month Scale’ was introduced by Shah Jahan. The salaries of Mansabdars
were put on month-scale – 10 months, 8 months and 6 months or even less, and their obligations of
maintenance of Sawars were brought down accordingly.
• Above mentioned measures were apparently aimed at cutting down the state’s expenditure.
• The Mansabdars could not be paid cash salaries out of the central treasury.
• Each Mansabdar was assigned an area that was officially estimated to yield revenue equivalent to his
salary. The land so assigned was ‘Jagir’.
• For purpose of assignment estimates (Jamadani) were preponed for administrative divisions down to the
village. The estimates were called ‘Jamadani’ as they were worked out in dues and not rupees.
• A Jagirdar had no permanent rights in the assignment. He merely had the right to collect land revenue
on behalf of the state. Moreover, he was liable to transfers. It was also imperative was Mansabs were
revised from time to time calling for change in Jagirs.
Mansabdari system
• Merits
a. A systematic and progressive system to reorganize the army within the fold of despotic monarchy
b. First such system of tribal chieftainship and feudalism
c. Officers were not hereditary
d. Every mansabdar was held personally responsible to the monarch
e. This eliminated all chances of dis-affection and revolts by the military officers
• Demerits
a. This system did not give birth to a national army
b. About 2/3rd of the mansabdars were either foreigners or the immediate descendents of the foreign immigrants
c. Non-regimentation of the army
d. Hesitation on the part of the imperial govt to recruit all the soldiers of the mansabdars
e. No uniform rules were prescribed for systematic training of the soldiers
f. The nature and the quality of the war weapons borne by them different from contingent to contingent
Economic and Social Life
• During this period, many European travelers and traders came to India and their accounts contain a mine
of information about the socio-economic conditions of India.
• A striking feature of the economic and social situations during the time was the glaring disparity between
the highly osetentious life style of the ruling classes, on the one hand, and acute poverty and want of the
people – the peasants, the artisans and the labourers on the other.
• Babur was struck by the scanty clothes worn by the common people. He observed that “peasants and
people of low standing go about naked”. Similar remarks have been made by other foreign travelers.
• The nobility, along with the landed gentry, the zamindars, formed what may be called the ruling class in
medieval India.
• Socially and economically, the Mughal nobility formed a privileged class. Most of them were foreigners
such as Turks and Afghans. But there was tussle between them throughout this period. However, many
of them settled down in India and made it their permanent home. They readily assimilated themselves
into the Indian society and culture. At the same time they retained some of their personal traits.
• Theoretically, the doors of the Mughal nobility were open to everyone. In practice, persons belonging to
aristocratic families, whatever they were, Indians or foreigners, had a decided advantage.
• From the time of Akbar, the Hindus, particularly the Rajputs were included in the nobility. For example,
mention may be made about Raja Man Singh, Raja Birbal and Raja Todar Mal. Later, the Marathas also
joined the Mughal service and rose to the position of nobles.
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• The Mughal nobles were paid high salaries but their expenses were also very high.

• Each noble maintained a large number of servants, horses, elephants, etc. The nobles tried follow the
luxurious life style of the Mughal emperors. They wore fine clothes and ate imported fruits. Costly jewels
were worn by men and women. They also made costly presents to the emperors.

• While the wealthy people wore silk and cotton clothes, the poor people wore the minimum cloths. They
suffer from insufficient clothing even during the winter.

• Nikitin observed that the people of Deccan were bare-footed. It might be due to high cost of leather. Rice,
millets and pulses were the staple food of the common people. Fish was popular on the coastal region.
While ghee and oil were cheaper, salt and sugar were more expensive. As plenty of cattle were kept by
the rural people, milk and milk products were available in plenty.

Muslim Society

• As a result of continuous immigration from the Muslim countries of central and West Asia the Muslim
population retained the mixed character which it had acquired during the previous centuries.

E
In the north-western region the central Asians and Persians, who entered India during the reigns of Babur
OR
and his successors, lived side by side with the Muslim immigrants of the pre-Mughal period.

• In coastal regions the immigrants were primarily traders, hailing originally form Arabia and the Persian
Gulf. As a result of their regular or irregular unions with the local Hindus or converts a number of Muslim
communities of mixed origin had come into existence, e.g., the Navayats of western India, the Mappillas
or Moplabar, and the Labbais of the Coromandel cost.
SC

• There were also a considerable number of Muslims of Abyssinian origin, most of whose ancestors were
originally imported as slaves.

• As large parts of Afghanistan formed an integral part of the Mughal Empire, Afghans living in India could
hardly be placed in the category of immigrants.
GS

• Muslims of foreign origin, formally united by Islam, had racial and religious differences which influenced
politics and society.

• The Turanis (Central Asians) and the Afghans were Sunnis; the Persians (Iranians) were Shias. There was
much rivalry for political prominence and social promotion among these Muslims of diverse origins.

• However, Muslims of foreign origin considered as a distinct group, constituted the principal element in
the ruling class of the Mughal period. They claimed superiority to the Hindustani Muslims, i.e., Hindu
converts and their descendants on the basis of birth, race and culture.

• The overwhelming majority of the Muslims were descendants of Hindu converts; but there was a tendency
on their part to claim foreign descent with a view to securing political and social advantages. They were
generally looked down upon by bona fide Turanians and Iranians; but they were received on equal terms
in mosques during the Friday prayers and also on occasions of principal religious festivals.

• There was no bar to inter-marriage on racial on racial grounds. A Muslim of low birth could rise to a high
rank in the nobility by dint of ability of through the favour of fortune. The Muslim society had far greater
internal mobility than the Hindu society.
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Hindu Society
• Hindu society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was characterised by conflicting trends of
liberalism and catholicity on the one hand and exclusiveness and conservatism on the other.
• Some of the Vaishnava and Tantric teachers recognized, to some extent, the religious and social rights of
women as also of the Sudras.
• Some non-Brahmin followers of Chaitanya become spiritual perceptors (gurus) not only of the three lower
castes but also of Brahmins.
• In Maharashtra Tukaram, a Sudra, and Madhavdev, who was Kayastha, had Brahmin disciples.
• But the Brahmin authors of the nibandhas tried to maintain the integrity of the ancient socio- religious
system (Varnasrama dharma) by regulating the life and conduct of all classes of Hindus in the minutest
details in conformity with traditional caste rules.

E
• Some writers of the Smriti nibandhas had royal patrons and their injunction carried political sanction. One
of them, Keshava Pandit, was judge under the Maratha King Sambhaji.
•
• OR
But there were eminent authors like Raghunandan and Ramnath of Bengal.
Pitambar of Kmarup and Kamalakar Bhatta of Maharashtra whose authority was accepted by the Hindu
society even though it was not backed by royal patronage. Their influence effectively counteracted the
liberal trends. They raised their voice against the usurping of the privileges of the Brahmins by the lower
castes.
SC
Position of Women
• Strict veiling of women was the common practice among the Muslim in their native land. Naturally in
a foreign country like India, greater stress was laid upon it.
• The Hindus adopted purdah as a protective measure. The tendency to imitate the ruling class was another
GS

factor which operated in favour of introducing purdah among the Hindu families.
• Seclusion thus became a sign of respect and was strictly observed among the high-class families of both
communities.
• In the Vijayanagar Empire, purdah was confined only to the members of the royal household. No such
coercive purdah system was observed among the Hindu middle class and certainly not among the Hindu
masses.
• The custom, in those days, did not allow girls to remain in their parents’ home for more than six to eight
years after birth. The rigidity of the custom together with the celebration of the marriage at a very early
age left no room whatsoever for either the bride or bridegroom to have time to think of a partner of their
own choice.
• Dowry was demanded while in some castes and localities the bride-price was also known to be prevalent.
• Monogamy seems to have been the rule among the lower strata of society in both communities during
the medieval period.
• In spite of the decision of ulema in the Ibadat Khana in Adbar’s times, that a man might marry any
number of wives by mutah but only four by nikah. Akbar had issued definite orders that a man of
ordinary means should not possess more than one wife unless the first proved to be barren.
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• Polygamy was the privilege of the rich.

• Divorce and remarriage, common among Muslims, were prohibited for Hindu women.
• Widow-remarriage, except amongst the lower caste people, had completely disappeared in Hindu society
during the medieval age.
• The custom of sati was prevalent. Even betrothed girl had to commit sati on the funeral pyres of their
would-be-husbands. Those widows who would not burn themselves with their husbands were treated
harshly by society.
• Some of the Delhi Sultans did try to discourage the custom of sati which prevailed among a large section
of the Hindu population, particularly the upper classes and the Rajputs.
• Though sati was only voluntary in the south and not enjoined upon widows, it is difficult to account for
its wide popularity in the Viajayanagar Empire, whose rules do not seem to have put up any restriction
on its observance.
• Muhammad Tughluq was, in all probability, the first medieval ruler who place restrictions on sati.
•

E
Though Akbar did not forbid the sati altogether, he had issued definite orders to the kotwals that they
OR
should not allow a woman to be burnt against her inclination.
• Aurangzeb was the only Mughal who issued definite orders (1664) forbidding sati in his realm altogether.
• Economically, a Muslim woman was entitled to a share in the inheritance with absolute right to dispose
it off. Unlike her Hindu sister, she retained the right even after marriage.
SC

• Mehr, or entente nuptial settlement, was another safeguard for Muslim women whereas a Hindu woman
had no right to the property of her husband’s parents.
• A Hindu woman was only entitled to maintenance and residence expenses besides movable property like
ornaments, jewellery, etc. Thus, from the legal point of view, women were reduced to a position of
dependency in every sphere of life.
GS

• The women in the south under the Cholas (8th to 13th century), however, had the right to inherit property.
Growth of Trade
• The Indian trading classes were large in numbers and spread throughout the country. They were well
organized and highly professional.
• Seth, bohra traders specialized in long distance trade while local traders were called banik.
• Another class of traders was known as banjaras, who specialized in carrying bulk goods. The banjaras used
to move to long distances with their goods on the back of oxen.
• Bulk goods were also taken through rivers on boats.
• The trading community did not belong to one caste or religion. The Gujarathi merchants included the
Hindus, Jains and Muslims. Multanis, Khatris and Afghanis conducted trade with central Asia.
• In south India, the Chettis on the Coramandal coast and the Muslim merchants of Malabar were the most
important trading communities.
• Bengal exported sugar, rice as well as delicate muslin and silk.
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• The Coramandal coast became a centre of textile production.

