Mughal Empire
Introduction The '''Mughal Empire''' was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the frontier with Central Asia in northern Afghanistan to the northern uplands of the Deccan plateau, and from the Indus basin on the west to the Assamese highlands in the east.The Mughal Empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur, a chieftain from what is today Uzbekistan, who employed aid from the neighboring Safavid and Ottoman Empires, to defeat the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, in the First Battle of Panipat, and to sweep down the plains of North India. The Mughal imperial structure, however, is sometimes dated to 1600, to the rule of Babur's grandson, Akbar. This imperial structure lasted until 1720, until shortly after the death of the last major emperor, Aurangzeb, during whose reign the empire also achieved its maximum geographical extent. Reduced subsequently to the region in and around Old Delhi by 1760, the empire was formally dissolved by the British Raj after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.Although the Mughal Empire was created and sustained by military warfare, it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule; rather it equalized and placated them through new administrative practices, and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardized rule. The base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator, were paid in the well-regulated silver currency, and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion. The burgeoning European presence in the Indian Ocean and an increasing demand for Indian raw and finished products generated much wealth for the Mughal court. There was more conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite, resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture, especially during the reign of Shah Jahan. Among the Mughal UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South Asia are: Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Lahore Fort, Shalamar Gardens, and the Taj Mahal, which is described as "the jewel of Muslim art in India, and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."
Name The closest to an official name for the empire was '''Hindustan''', which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari. Mughal administrative records also refer to the empire as "dominion of Hindustan" (''Wilāyat-i-Hindustān''), "country of Hind" (''Bilād-i-Hind''), or "Sultanate of Al-Hind" (''Salṭanat(i) al-Hindīyyah'') as observed in the epithet of emperor Aurangzeb. Contemporary chronicles from Qing China referred to the empire as "Hindustan" (''Héndūsītǎn''). In the west, the term "Mughal" was used for the emperor, and by extension, the empire as a whole.The Mughal designation for their own dynasty was '''Gurkani''' (). The use of "Mughal" and "Moghul" derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of "Mongol", and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists. Similar transliterations had been used to refer to the empire, including "Mogul" and "Moghul". Babur's ancestors were distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture. Nevertheless, the Mughals themselves claimed ultimate descent from the founder of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan.
History === Babur and Humayun (1526–1556) ===India in 1525 just before the onset of Mughal ruleThe Mughal Empire was founded by Babur (reigned 1526–1530), a Central Asian ruler who was descended from the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur (the founder of the Timurid Empire) on his father's side, and from Genghis Khan on his mother's side. Paternally, Babur belonged to the Turkicized Barlas tribe of Mongol origin. Ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass. Babur's forces defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526.Before the battle, Babur sought divine favour by abjuring liquor, breaking the wine vessels and pouring the wine down a well.However, by this time Lodi's empire was already crumbling, and it was actually the Rajput Confederacy which was the strongest power of Northern India under the capable rule of Rana Sanga of Mewar. He defeated Babur in the Battle of Bayana. However, in the decisive Battle of Khanwa which was fought near Agra, the Timurid forces of Babur defeated the Rajput army of Sanga. This battle was one of the most decisive and historic battles in Indian history, as it sealed the fate of Northern India for the next two centuries.After the battle, the centre of Mughal power became Agra instead of Kabul. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India. The instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun (reigned 1530–1556), who was forced into exile in Persia by rebels. The Sur Empire (1540–1555), founded by Sher Shah Suri (reigned 1540–1545), briefly interrupted Mughal rule. Humayun's exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the later restored Mughal Empire. Humayun's triumphant return from Persia in 1555 restored Mughal rule in some parts of India, but he died in an accident the next year.=== Akbar to Aurangzeb (1556–1707) ===Akbar holds a religious assembly of different faiths in the Ibadat Khana in Fatehpur Sikri.Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) was born Jalal-ud-din Muhammad in the Rajput Umarkot Fort, to Humayun and his wife Hamida Banu Begum, a Persian princess. Akbar succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped consolidate the Mughal Empire in India. Through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River. He created a new ruling elite loyal to him, implemented a modern administration, and encouraged cultural developments. He increased trade with European trading companies. India developed a strong and stable economy, leading to commercial expansion and economic development. Akbar allowed freedom of religion at his court, and attempted to resolve socio-political and cultural differences in his empire by establishing a new religion, Din-i-Ilahi, with strong characteristics of a ruler cult. He left his son an internally stable state, which was in the midst of its golden age, but before long signs of political weakness would emerge.Jahangir (born Salim, reigned 1605–1627) was born to Akbar and his wife Mariam-uz-Zamani, an Indian Rajput princess. Salim was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti. He "was addicted to opium, neglected the affairs of the state, and came under the influence of rival court cliques". Jahangir distinguished himself from Akbar by making substantial efforts to gain the support of the Islamic religious establishment. One way he did this was by bestowing many more ''madad-i-ma'ash'' (tax-free personal land revenue grants given to religiously learned or spiritually worthy individuals) than Akbar had. In contrast to Akbar, Jahangir came into conflict with non-Muslim religious leaders, notably the Sikh guru Arjan, whose execution was the first of many conflicts between the Mughal empire and the Sikh community.Group portrait of Mughal rulers, from Babur to Aurangzeb, with the Mughal ancestor Timur seated in the middle. On the left: Shah Jahan, Akbar and Babur, with Abu Sa'id of Samarkand and Timur's son, Miran Shah. On the right: Aurangzeb, Jahangir and Humayun, and two of Timur's other offspring Umar Shaykh and Muhammad Sultan. Created Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658) was born to Jahangir and his wife Jagat Gosain, a Rajput princess. His reign ushered in the golden age of Mughal architecture. During the reign of Shah Jahan, the splendour of the Mughal court reached its peak, as exemplified by the Taj Mahal. The cost of maintaining the court, however, began to exceed the revenue coming in. His reign was called as "The Golden Age of Mughal Architecture". Shah Jahan extended the Mughal empire to the Deccan by ending the Nizam Shahi dynasty, and forced the Adil Shahis and Qutb Shahis to pay tribute.Shah Jahan's eldest son, the liberal Dara Shikoh, became regent in 1658, as a result of his father's illness. Dara championed a syncretistic Hindu-Muslim