The wonder that was india

Akbar did believe, however, that he could offer spiritual guidance to all those who wished to sit at his feet. Some genuinely sought his help, but others were merely flatterers. There were no

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theological difficulties, since both Hindus and Muslims in those days believed that the king possessed supernatural spiritual powers. It was customary for the common people and great theologians and mystics to visit the graves of despotic kings like 'Ala'u'd-DIn Khaljl in the hope that their prayers would be granted. It was even believed that Sultan Sikandar Lodi could perform miracles such as raising the dead to life. In such a credulous society Akbar's adoption of the role of spiritual guide was not naive.

The death of his half-brother, Mirza Muhammad Hakim, on 9 August 1585 forced Akbar to leave his capital Fathpur-Sikri. He moved to the north-west frontier in order to crush the ambitions of the redoubtable 'Abdu'llah Khan Uzbek of Transoxiana to seize Kabul. He stayed there until 'Abdu'llah Khan's death in 1598, and his thirteen years' presence firmly established Mughal rule in the area.

Akbar sent three expeditions in the middle of December from his camp at Hasan Abdal. One left for Kashmir, and another set out against Baluchistan. The third force went to Sawat and Bajaur to subdue the Afghan tribes and an Afghan religious movement called the Roshana'is. These were followers of Bayazid, whose creed of 'illumination' was a pantheistic mystic-cum-political movement. Bayazid had died in 1580, and his son Jalala had been captured in 1581 by Akbar's army. He had been well treated but longed for freedom and leadership and fled the imperial camp to prey upon travellers between Peshawar and Kabul. Akbar's early military operations against the Roshana'is and the tribes which helped them were unsuccessful, and in Feburary 1586 his trusted friend Birbal was ambushed by the Yusufza 'is and killed along with some 8,000 troops. When Akbar realized that the tribes could not be subdued by military force he decided to play the clans against each other and won some tribal chiefs over to him by promising them pensions. In 1600 Jalala was killed; his sons lacked their father's qualities, and the Roshana'is ceased to be a threat to the Mughal government.

At the end of March 1586 Raja Bhagawan Das, one of the generals of the Kashmir expedition, succeeded in persuading Yusuf Khan, the last ruler of Kashmir, to surrender. Akbar, however, refused to accept his terms and instead had him and his son Ya'qub Khan arrested. Ya'qub subsequently escaped and started preparations for resistance. The army sent by Akbar conquered Kashmir in October 1586, and it was make a sarkar of Kabul province. Ya'qub died in prison, while Yusuf was made a minor mansabdar of five hundred and given a jagir in Bihar. Akbar's treatment of the ex-Sultan of Kashmir was unjust and ungenerous.

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The conquest of Kashmir, in conjunction with Akbar's presence in the Panjab, prompted the chiefs of the hilly regions in northern Panjab such as Nagarkot, Jammu, Mau, Kewal, and other petty states to offer their submission. Baltistan and Ladakh in Tibet also recognized imperial suzerainty. The army sent against Baluchistan persuaded the Baluchi chiefs to surrender. Bhakkar was already in Akbar's possession, and in 1590-1 Sind was also conquered.

Early in Akbar's reign the Shah of Iran had captured Qandahar, but his growing preoccupation with the wars against 'Abdu'llah Khan Uzbek gave Akbar the opportunity to regain it. He sent an army under his famous general 'Abdu'r-Rahim Khan-i Khanan. The governor of Qandahar, Muzaffar Mirza, surrendered and was granted a mansab of 5,000. One year later 'Abdu'llah Khan Uzbek recognized the Hindu Kush as the boundary between Transoxiana and the Mughal empire.

The Mughal boundaries, extending from Sind, Baluchistan, Kabul, and Kashmir to the Hindu Kush, were the strongest line of defence that had ever existed in India, and no other Indian ruler -not even Asoka in ancient India, nor the British in modern times -ever controlled such a formidable frontier. Akbar acquired these territories by diplomacy; his use of force was minimal.

Akbar now focused his attention on the Deccan. He was aware of the difficulties of ruling it from northern India. Consequently he intended to make the rulers his mansabdars, so they could retain their ancestral lands as watan-jagirs and at the same time obtain more jagirs in the Mughal territory commensurate with their mansab. This was an extension of his Rajput policy. After Akbar's conquest of Gujarat, Khandesh generally had accepted his suzerainty, but its loyalty was always suspect.

