The Mughals - A Dead Empire

The Mughals

The Mughal Empire was massive and covered, at its height, almost the entire subcontinent. Its significance, however, laid not only its size. Mughal emperors presided over a golden age of arts and literature in India and built some of the more famous Indian architecture still standing today. In particular, Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal that ranks as one of the wonders of the world.
The founder of the Mughal line was Babur, whom allegedly was a descendent of both Genghis Khan (a great sacker) and Tamerline (a great sacker and desecrater of non-Muslim religions and their people). In 1525 CE, armed with this almost mythological lineage (umm sounds like the Virgils claim in the Aeneid that Romans are the descendents of Troy), he marched into Punjab from his capital of Kabul, Afghanistan. With technological superiority (firearms), and consummate skill in simultaneously employing artillery (cannons) and cavalry (horseback), Babur defeated the numerically superior armies of the Sultan of Delhi at the Battle of Paniput in 1526 CE.

Despite this initial success, Babur’s son, Humayun was defeated by a powerful ruler of eastern India, Sher Shah, in 1539 and forced to withdraw to Iran. Following Sher Shah’s death in 1545, Humayun returned to claim his kingdom, eventually conquering Delhi in 1555. He died the following year and was succeeded by his young son Akbar whom, during his 49-year reign, managed to extend and consolidate his empire until he ruled over a mammoth area.




True to his name, Akbar (Great One in Arabic), was probably the greatest of the Mughals, for he not only had the military ability required of a ruler at that time, but he was also a just and wise man of culture. He saw, as previous Muslim rulers had not, that the number of Hindus in India was too great to subjugate. Although Akbar was no saint – rumours of massacres of Hindus still tarnish his legacy – he remains known for integrating Hindus into his empire and using them as advisers, generals, and administrators. Akbar also had a deep interest in spiritual matters and spent many hours in discussion with religious experts of the worlds major religions of the day.


Jehinger ascended to the throne following Akbar’s death. Despite several challenges to the authority of Jehangir himself, the empire remained more or less intact. In periods of stability, Jehangir took the opportunity to spend time in his beloved Kashmir, eventually dying on route in 1627 CE. He was succeeded by his son, Shah Jahan, who secured his position as emperor by executing all male relatives who stood in his way. During his reign, some of the most vivid, permanent, and costly reminders of Mughal influence were contructed. In addition to the Taj Majal, he also oversaw the contruction of the Red Fort in Delhi and converted Agra Fort into a palace that would later become his prison for his decadence and depletion of the Mughal Empire Treasury (can a certain village idiot have the same thing done, please …).


The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb, the youngest son, imprisoned his father (Shah Jahan) and succeeded to the throne after a two-year struggle against his brothers who by right of Primogeniture were set to inherit the kingdom. Aurangzeb, with a much depleted treasury, devoted his remaining resources to extending the empires boundaries, and fell into the same trap another previous Muslim ruler had done earlier. He, too, tried moving his capital south and imposed heavy taxes to fund his military. A combination of decaying court life and religious intolerance weakened the Mughal grip (sounds like a certain Empire of today).The empires fortunes began a descent with Delhi being sacked by another Muslim, Persia’s Nadir Shah in 1739. Then continued with a joint British-Bengali invasion led with Bengals greater numbers and Britain superior firearms.