• Gujarat was an entry point of foreign goods. From there, fine textiles and silk were taken to north India.
• Indigo and food grains were exported from north India through Gujarat. It was also the distribution centre
for the luxury products of Kashmir such as shawls and carpets.

• The major imports into India were certain metals such as tin and copper, war horses and luxury items such
as ivory.
• The balance of trade was maintained by the import of gold and silver.

• The growth of foreign trade resulted in the increased import of gold and silver in the seventeenth century.

• The Dutch and English traders who came to Gujarat during the seventeenth century, found that Indian
traders were alert and brisk.

E
Items of Trade and Commerce

• Exports : Textiles, especially various kinds of cotton fabrics, indigo, raw silk, salt petre, pepper, opium and

•
various kinds of drugs and miscellaneous goods.

OR
Imports : Bullion, horses, metals, perfumes, drugs, China goods especially porcelain and silk, African
slaves and European wines.

Mughal Coinage
SC
• The standard gold coin of the Mughals was the muhar, of about 170 to 175 grains, the equivalent of nine
rupees in Abul Fazl’s time.
• Half and quarter muhars are known to have been issued by several emperors, and a very few smaller
pieces, also.
GS

• The rupee, adopted from Sher Shah’s currency, is the most famous of all Mughal coins.
• In addition to the regular gold and silver currency, special small pieces were occasionally struck for largess;
the commonest of these is the nisar, struck in silver by Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.
• Jahangir also issued similar pieces, which he called nur afshan and khair qabul.

• The Mughal copper coinage is based on Sher Shah’s dam which with its half, quarter and eighth, continued
to be struck until the fifth year of Aurangzeb.

• The most distinctive feature of the Mughal coinage is the diversity of mints. There were seventy six mints
in operation during Akbar’s reign. Copper was struck in fifty nine of these, the largest number recorded
for any emperor, while silver is known from thirty nine.
• Aurangzeb’s conquests in the Deccan raised the silver mints to seventy, whereas copper mints sank to
twenty four.

• Mughals maintained the high standard and purity of its gold and silver for three hundred years. Considering
its variety, the number of its mints, the artistic merit of some of its series, the influence it exerted on
contemporary and subsequent coinages, and the importance of its standard coin-the rupee- in the commerce
of today, the Mughal currency surely deserves to rank as one of the great coinages of the world.
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E
OR
SC
GS

Language and Literature

• Persian language became widespread in the Mughal Empire by the time of Akbar’s reign.
• Abul Fazl was a great scholar and historian of his period. He set a style of prose writing and it was
followed by many generations.
• Many historical works were written during this period. They include Ain-i-Akbari and Akabar Nama
authored by Abul Fazl.
• The leading poet of this period was Abul Faizi. The translation of Mahabharata into the Persian language
was done under his supervision.
• Utbi and Naziri were the two other leading Persian poets.
• Jahangir’s autobiography, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri was famous for its style.
• Jahangir patronized many scholars like Ghiyas Beg, Naqib Khan and Niamatullah.
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• Shah Jahan also patronized many writers and historians like Abdul Hamid Lahori, author of Padshah
Nama and Inayat Khan who wrote Shah Jahan Nama.
• Shah Jahan’s son Dara Shikoh translated the Bhagavat Gita and Upanishads into the Persian language.
• Many historical works were written during the reign of Aurangazeb.
• Regional languages such as Bengali, Oriya, Rajasthani and Gujarathi had also developed during this period.
• Many devotional works including the Ramayana and Mahabharata were translated into regional languages.
• From the time of Akbar, Hindi poets were attached to the Mughal court. The most influential Hindi poet
was Tulsidas, who wrote the Hindi version of the Ramayana, the Ramcharitmanas.
Art and Architecture under the Mughals
• The Mughal period witnessed large scale architectural activities that represented the peak of Islamic art
in India.

E
• It was also a period where there was a great exchange of ideas and styles that led to the creation of a
style that was very different from the Sultanate period and that had many features of local or regional

•
styles.
OR
The architecture of the Mughals includes the magnificent forts, palaces, public buildings, mosques and
mausoleums.
• The Mughals were fond of laying gardens with running water.
SC

• Some of the Mughal gardens such as the Nishat Bagh in Kashmir, the Shalimar Bagh at Lahore and the
Pinjore garden in the Punjab have survived even today.
• Among the early structures of this period are the two mosques built by Babur at Sambhal and Panipat
in 1526.
GS

• Babur is also credited with the laying out of gardens at Dholpur and at Ram Bagh and Zahra Bagh at Agra.
• Two mosques one at Agra and the other at Hissar belong to the reign of the second Mughal emperor
Humayun.
• During the reign of Sher Shah, the mausoleum at Sasaram in Bihar and the Purana Qila near Delhi were
built. These two monuments are considered as the architectural marvels of medieval India.
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• Large scale construction of buildings started with the advent of Akbar. He built many forts and the most
famous one was the Agra Fort. It was built in red sandstone. His other forts are at Lahore and Allahabad.
• The climax of fort-building reached its climax during the reign of Shah Jahan. The famous Red Fort at
Delhi with its Rang Mahal, Diwan-i-Am and Diwan-i-Khas was his creation.
• Akbar also built a palace cum- fort complex at Fatepur Sikri (City of Victory). Many buildings in
Gujarathi and Bengali styles are found in this complex. Gujarathi style buildings were probably built for
his Rajput wives. The most magnificent building in it is the Jama Masjid and the gateway to it called
Buland Darwaza or the Lofty Gate. The height of the gateway is 176 feet. It was built to commemorate
Akbar’s victory over Gujarat. Other important buildings at Fatepur Sikri are Jodh Bai’s palace and Panch
Mahal with five storeys.
• During Akbar’s reign, the Humayun’s tomb was built at Delhi. The grandness of Mughal architecture
began with the construction of Humayun’s tomb and its design by Mirak Mirza Ghiyas from Persia. This
tomb is the earliest specimen of a garden enclosure and is raised on an arcaded sandstone platform. The
tomb is octagonal and crowned by a high dome. The dome is a double dome, which is built in two layers

E
one which provides the ceiling to the interior of the building and the other, which provides the outer layer
that crowns, the building. It may be considered the precursor of the Taj Mahal.
OR
SC
GS

• Akbar’s tomb at Sikandara near Agra was completed by Jahangir.

• Nur Jahan built the tomb of Itimaddaulah at Agra. It was constructed wholly of white marble with floral
designs made of semi-precious stones on the walls. This type of decoration was called pietra dura.
• Pietra dura became more popular during the reign of Shah Jahan. The pietra dura method was used on
a large scale in the Taj Mahal by Shah Jahan. Taj Mahal is considered a jewel of the builder’s art. It
contains all the architectural forms developed by the Mughals. The chief glory of the Taj is the massive
dome and the four slender minarets. The decorations are kept to the minimum.
• Mosque building had reached its peak during Shah Jahan’s reign. The Moti Masjid at Agra was built
entirely in white marble. The Jama Masjid at Delhi was built in red stone.
• The Mughal architectural traditions continued in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Their influence
in the provincial kingdoms is clearly visible. Many features of Mughal tradition can be seen in the Golden
Temple at Amritsar.
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Paintings and Music

• The contribution of Mughals to the art of painting was remarkable.
• They introduced new themes depicting the court, battle scenes and the chase and added new colours and
new forms.
• They created a living tradition of painting which continued to work in different parts of the country long
after the glory of the Mughals had disappeared.
• The foundation for the Mughal painting was laid by Humayun when he was staying in Persia.
• He brought with him two painters – Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdal Samad to India. These two painters became
famous during Akbar’s reign.
• Under the leadership of Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdal Samad, during the reign of Akbar, painting was
organized in one of the imperial establishments (karkhanas).

E
• A large number of painters from different parts of the country were invited, many of them from lower
castes. From the beginning, both Hindus and Muslims joined in the works.
•
•
OR
Akbar commissioned the illustrations of several literary and religious texts.
Baswan, Miskina and Daswant attained great positions as Akabar’s court artists.
• Illustrations of Persian versions of Mahabharata and Ramayana were produced in miniature form.
SC
• Many other Indian fables became the miniature paintings in the Art Studio established by Akbar.
• Historical works such as Akbar Nama also remained the main themes of Mughal paintings.
• The most important work is Hamznama,
which consisted 1200 paintings.
GS

• Indian colours such as peacock blue,

Indian red began to be used.
• Under Akbar, European painting was
introduced at the court. Under its
influence, the principles of
foreshortening, whereby near and distant
people and things could be placed in
perspective was quietly adopted.
• Mughal paintings reached its climax
during the reign of Jahangir. He
employed a number of painters like
Abul Hasan, Bishan Das, Madhu,
Anant, Manohar, Govardhan and Ustad Mansur. A
• part from painting the scenes of hunting, battles and royal courts, progress was made in portrait painting
and paintings of animals.
• Many albums containing paintings and calligraphy were produced during the Mughal period. Later, the
influence of European painting could be seen.
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Music
• Music also developed under the Mughals. Akbar patronized Tansen of Gwalior.
• Tansen composed many ragas. Jahangir and Shah Jahan were also fond of music.
• Raja Mansingh is said to have played an important role in the perfection of the Dhrupad style of North
Indian Music.
• In the south a system of ragas known as the Janaka and Janya ragas existed during this period.
• The Swaramela Kalanidhi by Ramamatya of Kondavidu written in 1550 describes 20 Janan and 64 Janya
ragas.
• By the 18th century several new forms of music like Tarana, Dadra and Ghazal had come into existence.

