GK SERIES FOR SSC,IAS,PCS,HAS,HCS
AND OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS
(HISTORY-19)
MUGHAL-2
Jahangir(1605 - 27):
·
He issued Twelve ‘Edicts’ or
‘Ordinances’ for the general welfare and better government of the country.
·
Established Zanjir-i-Adal
(Chain of justice) at Agra fort for justice seekers.
·
Rebellion by prince Khusrau
(Jahangir’s son) at Lahore (1606). Jahangir personally suppressed the
rebellion. The fifth Sikh Guru Arjun Dev ji, with whom the rebel prince had
stayed at Tarn Taran and also received his blessings, was at first fined by the
government, but as he refused to pay the fine he was sentenced to death.
·
The first military
expedition undertaken by Jahangir was against Rana Amar Singh, son of Rana
Patap of Mewar. The Mughal expeditions sent against Mewar in 1606 and 1608-09
proved indecisive, but in 1613-14 the campaign led by prince Khurram proved
decisive and Rana Amar Singh came to terms with the Mughals in 1615. Jahangir
offered most liberal terms to Mewar and thus ended a long drawn out struggle
between Mewar and the Mughals.
·
He pursued his father’s plan
of territorial expansion beyond the Narmada. The first target was a
half-conquered Sultanate of Ahmadnagar.
·
The greatest failure of
Jahangir’s reign was the loss of Kandahar to Persia. Shah Abbas of Persia
(15871629), outwardly professing friendship towards the Mughals, captured
Kandahar in 1622. The loss of Kandahar greatly affected the Mughal prestige in
Central Asia.
·
Jahangir married young widow
Mihar-un-nisa (widow of Sher Afghan),
daughter of a Persian Mirza Ghiyas Beg and conferred on her the title of Nur Mahal (Light of the Place) which
was later changed to Nur Jahan. In 1613, she was promoted to the status of
padshah Begum, coins were struck in her name and on all farmans her name was
attached to the imperial signature.
·
Nur Jahan’s influence
secured high positions for her father who got the title Itimad-ud-daulah and
her brother, Asaf Khan. A year after her own marriage, Asaf Khan’s Mumtaz
Mahal, was married to Khurram, the ablest of Jahangir’s sons.
·
In 1620, Nur Jahan married
Ladli Begum (her daughter by Sher Afghan) to Jahangir’s youngest son Shahryar
and supported the cause of her son-in-law Shahryar as heir apparent to the
throne, while her brother Asaf Khan supported his son-in-law Khurram (who had
already been conferred the title of Shah Jahan).
·
Jahangir also married
Manmati or Jodha Bai, daughter of Raja Jagat Singh of Marwar.
·
Many of the events of the
period, such as Khusrau’s murder, Mahavat Khan’s coup and Salim’s rebellion,
were all results of this factional politics.
·
Jahangir’s court was visited
by two representatives of King James I
of England, namely, Captain Hawkins (1608-11) and Sir Thoms Roe(1615- 19) and
as a result of the efforts of Thomas Roe English factories were established at
Surat, Agra, Ahmedabad and Broach.
·
He was buried at Lahore.
Shah Jahan(1628-58):
·
At the time of Jahangir’s
death in October 1627, Shah Jahan was in the Deccan. At Lahore, Nur Jahan
proclaimed Shahryar as the emperor, while Asaf Khan put Dawar Baksh, son of
Khusrau, on the throne as a temporary arrangement till the return of Shah Jahan.
·
Shah Jahan arrived at Agra
in February 1628, Dawar Baksh was deposed and Asaf Khan defeated. He captures
and blinded Shahryar.
·
The first three years of
Shah Jahan’s reign were disturbed by the rebellions of the Bundela Chief Juhar
Singh and of Khan Jhan Lodi. He ousted the Portuguese from Hugli in 1931and
occupied it.
·
After the death of her
beloved wife Mumtaj Mahal in 1631, he built Taj Mahal at Agra in her memory.
·
In 1632, the Nizam Shahi
kingdom of Ahmadnagar was finally annexed to the Mughal Empire.
