HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

MUGHAL EMPIRE IN INDIA

THE EARLIEST MUSLIM PRESENCE IN INDIA DATES FROM 712 WITH THE ARAB CONQUEST OF SIND WHICH WAS A PART OF THE ORIGINAL EASTWARD EXPANSION OF ISLAM

HOWEVER, IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE ELEVENTH CENTURY THAT MUSLIM WARRIORS FIRST PENETRATED TO THE INDIAN HEARTLAND UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MAHMUD OF GHAZNI

FOR THE NEXT 150 YEARS THE PUNJAB AND LAHORE WERE PART OF THE GHAZNI’S EMPIRE ALTHOUGH THE RAJPUT PRINCES OF RAJASTHAN PREVENTED FURTHER PENETRATION INTO THE SUBCONTINENT

IN 1192 AN AFGHAN SULTAN, MAHMUD OF GHORI, DEFEATED AN ALLIANCE OF RAJPUT PRINCES AND CAPTURED DELHI, ONE OF THEIR PRINCIPAL CITIES

ALTHOUGH MAHMUD SOON LEFT INDIA HE MADE HIS MAMLUK (SLAVE) GENERAL QUTB AL-DIN AIBAK GOVERNOR OF DELHI

FOR THE NEXT 300 YEARS THIS PART OF INDIA WAS RULED BY VARIOUS COMPETING ISLAMIC DYNASTIES INCLUDING THE TIMURIDS

THE MUGHALS WERE AN INDIAN ISLAMIC DYNASTY

RULED MOST OF NORTHERN INDIA (INCLUDING THE AREA OF PRESENT-DAY PAKISTAN) FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH TO THE MID- EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

AS PATRONS OF ARCHITECTURE THE MUGHALS COMMISSIONED SOME OF THE FINEST BUILDINGS KNOWN TO THE WORLD INCLUDING THE RED FORT AT DELHI AND THE TAJ MAHAL

THE MUGHALS

THE FIRST MUGHAL RULER WAS BABUR WHO TRACED HIS DESCENT ON HIS MOTHER’S SIDE FROM CHENGIZ KHAN AND ON HIS FATHER’S SIDE FROM TIMUR (TAMU-RALNE)

BABUR WAS A CENTRAL ASIAN PRINCE WHO RULED THE AREA OF FARGAHNA BUT HAD SOME CLAIM TO SAMARKAND WHICH HE REPEATEDLY TRIED TO CAPTURE

IN ADDITION TO HIS DREAM OF TAKING SAMARKAND BABUR ALSO BELIEVED HE HAD SOME CLAIM TO THE DELHI SULTANATE THROUGH HIS TIMURID ANCESTORS

AT THE BATTLE OF PANIPUT IN 1526 BABUR DEFEATED IBRAHIM LODI, THE MUSLIM SULTAN OF DELHI, WITH A SMALL FORCE WHICH HAD, HOWEVER, THE ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGE OF ARTILLERY AND GUNPOWDER

A YEAR LATER THIS VICTORY WAS CONSOLIDATED BY BABUR’S DEFEAT OF THE COMBINED FORCES OF THE RAJPUT PRINCES AT KHANUNA

THREE YEARS LATER, IN 1530, BABUR DIED AT AGRA LEAVING THE SULTANATE TO HIS SON HUMAYUN

B A B U R

DESPITE THE ENORMOUS ADVANTAGES BEQUEATHED BY HIS FATHER HUMAYUN DID NOT HAVE HIS FATHER’S RUTHLESSNESS

IN 1540 LOST THE THRONE TO THE BENGALI RULER SHER KHAN

FOR THE NEXT FIFTEEN YEARS DELHI WAS RULED BY SHER KHAN AND AFTER HIS DEATH BY HIS SON ISLAM SHER SUR

HUMAYUN HAD LOST THE THRONE MOSTLY THROUGH THE TREACHERY OF HIS BROTHERS

IT WAS ONLY AFTER HE HAD DEFEATED THEM BY RECAPTURING KABUL AND KANDAHAR IN 1545 THAT HE WAS IN A POSITION TO RETAKE DELHI WHICH HE DID IN 1555 DEFEATING SHER SUR

UNFORTUNATELY HUMAYUN WAS ONLY ABLE TO ENJOY HIS POSITION FOR A YEAR AS HE DIED IN 1556 FALLING DOWN A STAIRWAY IN HIS LIBRARY IN DELHI.