E
OR
SC
GS
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REGIONAL POWER-CENTERS
• The states that arose in India during the phase of Mughal decline and the following century varied greatly
in terms of resources, longevity, and essential character.
• Some of them-such as Awadh in the north and Hyderabad in the south were located in areas that had
harboured regional states in the immediate pre-Mughal period and thus could hark back to an older local
or regional tradition of state formation.
• Others were states that had a more original character and derived from very specific processes that had
taken place in the course of the late 16th and 17th centuries. In particular, many of the post-Mughal states
were based on ethnic or sectarian groupings - the Marathas, the Jats, and the Sikhs, for instance-which had

E
no real precedent in Indian history.
KINGDOM OF BENGAL
•

•
Khan, made Bengal virtually independent. OR
Taking advantage of the growing weakness of the central authority Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi

Even though Murshid Quli Khan was made Governor of Bengal as late as 1717, he had been its effective
ruler since 1700, when he was appointed its Dewan.
SC
• He soon freed himself from central control, though he sent regular tribute to the Emperor.
• He established peace by freeing Bengal of internal and external danger.
• Bengal was now also relatively free of uprisings by zamindars.
• The only three major uprisings during his rule were first by Sitaram Ray, Udai Narayan and Ghulani
Muhammad, and then by Shujat Khan, and finally by Najat Khan.
GS

• After defeating them, Murshid Quli Khan gave their zamindaris to his favourite, Ramjivan.
• Murshid Quh Khan died in 1727, and his son-in-law Slmja-ud-din ruled Bengal till 1739.
• In that year, Alivardi Khan deposed and killed Shuja-ud-din’s son, Sarfaraz Khan, and made himself the
Nawab.
• These three Nawabs gave Bengal a long period of peace and orderly administration and promoted its trade
and industry.
• Mursliid Quli Khan effected economies in the administration and reorganized the finances of Bengal by
transferring large parts of jagir lands into khahsah lands by carrying out a fresh revenue settlement, and
by introducing the system of revenue-farming.
• Mursliid Quli Khan also granted agricultural loans (taccavi) to the poor cultivators to relieve their distress
as well as to enable them to pay land revenue in time. He was thus able to increase the resources of the
Bengal Government.
• But the system of revenue-farming led to increased economic pressure on the peasant. Moreover, even
though he demanded only the standard revenue and forbade illegal cesses, he collected the revenue from
the zamindars and the peasants with utmost cruelty.
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• Another result of his reforms was that many of the older zamindars were driven out and their place taken
by upstart revenue-farmers.
• Murshid Quli Khan and the succeeding Nawabs gave equal opportunities for employment to Hindus and
Muslims.
• They filled the highest civil posts and many of the military posts with Bengalis, most of whom were
Hindus.
• In choosing revenue farmers Murshid Quli Khan gave preference to local zamindars and mahajans (money-
lenders) who were mainly Hindus. He thus laid the foundations of a new landed aristocracy in Bengal.
• All the three Nawabs recognized that expansion of trade benefited the people and the Government, and,
therefore, gave encouragement to all merchants, Indian or foreign.
• They provided for the safety of roads and rivers from thieves and robbers by establishing regular thanas
and chowkies.
• They checked private trade by officials and prevented abuses in the customs administration.

E
• At the same time they made it a point to maintain strict control over the foreign trading companies and
their servants and prevented them from abusing their privileges.
OR
• They compelled the servants of the English East India Company to obey the laws of the land and to pay
the same customs duties as were being paid by other merchants.
• Alivardi Khan did not permit the English and the French to fortify their factories in Calcutta and
Chandranagar.
SC

• The Bengal Nawabs proved, however, to be short-sighted and negligent, by not firmly putting down the
increasing tendency of the English.
• Initially they had the power to deal with the Company’s threats, but they continued to believe that a mere
trading company could not threaten their power.
• They failed to see that the English Company was no mere company of traders but was the representative
GS

of the most aggressive and expansionist colonialism of the time.

• The Nawabs of Bengal neglected to build a strong army and paid a heavy price for it. The army of
Murshid Quh Khan consisted of only 2000 cavalry and 4000 infantry.
• Alivardi Khan was constantly troubled by the repeated invasions of the Marathas and, in the end, he had
to cede a large part of Orissa to them.
• When, in 1756-57, English East India Company declared war on Siraj-ud-Daulah, the successor of Alivardi,
the absence of a strong army contributed much to the victory of the Company.
• The Bengal Nawabs also failed to check the growing corruption among their officials. Even judicial
officials, the qazis and muftis, were taking bribes.
• The foreign companies took full advantage of this weakness to undermine official rules and regulations
and policies.
AUTONOMOUS KINGDOM OF AVADH
• The founder of the autonomous kingdom of Avadh was Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk who was appointed
Governor of Avadh in 1722.
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• He was an extremely bold, energetic, iron-willed, and intelligent person.

• At the time of his appointment, rebellious zamindars had raised their heads everywhere in the province
and they refused to pay the land tax, organized their own private armies, erected forts, and defied the
Imperial Government.
• Saadat Kha succeeded in suppressing lawlessness and disciplining the big zamindars and thus, increasing
the financial resources of his government.
• Most of the defeated zamindars were, however, not displaced. They were usually confirmed in their
estates after they had submitted and agreed to pay their dues (land revenue) regularly. Moreover, they
continued to be refractory. Whenever the Nawab’s military hold weakened or he was engaged in some
other direction, they would rebel, thus weakening the Nawab’s power.
• As Safdar Jang, Saadat Khan’s successor, made out a fresh revenue settlement in 1723. He is said to
have improved the lot of the peasant by levying equitable land revenue and by protecting them from
oppression by the big zamindars.

E
• Like the Bengal Nawabs, he too did not discriminate between Hindus and Muslims. Many of his commanders
and high officials were Hindus, and he curbed refractory zamindars, chiefs, and nobles irrespective of their

•
•
religion.
OR
His troops’ were well-paid, well-armed, and well-trained. His administration was efficient.
Before his death in 1739, he had become virtually independent and had made the province a hereditary
possession.
SC
• He was succeeded by his nephew Safdar Jang, who was simultaneously appointed the wazir of the Empire
in 1748 and granted in addition the province of Allahabad.
• Safdar Jang gave a long period of peace to the people of Avadh and Allahabad before his death in 1754.
• He suppressed rebellious zamindars and made an alliance with the Maratha sardars so that his dominion
was saved from their incursions.
GS

• He carried on warfare against the Rohelas and the Bangash Pathans. In his war against the Bangash
Nawabs in 1750-51, he secured Maratha military help by paying a daily allowance of Rs. 25,000 and Jat
support by paying Rs. 15,000 a day.
• Later, he entered into an agreement with the Peshva by which the Peshwa was to help the Mughal Empire
against Ahmad Shah Abdali and to protect it from such internal rebels as the Indian Pathans and the
Rajput rajas.
• In return the Peshwa was to be paid Rs. 50 lakhs, granted the chauth of the Punjab, Sindh, and several
districts of northern India, and made the Governor of Ajmer and Agra. The agreement failed, however,
as the Peshwa went over to Safdar Jang’s enemies at Delhi who promised him the governorship of Avadh
and Allahabad.
• Safdar Jang also organized an equitable system of justice.
• He too adopted a policy of impartiality in the employment of Hindus and Muslims. The highest post in
his Government was held by a Hindu, Maharaja Nawab Rai.
• The prolonged period of peace and of economic prosperity of the nobles under the government of the
Nawabs resulted in time in the growth of a distinct Lucknow culture around the Avadh court.
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• Lucknow, for long an important city of Avadh, and the seat of the Avadh Nawabs after 1775, soon rivaled
Delhi in its patronage of arts and literature. It also developed as an important centre of handicrafts.
• Safdar Jang maintained a very high standard of personal morality. All his life he was devoted to his only
wife.
• As a matter of fact all the founders of the three autonomous kingdoms of Hyderabad, Bengal, and Avadh,
namely, Nizam-uI-Mulk, Murshid Quli Khan and Alivardi Khan, and Saadat Khan and Safdar Jang, were
men of high personal morality.
• Nearly all of them led austere and simple, lives. Their lives give refute the belief that all the leading nobles
of the 18th century led extravagant and luxurious lives. It was only in their public and political dealings
that they resorted to fraud, intrigue and treachery.
THE SIKHS
• The origins of the Sikhs, a religious group initially formed as a sect within the larger Hindu community,
lie in the Punjab in the 15th century.