culture, emulating his great-grandfather Akbar. With the support of the Islamic orthodoxy, however, a younger son of Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb (), seized the throne. Aurangzeb defeated Dara in 1659 and had him executed. Although Shah Jahan fully recovered from his illness, Aurangzeb kept Shah Jahan imprisoned until his death in 1666.Aurangzeb oversaw an increase in the Islamicization of the Mughal state. He encouraged conversion to Islam, reinstated the ''jizya'' on non-Muslims, and compiled the ''Fatawa 'Alamgiri'', a collection of Islamic law. Aurangzeb also ordered the execution of the Sikh guru Tegh Bahadur, leading to the militarization of the Sikh community. From the imperial perspective, conversion to Islam integrated local elites into the king's vision of network of shared identity that would join disparate groups throughout the empire in obedience to the Mughal emperor. His campaign to conquer South and Western India nominally increased the size of Mughal Empire, but had a ruinous effect on Mughal Empire. This campaign also had a ruinous effect on Mughal Treasury, and Emperor's absence led to a severe decline in Governance in Northern India. Marathas started expanding northwards shortly after the death of Aurangzeb, defeated the Mughals in Delhi and Bhopal, and extended their empire up to Peshawar by 1758.Aurangzeb is considered India's most controversial king, with some historians arguing his religious conservatism and intolerance undermined the stability of Mughal society, while other historians question this, noting that he built Hindu temples, employed significantly more Hindus in his imperial bureaucracy than his predecessors did, opposed bigotry against Hindus and Shia Muslims. Despite these allegations, it has been acknowledged that Emperor Aurangzeh enacted repressive policies towards non-Muslims, which also resulted to a major rebellion by the Marathas.=== Decline (1707–1857) ===Delhi under the puppet-emperor Farrukhsiyar. Effective power was held by the Sayyid Brothers|thumb|leftShah Alam II on horsebackAurangzeb's son, Bahadur Shah I, repealed the religious policies of his father and attempted to reform the administration. "However, after his death in 1712, the Mughal dynasty began to sink into chaos and violent feuds. In 1719 alone, four emperors successively ascended the throne", as figureheads under the rule of a brotherhood of nobles belonging to the Indian Muslim caste known as the Sadaat-e-Bara, whose leaders, the Sayyid Brothers, became the de facto sovereigns of the empire.During the reign of Muhammad Shah (reigned 1719–1748), the empire began to break up, and vast tracts of central India passed from Mughal to Maratha hands. As the Mughals tried to suppress the independence of Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I in the Deccan, he encouraged the Marathas to invade central and northern India. The far-off Indian campaign of Nader Shah, who had previously reestablished Iranian suzerainty over most of West Asia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, culminated with the Sack of Delhi and shattered the remnants of Mughal power and prestige. Many of the empire's elites now sought to control their own affairs, and broke away to form independent kingdoms. But, according to Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, the Mughal Emperor continued to be the highest manifestation of sovereignty. Not only the Muslim gentry, but the Maratha, Hindu, and Sikh leaders took part in ceremonial acknowledgments of the emperor as the sovereign of India.Meanwhile, some regional polities within the increasingly fragmented Mughal Empire, involved themselves and the state in global conflicts, leading only to defeat and loss of territory during the Carnatic Wars and the Bengal War.The remnants of the empire in 1751The Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II (1759–1806) made futile attempts to reverse the Mughal decline. Third Battle of Panipat was fought between the Maratha Empire and the Afghans (led by Abdali) in 1761 in which Afghans were victorious. In 1771, the Marathas recaptured Delhi from Afghan control and in 1784 they officially became the protectors of the emperor in Delhi, a state of affairs that continued until the Second Anglo-Maratha War. Thereafter, the British East India Company became the protectors of the Mughal dynasty in Delhi. The British East India Company took control of the former Mughal province of Bengal-Bihar in 1793 after it abolished local rule (Nizamat) that lasted until 1858, marking the beginning of British colonial era over the Indian subcontinent. By 1857 a considerable part of former Mughal India was under the East India Company's control. After a crushing defeat in the war of 1857–1858 which he nominally led, the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was deposed by the British East India Company and exiled in 1858.Zafar was exiled to Rangoon, Burma. His wife Zeenat Mahal and some of the remaining members of the family accompanied him. At 4 am on 7 October 1858, Zafar along with his wives, two remaining sons began his journey towards Rangoon in bullock carts escorted by 9th Lancers under command of Lieutenant Ommaney. Through the Government of India Act 1858 the British Crown assumed direct control of East India Company-held territories in India in the form of the new British Raj. In 1876 the British Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India.Portrait of Bahadur Shah II=== Causes of decline ===Historians have offered numerous explanations for the rapid collapse of the Mughal Empire between 1707 and 1720, after a century of growth and prosperity. In fiscal terms, the throne lost the revenues needed to pay its chief officers, the emirs (nobles) and their entourages. The emperor lost authority, as the widely scattered imperial officers lost confidence in the central authorities, and made their own deals with local men of influence. The imperial army, bogged down in long, futile wars against the more aggressive Marathas, lost its fighting spirit. Finally came a series of violent political feuds over control of the throne. After the execution of Emperor Farrukhsiyar in 1719, local Mughal successor states took power in region after region.Contemporary chroniclers bewailed the decay they witnessed, a theme picked up by the first British historians who wanted to underscore the need for a British-led rejuvenation.==== Modern views on the decline ====Since the 1970s historians have taken multiple approaches to the decline, with little consensus on which factor was dominant. The psychological interpretations emphasise depravity in high places, excessive luxury, and increasingly narrow views that left the rulers unprepared for an external challenge. A Marxist school (led by Irfan Habib and based at Aligarh Muslim University) emphasises excessive exploitation of the peasantry by the rich, which stripped away the will and the means to support the regime. Karen Leonard has focused on the failure of the regime to work with Hindu bankers, whose financial support was increasingly needed; the bankers then helped the Maratha and the British. In a religious interpretation, some scholars argue that the Hindu powers revolted against the rule of a Muslim dynasty. Finally, other scholars argue that the very prosperity of the Empire inspired the provinces to achieve a high degree of independence, thus weakening the imperial court.Jeffrey G. Williamson has argued that the Indian economy went through deindustrialization in the latter half of the 18th century as an indirect outcome of the collapse of the Mughal Empire, with British rule later causing further deindustrialization. According to Williamson, the decline of the Mughal Empire led to a decline in agricultural productivity, which drove up food prices, then nominal wages, and then textile prices, which led to India losing a share of the world textile market to Britain even before it had superior factory technology. Indian textiles, however, still maintained a competitive advantage over British textiles up until the 19th century.