·
In 1636-37, Shah Jahan
himself arrived in the Deccan and after a show of strength forced Bijapur and
Golcunda to accept the Mughal suzerainty and pay annual tribute.
·
In 1636, Aurangzeb, son of
Shah Jahan, was appointed the Mughal viceroy in the Deccan. The territories in
his charge were divided into four subahs:
a. Khandesh
with its capital at Burhampur and stronghold at Asirgarh,
b. Berar
with its capital at Eclichpur,
c. Telengana
with its capital at Nanded, and
d. Ahmadnagar.
·
No attempt was made to
recapture Kandhar till 1638. The opportunity, however, came in 1639, when Ali
Mardan Khan, the disgruntled Persian Governor of Kandahar, delivered the fort to
the Mughals without fighting.
·
Similarly, taking advantage
of internal rebellions in Balkh and Badakhshan and the unpopularity of the
ruler of these states, Shah Jahan sent an expedition under his son Murad in
1646 and the Mughal army occupied both these states.
·
Shah Abbas II of Persia once
again captured Kandahar from the Mughals in 1649. Subsequently, Shah Jahan sent
three expeditions to recover Kandahar, but all proved to be miserable failures.
·
The second term of Aurangazeb’s
viceroyalty in the Deccan began in 1653 and continued till 1658. He secured the
service of a very comptent revenue administrator named Murshid Quli Khan whom
he appointed as his diwan.
·
For purpose of revenue
administration Murshid Quli Khan divided the Mughal subahs into ‘lowlands’ and
‘highland’.
·
Todarmal’s zabti system of
survey and assessment was also extended to the Deccan with some changes suited
to the local conditions. These measures led to improvement in agriculture and
increase in the revenue in a few years.
·
In 1656, Aurangzeb planned
to annex Golconda. In this task Mir Jumla (whose actual name was Muhammad
Sayyid), wazir of Golconda, also colluded. In February 1656, Aurangzeb laid
siege of Golconda.
·
In 1657, the Adil Shahi
kingdom of Bijapur was attacked, and on the intervention of Shah Jahan and Dara
Shikoh peace was made with Bijapur too.
·
Meanwhile, Shah Jahan fell
ill and a war of succession seemed imminent. At the time of Shah Jahan’s
sickness in September 1657, his eldest son Dara was at his bedside in Agra;
Shuja was governor in Bengal; Aurangzeb was viceroy in the Deccan. The youngest
Murad was governor in Gujarat.
·
In the closing weeks of
1657, when Shah Jahan was on the way to full recovery, Shuja crowned himself in
Bengal. Murad did the same in Gujarat and then formed an alliance with
Aurangzeb who was already marching towards Agra. In February 1658, the forces
of Murad joined him near Ujjain. The imperial forces sent to contain the
combined forces of Murad and Aurangzeb were defeated in the battle of Dharmat,
near Ujjain. After Dharmat, Aurangzeb marched towards Agra and in the ensuing
battle at Sumugarh, near Agra, the Mughal forces under Dara were decisively
defeated and he fled from Agra.
·
In June 1658, the fort of
Agra also surrendered and Shah Jahan was made a prisoner. The echo of the war
of succession continued till 1661 and in between 1658 and 1661 all the
remaining sons of Shah Jahan were killed or excuted.
·
Shah Jahan passed the
remaining years of his life in captivity. He was buried in Taj Mahal.
·
Three most important factors
responsible for the war of succession were:
a. Shah
Jahan’s partisan attitude towards Dara,
b. old
rivalry between Dara and Aurangzeb, and
c. Dara
and Aurangzeb led two factions of the Mughal court, Dara representing
liberalism and Aurangzeb the conservative elements.
·
Mughal architecture under
him reached its zenith. A large trade developed between India and Western Asia
and Europe, which greatly contributed to the travelers.
·
Two Frenchmen, Bernier and
Travenier and an Italian adventurer Manucci, the author of the Storio Dor
Mogor, visited his court.