E
• The Sikh founder, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), was roughly a contemporary of Babur, and belonged to the
Khatri community of scribes and traders.
OR
• From an early career as a scribe for an important noble of the Lodi dynasty, Nanak became a wandering
preacher before settling down at Kartarpur in the Punjab at about the time of Babur’s invasion.
• By the time of his death, he had numerous followers, albeit within a limited region, and, like many other
religious leaders of the time, founded a fictive lineage (i.e., one not related by blood) of Gurus who
succeeded him.
SC

• His immediate successor was Guru Angad, chosen by Nanak before his death. He too was a Khatri, as
indeed were all the remaining Gurus, though of various subcastes.
• In practice, the essential teachings of Nanak, collected in the Adi Granth (Punjabi: “First Book”), represented
a syncretic melding of elements of Vaishnava devotional Hinduism and Sufi Islam, with a goodly amount
of social criticism thrown in.
GS

• No political program is evident in the work, but religious movements in the period had a tendency to
assume political overtones, by virtue of the fact that they created bonds of solidarity among their
adherents, who could then challenge the authority of the state in some fashion.
• The Sikh challenge to the Mughal state could be seen as prefigured in Nanak’s own critical remarks
directed at Babur, but in reality it took almost three-quarters of a century to come to fruition.
• It was in the early 17th century-when under somewhat obscure circumstances Guru Arjun was tortured
and killed by Mughal authorities-that the first signs of a major conflict appeared.
• Guru Arjun was accused of abetting a rebel Mughal prince, Khusraw, and, more significantly, found
mention in Jahangir’s memoirs as someone who ran a “shop” where religious falsehoods were sold
(apparently a reference to the Khatri origins of the Guru).
• His successor, Hargobind (1595-1644), then began the move toward armed assertion by constructing a
fortified centre and holding court from the so-called Akal Takht (“Throne of the Timeless One”).
• After a brief imprisonment by the Mughals for these activities, Hargobind was released, and he once more
entered into armed conflict with Mughal officials. He was forced to spend the last years of his life in the
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Rajput principality of Hindur, outside direct Mughal jurisdiction, where he maintained a small military
force.
• Under Hargobind’s son Tegh Bahadur, who became ninth Guru in 1664, conflicts with the Mughals once
again increased, partly as a result of Tegh Bahadur’s success as a preacher and proselytizer and partly
because of the rather orthodox line of Sunni Islam espoused by Aurangzeb.
• In 1675 Tegh Bahadur was captured and executed upon his refusal to accept Islam, thus laying the path
for the increased militancy under the last of the Gurus, Gobind Singh (1675-1708).
• It should be stressed that it was the very success of the Sikh Gurus in attracting followers and acquiring
temporal power that prompted such a response from the Mughals. However, rather than suppressing
Sikhism, the policy of Aurangzeb backfired.
• Guru Gobind Singh assumed all the trappings of a chieftain, gave battle to Mughal forces on more than
one occasion, and founded a new centre at Anandpur in 1689.

E
• His letters also suggest the partial assumption of temporal authority, being termed hukmnamas (loosely,
“royal orders”). However, he still chose to negotiate with the Mughals, first with Aurangzeb and then, after
the latter’s death, with Bahadur Shah I.
•
OR
Ironically, with Gobind Singh’s death, the Sikh threat to Mughal dominance increased. In a further twist,
this resulted from the assumption of leadership in the Punjab by Banda Singh Bahadur, a Maratha who
had come under the Guru’s influence during the latter’s last days at Nanded in Maharashtra.
• Between 1709 and late 1710 the Sikhs under Banda enjoyed dramatic successes in the sarkars (districts)
SC
of Sirhind, Hisar, and Saharanpur, all of them ominously close to Delhi.
• Banda set up a capital at Mukhlispur, issued coins in the names of the Gurus (a particularly bold lèse-
majesté), and began to use a seal on his orders even as the Mughals did.
• In late 1710 and 1711 the Mughal forces counter-attacked, and Banda and his forces retreated.
• Expelled from Sirhind, he then moved his operations west into the vicinity of Lahore. Here too he was
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unsuccessful, and eventually he and his forces were forced to retreat to the fort of Gurdas Nangal. There
they surrendered to Mughal forces after a prolonged siege, and Banda was executed in Delhi in 1716.
• This phase of activity is especially important for two reasons.
– First, as distinct from the sporadic militancy exhibited under Hargobind and then Gobind Singh, it
was in this period that a full-scale Sikh rebellion against Mughal authority broke out for the first time.
– Second, Banda’s role in the matter itself, which was somewhat enigmatic, lends the affair a curious
flavour. Some of Banda’s letters speak of orthodox Islam as an enemy to be rallied against, thus
suggesting that the Sikhs at this time were moving somewhat away from their initial orientation as
mediators between popular Hinduism and Islam.
• The quelling by Mughal forces of the Sikhs under Banda did not mean an end to Sikh resistance to Mughal
claims.
• In the 1720s and ’30s Amritsar emerged as a centre of Sikh activity, partly because of its preeminence
as a pilgrimage centre.
• Kapur Singh, the most important of the Sikh leaders of the time, operated from its vicinity and gradually
set about consolidating a revenue-cum-military system, based in part on compromises with the Mughal
governors of the province.
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• Other Sikhs were, however, less willing than Kapur Singh to deal with the Mughal authorities and took
the paths of social banditry and raiding.
• These activities served as a damper on the attempts by the Mughal governors of Lahore subah to set up
an independent power base for themselves in the region.
• First Abd al-Samad Khan and then his son Zakariyya Khan attempted the twin tracks of conciliation and
coercion, but all to little avail. After the latter’s demise in 1745, the balance shifted still further in favour
of the Sikh warrior-leaders, such as Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, later the founder of the kingdom of Kapurthala.
• The mushrooming of pockets under the authority of Sikh leaders was thus a feature of the two decades
preceding Durrani invasion of the Punjab and took place not merely in the eastern Punjab but in the Bari
Doab, not far from Lahore itself.
• A unique centre was yet to emerge, and the end of the line of Gurus with Gobind Singh ensured that
spiritual and temporal authority could not be combined in a single person as before.
• Nevertheless, the principal opposition faced by Durrani in his campaigns of the 1750s and ’60s in the
Punjab came from the Sikhs, even if the Mughal forces and Marathas played a role of significance on

E
occasion.
OR
• These were sanguinary engagements, which cost the Sikhs many thousands of lives, as the Afghan chroniclers
themselves testify.
• Eventually, by the mid-1760s, Sikh authority over Lahore had been established, and the Afghans had been
unable to consolidate their early gains.
• Under Ahmad Shah’s successor, Timur Shah (ruled 1772-93), some of the territories and towns that had
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been taken by the Sikhs (such as Multan) were recovered, and the descendants of Ahmad Shah continued
to harbour ambitions in this direction until the end of the century.
• But by the 1770s they were dealing with a confederation of about 60 Sikh chieftains, some of whom
founded what were to remain princely states under the British-such as Nabha and Patiala.
• However, rather as in the case of the Marathas, the confederate structure did not mean that there were
GS

never differences or conflicts between these chiefdoms. Nevertheless, at least in the face of their major
adversary, the Durrani’s clan and its allies, these chiefdoms came together to present a united front.
• The Sikh chiefdoms continued many of the administrative practices initiated by the Mughals.
• The main subordinates of the chiefs were given Jaagir assignments, and the Persianized culture of the
Mughal bureaucracy continued to hold sway.
• Unlike the Gurus themselves, who, as has been noted, were exclusively drawn from Khatri stock, the bulk
of the Sikh chieftains tended to be of Jat origin. Thus, besides the states set up in other regions, such as
Bharatpur, the Jats can be said to have dominated state building in the Punjab in this period as well.
• It was one such chief, Ranjit Singh, grandson of Charhat Singh Shukerchakia, who eventually welded these
principalities for a brief time into a larger entity.
• Ranjit Singh’s effective rule lasted four decades, from 1799 to 1839, and was realized in a context already
dominated by the growing power of the English East India Company.
• Within 10 years of his death, the British had annexed Punjab, and so this period can be seen as the last
gasp of the old-regime polities in India.
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• His rise to power was based on superior military force, partly serviced by European mercenaries and by
the strategic location of the territories that he had inherited from his father.
• Ranjit Singh’s kingdom combined disparate elements. On the one hand, it represented the culmination of
nearly a century of Sikh rebellions against Mughal rule. On the other hand, it was based on intelligent
application of the principles of statecraft learned from the Afghans.
• This emerges from the fact that he used as his capital the great trading city of Lahore, which he captured
in 1799, in the aftermath of invasions by Shah Zaman, the successor of Timur Shah.
• Having gained control of the trade routes, he imposed monopolies on the trade in salt, grain, and textiles
from Kashmir to enhance his revenues. Using the cash he was able to collect by these means, he built up
an army of 40,000 cavalry and infantry, and by 1809 he was undisputed master of most of Punjab.
• Over the remaining three decades of his rule, Ranjit Singh continued to consolidate his territories, largely
at the expense of Afghan and Rajput, as well as lesser Sikh, chieftains.