Administration and state India in 1605 and the end of emperor Akbar's reign; the map shows the different subahs, or provinces, of his administrationThe Mughal Empire had a highly centralised, bureaucratic government, most of which was instituted during the rule of the third Mughal emperor Akbar. The central government was headed by the Mughal emperor; immediately beneath him were four ministries. The finance/revenue ministry, headed by an official called a ''diwan'', was responsible for controlling revenues from the empire's territories, calculating tax revenues, and using this information to distribute assignments. The ministry of the military (army/intelligence) was headed by an official titled ''mir bakhshi'', who was in charge of military organisation, messenger service, and the ''mansabdari'' system. The ministry in charge of law/religious patronage was the responsibility of the ''sadr as-sudr,'' who appointed judges and managed charities and stipends. Another ministry was dedicated to the imperial household and public works, headed by the ''mir saman''. Of these ministers, the ''diwan'' held the most importance, and typically acted as the ''wazir'' (prime minister) of the empire.=== Administrative divisions ===The empire was divided into ''Subah'' (provinces), each of which were headed by a provincial governor called a ''subadar.'' The structure of the central government was mirrored at the provincial level; each ''suba'' had its own ''bakhshi'', ''sadr as-sudr'', and finance minister that reported directly to the central government rather than the ''subahdar''. ''Subas'' were subdivided into administrative units known as ''sarkars,'' which were further divided into groups of villages known as ''parganas.'' Mughal government in the ''pargana'' consisted of a Muslim judge and local tax collector. ''Parganas'' were the basic administrative unit of the Mughal empire.Mughal administrative divisions were not static. Territories were often rearranged and reconstituted for better administrative control, and to extend cultivation. For example, a ''sarkar'' could turn into a ''subah'', and ''parganas'' were often transferred between ''sarkars''. The hierarchy of division was ambiguous sometimes, as a territory could fall under multiple overlapping jurisdictions. Administrative divisions were also vague in their geography – the Mughal state did not have enough resources or authority to undertake detailed land surveys, and hence the geographical limits of these divisions were not formalised and maps not created. The Mughals instead recorded detailed statistics about each division, in order to assess the territory's capacity for revenue, on the basis of simpler land surveys.=== Capitals ===The Mughals had multiple imperial capitals, established over the course of their rule. These were the cities of Agra, Delhi, Lahore, and Fatehpur Sikri. Power often shifted back and forth between these capitals. Sometimes this was necessitated by political and military demands, but shifts also occurred for ideological reasons (for example, Akbar's establishment of Fatehpur Sikri), or even simply because the cost of establishing a new capital was marginal. Situations where there were two simultaneous capitals happened multiple times in Mughal history. Certain cities also served as short-term, provincial capitals, as was the case with Aurangzeb's shift to Aurangabad in the Deccan. Kabul was the summer capital of Mughals from 1526 to 1681.The imperial camp, used for military expeditions and royal tours, also served as a kind of mobile, "de facto" administrative capital. From the time of Akbar, Mughal camps were huge in scale, accompanied by numerous personages associated with the royal court, as well as soldiers and labourers. All administration and governance was carried out within them. The Mughal Emperors spent a significant portion of their ruling period within these camps.After Aurangzeb, the Mughal capital definitively became the walled city of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi).=== Law ===thumbThe Mughal Empire's legal system was context-specific and evolved over the course of the empire's rule. Being a Muslim state, the empire employed ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence) and therefore the fundamental institutions of Islamic law such as those of the ''qadi'' (judge), ''mufti'' (jurisconsult), and ''muhtasib'' (censor and market supervisor) were well-established in the Mughal Empire. However, the dispensation of justice also depended on other factors, such as administrative rules, local customs, and political convenience. This was due to Persianate influences on Mughal ideology, and the fact that the Mughal Empire governed a non-Muslim majority. Scholar Mouez Khalfaoui notes that legal institutions in the Mughal Empire systemically suffered from the corruption of local judges.==== Legal ideology ====The Mughal Empire followed the Sunni Hanafi system of jurisprudence. In its early years, the empire relied on Hanafi legal references inherited from its predecessor, the Delhi Sultanate. These included the ''al-Hidayah'' (the best guidance) and the ''Fatawa al-Tatarkhaniyya'' (religious decisions of the Emire Tatarkhan). During the Mughal Empire's peak, the ''Fatawa 'Alamgiri'' was commissioned by Emperor Aurangzeb. This compendium of Hanafi law sought to serve as a central reference for the Mughal state that dealt with the specifics of the South Asian context. The Mughal Empire also drew on Persianate notions of kingship. Particularly, this meant that the Mughal emperor was considered the supreme authority on legal affairs.==== Courts of law ====Various kinds of courts existed in the Mughal empire. One such court was that of the ''qadi''. The Mughal ''qadi'' was responsible for dispensing justice; this included settling disputes, judging people for crimes, and dealing with inheritances and orphans. The ''qadi'' also had additional importance with regards to documents, as the seal of the ''qadi'' was required to validate deeds and tax records. ''Qadis'' did not constitute a single position, but made up a hierarchy. For example, the most basic kind was the ''pargana'' (district) ''qadi''. More prestigious positions were those of the ''qadi al-quddat'' (judge of judges) who accompanied the mobile imperial camp, and the ''qadi-yi lashkar'' (judge of the army). ''Qadis'' were usually appointed by the emperor or the ''sadr-us-sudr'' (chief of charities). The jurisdiction of the ''qadi'' was availed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.The ''jagirdar'' (local tax collector) was another kind of official approached, especially for high-stakes cases. Subjects of the Mughal Empire also took their grievances to the courts of superior officials who held more authority and punitive power than the local ''qadi''. Such officials included the ''kotwal'' (local police), the ''faujdar'' (an officer controlling multiple districts and troops of soldiers), and the most powerful, the ''subahdar'' (provincial governor). In some cases, the emperor themself dispensed justice directly. Jahangir was known to have installed a "chain of justice" in the Agra Fort that any aggrieved subject could shake to get the attention of the emperor and bypass the inefficacy of officials.Self-regulating tribunals operating at the community or village level were common, but sparse documentation of them exists. For example, it is unclear how ''panchayats'' (village councils) operated in the Mughal era.