H U M A Y U N

HUMAYUN LEFT THE EMPIRE TO HIS 13-YEAR-OLD SON AKBAR AND HIS TURCOMAN GUARDIAN BAIRAM KHAN

FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS THE PRINCE AND HIS GUARDIAN HAD TO FIGHT OFF RIVAL CLAIMS TO THE THRONE WHILST SECURING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE KINGDOM

AKBAR’S FIRST CONCERN ON ASSUMING FULL POWER WAS THE PACIFICATION OF THE RAJPUT PRINCES WHO CONSTANTLY THREATENED THE DELHI SULTANATE

IN 1562 AKBAR MARRIED THE DAUGHTER OF THE RAJA OF AMBER (THE NEAREST RAJPUT STATE TO DELHI LATER KNOWN AS JAIPUR) WHO BECAME THE MOTHER OF THE SULTAN’S HEIR JAHANGIR; THE BEGINNING OF A POLICY THAT HE CONTINUED WITH OTHER RAJPUT PRINCES SO THAT BY THE END OF HIS REIGN ALL WERE UNDER HIS OVERLORDSHIP ALTHOUGH WITH VARYING DEGREES OF INDEPENDENCE

IN ADDITION TO MARITAL ALLIANCES AND DIPLOMACY AKBAR ALSO GAINED TERRITORY BY FORCE CONQUERING GUJARAT IN 1573, BENGAL IN 1576, KASHMIR IN THE 1586, SIND AND BALUCHISTAN BETWEEN 1591 AND 1595

A K B A R

THE SOUTHERN PART OF INDIA WAS ADDED IN THE LATTER PART OF HIS REIGN AND INCLUDED BERAR AND PART OF AHMADNAGAR

AKBAR’S TERRITORIAL VICTORIES WERE CONSOLIDATED BY AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT WITH A PAID NON-HEREDITARY CIVIL SERVICE

IN ADDITION AKBAR ABOLISHED THE ‘JIZYA’, POLL TAX PAYABLE BY HINDUS AND OTHER NON-MUSLIMS, IN ORDER TO INTEGRATE AND UNIFY THE DIFFERING PEOPLES OF HIS EXPANDING EMPIRE IN THE SAME WAY THAT THE RAJPUT DOMINIONS HAD BEEN INCORPORATED

A K B A R

RELIGIOUS TOLERATION BECAME A CENTRAL PRINCIPLE OF AKBAR’S GOVERNMENT

IN 1570 HE CONVENED A CONFERENCE BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS AT HIS NEWLY ESTABLISHED CITY OF FATEHPUR SIKRI, WHICH INCLUDED SCHOLARS FROM HINDU AND MUSLIM SECTS AS WELL AS JAINS, ZOROASTRIANS AND CATHOLIC JESUITS FROM GOA

THE RESULT WAS A NEW RELIGION CONCEIVED BY AKBAR HIMSELF AND KNOWN AS DIN ILAHI (DIVINE FAITH) WHICH DREW ELEMENTS FROM ALL THE SECTS

ALTHOUGH THE RELIGION WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL IT SHOWS AKBAR’S CONCERN TO CREATE AN EMPIRE FREE FROM RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS

AKBAR DIED IN 1605 LEAVING THE EMPIRE TO HIS SON JAHANGIR WHO HAD RECENTLY BEEN IN OPEN REVOLT OF HIS FATHER

A K B A R

ON HIS ACCESSION TO THE THRONE JAHANGIR LEFT HIS SON SHAH JAHAN IN CHARGE OF THE MILITARY CAMPAIGNS, A PATTERN WHICH WAS LATER REPEATED WHEN AS EMPEROR SHAH JAHAN DELEGATED CONTROL OF THE SOUTH TO HIS SON AURANGZEB