In 1591, therefore, Akbar appointed his son, Prince Murad, governor of Malwa in order to force the Deccan states into submission. The conflicts between the Habshi and the Dakhini factions had driven the Nizam Shahi state of Ahmadnagar into total confusion, but the differences between Prince Murad and the Khan-i Khanan were equally disastrous. The Mughals attacked Ahmadnagar, but its valiant queen, Chand Bibl, defended it heroically. In December 1595 the Mughal forces appeared again before the walls of Ahmadnagar. They tried to detonate the five mines they had laid, but the garrison, warned by a Mughal traitor, had defuaed all but one. The small portions of damaged wall were repaired at once under Chand Bibi's leadership. The Mughals fought resolutely but had to retire disappointed.31 Nevertheless, forced by a shortage of supplies and the continuous Dakhini feuds, Chand Bibl made peace by ceding Berar. The Mughal forces raised

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the siege, although the Berar guerrillas still refused to submit. Early in 1597 Raja 'All Khan of Khandesh, who had realized the futility of opposing the Mughals, died fighting in the imperial ranks. The dissension between Murad and the Khan-i Khanan continued, until the Emperor, disgusted, decided to recall them both from the Deccan. In their stead he sent his favourite, Abu'l Fazl, to use his diplomatic skills to resolve the tangled skein of Deccan politics. The Mughals believed that Raja 'Ali's son, Bahadur, would help them reduce the Deccan rulers to submission, but he decided to rebel and ignored Abu'l-Fazl's peace overtures. On 2 May 1599 Murad, who had not yet returned to court, died near Daulatabad of intemperance. Abu'l-Fazl's difficulties increased, but he began to exert pressure on both Bahadur and Chand Bibi to surrender.

In Lahore, meanwhile, spurred on by the long struggle in the Deccan, Akbar decided to exert his personal pressure on its rulers. There was now little to keep him in the north-west, because 'Abdu'llah Khan Uzbek had died on 4 February 1598, and he left for the Deccan in September 1599. Bahadur still refused to surrender and took refuge in Asirgarh fort. The Mughal forces besieged him on 1 April, and Akbar arrived eight days later to direct operations. Many of Bahadur's generals accepted bribes. The subsequent assassination on 3 July 1600 of Ahmadnagar's valiant defender Chand Bibi by one of her eunuchs, followed by the imperialist capture of Ahmadnagar, demoralized the Asirgarh garrison. Bahadur was still not prepared to surrender unconditionally. Then Abu'1-Fazl seized Maligarh fort near Asirgarh at the end of November 1600, and more forts fell to the Mughals. Bahadur began to despair of success. Pestilence was now raging in the overcrowded Asirgarh fort; the local population had fled there for safety. Bahadur finally surrendered, and Asirgarh was captured on 17 January 1601.32 Akbar assigned Khandesh to his son, Daniyal, renaming it Dandesh. Then Prince Salim rebelled in Allahabad, and Akbar left for the north. Daniyal was given supreme command in the Deccan, while the Khan-i Khanan controlled operations in Ahmadnagar. Abu'1-Fazl was subordinate to both. Although there was no love lost between the Ahmadnagar commanders - Malik Ambar, an Ethiopian,33 and Raju, a native Deccani - they remained a potent threat to the Mughals, whose leaders were unable to devise a concerted plan. In March 1602 Akbar gave Abu'1-Fazl an independent commission but, before he could implement it, recalled him to help deal with Prince Salim's rebellion. Abu'1-Fazl rushed to the north, but Prince SalTm had him killed by the Bundela chief, BIr Singh Deva, near Gwalior on his

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way to Agra. Shocked by the news, Akbar despaired of the future.

Prince Salim, the longed-for child of many a prayer, had ignored his duties from 1591, refusing to lead an expedition either to the Deccan or to Transoxiana. He would not even venture as far as Mewar, but made his headquarters at Allahabad. Akbar's mother, Hamida Banu Begum, and his aunt, Gulbadan Begum, interceded for the Prince and softened Akbar's resentment. The death of Akbar's other son, Prince Daniyal, of inebriation on 19 March was also in Salim's favour. Those of Akbar's favourites who were friendly to Salim, such as Miran Sadr-i Jahan, then persuaded the Prince to visit Akbar in Agra fort. The disappointed and frustrated father gradually controlled his bitterness and allowed Salim to stay on' the opposite bank of the Jamuna. The real threat to Salim's accession came from his own son, Khusraw, born to Man Singh's sister on 6 August 1587, who was uncompromisingly supported by his father-in-law, Mirza 'Aziz Koka. Akbar did not want to pass over Sallm in favour of Khusraw but saw in him a weapon to use against Salim. In September, Akbar fell seriously ill. Court intrigues grew increasingly brisk, but the majority of the mansabdars loyal to Akbar supported Prince Sallm, although his personal followers had been dispersed by the Emperor. One of them, Shaikh Farid Bukhari, found Akbar breathing his last and marched out to Agra fort to congratulate Prince Salim on his accession. He neither imposed any conditions nor sought any pledges from him, and Prince Salim came to his father's deathbed escorted by Farid's supporters. The dying Emperor placed his turban on his son's head and girded him with his own dagger. Akbar died on 16 October 1605. The conspiracy to set Salim aside petered out,