Economy The economy in the Indian Subcontinent during the Mughal era performed just as it did in ancient times, though now it would face the stress of extensive regional tensions. The Mughal economy was large and prosperous. India was producing 24.5% of the world's manufacturing output up until 1750.India's economy has been described as a form of proto-industrialization, like that of 18th-century Western Europe prior to the Industrial Revolution.The Mughals were responsible for building an extensive road system, creating a uniform currency, and the unification of the country. The empire had an extensive road network, which was vital to the economic infrastructure, built by a public works department set up by the Mughals which designed, constructed and maintained roads linking towns and cities across the empire, making trade easier to conduct.The main base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator, were paid in the well-regulated silver currency, and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.=== Coinage ===Coin of Aurangzeb, minted in Kabul, dated 1691/2The Mughals adopted and standardised the rupee (''rupiya'', or silver) and dam (copper) currencies introduced by Sur Emperor Sher Shah Suri during his brief rule. The currency was initially 48 dams to a single rupee in the beginning of Akbar's reign, before it later became 38 dams to a rupee in the 1580s, with the dam's value rising further in the 17th century as a result of new industrial uses for copper, such as in bronze cannons and brass utensils. The dam was initially the most common coin in Akbar's time, before being replaced by the rupee as the most common coin in succeeding reigns. The dam's value was later worth 30 to a rupee towards the end of Jahangir's reign, and then 16 to a rupee by the 1660s. The Mughals minted coins with high purity, never dropping below 96%, and without debasement until the 1720s.Despite India having its own stocks of gold and silver, the Mughals produced minimal gold of their own, but mostly minted coins from imported bullion, as a result of the empire's strong export-driven economy, with global demand for Indian agricultural and industrial products drawing a steady stream of precious metals into India. Around 80% of Mughal India's imports were bullion, mostly silver, with major sources of imported bullion including the New World and Japan, which in turn imported large quantities of textiles and silk from the Bengal Subah province.=== Labour ===The historian Shireen Moosvi estimates that in terms of contributions to the Mughal economy, in the late 16th century, the primary sector contributed 52%, the secondary sector 18% and the tertiary sector 29%; the secondary sector contributed a higher percentage than in early 20th-century British India, where the secondary sector only contributed 11% to the economy. In terms of urban-rural divide, 18% of Mughal India's labour force were urban and 82% were rural, contributing 52% and 48% to the economy, respectively.According to Stephen Broadberry and Bishnupriya Gupta, grain wages in India were comparable to England in the 16th and 17th centuries, but diverged in the 18th century when they fell to 20-40% of England's wages. This, however, is disputed by Parthasarathi and Sivramkrishna. Parthasarathi cites his estimates that grain wages for weaving and spinning in mid-18 century Bengal and South India was comparable to Britain. Similarly, Sivramkrishna analyzed agricultural surveys conducted in Mysore by Francis Buchanan during 1800–1801, arrived at estimates using a "subsistence basket" that aggregated millet income could be almost five times subsistence level, while corresponding rice income was three times that much. That could be comparable to advance part of Europe. Due to the scarcity of data, however, more research is needed before drawing any conclusion.According to Moosvi, Mughal India had a per-capita income, in terms of wheat, 1.24% higher in the late 16th century than British India did in the early 20th century. This income, however, would have to be revised downwards if manufactured goods, like clothing, would be considered. Compared to food per-capita, expenditure on clothing was much smaller though, so relative income between 1595 and 1596 should be comparable to 1901–1910.However, in a system where wealth was hoarded by elites, wages were depressed for manual labour. In Mughal India, there was a generally tolerant attitude towards manual labourers, with some religious cults in northern India proudly asserting a high status for manual labour. While slavery also existed, it was limited largely to household servants.=== Agriculture ===Indian agricultural production increased under the Mughal Empire. A variety of crops were grown, including food crops such as wheat, rice, and barley, and non-food cash crops such as cotton, indigo and opium. By the mid-17th century, Indian cultivators begun to extensively grow two new crops from the Americas, maize and tobacco.The Mughal administration emphasised agrarian reform, which began under the non-Mughal emperor Sher Shah Suri, the work of which Akbar adopted and furthered with more reforms. The civil administration was organised in a hierarchical manner on the basis of merit, with promotions based on performance. The Mughal government funded the building of irrigation systems across the empire, which produced much higher crop yields and increased the net revenue base, leading to increased agricultural production.A major Mughal reform introduced by Akbar was a new land revenue system called ''zabt''. He replaced the tribute system, previously common in India and used by Tokugawa Japan at the time, with a monetary tax system based on a uniform currency. The revenue system was biased in favour of higher value cash crops such as cotton, indigo, sugar cane, tree-crops, and opium, providing state incentives to grow cash crops, in addition to rising market demand. Under the ''zabt'' system, the Mughals also conducted extensive cadastral surveying to assess the area of land under plow cultivation, with the Mughal state encouraging greater land cultivation by offering tax-free periods to those who brought new land under cultivation. The expansion of agriculture and cultivation continued under later Mughal emperors including Aurangzeb, whose 1665 firman edict stated: "the entire elevated attention and desires of the Emperor are devoted to the increase in the population and cultivation of the Empire and the welfare of the whole peasantry and the entire people. "Mughal agriculture was in some ways advanced compared to European agriculture at the time, exemplified by the common use of the seed drill among Indian peasants before its adoption in Europe. While the average peasant across the world was only skilled in growing very few crops, the average Indian peasant was skilled in growing a wide variety of food and non-food crops, increasing their productivity. Indian peasants were also quick to adapt to profitable new crops, such as maize and tobacco from the New World being rapidly adopted and widely cultivated across Mughal India between 1600 and 1650.Bengali farmers rapidly learned techniques of mulberry cultivation and sericulture, establishing Bengal Subah as a major silk-producing region of the world. Sugar mills appeared in India shortly before the Mughal era. Evidence for the use of a draw bar for sugar-milling appears at Delhi in 1540, but may also date back earlier, and was mainly used in the northern Indian subcontinent. Geared sugar rolling mills first appeared in Mughal India, using the principle of rollers as well as worm gearing, by the 17th century.According to economic historian Immanuel Wallerstein, citing evidence from Irfan Habib, Percival Spear, and Ashok Desai, per-capita agricultural output and standards of consumption in 17th-century Mughal India were probably higher than in 17th-century Europe and certainly higher than early 20th-century British India. The increased agricultural productivity led to lower food prices. In turn, this benefited the Indian textile industry. Compared to Britain, the price of grain was about one-half in South India and one-third in Bengal, in terms of silver coinage. This resulted in lower silver coin prices for Indian textiles, giving them a price advantage in global markets.=== Industrial manufacturing ===Up until 1750, India produced about 25% of the world's industrial output. Manufactured goods and cash crops from the Mughal Empire were sold throughout the world. Key industries included textiles, shipbuilding, and steel. Processed products included cotton textiles, yarns, thread, silk, jute products, metalware, and foods such as sugar, oils and butter. The growth of manufacturing industries in the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal era in the 17th–18th centuries has been referred to as a form of proto-industrialization, similar to 18th-century Western Europe prior to the Industrial Revolution.In early modern Europe, there was significant demand for products from Mughal India, particularly cotton textiles, as well as goods such as spices, peppers, indigo, silks, and saltpeter (for use in munitions). European fashion, for example, became increasingly dependent on Mughal Indian textiles and silks. From the late 17th century to the early 18th century, Mughal India accounted for 95% of British imports from Asia, and the Bengal Subah province alone accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia. In contrast, there was very little demand for European goods in Mughal India, which was largely self-sufficient, thus Europeans had very little to offer, except for some woolens, unprocessed metals and a few luxury items. The trade imbalance caused Europeans to export large quantities of gold and silver to Mughal India in order to pay for South Asian imports. Indian goods, especially those from Bengal, were also exported in large quantities to other Asian markets, such as Indonesia and Japan.