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• In 1818 he took Multan, and in1819 he made major gains in Kashmir. At the time of his death, the
territory that he controlled sat solidly astride the main trade routes extending from north India to Central
Asia, Iran, and western Asia.
•

•
authority. OR
In a number of areas, he established tributary relations with chieftains, thus not wholly subverting their

The model around which the Sikh state was built bears a striking resemblance to that of the Mughals.
• Jagirs remained a crucial form of remuneration for military service, and, in the directly taxed lands,
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officials bearing the title of kardar (agent) were appointed at the level of a unit called-as elsewhere in
Mughal domains-the ta’alluqa (district, today known as taluka) (district).
• However strong the state of Ranjit Singh might have appeared, it was in fact based on a fragile system
of alliances, as became apparent soon after his death.
• At the level of the palace, a dispute broke out in the early 1840s between two factions, one supporting
GS

Chand Kaur, daughter-in-law of Ranjit Singh, who wished to be regent, and the other supporting Shir Singh.
• But such disputes could scarcely have been the real reason for the collapse of Sikh power within a decade.
• Rather, it would appear that the state created by Ranjit Singh never really made the transition from being
a conquering power to being a stable system of alliances between conflicting social groups and regional
interests.
• In any event, the process of disintegration was accelerated and given a helping hand by the British between
1845 and 1849.
AREAS AROUND DELHI
Rajput States
• The principal Rajput states took advantage of the growing weakness of Mughal power to virtually free
themselves from central control while at the same time increasing their influence in the rest of the Empire.
• In the reigns of Farrukh Siyar and Muhammad Shah the rulers of Amber and Marwar were appointed
governors of important Mughal provinces such as Agra, Gujarat, and Malwa.
• The Rajputana states continued to be as divided as before. The biggest among them expanded at the cost
of their weaker neighbours, Rajput and non-Rajput.
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• Most of the larger Rajput states were constantly involved in petty quarrels and civil wars.
• The internal politics of these states were often characterized by the same type of corruption, intrigue, and
treachery as prevailed at the Mughal court. For example, Ajit Singh of Marwar was killed by his own son.
• The most outstanding Rajput ruler of the 18th century was Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber (1681-1743).
– He was a distinguished statesman, law-maker, and reformer and a man of scientific temper in an age when
Indians were oblivious to scientific progress.
– He founded the city of Jaipur in the territory taken from the Jats and made it a great seat of science
and art.
– Jaipur was built upon strictly scientific principles and according to a regular plan. Its broad streets are
intersected at right angles.
– Jai Singh was above everything a great astronomer. He erected observatories with accurate and
advanced instruments, some of them of his own invention are at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi, and
Mathura.

E
– His astronomical observations were remarkably accurate. He drew up a set of tables, entitled Zij-i-
Muhammad Shahi, to enable people to make astronomical observations.
OR
– He got ‘Elements of Geometry”, translated into Sanskrit as well as several works on trignometry, and
Napier’s work on the construction and use of logarithms.
– Jai Singh was also a social reformer. He tried to enforce a law to reduce the lavish expenditure which
a Rajput had to incur on a daughter’s wedding and which often led to infanticide.
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– He ruled Jaipur for nearly 44 years from 1699 to 1743.

The Jats
• The Jats, a caste of agriculturists, lived in the region around Delhi, Agra and Mathura.
• Oppression by Mughal officials drove the Jat peasants around Mathura to revolt.
GS

• They revolted under the leadership of their Jat zamindars in 1669 and then again in 1688.
• These revolts were crushed but the area remained disturbed.
• After the death of Aurangzeb, they created disturbances all around Delhi.
• Though originally a peasant uprising, the Jat revolt, led by zamindars soon became predatory.
• They plundered all and sundry, the rich and the poor, the jagirdars and the peasants, the Hindus and the
Muslims.
• They took active part in the Court intrigues at Delhi, often changing sides to suit their own advantage.
• The Jat state of Bharatpur was set up by Churaman and Badan Singh.
• The Jat power reached its highest glory under Suraj Mal, who ruled from 1756 to 1763 and who was an
extremely able administrator and soldier and a very wise statesman.
• He extended his authority over a large area which extended from the Ganga in the East to Chambal in
the South, the province of Agra in the West to the province of Delhi in the North. His state included
the districts of Agra, Mathura, Meerut, and Aligarh.
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THE SOUTHERN STATES

• In the south several states did make a determined bid in this period to consolidate their power by the use
of maritime outlets and principal among these were Travancore in Kerala under Martanda Varma and
Rama Varma, and Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.
• These states rose to prominence, however, only in the latter half of the 18th century, or at least after 1740.
Before that, the southern Indian scene had been dominated by a group of Muslim notables who had
accompanied the Mughal expansion into the region in the 1680s and 90s or else had come in a second
wave that followed immediately after 1700.
• Among these notables, many of whom set themselves up as tribute-paying chiefs under Mughal authority,
can be counted the relatively petty nawabs (deputies) of the Balaghat, or northern Karnataka (such as
Abdul-Rasul Khan of Sira), but there were also far more substantial men, such as the Nizam-ul-Mulk and
Said Allah Khan at Arcot.
• The Nizam-ul-Mulk consolidated his position in Hyderabad by the 1740s, whereas the Arcot principality

E
emerged some three decades earlier.
•

•
OR
Neither of these rulers, while establishing dynastic succession, claimed full sovereignty, and thus they
continued to cast themselves as representatives of Mughal authority.
Southern Indian politics in the 1720s emerged, therefore, as a game with many petty players and three
formidable ones: the Marathas (both at Thanjavur and elsewhere), the Nizam, and the Arcot (or Karnatak).
In the second half of the 18th century, the power of all three of these centres declined.
SC
Hyderabad
• Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was one of the most powerful members at the
court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
• He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.
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• As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full control over its political and
financial administration.
• Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Deccan and the competition amongst the court nobility, he
gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that region.
• He brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who welcomed the new opportunities
in the south and appointed them mansabdars and granted jagirs to them.
• Although he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite independently without seeking any
direction from Delhi or facing any interference.
• The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by the Nizam.
• The state of Hyderabad was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to the west and with
independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas) of the plateau.
• The ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the Coromandel coast in the
east were checked by the British who were becoming increasingly powerful in that region.
• When the British and French took hold over most of India, the Nizams played a delicate game of balance
and subterfuge.
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• They allied themselves with each side at different times, playing an important role in the wars involving
Tipu Sultan, the French, and the British.
• The Nizams eventually won the friendship of the Western invaders without giving up their powers. As
a result, Hyderabad was ruled by a Nizam till independence of India, and became the largest princely state
of India.
Mysore
• The rise of Mysore to importance dates to the mid-17th century, when rulers of the Vadiyar dynasty, such
as Kanthirava Narasaraja and Cikka Deva Raja, fought campaigns to extend Vadiyar control over parts of
what is now interior Tamil Nadu (especially Dharmapuri, Salem, and Coimbatore).
• Until the second half of the 18th century, however, Mysore was a landlocked kingdom and dependent
therefore on trade and military supplies brought through the ports of the Indian east coast.
• As these ports came increasingly under European control, Mysore’s vulnerability increased.
• A cavalry commander of migrant origin, Hyder Ali, assumed effective power in the kingdom in 1761,

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reducing the Vadiyars to figureheads and displacing the powerful Kalale family of ministers.
• First Hyder Ali and then, after 1782, his son, Tipu Sultan, made attempts to consolidate Mysore and make
OR
it a kingdom with access to not one but both coasts of peninsular India.
• Against the Kodavas, the inhabitants of the upland kingdom of Kodagu (Coorg), they were relatively
successful.
• Coastal Karnataka and northern Kerala came under their sway, enabling Tipu to open diplomatic and
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commercial relations on his own account with the Middle East.

• Tipu’s ambitions apparently greatly exceeded those of his father, and he strove actively to escape the all-
pervasive shadow of Mughal suzerainty, as discussed above.
• However, as in the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh, the problem with the Mysore of Hyder and Tipu was
their inability to build an internal consensus.
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• Their dependence on migrants and mercenaries for both military and fiscal expertise was considerable, and
they were always resisted by local chiefs, the so-called Poligars.
• More crucial was the fact that by the 1770s Mysore faced a formidable military adversary in the form
of the English East India Company, which did not allow it any breathing room.
• It was the English who denied Mysore access to the relatively rich agricultural lands and ports of the
Coromandel coastal plain in eastern India, and, equally as significant, it was at the hands of an English
attacking force that Tipu finally was killed in 1799 during the fourth of the Mysore Wars.
Arcot
• The Nawabdom of the Carnatic was established by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who in 1692 appointed
Zulfikhar Ali Khan as the first Nawab of the Carnatic, with his seat at Arcot as a reward for his victory
over the Marathas led by Rajaram.
• With the Vijayanagara Empire in serious decline, the Nawabdom of the Carnatic controlled a vast territory
south of the Krishna river.
• The Nawab Saadatullah Khan I (1710-1732) moved his court from Gingee to Arcot. His successor Dost
Ali (1732-1740) conquered and annexed Madurai in 1736.
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• In 1740, the Maratha forces attacked the Nawab, Dost Ali Khan, in the pass of Damalcherry.
• In the war that followed, Dost Ali, one of his sons Hasan Ali, and a number of prominent persons lost
their lives. This initial success at once enhanced Maratha prestige in the south.
• From Damalcherry the Marathas proceeded to Arcot, which surrendered to them without much resistance.
Chanda Saheb and his son were arrested and sent to Nagpur.
• Chanda Sahib was the son-in-law of the Nawab of Carnatic Dost Ali Khan, under whom he worked as
a Dewan.
• Chanda Sahib was an ally of the French and annexed the Madurai Nayak and was declared as the Nawab
of Tanjore. He was weakened by constant Maratha attacks and was defeated by Muhammed Ali Khan
Wallajah who was allied to Nasir Jung.
• After his forces were defeated by Robert Clive and the Maratha Empire he attempted to recuperate his
losses but was beheaded in a mutiny by Hindu subjects in the Tanjore army.

E
• After 1749 the growing influences of the English and the French and their colonial wars had a huge impact
on the Carnatic.
•

•
OR
Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah supported the English against the French and Hyder Ali, placing
him heavily in debt. As a result he had to surrender much of his territory to the East India Company.
The thirteenth Nawab, Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan (1825-1855), died without issue, and the
British annexed the Carnatic Nawabdom, applying the doctrine of lapse.
SC
• Ghouse Khan’s uncle Azim Jah was created the first Prince of Arcot (Amir-e-Arcot) in 1867 by Queen
Victoria, and was given a tax free-pension in perpetuity.
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THE MARATHA
• The emergence and growth of the Maratha state during the 17th century was an important episode in the
history of India.
• The Territory which includes modern state of Bombay Konkan, Kandesh, Berar, part of Madhya Pradesh,
and part of Hyderabad state was Maratha state.