Akbar's leadership ensured the loyalty to the Mughal throne of the heterogeneous religious and racial groups of the country and awakened them to the importance of coexistence, toleration, and co-operation. Although the separatist tendencies of the castes, sects, and groups could not be completely eradicated, the flexible framework of Akbar's institutions could, with a little thoughtful-ness and imagination, accommodate them. He was the greatest king that India ever produced.

JAHANGlR

Prince Salim ascended the Mughal throne on 24 October 1605. He assumed the title of Jahangir (World-Conqueror). Throughout his life he adhered to Akbar's ideals of the coexistence of ail religious communities. He remitted some local taxes on trade and the

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The Mughal Empire at the death of Akbar (1605)

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manufacture of goods. He also forbade the killing of animals for food on Thursdays and Sundays, and no slaughtering was permitted on Jahangir's birthday and several other days in the year.34

Jahangir promoted to higher mansabs those noblemen who had helped him but he did not unduly demote the grandees of his father's reign, although he suspected some of disloyalty. On 6 April 1606 Jahangir's son, Prince Khusraw, fled from Agra to Lahore, gathering about 12,000 supporters on the way; even some famous sufis and yogis prayed for his success. Jahangir pursued him personally, defeating him near Lahore. Khusraw was captured while trying to escape to Kabul; he was imprisoned, and some of his leading supporters were executed. Among the Muslim sufis who had blessed Khusraw was Skaykh Nizam Thaneswari, whom Jahangir banished to Mecca.35 Another of Khusraw's well-wishers, Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, who was greatly respected by both Hindus and Muslims, was beheaded.

From Lahore, Jahangir visited Kabul, where he made improvements in the road system. On his way back to Agra he ordered that Khusraw be blinded in order to disqualify him permanently from gaining the throne. The operation was not a success, however, and the Prince later regained his sight. Jahangir did not pursue the matter. Khusraw's personal charm and vigour were impressive, and he had been more deeply imbued with Akbar's ideals than his father. Besides the support of Man Singh and Mirza 'Aziz Koka, Khusraw was loved and respected by all sections of his countrymen. These factors made a reconciliation with his father and brothers impossible.

During Akbar's reign Jahangir had taken no interest in subduing the 'Maharana of Mewar, but now he used both military force and diplomacy in trying to secure the surrender of Maharana Pratap's successor, Amar Singh. One after the other, his leading commanders nevertheless returned unsuccessful. In 1613 Jahangir himself marched to Ajmir. Villages and towns were sacked and agricultural fields burnt. New military posts were established in the inaccessible hilly regions, and Chitor was blockaded. Finally Rana Amar Singh decided to make peace. A new phase opened in Mughal-Mewar relations, bringing to an end the war which had brought immense suffering and bloodshed to both sides. Both rulers showed understanding towards each other, but Jahangir cannot escape the charge of unnecessarily declaring his invasion a religious war.

After Mewar, the Deccan was Jahangir's main concern. In 1608 he sent the Khan-i Khanan, at his own request, to subdue it. Malik Ambar, who commanded the light Maratha horses of Ahmadnagar, pursued his guerrilla tactics with greater vigour, however, and

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the Mughal invasions were repeatedly beaten back. The Mughals lost Ahmadnagar, which until then had been successfully defended. In Jahangir's reign the Deccan wars yielded no substantial gains, and the Mughals were unable to advance beyond northern Deccan.

In May 1611 Jahangir married Mihru'n-Nisa', the widow of Sher Afgan, who was killed fighting the governor of Bengal. After her marriage Mihru'n-Nisa' was given the title Nur Mahal (Light of the Palace) and, later, Nur Jahan (Light of the World). Although thirty-four years old, her beauty, charm, intelligence, and creative ability soon made her dominate her husband. Nur Jahan's mother was an equally talented lady, while her father, I'timadu'd-Dawla, had been appointed joint-diwan long before the wedding. Although his son Muhammad Sharif s intrigues to free Khusraw from prison had caused I'timadu'd-Dawla considerable embarrassment, his position was not affected. After his daughter's marriage to the Emperor, his talents found recognition. His mansab was increased, and he was promoted as wazir. His death in January 1622 was mourned as a serious loss by the Emperor.