==== Textile industry ====Miniature painting – Portrait of an Old Mughal Courtier Wearing MuslinMuslim Lady Reclining or An Indian Girl with a Hookah, painted in Dacca, 18th centuryThe largest manufacturing industry in the Mughal Empire was textile manufacturing, particularly cotton textile manufacturing, which included the production of piece goods, calicos, and muslins, available unbleached and in a variety of colours. The cotton textile industry was responsible for a large part of the empire's international trade. India had a 25% share of the global textile trade in the early 18th century. Indian cotton textiles were the most important manufactured goods in world trade in the 18th century, consumed across the world from the Americas to Japan. By the early 18th century, Mughal Indian textiles were clothing people across the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. The most important centre of cotton production was the Bengal province, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka.Bengal accounted for more than 50% of textiles and around 80% of silks imported by the Dutch from Asia, Bengali silk and cotton textiles were exported in large quantities to Europe, Indonesia, and Japan, and Bengali muslin textiles from Dhaka were sold in Central Asia, where they were known as "Dhaka textiles". Indian textiles dominated the Indian Ocean trade for centuries, were sold in the Atlantic Ocean trade, and had a 38% share of the West African trade in the early 18th century, while Indian calicos were a major force in Europe, and Indian textiles accounted for 20% of total English trade with Southern Europe in the early 18th century.The worm gear roller cotton gin, which was invented in India during the early Delhi Sultanate era of the 13th–14th centuries, came into use in the Mughal Empire sometime around the 16th century, and is still used in India through to the present day. Another innovation, the incorporation of the crank handle in the cotton gin, first appeared in India sometime during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire. The production of cotton, which may have largely been spun in the villages and then taken to towns in the form of yarn to be woven into cloth textiles, was advanced by the diffusion of the spinning wheel across India shortly before the Mughal era, lowering the costs of yarn and helping to increase demand for cotton. The diffusion of the spinning wheel, and the incorporation of the worm gear and crank handle into the roller cotton gin led to greatly expanded Indian cotton textile production during the Mughal era. Once, the Mughal emperor Akbar asked his courtiers, which was the most beautiful flower. Some said rose, from whose petals were distilled the precious ittar, others, the lotus, glory of every Indian village. But Birbal said, "The cotton boll". There was a scornful laughter and Akbar asked for an explanation. Birbal said, "Your Majesty, from the cotton boll comes the fine fabric prized by merchants across the seas that has made your empire famous throughout the world. The perfume of your fame far exceeds the scent of roses and jasmine. That is why I say the cotton boll is the most beautiful flower.=== Bengal Subah ===Great Caravanserai in Dhaka.The Bengal Subah province was especially prosperous from the time of its takeover by the Mughals in 1590 until the British East India Company seized control in 1757.Historian C. A. Bayly wrote that it was probably the Mughal Empire's wealthiest province. Domestically, much of India depended on Bengali products such as rice, silks and cotton textiles. Overseas, Europeans depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles, silks, and opium; Bengal accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia, for example, including more than 50% of textiles and around 80% of silks. From Bengal, saltpeter was also shipped to Europe, opium was sold in Indonesia, raw silk was exported to Japan and the Netherlands, and cotton and silk textiles were exported to Europe, Indonesia and Japan.Akbar played a key role in establishing Bengal as a leading economic centre, as he began transforming many of the jungles there into farms. As soon as he conquered the region, he brought tools and men to clear jungles in order to expand cultivation and brought Sufis to open the jungles to farming. Bengal was later described as the ''Paradise of Nations'' by Mughal emperors. The Mughals introduced agrarian reforms, including the modern Bengali calendar. The calendar played a vital role in developing and organising harvests, tax collection and Bengali culture in general, including the New Year and Autumn festivals. The province was a leading producer of grains, salt, fruits, liquors and wines, precious metals and ornaments.After 150 years of rule by Mughal viceroys, Bengal gained semi-independence as a dominion under the Nawab of Bengal in 1717.The Nawabs permitted European companies to set up trading posts across the region, including firms from Britain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and Austria. An Armenian community dominated banking and shipping in major cities and towns. The Europeans regarded Bengal as the richest place for trade. By the late 18th century, the British displaced the Mughal ruling class in Bengal.==== Shipbuilding industry ====Mughal India had a large shipbuilding industry, which was also largely centred in the Bengal province. Economic historian Indrajit Ray estimates shipbuilding output of Bengal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries at 223,250 tons annually, compared with 23,061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771.He also assesses ship repairing as very advanced in Bengal.An important innovation in shipbuilding was the introduction of a flushed deck design in Bengal rice ships, resulting in hulls that were stronger and less prone to leak than the structurally weak hulls of traditional European ships built with a stepped deck design. The British East India Company later duplicated the flushed deck and hull designs of Bengal rice ships in the 1760s, leading to significant improvements in seaworthiness and navigation for European ships during the Industrial Revolution.
Demographics === Population ===India's population growth accelerated under the Mughal Empire, with an unprecedented economic and demographic upsurge which boosted the Indian population by 60% to 253% in 200 years during 1500–1700.The Indian population had a faster growth during the Mughal era than at any known point in Indian history prior to the Mughal era. By the time of Aurangzeb's reign, there were a total of 455,698 villages in the Mughal Empire.The following table gives population estimates for the Mughal Empire, compared to the total population of South Asia including the regions of modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and compared to the world population: Year Mughal Empire  population Total Indian  population % of South Asian  population World  population % of world  population 1500 —  —  — 1600   89  20 1700   99  23=== Urbanization ===According to Irfan Habib Cities and towns boomed under the Mughal Empire, which had a relatively high degree of urbanization for its time, with 15% of its population living in urban centres. This was higher than the percentage of the urban population in contemporary Europe at the time and higher than that of British India in the 19th century; the level of urbanization in Europe did not reach 15% until the 19th century.Under Akbar's reign in 1600, the Mughal Empire's urban population was up to 17 million people, 15% of the empire's total population. This was larger than the entire urban population in Europe at the time, and even a century later in 1700, the urban population of England, Scotland and Wales did not exceed 13% of its total population, while British India had an urban population that was under 13% of its total population in 1800 and 9% in 1881, a decline from the earlier Mughal era. By 1700, Mughal India had an urban population of 23 million people, larger than British India's urban population of 22.3 million in 1871.Those estimates were criticised by Tim Dyson, who consider them exaggerations. According to Dyson urbanization of Mughal empire was less than 9%.The historian Nizamuddin Ahmad (1551–1621) reported that, under Akbar's reign, there were 120 large cities and 3200 townships. A number of cities in India had a population between a quarter-million and half-million people, with larger cities including Agra (in Agra Subah) with up to 800,000 people, Lahore (in Lahore Subah) with up to 700,000 people, Dhaka (in Bengal Subah) with over 1 million people, and Delhi (in Delhi Subah) with over 600,000 people.Cities acted as markets for the sale of goods, and provided homes for a variety of merchants, traders, shopkeepers, artisans, moneylenders, weavers, craftspeople, officials, and religious figures. However, a number of cities were military and political centres, rather than manufacturing or commerce centres.
