Mughal emperors! A proud pereiod of Muslim rulers or a dark shadow of shame?
A King must always be ready for a victory. Said the Emperor Abulfateh Jalal uddin Muhammad Akbar. ( 1542 – 1605 )
Akbar was the 3rd Mughal King of India after Babar & Humayoon. Babar, the first Mughal King was the one to conquer the Indian region again & it was possible bcos of the defeats of Afghan’s & Turks in the end of 14th century by Taimor
Word Mughal is derived from the word Mangol. Mughal kings were from the families of Chenges Khan & Taimor – Turkish blood (tho some say Turkish & Iranian).
When Akbar became a King at the age of 13 his empire was only few hundreds square miles in surrounds of Dehli. After almost 50 years when he died – his empire was from one end of Arabian sea to Bengal which almost covered the whole Indian continent.
In start he wasn’t much interested in the political issues of the state & his Minister Weermal used to run the matters of the state as well as the war issues. In the times of Weermal Akbar won some wars & increased his empire. In 1560 he dismissed Weermal & formed kind of a committee which will monitor the state matters. It was a disaster – Akbar stepped forward with no delay & arrested the mukhiya (the incharge) of the committee & took over the control. Since then he started acting like a true King; & handled all important matters himself.
Akbar’s wife was Hindu & he allowed her to follow her religion. (Historians write it prolly was one of the unique example of its kind in that era). But Akbar was not a religious extremist. Before him there were some restrictions on other religion followers which Akbar took off. Every one was free to perform their religious activities. Some say, he was politically genius.
Furthermore, he included a lot of Hindu employees & Ministers in his kingdom. His Father in law was a Rajpot & an independent Raja of Rajhistan. (I dont know much about him but as far as I know he was stric barbaric kind of a leader himself).
He conquered Gujrat in 1573 – used the ports for trade. In 1576 he conquered Bengal & Kashmir in 1586. In 1601 Ahmednagar was also in his empire. He not only conquered the different parts of the India he managed them well. He gave the local leaders the positions in his Army – so that they were needed to report to Akbar but free to run their states. The income of every province/state was monitored strictly & the extra amount was taken away (In Akbar’s pocket). That way he earned so much & became one of the richest kings.
The money was spent on the Luxury of King & his mates. He was fan of art, in his times Poetry, Sculptors, Paintings, Music, Dances etc also got promoted. The Mughal art was also influenced by the European & Hindu art.
He was not an educated person tho he always loved to hear the religious debates. He invited various religious scholors from different religions & allow them to debate. He hired a Christian Priest to educate his sons.
When he was 36 he said he was the religious leader of his ppl. He believed he represents the will of God. He nullified the status of state as a Islamic State. He introduced a new Religion called “Deen-e-Ilahi” which in his view contained all the good parts of various religions. Though he was not successful to spread it.
All of his 3 sons were alcoholic. His elder son Nooruddin Saleem was alcoholic & had sexual relations with various maids even when he was in his teenage. Akbar sent him on a battlefield to train him better. Saleem was successful on various battlefields & returned but to no vail. A Mutiny was started between Salim & Akbar over a maid named Nadira (Anarkali).
(It is said that when Saleem returned from a war, one of the famous sculptorist promised to create such a beautiful sculptor. But he was not able to complete it on given time. For the fear of King he asked Nadira to stand there & pose as a sculptor. But some other maid found out. When King & Saleem reached there; she presented the idea that there is a fairy tail that Kings used to see sculptors by showing off the mastery of their archery. Tho the arrow will only uncover the sculptor from the cloth in which the sculpor is wraped. King liked the idea; to make the fairy tail a reality. Later when the king found out she was a girl he asked her “why did u stay quite while a arrow was fired ur way?” & Nadira replied “I wanted my king to make the fairy tail a reality”… it was then when King Akbar gave her a name “Anarkali”)
Anyhow Nadira in the end was concealed in the wall alive. Some say it was only a showoff & she was sent out of the country from the other side of the wall. But no one knows the truth.
Mughal Emperors ruled the India after him for around 150 years.