Nur Jahan also had an elder brother, Mirza Abu'l-Hasan. He was given the title I'tiqad Khan and later Asaf Khan and was appointed Master of the Household. Both he and his father minutely controlled financial transactions and were far-sighted counsellors. In April 1612 Asaf Khan's daughter, Arjumand Banu Begum (later entitled Mumtaz Mahal), married Jahangir's third son, Prince Khurram, firmly linking Nur Jahan's family with the Mughal household.

Nur Jahan dictated orders and issued farmans. Coins were even struck in her name, but it was not until 1622 that Jahangir's rapidly declining health reduced him to a figure-head and made Nur Jahan ruler in all but name.

Prince Khusraw died at Burhanpur in August 1621 while in the custody of Prince Khurram. The official cause of death was colic, but it was generally believed that he had been strangled. Their youngest brother, Shahryar, was incompetent, although his betrothal to Ladili Begum, Nur Jahan's daughter by Sher Afgan, made him the real contender to the throne. Even the news of the Iranian invasion of Qandahar did not relegate the palace intrigues to the background. Khurram, who was given the command to repel the Iranis, urged the Emperor to grant him full control over the Panjab. The imperial interest could be served only by invading Qandahar immediately, thus giving the Iranians no time to consolidate their recent gains there, but Khurram procrastinated. Jahangir was convinced that the Prince's 'brain had gone wrong' and that he was 'unworthy of all favours and cherishing'36 he had

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given him. Shahryar was now elevated. His mansab was raised to 12,000 zat, and 8,000 sawar (see p. 176) and some of Khurram's jagirs in the north were transferred to him, while Khurram was ordered to choose jagirs of equivalent value in the south. Shahryar was then commissioned to lead the campaign against Qandahar, which the Shah had taken after a siege of forty-five days in 1622. Khurram sent his clever diwan, Afzal Khan, to convince the Emperor of his innocence, but to no avail. Finding no way out of the impasse, Khurram rebelled and marched towards Agra. He even wrote to the Shah of Iran requesting support. Asaf Khan was concerned to promote Khurram's interests, and Nur Jahan had no alternative but to seek the support of Mahabat Khan, the governor of Kabul. Although he openly condemned Jahangir for abandoning his independent judgement, Mahabat Khan could not afford to miss this opportunity to increase his power. He marched to Delhi, reaching it in February 1623. Khurram did not submit, however, and the civil war lasted more than three years at great cost in money and life to both sides. Jahangir's grief for the loss of Qandahar and the toll of the civil war was indescribable. Khurram ultimately surrendered, having misjudged the devotion of the Mughal generals to Jahanglr and Nur Jahan.

The combined strength of Jahangir's second son, Parviz, and Mahabat Khan, who had exhibited considerable perseverance in crushing Khurram's rebellion, now posed a threat to Nur Jahan and her brother, Asaf Khan. Consequently Mahabat was transferred to Bengal as governor, and Parvlz was ordered to stay at Burhanpur. Jahangir's loyal Afghan general, Khan-i Jahan Lodi, was appointed Prince Parviz's wakil or regent. Parvlz and Mahabat reluctantly submitted to the imperial orders. A second royal mandate ordered Mahabat Khan to send the elephants he had obtained during the civil war to court and to furnish an account of the large sums forfeited to the government from the dismissal of disloyal jdgirdars and zamindars. Mahabat Khan realized that ruin stared him in the face. He planned his actions coolly and cautiously. He first sent the elephants to court and then repaired there himself with 4,000 Rajputs and 2,000 Mughals under his standard. By then the Emperor had reached Lahore from Kashmir and was moving towards Kabul. He was camped on the bank of the Jhelam when Mahabat Khan arrived. The insults heaped upon Mahabat Khan and his son-in-law forced him to save his life and honour by militant measures. In March 1625, when the imperial cortege had crossed to the other side of the Jhelam leaving the Emperor behind, Mahabat Khan took control of the Emperor and his camp by a coup de main. He forgot, however, to seize Nur Jahan, who crossed the

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bridge in disguise accompanied by a eunuch. She summoned Asaf Khan and the nobles and upbraided them for their negligence. They attempted to re-cross the river and free the Emperor, but the ford they selected was impassable. Asaf Khan then fled to Attock, and the other generals took to their heels. Nur Jahan thereupon surrendered to M ahabat Khan, who allowed her to live with the Emperor. Mahabat Khan now assumed control of the government. Initially Asaf Khan resisted him from Attock but he too ultimately surrendered.