E
OR
SC
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• The physical environment of the Maratha country shaped certain peculiar qualities among the Marathas.
The mountainous region and dense forests made them brave soldiers and adopt guerilla tactics. The
Marathas built a number of forts on the mountains.
• The spread of the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra inculcated a spirit of religious unity among them.
The spiritual leaders like Tukaram, Ramdas, Vaman Pandit and Eknath fostered social unity.
• The political unity was conferred by Shivaji. The Marathas held important positions in the administrative
and military systems of Deccan Sultanates of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar. There were a number of influential
Maratha families such as the Mores and Nimbalkers. But the credit of establishing a powerful Maratha
state goes to Shahji Bhonsle and his son Shivaji.
SHIVAJI (1627-1680)
• Shivaji was born at Shivner in 1627.
• His father was Shahji Bhonsle and mother Jija Bai.
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• He inherited the jagir of Poona from his father in 1637.

• After the death of his guardian, Dadaji Kondadev in 1647, Shivaji assumed full charge of his jagir. Even
before that he conquered Raigarh, Kondana and Torna from the ruler of Bijapur.
• He captured Javli from a Maratha chief, Chanda Rao More. This made him the master of Mavala region.
• In 1657, he attacked the Bijapur kingdom and captured a number of hill forts in the Konkan region.
• The Sultan of Bijapur sent Afzal Khan against Shivaji, but Afzal Khan was murdered by Shivaji in 1659
in a daring manner.
• The Mughal emperor Aurangazeb sent the Mughal governor of the Deccan, Shaista Khan against Shivaji.
Shivaji suffered a defeat at the hands of the Mughal forces and lost Poona. But Shivaji once again made
a bold attack on Shaista Khan’s military camp at Poona in 1663, killed his son and wounded Khan. This
daring attack affected the prestige of Khan and he was recalled by Aurangazeb.
• In 1664, Shivaji attacked Surat, the chief port of the Mughals and plundered it. This time Aurangazeb

E
sent Raja Jai Singh of Amber to fight against Shivaji. He made elaborate preparations and succeeded in
besieging the Purander fort where Shivaji lodged his family and treasure.
•
OR
Shivaji opened negotiations with Jai Singh and the Treaty of Purander was signed in 1665. According to
the treaty, Shivaji had to surrender 23 forts to the Mughals out of 35 forts held by him. The remaining
12 forts were to be left to Shivaji on condition of service and loyalty to Mughal empire.
• On the other hand, the Mughals recognized the right of Shivaji to hold certain parts of the Bijapur
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kingdom. As Shivaji asked to exempt him from personal service to the Mughals, his minor son Shambaji
was granted a mansab of 5000.
• Shivaji visited Agra in 1666 but he was imprisoned there, but, he managed to escape from prison and made
military preparations and renewed his wars against the Mughals.
• Surat was plundered by him for the second time in 1670. He also captured all his lost territories by his
conquests.
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• In 1674 Shivaji crowned himself at Raigarh and assumed the title Chatrapathi.
• He led an expedition into the Carnatic region and captured Ginjee and Vellore. After his return from this
expedition, Shivaji died in 1680.
Shivaji’s administration
• Shivaji had laid the foundation of a sound system of administration and his administrative system was
largely borrowed from the administrative practices of the Deccan state.
• Like all other medieval rulers, Shivaji was a despot with all powers concentrated in his hands. He possessed
all executive and legislative power.
• Shivaji was a great organizer and constructive civilian administrator. The one of the novelty of Shivajis
administration was the introduction of Maratha language as the state language.
(1) Central Administration
• The king was at the helm of the affairs.
• The administration was divided into eight departments headed by ministers who are sometimes called
Ashtapradhan.
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• The eight ministers were:

(i) Peshwa who looked after the finances and general administration.
(ii) Sari-Naubat who was the Senapati.
(iii) Majumdar looked after the accounts.
(iv) Waqai navis looked after the intelligence, post and household affairs.
(v) Surnavis or Chitnis looked after official correspondence.
(vi) Dabir looked after foreign affairs.
(vii) Nyayadhish looked after justice.
(viii) Pandit Rao looked after ecclesiastical affairs.
• The ashtapradhan was not a creation of Shivaji and many of these officers like Peshwa, Majumdar, Waqai
navis, Dabir and Surnavis had existed under the Deccani rulers also.

E
• All the members of the asthapradhan except Pandit Rao and Nyaydhish were asked to lead military
campaigns.
OR
• Under Shivaji these offices were neither hereditary nor permanent and held the office at the pleasure of
the king. They were also frequently transferred.
• Each of the ashtapradhan was assisted by eight assistants diwan, Majumdar, Fadnis, Sabnis; Karkhanis,
Chitnis, Jamadar and Potnis. Chitnis dealt with all diplomatic correspondences and wrote all royal letters.
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• The Fadnis used to respond to the letters of commanders of the forts.

• The Potnis looked after the income and expenditure of the royal treasury.
(ii) Provincial and Local Administration
• The provincial administration was also organized on the Deccani and Mughal system.
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• All the provincial units already existed under the Deccani rulers. Shivaji reorganized and in certain cases
renamed them.
• The provinces were known as Prants. The Prants were under the charge of Subedar.
• Over a number of Subedar there were Sarsubedar to control and supervise the work of Subedar.
• Smaller than Prant were Tarfs which were headed by a Havaldar.
• Under Tarfs there were Mauzas or villages which were the lowest unit of administration.
• At the level of village, Kulkarni used to keep accounts and maintained records while Patil had legal and
policing power.
• At the level of Pargana, Deshpande used to keep account and maintain records while Deshmukh had legal
and policing powers.
• The Police officer in rural area was called Faujdar and in urban area was called Kotwal.
• The Maratha polity did not have unified civilian-cum-military rank.
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• Under the Marathas performance based Brahmin elites manned the central bureaucracy and the local
administration. In this capacity they were called Kamvishdar who enjoyed wide powers of tax assessment
and collection. They adjudicated cases, provided information about local conditions and kept records.
Later on, the British District collector was modelled on this Maratha officer only.
Army
• Cavalry and infantry constituted the primary part of the army.
• The Paga cavalrymen were called the Bargirs. They were provided horses by the state while the Silahdars
purchased their armies and horses themselves.
• The Paga cavalry was well organized. Twenty five horsemen formed a unit which was placed under a
Havildar.
• Shivaji preferred to give cash salaries to the regular soldiers, though some time the chief received revenue
grants.

E
• Strict disciplines was maintained in the army. The plunder taken by each soldiers during campaign was
strictly accounted for in the army organization of Shivaji.
•
OR
Shivaji maintained a navy as well. The navy was divided into two parts and each part was commanded
by Darive Nayak and Mai Nayak respectively.
Finance and Revenue
• The revenue system seems to have been patterned on the system of Malik Ambar land revenue; Trade
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Tax etc. were the primary source of the fixed income of Shivaji.
• But income from these sources was not sufficient to meet the expenditure of the state. Therefore Shivaji
collected the Chauth and Sardeshmukhi from the territory which was either under his enemies or under
his own influence.
• The chauth was 1/4 part of the income of the particular territory while the Sardeshmukhi was 1/10.
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Shivaji collected these taxes simply by force of his army. These taxes constituted primary source of the
income of Shivaji and after wards helped in the extension of the power and territory of the Marathas.
• The revenue system of Shivaji was Rytowari in which the state kept direct contact with peasants.
• Shivaji mostly avoided the system of assigning Jagir to his officers and whenever he assigned Jagir to
them, the right of collecting the revenue was kept with state officials.
Successors of Shivaji
• There ensued a war of succession after the death of Shivaji between his sons, Shambaji and Rajaram and
Shambaji emerged victorious but later he was captured and executed by the Mughals.
• Rajaram succeeded the throne but the Mughals made him to flee to the Ginjee fort. He died at Satara.
• Rajaram was succeeded by his minor son Shivaji II with his mother Tara Bai as regent.
• The next ruler was Shahu in whose reign the Peshwas rose to power.
THE PESHWAS (1713-1818)
Balaji Viswanath (1713-1720)
• Balaji Viswanath began his career as a small revenue official and became Peshwa in 1713.
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• As Peshwa, he made his position the most important and powerful as well as hereditary.
• He played a crucial role in the civil war and finally made Shahu as the Maratha ruler.
• He sought the support of all Maratha leaders for Shahu.
• In 1719, Balaji Viswanath got certain rights from the then Mughal emperor, Farukh Siyar.
– First, the Mughal emperor recognized Shahu as the Maratha king.
– Second, he allowed Shahu to collect Chauth and Sardeshmukhi from the six Mughal provinces of
the Deccan including the Carnatic and Mysore.
Baji Rao I (1720-1740)
• Baji Rao was the eldest son of Balaji Viswanath and he succeeded his father as Peshwa at the age young
of twenty.
• The Maratha power reached its zenith under him.

