Indian History · Chronicle IX of XI
Babur to Aurangzeb
Babur, Akbar and the Taj Mahal to Aurangzeb, the Marathas and the empire's long decline.
The FoundingMilitary
With cannon and cavalry, Babur destroys the Lodi army at Panipat and founds the Mughal empire.
A prince of Ferghana descended from both Timur and Genghis Khan, Babur invaded India and, though vastly outnumbered, shattered the huge army of Ibrahim Lodi at the first battle of Panipat with field artillery and mobile horsemen. Master now of Delhi and Agra, he founded a dynasty that would rule India for three centuries.
Akbar the GreatPolitical
Coming to the throne as a boy, Akbar conquers and consolidates an empire across northern India.
After his father Humayun briefly lost and regained the throne, the thirteen-year-old Akbar inherited a fragile realm. Over a long reign he became the true architect of the empire, conquering from Gujarat to Bengal and binding the proud Rajput kingdoms to his cause by marriage and honour rather than force alone.
Akbar the GreatReligious
Akbar abolishes the tax on non-Muslims and pursues a policy of tolerance and religious dialogue.
Ruling a land of many faiths, Akbar sought harmony rather than conquest of the soul. He abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims, hosted debates among Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Zoroastrians and Jesuits, and proclaimed a doctrine of "universal peace," sulh-i kul. His efficient administration and enlightened tolerance made the empire strong and, for its age, remarkably inclusive.
The Golden AgeCultural
Shah Jahan begins the Taj Mahal, the marble tomb for his wife that crowns the Mughal golden age of art.
Under Shah Jahan the empire reached the summit of its wealth and artistic splendour. To hold the body of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal he raised the Taj Mahal at Agra, a vision of white marble and inlaid gems that became the world's most famous building. He also built the Red Fort and the great mosque of a new Delhi, and sat upon the jewelled Peacock Throne.
AurangzebMilitary
Aurangzeb pushes the empire to its greatest extent but strains it with war and religious severity.
Seizing the throne from his father and brothers, the austere and orthodox Aurangzeb ruled for nearly fifty years, extending Mughal power over almost the entire subcontinent. But he reimposed the jizya, alienated Hindus and Sikhs, and bogged his armies down in endless war in the Deccan. His long reign marked both the empire's zenith and the beginning of its decline.
The Maratha ChallengeMilitary
The Maratha leader Shivaji carves out a Hindu kingdom in the west, defying the might of the Mughals.
A brilliant guerrilla commander, Shivaji built a Maratha state in the western hills and had himself crowned king in 1674, reviving Hindu sovereignty. His swift, mountain-bred armies harried the Mughals for decades. After Aurangzeb's death the Marathas expanded across much of India, becoming the greatest power to rise from the empire's decline.
The DeclineMilitary
The Persian conqueror Nadir Shah storms Delhi and carries off its treasures, exposing Mughal weakness.
From Persia, Nadir Shah swept into India, crushed the Mughal army and occupied Delhi, where a massacre and a colossal plunder followed. He bore away the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The catastrophe laid bare how hollow Mughal power had become, and provincial governors, Marathas and foreign trading companies moved to fill the void.
The Shadow of EmpirePolitical
As the British win Bengal, the Mughal emperor becomes a pensioner, reigning in name over a lost empire.
By the mid-eighteenth century the emperor in Delhi ruled little beyond his palace, as Marathas, regional nawabs and the British East India Company divided his realm. After Plassey the Company took Bengal, and the emperors survived only under its protection. The last of them, Bahadur Shah Zafar, would be swept away with the great rebellion of 1857.