BOTH JAHANGIR AND LATER SHAH JAHAN CONTINUED THE POLICIES OF AKBAR SO THAT THE EMPIRE REMAINED RELATIVELY STABLE DESPITE MORE OR LESS CONSTANT WARFARE IN THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTRY

SHAH JAHAN FAILED IN HIS ATTEMPT TO CREATE A UNITED SUNNI STATE INCORPORATING INDIA WITH CENTRAL ASIA, BUT MANAGED TO KEEP THE EMPIRE MORE OR LESS INTACT FOR HIS SON AURANGZEB

THE LAST OF THE GREAT MUGHALS, AURANGZEB, DEPARTED FROM THE PATTERN OF GOVERNMENT SET BY AKBAR AND PRECIPITATED THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. AURANGZEB DEVOTED A GREAT DEAL OF ENERGY AND MANPOWER TO CONTINUING THE CONQUEST OF THE SOUTH OF INDIA AT THE EXPENSE OF ALL OTHER POLICIES

THE EMPIRE REACHED ITS GREATEST EXTENT DURING THIS PERIOD AND INCLUDED THE WHOLE SUBCONTINENT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE SOUTHERN TIP

HOWEVER, THIS BROUGHT INCREASED PROBLEMS OF COMMUNICATION AND MILITARY CONTROL WHICH THE EMPIRE WAS NOT ABLE TO MANAGE

THESE PROBLEMS WERE EXACERBATED WHEN HE REVERSED THE POLICY OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE EXERCISED BY HIS GREAT-GRANDFATHER BY INTRODUCING THE POLL TAX (JIZYA) FOR NON-MUSLIMS

SHAH JAHAN

JAHANGIR AURANGZEB

SIMILARLY HE ENCOURAGED THE DESTRUCTION OF HINDU TEMPLES AND OTHER RELIGIOUS SHRINES AND HIS SOUTHERN CONQUESTS BECAME ONE OF THE GREATEST ICONOCLASTIC EXCURSIONS IN INDIA’S HISTORY

ALTHOUGH AURANGZEB MAY HAVE BEEN A PIOUS MUSLIM, THIS POLICY WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL IN AN EMPIRE WHICH DEPENDED ON THE CO-OPERATION AND TOLERATION OF DIFFERENT ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS

PERHAPS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF AURANGZEB’S POLICY WAS THE GREAT MOSQUE BUILT TO TOWER OVER THE HINDU HOLY CITY OF BANARES

WITH AURANGZEB’S DEATH AT THE AGE OF 90 IN 1707 THE EMPIRE PASSED TO HIS SON BAHADUR SHAH WHO ONLY LIVED ANOTHER FIVE YEARS

SHAH JAHAN

JAHANGIR AURANGZEB

DURING THE NEXT HALF- CENTURY THE RAPIDLY DISINTEGRATING EMPIRE WAS RULED BY EIGHT SULTANS

THE WEAKNESS OF THE EMPIRE WAS SHOWN IN 1739 WHEN DELHI WAS SACKED BY THE PERSIAN EMPEROR NADIR SHAH WHO CARRIED OFF THE PEACOCK THRONE ALONG WITH COUNTLESS OTHER TREASURES

THE LATTER PART OF THE CENTURY WITNESSED THE CONFLICT BETWEEN A VARIETY OF FORCES INCLUDING THE MUGHALS, THE HINDU MARATHAS AND THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY

IN 1803 THE EAST INDIA COMPANY OCCUPIED DELHI AND AGRA THUS ENDING MUGHAL POWER IN INDIA

FOR THE NEXT HALF-CENTURY THE POWER- LESS MUGHALS WERE RETAINED BY THE BRITISH AS ‘KINGS OF DELHI’

FINALLY IN 1857 THE LAST MUGHAL BAHADUR SHAH II WAS STRIPPED OF EVEN THIS TITLE AND WAS REMOVED FROM DELHI FOR HIS PART IN THE SEPOY MUTINY

D E C L I N E

THANK YOU..!