Culture Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi, the poet first believed to have coined the name "''Urdu''" around 1780 AD for a language that went by a multiplicity of names before his time.The Mughal Empire was definitive in the early-modern and modern periods of South Asian history, with its legacy in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan seen in cultural contributions such as:Mir Taqi Mir, an Urdu poet of the 18th century Mughal EmpireThe Taj Mahal in the 1870s* Centralised imperial rule that consolidated the smaller polities of South Asia. * The amalgamation of Persian art and literature with Indian art.Badshahi Mosque, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan* The development of Mughlai cuisine, an amalgamation of South Asian, Iranian and Central Asian culinary styles. * The development of Mughal clothing, jewelry and fashion, utilizing richly decorated fabrics such as muslin, silk, brocade and velvet. * The Persian and Arabic language mixed with Hindi grammar, thus the development of Urdu. * The introduction of sophisticated Iranian-style waterworks and horticulture through Mughal gardening. * The introduction of Turkish baths into the Indian subcontinent. * The evolution and refinement of Mughal and Indian architecture and in turn, the development of later Rajput and Sikh palatial architecture. A famous Mughal landmark is the Taj Mahal. * The development of the Pehlwani style of Indian wrestling, a combination of Indian malla-yuddha and Persian varzesh-e bastani. * The construction of Maktab schools, where youth were taught the Quran and Islamic law such as the ''Fatawa 'Alamgiri'' in their indigenous languages. * The development of Hindustani classical music, and instruments such as the sitar.Buland Darwaza in Fatehpur Sikiri, Agra, India=== Architecture ===The Mughals made a major contribution to the Indian subcontinent with the development of their unique Indo-Persian architecture. Many monuments were built during the Mughal era by the Muslim emperors, especially Shah Jahan, including the Taj Mahal—a UNESCO World Heritage Site considered "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage", attracting 7–8 million unique visitors a year. The palaces, tombs, gardens and forts built by the dynasty stand today in Agra, Aurangabad, Delhi, Dhaka, Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Lahore, Kabul, Sheikhupura, and many other cities of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, such as:Lalbagh Fort aerial view in Dhaka, Bangladesh+IndiaPakistanBangladeshAfghanistan* Taj Mahal in Agra, India* Agra Fort in Agra, India* Buland Darwaza in Agra, India* Akbar's tomb in Sikandra, India* Tomb of Mariam-uz-Zamani in Sikandra, India* Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, India* Jama Masjid in Delhi, India* Red Fort in Delhi, India* Sunder Nursery in Delhi, India* Purana Qila in Delhi, India* Sher Mandal in Delhi, India* Pinjore Gardens in Pinjore, India* Shalimar Bagh in Srinagar, India* Nishat Bagh in Srinagar, India* Chasma Shahi in Srinagar, India* Pari Mahal in Srinagar, India* Verinag Gardens in Srinagar, India* Allahabad Fort in Prayagraj, India* Shahi Bridge in Jaunpur, India* Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad, India* Kos Minar in Haryana, India* Baoli Ghaus Ali Shah in Farrukhnagar, India* Badshahi Masjid in Lahore, Pakistan* Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, Pakistan* Lahore Fort in Lahore, Pakistan* Shahi Hammam in Lahore, Pakistan* Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan* Tomb of Jahangir in Lahore, Pakistan* Tomb of Anarkali in Lahore, Pakistan* Tomb of Nur Jahan in Lahore, Pakistan* Tomb of Asif Khan in Lahore, Pakistan* Begum Shahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan* Akbari Sarai in Lahore, Pakistan* Hiran Minar in Sheikhpura, Pakistan* Mahabat Khan Mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan* Shahi Eid Gah Mosque in Multan, Pakistan* Mausoleum of Masum Shah in Sukkur, Pakistan* Losar Baoli in Taxila, Pakistan* Makli Necropolis in Thatta, Pakistan* Shah Jahan Mosque in Thatta, Pakistan* Mughal Eidgah in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Shahi Eidgah in Sylhet, Bangladesh* Mughal Tahakhana in Chapai Nawabganj, Bangladesh* Sat Gambuj Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Masjid-e-Siraj ud-Daulah in Chittagong, Bangladesh* Allakuri Masjid in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Chawkbazar Shahi Masjid in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Laldighi Masjid in Rangpur, Bangladesh* Khan Mohammad Mridha Masjid in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Wali Khan Masjid in Chittagong, Bangladesh* Shaista Khan Masjid, in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Musa Khan Masjid, in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Shahbaz Khan Masjid, in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Kartalab Khan Masjid in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Azimpur Masjid in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Goaldi Masjid in Sonargaon, Bangladesh* Atia Masjid in Tangail, Bangladesh* Arifail Masjid in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh* Bazra Shahi Masjid in Noakhali, Bangladesh* Masjid Kur in Khulna, Bangladesh* Nayabad Masjid in Dinajpur, Bangladesh* Ghayebi Dighi Masjid in Sylhet, Bangladesh* Hussaini Dalan in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Bara Katra in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Hajiganj Fort in Narayanganj, Bangladesh* Idrakpur Fort in Munshiganj, Bangladesh* Choto Katra in Dhaka, Bangladesh* Sonakanda Fort in Narayanganj, Bangladesh* Bagh-e-Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan* Shahjahani Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan=== Art and literature ===Finial in the form of a parrot, Mughal empire, 17th century.The Mughal artistic tradition, mainly expressed in painted miniatures, as well as small luxury objects, was eclectic, borrowing from Iranian, Indian, Chinese and Renaissance European stylistic and thematic elements. Mughal emperors often took in Iranian bookbinders, illustrators, painters and calligraphers from the Safavid court due to the commonalities of their Timurid styles, and due to the Mughal affinity for Iranian art and calligraphy. Miniatures commissioned by the Mughal emperors initially focused on large projects illustrating books with eventful historical scenes and court life, but later included more single images for albums, with portraits and animal paintings displaying a profound appreciation for the serenity and beauty of the natural world. For example, Emperor Jahangir commissioned brilliant artists such as Ustad Mansur to realistically portray unusual flora and fauna throughout the empire.The literary works Akbar and Jahangir ordered to be illustrated ranged from epics like the ''Razmnama'' (a Persian translation of the Hindu epic, the ''Mahabharata'') to historical memoirs or biographies of the dynasty such as the ''Baburnama'' and ''Akbarnama'', and ''Tuzk-e-Jahangiri''. Richly-finished albums (''muraqqa'') decorated with calligraphy and artistic scenes were mounted onto pages with decorative borders and then bound with covers of stamped and gilded or painted and lacquered leather. Aurangzeb (1658–1707) was never an enthusiastic patron of painting, largely for religious reasons, and took a turn away from the pomp and ceremonial of the court around 1668, after which he probably commissioned no more paintings.Folio from ''Farhang-i-Jahangiri,'' a Persian dictionary compiled during the Mughal era.=== Language ===According to Qazvini, by the time of Shah Jahan, the emperor was only familiar with a few Turki words and showed little interest in the study of the language as a child. Though the Mughals were of Turko-Mongol origin, their reign enacted the revival and height of the Persian language in the Indian subcontinent, and by the end of the 16th-century Turki (Chagatai) was understood by relatively few at court. Accompanied by literary patronage was the institutionalisation of Persian as official and courtly language; this led to Persian reaching nearly the status of a first language for many inhabitants of Mughal India. Muzaffar Alam argues that the Mughals used Persian purposefully as the vehicle of an overarching Indo-Persian political culture, to unite their diverse empire. Persian had a profound impact on the languages of South Asia; one such language, today known as Urdu, developed in the imperial capital of Delhi in the late Mughal era. It began to be used as a literary language in the Mughal court from the reign of Shah Alam II, who described it as the language of his ''dastans'' (prose romances), and replaced Persian as the informal language of the Muslim elite. According to Mir Taqi Mir, "Urdu was the language of Hindustan by the authority of the King."