E
• He initiated the system of confederacy among the Maratha chiefs. Under this system, each Maratha chief
was assigned a territory which could be administered autonomously.
OR
• As a result, many Maratha families became prominent and established their authority in different parts
of India.
• They were the Gaekwad at Baroda, the Bhonsle at Nagpur, the Holkars at Indore, the Scindias at Gwalior,
and the Peshwas at Poona.
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Balaji Baji Rao (1740-1761)

• Balaji Baji Rao succeeded his father as Peshwa at the young age of nineteen.
• The Maratha king Shahu died in 1749 without issue. His nominated successor Ramraja was imprisoned
by the Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao at Satara.
• The full control of the Maratha kingdom came under the Peshwa.
GS

• Peshwa entered into an agreement with the Mughal Emperor in 1752. According to it, the Peshwa gave
assurance to the Mughal Emperor that he would protect the Mughal Empire from internal and external
enemies for which the Chauth of the northwest provinces and the total revenue of the Agra and Ajmer
provinces would be collected by the Marathas.
• Thus when Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India, it became the responsibility of the Marathas to protect
India. The Marathas fought very bravely against Ahmad Shah Abdali in the third Battle of Panipat in
1761. But they got defeated. Many Maratha leaders and thousands of soldiers died in this battle.
• Balaji Baji Rao also died on hearing the news of defeat at the battle of Panipat. Also, this battle gave a
deadly blow to the Maratha power. Thereafter, the Maratha confederacy weakened due to internal conflicts
among the Maratha chiefs.
The Bhonsles
• The line at Nagpur Bhonsles was subordinate to the Satara rulers.
• A crucial figure from this line was Raghuji Bhonsle (ruled 1727-55), who was responsible for the Maratha
incursions on Bengal and Bihar in the 1740s and early 1750s.
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• The relations of his successors, Janoji, Sabaji, and Mudhoji, with the Peshwas and the Satara line of
Bhonsles were varying, and it is in this sense that these domains can be regarded as only loosely
confederated, rather than tightly bound together.
• Other subordinate rulers who emerged under the overarching umbrella provided by the Satara ruler and
his Peshwa were equally somewhat opportunistic in their use of politics.
The Gaikwads
• The Gaikwads, gathered prominence in the 1720. Initially they were subordinate not only to the Bhonsles
but also to the powerful Dabhade family.
• However, it was only after the death of Sahu, when the power of the Peshwas was further enhanced, that
the position of the Gaikwads truly improved.
• By the early 1750s, their rights on large portion of the revenues of Gujarat were recognized by the
Peshwa.

E
• The expulsion of the Mughal governor of the Gujarat province from his capital of Ahmadabad in 1752
set the seal on the process.
•

•
of trade and consumption in the area. OR
The Gaikwads preferred, however, to establish their capital in Baroda, causing realignment in the network

The rule at Baroda of Damaji (1768) was followed by a period of some turmoil.
SC
• The Gaikwads still remained partly dependent on Pune and the Peshwa, especially to intervene in moments
of succession crisis.
• The eventual successor of Damaji, Fateh Singh (ruled 1771- 89), did not remain allied to the Peshwa for
long in the late 1770s and early 1780s, and chose to negotiate a settlement with the English East India
Company, which eventually led to increased British interference in his affairs.
GS

• By 1800, the British rather than the Peshwa were the final arbiters in determining succession among the
Gaikwads, who became subordinate rulers under them in the nineteenth century.
The Holkars
• Initially the Holkars had very little political power. However by 1730s their chief Malhar Rao Holkar
consolidated his position. He was granted a large share of the chauth collection in Malwa, eastern Gujarat,
and Khandesh.
• Within a few years, Malhar Rao consolidated his own principality at Indore, from which his successors
controlled important trade routes as well as the crucial trading centre of Burhanpur.
• After Malhar Rao, control of the dynastic fortunes fell largely to his son's widow, Ahalya Bai, who ruled
from 1765 to 1794 and brought Holkar power to great glory.
The Sindhias
• The Sindhias carved a prominent place for themselves in North Indian politics in the decades following
the third battle of Panipat (1761).
• The Sindhias were based largely in central India, first at Ujjain, and later (from the last quarter of the 18th
century) in Gwalior.
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• During the long reign of Mahadaji Sindhia (1761-94) family's fortunes were truly consolidated.
• Mahadaji, proved an effective and innovative military commander. He employed a large number of
European soldiers in his force. His power grew rapidly after 1770.
• He managed to make substantial inroads into North India that had been weakened by Afghan attacks.
• He intervened with some effect in the Mughal court during the reign of Shah Alam II. The Mughal king
made him the "deputy regent" of his affairs in the mid-1780s.
• His shadow fell not only across the provinces of Delhi and Agra but also on Rajasthan and Gujarat,
making him the most formidable Maratha leader of the era.
• The officials of the East India Company were very cautious in dealing with him. His relations with the
acting Peshwa, Nana Fadnavis at Pune were fraught with tension.
• Eventually, the momentum generated by Mahadaji could not be maintained by his successor Daulat Rao
Sindhia (1794-1827), who was defeated by the British and forced by treaty in 1803 to surrender his
territories both to the north and to the west.

E
• The careers of some of these potentates, especially Mahadaji Sindhia, illustrate the potency of Mughal
symbols even in the phase of Mughal decline. For instance, after recapturing Gwalior from the British,
OR
Mahadaji took care to have his control of the town sanctioned.
After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Marathas emerged as a great power in India but they could not
succeed in preventing the establishment of British power in India. The important causes for the downfall were
that there was lack of unity among the Maratha chiefs like Holkar, Scindia and Bhonsle. Also, the superiority
of the British army and fighting methods ultimately won.
SC
GS
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INDIAN STATES AND SOCIETY IN

THE 18TH CENTURY
• With the decline of Mughal central authority, the period between 1707 and 1761 witnessed a resurgence
of regional identity that promoted both political and economic decentralization.
• In due course, the enrichment of the regions emboldened local power-holders to take up arms against the
central authority.
• However, parochial goals prevented these rebels from consolidating their interests into an effective challenge
to the empire. They relied on support from kinsfolk, peasants, and smaller zamindars.
• In conditions of conflict and the absence of coordination among the local elements, the Mughal nobles

E
assumed the role of mediating between Delhi and the localities; as the imperial group weakened further,
the nobles found themselves virtually independent, if collectively so, controlling the centre from outside.
•
• OR
The necessity of emphasizing imperial symbols was inherent in the kind of power politics that emerged.
As each of the contenders in the regions, in proportion to his strength, looked for and seized opportunities
to establish his dominance over the others in the neighbourhood, each also apprehended and resisted any
such attempt by the others.
SC
• They all needed for their spoliations a kind of legitimacy, which was conveniently available in the long-
accepted authority of the Mughal emperor. They had no fear in collectively accepting the symbolic
hegemony of the Mughal centre, which had come to coexist with their ambitions.
ECONOMIC CONDITION IN 18TH CENTURY
• The Indian villages were largely self-sufficient and imported little from outside and the means of
GS

communication were backward.

• Indian agriculture was technically backward and stagnant. The techniques of production had remained
stationary for centuries.
• The peasant tried to make up for technical backwardness by working very hard. Even though it was his
produce that supported the rest of the society, their condition was miserably inadequate.
• The state, the zamindars, the jagirdars, and the revenue-farmers tried to extract the maximum amount
from them. This was as true of the Mughal state as of the Maratha or Sikh chiefs or other successors
of the Mughal state.
• Since India was on the whole self-sufficient in handicrafts and agricultural products, it did not import
foreign goods on a large scale.
• On the other hand, its industrial and agricultural products had a steady market abroad.
• Consequently, it exported more than it imported and its trade was balanced by import of silver and gold.
In fact, India was known as a sink of precious metals.
• Extensive trade within the country and between India and other countries of Asia and Europe was carried
on under the Mughals.
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• India imported pearls, raw silk, wool, dates, dried fruits, and rose water from the Persian Gulf region;
coffee, gold, drugs, and honey from Arabia; tea, sugar, porcelain, and silk from China; gold, musk and
woolen cloth from Tibet; tin from Singapore; spices, perfumes, arrack, and sugar from the Indonesian
islands; ivory and drugs from Africa; and woolen cloth, metals such as copper, iron, and lead, and paper
from Europe.
• India's most important article of export was cotton textiles which were famous all over the world for their
excellence and were in demand everywhere. India also exported raw silk and silk fabrics, hardware, indigo,
saltpetre, opium, rice, wheat, sugar, pepper and other spices, precious stones, and drugs.
• As the old commercial centres of Surat, Masulipatnam and Dhaka degenerated, colonial port cities like
Bombay, Madras and Calcutta centres of prominence.
• But the decline of the Mughal capitals of Delhi and Agra was offset by the rise of regional capitals,
including Lucknow, Hyderabad, the various Maratha cities, and Seringapatam.
• The level of urbanization was higher in 1800 than a century before. What had changed in the urban centres
was the relative balance of power between rulers and merchants. In some instances, commercial and

E
financial magnets were arrogating to themselves the powers of the state.
• Constant warfare and disruption of law and order in many areas during the 18th century harmed the
OR
country's internal trade and disrupted its foreign trade to some extent and in some directions.
• Moreover, with the rise of autonomous provincial regimes and innumerable local chiefs, the number of
custom houses or chowkies grew by leaps and bounds.
• Every petty or large ruler tried to increase his income by imposing heavy customs duties on goods entering
SC

or passing through his territories. All these factors had an injurious effect on trade though much less than
generally believed.
• The impoverishment of the nobles, who were the largest consumers of luxury products in which trade was
conducted, also injured internal trade.
• Political factors which hurt trade also adversely affected urban industries. Many prosperous cities, centres
GS

of flourishing industry, were sacked and devastated.