No real threat to Mahabat's dominance was left, but his principal objective had always been to undermine the influence of Nur Jahan and her supporters, not to usurp the throne. Nur Jahan, for her part, now began to foment dissatisfaction against Mahabat, while lulling him into the belief that she had no ambition to rule. Jahanglr, under her direction, also pretended to be grateful to Mahabat Khan for freeing him from Nur Jahan and Asaf Khan. Towards the end of August 1626 the imperial cortege left for Kabul, and at the same river bank where six months earlier he had lost it the Emperor regained his freedom by trickery.37 He persuaded Mahabat Khan to let him review his troops and then assumed command of them. Mahabat Khan fled to Thatta. Asaf Khan was made wakil, and Nur Jahan's supporters regained control of the government.

Mahabat Khan's success in organizing the coup was dramatic, but he could not match Nur Jahan's tactics nor gain the Mughal nobles' confidence. Moreover Jahanglr's rapidly declining health had diverted attention from him to his successor. In March 1627 Jahanglr left Lahore for Kashmir, accompanied by Nur Jahan, Asaf Khan, Shahryar, and other grandees. In Kashmir his asthma took a serious turn, while Prince Shahryar contracted leprosy. The imperial cortege marched back to Lahore. The Emperor died on 29 October 1627 at Bhimbar in Kashmir at the age of sixty, having ruled for about twenty-two years. No important conquests were made in his reign, nor were there any remarkable administrative reforms. Although he ruthlessly persecuted any religious and Islamic sectarian leaders whom he considered a threat to his rule, his respect for the sufi leaders and Hindu ascetics was truly sincere. He loved sufi poetry and Vedantic ideas. The Hindu theory of the divine incarnation of God did not appeal to him, but he celebrated all Hindu festivals with great enthusiasm. Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of James I at Jahanglr's court, wrote to Prince Charles (afterwards Charles I): 'His religione is of his owne invention; for he envyes Mahomett, and wisely sees noe reason why hee should not bee as great a prophet as hee'.38 Jahangir aroused more hopes

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in the Jesuit priests that he would accept baptism than did Akbar. In his Tuzuk, Jahangir described his drinking bouts without inhibition but he did not suggest that his subjects should imitate him. His Tuzuk in Persian does not match Babur's for frankness and expression, but it is nevertheless informative and reflects the author's deep appreciation of nature as well as his inherent inquisitiveness.

SHAHJAHAN

Jahangir's death made the struggle for the throne imminent. Nur Jahan immediately alerted Shahryar, who was undergoing medical treatment, to prepare for war and she tried to arrest Asaf Khan. He was too astute to fall into her hands and instantly sent messengers to Prince Khurram, urging him to come to Agra post-haste. Then, realizing that Khurram could not be crowned in absentia, Asaf Khan played for time by proclaiming one of Jahangir's favourites, Khusraw's son Dawar Bakhsh, king. The Emperor's dead body was sent from Bhimbar to Lahore for burial in the Dilkusha garden of Shahdara. Shahryar proclaimed himself king in Lahore and hurriedly collected an army, but Asaf Khan easily defeated him, imprisoning him and Daniyal's two sons.

Khurram marched quickly from the Deccan as virtual ruler, appointing his own governors and commanders on the way. Before he reached Agra, Dawar Bakhsh, his brother Shahryar, and Daniyal's two sons were beheaded. Parviz had already died of inte'mperance at the end of October 1626. On 2 January 1628 near Agra, Khurram proclaimed himself emperor as Shahjahan. Asaf Khan was rewarded with the highest mansab in the Mughal military-cum-civil hierarchy and the promotion of Mahabat Khan was just as spectacular. Other supporters were also rewarded. Asaf Khan's arrival on 26 February 1628 at Agra with Khurram's sons, the Princes Dara, Shuja', and Aurangzib, whom he had taken from Nur Jahan's custody, made the imperial pageantry more colourful. The happiness of the parents was indescribable. Asaf Khan was confirmed as wakil. Nuf Jahan was awarded a pension of two lacs of rupees and retired to Lahore, where she died in 1655. She was buried near her husband's tomb.

The cold-blooded murder of all possible contenders for the throne had removed any threat from the imperial family to Shahjahan's rule. Shahjahan could not trust Jahangir's favourite, Khan-i Jahan Lodi, however, who had obtained rapid promotion