Military === Gunpowder warfare ===Mughal matchlock rifle, 16th century.Mughal India was one of the three Islamic gunpowder empires, along with the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia. By the time he was invited by Lodi governor of Lahore, Daulat Khan, to support his rebellion against Lodi Sultan Ibrahim Khan, Babur was familiar with gunpowder firearms and field artillery, and a method for deploying them. Babur had employed Ottoman expert Ustad Ali Quli, who showed Babur the standard Ottoman formation—artillery and firearm-equipped infantry protected by wagons in the centre and the mounted archers on both wings. Babur used this formation at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, where the Afghan and Rajput forces loyal to the Delhi Sultanate, though superior in numbers but without the gunpowder weapons, were defeated. The decisive victory of the Timurid forces is one reason opponents rarely met Mughal princes in pitched battle over the course of the empire's history. In India, guns made of bronze were recovered from Calicut (1504) and Diu (1533).Fathullah Shirazi (), a Persian polymath and mechanical engineer who worked for Akbar, developed an early multi gun shot. As opposed to the polybolos and repeating crossbows used earlier in ancient Greece and China, respectively, Shirazi's rapid-firing gun had multiple gun barrels that fired hand cannons loaded with gunpowder. It may be considered a version of a volley gun.Mughal musketeer, 17th century.By the 17th century, Indians were manufacturing a diverse variety of firearms; large guns in particular, became visible in Tanjore, Dacca, Bijapur and Murshidabad.=== Rocketry and explosives ===In the sixteenth century, Akbar was the first to initiate and use metal cylinder rockets known as ''bans'', particularly against war elephants, during the Battle of Sanbal. In 1657, the Mughal Army used rockets during the Siege of Bidar. Prince Aurangzeb's forces discharged rockets and grenades while scaling the walls. Sidi Marjan was mortally wounded when a rocket struck his large gunpowder depot, and after twenty-seven days of hard fighting Bidar was captured by the Mughals.In ''A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder'', James Riddick Partington described Indian rockets and explosive mines:The Indian war rockets ... were formidable weapons before such rockets were used in Europe. They had bam-boo rods, a rocket-body lashed to the rod, and iron points. They were directed at the target and fired by lighting the fuse, but the trajectory was rather erratic. The use of mines and counter-mines with explosive charges of gunpowder is mentioned for the times of Akbar and Jahangir.
Science === Astronomy ===While there appears to have been little concern for theoretical astronomy, Mughal astronomers made advances in observational astronomy and produced some ''Zij'' treatises. Humayun built a personal observatory near Delhi. According to Sulaiman Nadvi, Jahangir and Shah Jahan intended to build observatories too, but were unable to do so. The astronomical instruments and observational techniques used at the Mughal observatories were mainly derived from Islamic astronomy. In the 17th century, the Mughal Empire saw a synthesis between Islamic and Hindu astronomy, where Islamic observational instruments were combined with Hindu computational techniques.During the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Hindu king Jai Singh II of Amber continued the work of Mughal astronomy. In the early 18th century, he built several large observatories called Yantra Mandirs, in order to rival Ulugh Beg's Samarkand observatory, and in order to improve on the earlier Hindu computations in the ''Siddhantas'' and Islamic observations in ''Zij-i-Sultani''. The instruments he used were influenced by Islamic astronomy, while the computational techniques were derived from Hindu astronomy.=== Chemistry ===Sake Dean Mahomed had learned much of Mughal chemistry and understood the techniques used to produce various alkali and soaps to produce shampoo. He was also a notable writer who described the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and the cities of Allahabad and Delhi in rich detail and also made note of the glories of the Mughal Empire.In Britain, Sake Dean Mahomed was appointed as shampooing surgeon to both Kings George IV and William IV.=== Metallurgy ===One of the most remarkable astronomical instruments invented in Mughal India is the lost-wax cast, hollow, seamless, celestial globe. It was invented in Kashmir by Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman in 998 AH (1589–90 CE), and twenty other such globes were later produced in Lahore and Kashmir during the Mughal Empire. Before they were rediscovered in the 1980s, it was believed by modern metallurgists to be technically impossible to produce hollow metal globes without any seams.A 17th century celestial globe was also made by Diya’ ad-din Muhammad in Lahore, 1668 (now in Pakistan). It is now housed at the National Museum of Scotland.