• Delhi was plundered by Nadir Shah; Lahore, Delhi and Mathura by Ahmad Shah Abdali; Agra by the Jats;
Surat and other cities of Gujarat and the Deccan by Maratha chiefs; Sarhind by the Sikhs, and so on.
• Similarly, artisans catering to the needs of the feudal class and the court suffered as the fortunes of their
patrons declined. The decline of internal and foreign trade also hit them hard in some parts of the country.
• Nevertheless, some industries in other parts of the country gained as a result of expansion in trade with
Europe due to the activities of the European trading companies.
• Even so India remained a land of extensive manufactures. Indian artisans still enjoyed fame all the world
over for their skill.
• The important centres of textile industry during this period were Dacca and Murshidabad in Bengal, Patna
in Bihar, Surat, Ahmedabad and Broach in Gujarat, Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, Burhanpur in Maharashtra,
Jaunpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, and Agra in U.P., Multan and Lahore in the Punjab, Masulipatam, Aurangabad,
Chicacole and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra, Bangalore in Mysore, and Coimbatore and Madurai in Madras.
• Kashmir was a centre of woolen manufactures. Ship-building industry flourished in Maharashtra, Andhra,
and Bengal.
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• Writing about the great skill of Indians in this respect, an English observer wrote: "in ship-building they
probably taught the English far more than they learnt from them."
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL LIFE
• The society was divided into multi layered identities on the basis of religion, region, tribe, language, class
and caste.
• Caste was the central feature of the social life of the Hindus. Apart from the four varnas, Hindus were
divided into numerous castes (Jatis) which differed in their nature from place to place.
• The caste system rigidly divided people and permanently fixed their place in the social scale and was the
major divisive force and element of disintegration in the India of 18th century. It often split Hindus living
in the same village or region into many social atoms.
• It was, of course, possible for a person to acquire a higher social status by acquisition of high office or
power, as did the Holkar family in the I8th century. Sometimes, though not often, an entire caste would

E
succeed in raising itself in the caste hierarchy.
• Muslims were no less divided by considerations of caste, race, tribe, and status, even though their religion

•
•
enjoined social equality.
OR
The Shia and Sunni nobles were sometimes at loggerheads on account of their religious differences.
The Irani, Afghan, Turani, and Hindustani Muslim nobles and officials often stood apart from each other.
SC
• A large number of Hindus converted to Islam carried their caste into the new religion and observed its
distinctions, though not as rigidly as before.
• Moreover, the Sharif Muslims consisting of nobles, scholars, priests, and army officers, looked down upon
the Ajlaf Muslims or the lower class Muslims in a manner similar to that adopted by the higher caste
Hindus towards the lower caste Hindus.
GS

• A friendly relation between Hindus and Muslims was a very healthy feature of life in 18th century India.
Even though the nobles and chiefs of the time fought each other incessantly, their fights and their alliances
were seldom based on distinctions of religion. In other words, their politics were essentially secular.
• All people, high or low, respected one another's religion and a spirit of tolerance, even harmony, prevailed.
This was particularly true of the common people in the villages and towns who fully shared one another's
joys and sorrows, irrespective of religious affiliations.
• Hindus and Muslims cooperated in non-religious spheres such as social life and cultural affairs. The
evolution of a composite Hindu-Muslim culture, and of common ways and attitudes, continued unchecked.
• Hindu writers often wrote in Persian while Muslim writers wrote in Hindi, Bengali, and other vernaculars,
often dealing with subjects of Hindu social life and religion, such as Radha and Krishna, Sita and Ram,
and Nal and Damyanti.
• The development of Urdu language and literature provided a new meeting ground between Hindus and
Muslims.
• Even in the religious sphere, the mutual influence and respect that had been developing in the last few
centuries as a result of the spread of the Bhakti movement among Hindus and Sufism among Muslims
continued to grow.
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• A large number of Hindus worshipped Muslim saints and many Muslims showed equal veneration for
Hindu gods and saints.
• Muslim rulers, nobles, and commoners paricipated in the Hindu festivals such as Holi, Diwali, and Durga
Puja, just as Hindus participated in the Muharram processions.
• It is noteworthy that Raja Ram Mohan Roy, was influenced in an equal measure by the Hindu and the
Islamic philosophical and religious systems.
• People of one region had far greater cultural synthesis irrespective of religion than people following the
same religion spread over different regions. People living in the villages also tended to have a different
pattern of social and cultural life than that of the town dwellers.
• The family system in the 18th century India was primarily patriarchal, that is, the family was dominated
by the senior male member and inheritance was through the male line.
• In Kerala, however, the family was matrilineal.
• Women were subjected to nearly complete male control. They were expected to live as mothers and wives

E
only, though in these roles they were shown a great deal of respect and honour. Even during war and
anarchy women were seldom molested and were treated with respect.
OR
• But the women, of the time possessed little individuality of their own. There were also exceptions to this
rule like Ahilya Bai administered Indore with great success from 1766 to 1796. Many other Hindu and
Muslim ladies played important roles in 18th century politics.
• While women of the upper classes were not supposed to work outside their homes, peasant women
SC

usually worked in the fields. A women of the poorer classes often worked outside their homes to supplement
the family income.
• The purdah was common mostly among the higher classes in the North. It was not practiced in the South.
• Women were expected to marry only once in her life-time. The custom of early marriage prevailed all over
the country. Sometimes children were married when they were only three or four years of age.
GS

• Among the upper classes, the evil customs of incurring heavy expenses on marriages and of giving dowry
to the bride prevailed. The evil of dowry was especially widespread in Bengal and Rajputana. In Maharashtra
it was curbed to some extent by the energetic steps taken by the Peshwas.
• Two great social evils of the 18th century India, apart from the caste system, were the custom of sati
and the condition of widows.
• Sati was mostly prevalent in Rajputana, Bengal and other parts of northern India. In the South it was
uncommon and the Marathas did not encourage it. Even in Rajputana and Bengal it was practiced only
by the families of rajas, chiefs, big zamindars and upper castes.
• Widows belonging to the higher classes ould not remarry, though in some regions and in some castes, few
examples, among non-Brahmins in Maharashtra, the Jats and people of the hilly regions of the North,
widow remarriage was quite common.
• In general, she was expected to renounce all the pleasures of the earth and to serve selflessly the members
of her husband's or her brother's family, depending on where she spent the remaining years of her life.
• Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber and the Maratha General Prashuram Bhau tried to promote widow
remarriage but failed.
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• Cultural continuity with the preceding centuries was, of course, maintained but at the same time culture
remained wholly traditionalist.
• Cultural activities of the time were mostly financed by the Royal Court, rulers, and nobles and chiefs
whose impoverishment led to their gradual neglect.
• The most rapid decline occurred precisely in those branches of arts which depended on the patronage of
kings, princes, and nobles.
• This was true most of all of Mughal architecture and painting. Many of the painters of the Mughal school
migrated to provincial courts and flourished at Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kashmir, and Patna.
• At the same time new schools of painting were born and achieved distinction. The paintings of Kangra
and Rajput Schools revealed new vitality and taste.
• In the field of architecture, the Imambara of Lucknow reveals proficiency in technique but decadence in
architectural taste. The city of Jaipur and its buildings give an example of continuing vigour.

E
• Music continued to develop and flourish in the 18th century. Significant progress was made in this field
in the reign of Muhammad Shah.
•

•
OR
The main weakness of Indian culture lay in the field of science. Throughout the 18th century India
remained far behind the West in science and technology.
The Indians who had in earlier ages made vital contributions in the fields of mathematics and natural
sciences, had been neglecting the sciences for several centuries.
SC
• The Indians remained almost wholly ignorant of the scientific, cultural, political, and economic achievements
of the West.
• The 18th century Indian rulers did not show any interest in things western except in weapons of war and
techniques of military training.
• This weakness in the realm of science was to a large extent responsible for the total subjugation of India
GS

by the most advanced country of the time.

LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION
• Indian languages lost its touch with life and became decorative, artificial, mechanical and traditional.
• Its pessimism reflected the prevailing sense of despair and cynicism, while its content reflected the
impoverishment of the spiritual life of its patrons, the feudal nobles and kings.
• A noteworthy feature of the literary life of the 18th century was the spread of Urdu language and the
vigorous growth of Urdu poetry.
• Urdu gradually became the medium of social intercourse among the upper classes of northern India.
While Urdu poetry shared, in common the weaknesses of the contemporary literature in other Indian
languages, it produced brilliant poets like Mir, Sauda, Nazir, and in the 19th century, the great genius Mirza
Ghalib.
• Similarly, there was a revival of Malayalam literature, especially under the patronage of the Travancore
rulers, Martanda Varma and Rama Varma.
• One of the great poets of Kerala, Kunchan Nambiar, who wrote popular poetry in the language of daily
usage, lived at this time.
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• The 18th century Kerala also witnessed the full development of Kathakali literature, drama and dance.
The Padmanabhan Palace with its remarkable architecture and mural paintings was also constructed in the
18th century.
• Tayaumanavar (1706-44) was one of the best exponents of sittar poetry in Tamil in line with other sitar
poets, he protested against the abuses of temple-nile and the caste system.
• In Assam, literature developed under the patronage of the Ahom kings.
• Dayaram, cue of the great lyricists of Gujarat, wrote during the second half of the 18th century.
• Heer Ranjha, the famous romantic epic in Punjabi, was composed-at this time by Waris Shah.
• For Sindhi literature, the 18th century was a period of enormous achievement. Shah Abdul Latif composed
his famous collection of poems, Shah Jo Risalo. Sachal and Sami were the other great Sindhi poets of the
century.
• Education was not completely neglected in 18th century India, but could not change according to the
requirements of the time.

E
• It was traditional and out of touch with the rapid developments in the West. The curriculum was confined
to literature, languages, law, religion, philosophy and logic and excluded the study of physical and natural
OR
sciences, technology and geography.
• Nor did it concern itself with a factual and rational study of society. In all fields original thought was
discouraged and reliance placed on ancient learning.
• The centers of higher education were spread all over the country and were usually financed by nawabs,
SC

rajas, and rich zamindars.

• Interestingly enough, the average literacy was not less than what it was under the British later.
• Though the standard of primary education was inadequate by modern standards, it sufficed for the limited
purposes of those days.
• A very pleasant aspect of education then was that the teachers enjoyed high prestige in the community.
GS

• A bad feature of it was that girls were seldom given education, though some women of the higher classes
were an exception.
Notes

130