List of Mughal Emperors  Portrait Titular Name Birth Name Birth Reign Death1 106x106px'''Babur'''Zahir al-Din Muhammad14 February 1483 Andijan, Uzbekistan 20 April 1526 – 26 December 153026 December 1530 (aged 47) Agra, India2 104x104px'''Humayun'''Nasir al-Din Muhammad6 March 1508 Kabul, Afghanistan26 December 1530  – 17 May 154022 February 1555 – 27 January 1556(10 years 3 months 25 days)27 January 1556 (aged 47) Delhi, India3 80px'''Akbar the Great'''Jalal al-Din Muhammad15 October 1542 Umerkot, Pakistan11 February 1556 – 27 October 1605(49 years 9 months 0 days)27 October 1605 (aged 63) Agra, India4 107x107px'''Jahangir'''Nur al-Din Muhammad31 August 1569 Agra, India3 November 1605 – 28 October 1627(21 years 11 months 23 days)28 October 1627 (aged 58) Jammu and Kashmir, India5 130x130px'''Shah Jahan'''Shihab al-Din Muhammad5 January 1592 Lahore, Pakistan19 January 1628 – 31 July 1658(30 years 8 months 25 days)22 January 1666 (aged 74) Agra, India6 80px '''Aurangzeb ''''''Alamgir'''Muhi al-Din Muhammad 3 November 1618 Gujarat, India31 July 1658 – 3 March 1707(48 years 7 months 0 days)3 March 1707 (aged 88) Ahmednagar, India7 125x125px'''Azam Shah'''Qutb al-Din Muhammad28 June 1653 Burhanpur, India14 March 1707 – 20 June 170720 June 1707 (aged 53) Agra, India8 80px'''Bahadur Shah'''Qutb al-Din Muhammad14 October 1643 Burhanpur, India19 June 1707 – 27 February 1712(4 years, 253 days)27 February 1712 (aged 68) Lahore, Pakistan9 80px'''Jahandar Shah'''Muiz al-Din Muhammad 9 May 1661 Deccan, India27 February 1712 – 11 February 1713(0 years, 350 days)12 February 1713 (aged 51) Delhi, India1080px'''Farrukh Siyar'''Muin al-Din Muhammad Puppet King Under the Sayyids of Barha20 August 1685 Aurangabad, India11 January 1713 – 28 February 1719(6 years, 48 days)19 April 1719 (aged 33) Delhi, India1180px'''Rafi ud-Darajat'''Shams al-Din MuhammadPuppet King Under the Sayyids of Barha1 December 169928 February 1719 – 6 June 1719(0 years, 98 days)6 June 1719 (aged 19) Agra, India1280px'''Shah Jahan II'''Rafi al-Din Muhammad Puppet King Under the Sayyids of Barha5 January 16966 June 1719 – 17 September 1719(0 years, 105 days)18 September 1719 (aged 23) Agra, India1380px'''Muhammad Shah'''Nasir al-Din Muhammad Puppet King Under the Sayyids of Barha7 August 1702 Ghazni, Afghanistan27 September 1719 – 26 April 1748(28 years, 212 days)26 April 1748 (aged 45) Delhi, India1480px'''Ahmad Shah Bahadur'''Mujahid al-Din Muhammad 23 December 1725 Delhi, India29 April 1748 – 2 June 1754(6 years, 37 days)1 January 1775 (aged 49) Delhi, India1580px'''Alamgir II'''Aziz al-Din Muhammad 6 June 1699 Burhanpur, India3 June 1754 – 29 November 1759(5 years, 180 days)29 November 1759 (aged 60) Kotla Fateh Shah, India1680px'''Shah Jahan III'''Muhi al-Millat 171110 December 1759 – 10 October 1760(282 days)1772 (aged 60–61)1780px'''Shah Alam II'''Jalal al-Din Muhammad Ali Gauhar 25 June 1728 Delhi, India10 October 1760 – 31 July 1788(27 years, 301 days)19 November 1806 (aged 78) Delhi, India1880px'''Shah Jahan IV'''Bidar Bakht Mahmud Shah Bahadur Jahan Shah1749 Delhi, India31 July 1788 – 11 October 1788(63 days)1790 (aged 40–41) Delhi, India1780px'''Shah Alam II'''Jalal al-Din Muhammad Ali Gauhar Puppet King under the Maratha Empire25 June 1728 Delhi, India16 October 1788 – 19 November 1806(18 years, 339 days)19 November 1806 (aged 78) Delhi, India1980px'''Akbar Shah II'''Muin al-Din Muhammad Puppet King under the East India Company22 April 1760 Mukundpur, India19 November 1806 – 28 September 1837(30 years, 321 days)28 September 1837 (aged 77) Delhi, India2080px'''Bahadur Shah II Zafar'''Abu Zafar Siraj al-Din Muhammad 24 October 1775 Delhi, India28 September 1837 – 21 September 1857(19 years, 360 days)7 November 1862 (aged 87) Rangoon, Myanmar
See also * History of India* Flags of the Mughal Empire* List of Mongol states* Mughal-Mongol genealogy* Islam in South Asia
References === Footnotes ====== Citations ====== Sources ===* * * * *
Further reading * Alam, Muzaffar. ''Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh & the Punjab, 1707–48'' (1988)* , on the causes of its collapse* * Black, Jeremy. "The Mughals Strike Twice", ''History Today'' (April 2012) 62#4 pp. 22–26.full text online* * Dale, Stephen F. ''The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals'' (Cambridge U.P. 2009)* * , on Akbar and his brother* Gommans; Jos. ''Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire, 1500–1700'' (Routledge, 2002)  online edition * Gordon, S. ''The New Cambridge History of India, II, 4: The Marathas 1600–1818'' (Cambridge, 1993). * Habib, Irfan. ''Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps'' (1982). * * * * * * * Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal. ''The Mughul Empire, 1526–1803'' (1952) online. * * === Culture ===* Berinstain, V. ''Mughal India: Splendour of the Peacock Throne'' (London, 1998). * Busch, Allison. ''Poetry of Kings: The Classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India'' (2011)  excerpt and text search * * * Schimmel, Annemarie. ''The Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art and Culture'' (Reaktion 2006)* === Society and economy ===* * Habib, Irfan. ''Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps'' (1982). * Habib, Irfan. ''Agrarian System of Mughal India'' (1963, revised edition 1999). * * * Rothermund, Dietmar. ''An Economic History of India: From Pre-Colonial Times to 1991'' (1993)=== Primary sources ===* * Hiro, Dilip, ed, ''Journal of Emperor Babur'' (Penguin Classics 2007)** ''The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor'' ed. by W.M. Thackston Jr. (2002); this was the first autobiography in Islamic literature* Jackson, A.V. et al., eds. ''History of India'' (1907) v. 9.Historic accounts of India by foreign travellers, classic, oriental, and occidental, by A.V.W. Jackson  online edition* === Older histories ===* Elliot, Sir H.M., Edited by Dowson, John. ''The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period''; published by London Trubner Company 1867–1877. (Online Copy at Packard Humanities Institute – Other Persian Texts in Translation; historical books: Author List and Title List)* * * * * * * * *
External links *  Mughal India an interactive experience from the British Museum*  The Mughal Empire, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Susan Stronge & Chandrika Kaul (''In Our Time'', 26 February 2004)*  Sunil Khilnani's "Akbar", From BBC Radio 4's Incarnations: India in 50 Lives.