The wonder that was india

THE WONDER THAT WAS INDIA

Volume II

1200-1700

ii iii

THE WONDER THAT WAS INDIA

Volume II

A survey of the history and culture of the Indian sub-continent from the coming of the

Muslims to the British conquest 1200-1700

S. A. A. RIZVI

Rupa, Co

iv

Copyright © S.A.A. Rizvi 1987

First published 1987 by Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd., London

First in Rupa Paperback 1993

Eleventh impression 2001

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By arrangement with Pan Macmillan Ltd., London

This edition is for sale in India only

Picture research by Deborah Pownall

Maps drawn by Neil Hyslop. For their source the publishers gratefully acknowledge An Historical Atlas of the indian Peninsula by C. Collin Davies, published by Oxford University Press. The British place names in the source have not been changed.

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v

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations vii

Important Dates ix

List of Maps xiv

Note on Pronunciation xv

Introduction, with a Review of Sources xvii

I The Arabs and the Turks 1

Early Islam, Institutions, Law, The Arab Conquest of Sind, The Ghaznavids, The Ghurids, The Ilbari Turks, The Khaljls, The Tughluq Dynasty, The Sayyids

II The Independent Ruling Dynasties 57

Bengal, Assam, Tirhut, Orissa, Rajasthan, Kashmir, Jaunpur, Malwa, Khandesh, Gujarat, The Western Coast, Ma'bar, The Bahmani Kingdom, The Five Deccan Kingdoms, The Vijayanagara Kingdom

III The Afghans and the Mughals 89

The Lodis, Babur and Humayun, Sher Khan (later Sher Shah), Sur, The Sur Sultanate, Humayun Recaptures Delhi, Akbar the Great, Jahangir, Shahjahan, Aurangzlb, Fall of the Mughal Empire

IV The State 154

Kingship, Law, The Royal Court and Household, Ministers and their Departments, The Mansabddrs and the Army, Finance, Justice, The Police, The Provincial Administration, District Administration

V Social and Economic Conditions 196

Social Structure, Women, Slavery, Villages, The Zamindars, Towns and Cities, Education, Inland Trade, Coastal Trade, Commercial Practices

vi

VI Religion 231

Philosophical Movements, Sufi Movements, The Kubrawiyya, The Qalandars, The Muslim Intellectual Perception of Hinduism, The Hindu Impact on Sufism, The Mahdawi Movement, The New Sufi Orders (the Shattariyyas), The Qadiriyya Order, The Naqshbandiyya Order, The Shi'is

VII Fine Arts 277

Pre-Mughal Architecture - the First Phase, Architecture of the Regional Kingdoms, The LodI and Sur Monuments, The Mughal Monuments, Mughal Gardens, Painting, Music

Conclusion 308

Bibliography and References 317

Appendix with Bibliography and References 354

Index with Glossary 373

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Between pages 60 and 61

1. Jami' Masjid (Werner Fortnan Archive)

2. Pietra Dura in I'timadu'd-Dawla, Agra (J. Allan Cash)

3. Screen in the Diwan-i Khass (J. Allan Cash)

4. Screen of the Sidi Sayyid Mosque (M. Ara and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

5. The Panch Mahal (J, Allan Cash)

6. Throne in the Diwan-i Amm (A. F. Kersting)

7. Jami' Masjid at Mandu (Robert Harding)

8. Sikri Mosque (Werner Forman Archive)

9. Sher Shah's mosque (Y. Crowe)

10. Bidar Madrasa (College) (M. Ara and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

11. Shaykh Ruknu'd-Din Multani's tomb (Archaeological Survey, Pakistan)

12. Mandu, Jahaz Mahal (M. Ara and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

13. Humayun's tomb (A. F. Kersting)

14. The interior of the Jodh Bai's palace (A. F. Kersting)

Between pages 124 and 125

15. Babur supervising layout of garden (British Library)

16. Jahangir shooting (Indian Museum, Calcutta)

17. Invention of the mirror (Indian Museum, Calcutta)

18. Turkey-cock (Indian Museum, Calcutta)

19. Abu'1-Fazl presenting the Akbar-Nama (Chester Beatty Library)

20. Sword of Sultana 'Al 'u'd-Din Khalji (Prince of Wales Museum of Western India)

21. Shaykh Phul Shattari in front of his Agra house (Bharat Kala Bhavan Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi)

22. Birth of Prince Salim (Chester Beatty Library)

23. Story of the unfaithful wife (Bodleian Library)

24. Portrait of Shahjahan (Chester Beatty Library)

25. Presentation of meal (British Library)

26. Portrait of Jahangir (Chester Beatty Library)

viii

Between pages 188 and 189

27. Char Minar in Hyderabad Deccan (A. F. Kersting)

28. The Qutb Minar (4. F. Kersting)

29. Temple pillars in the cloisters of the Quwwatu'l-Islam mosque (J. Allan Cash)

30. Details of carvings, Qutb Minar (Robert Harding)

31. Tomb chamber in the Taj Mahal (A. F. Kersting)

32. Upper domes in the Birbal's house (J. Allan Cash)

33. Atala Mosque, Jaunpur (M. Ara and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

34. The Buland Darwaza (Robert Harding)

35. Interior of Iltutmish's tomb (M. Ara and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

36. Ala'i Darwaza, Delhi (M. Ara and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

37. The Quwwatu'l Islam Mosque Screen (M. Ara and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

38. Carved pillar in one of the chambers of Fathpur-Sikri (Werner Forman Archive)

Between pages 252 and 253

39. Akbar controlling elephants (Victoria and Albert Museum)

40. Political lessons through animal behaviour (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)

41. Black buck (Victoria and Albert Museum)

42. Dara Shukoh with Miyan Mir, Mulla Shah and the khanqah servants (Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay)

43. Jahangir weighing Prince Khurram, (British Museum)

44. Shahjahan watching Sama (Indian Museum, Calcutta)

45. Jahangir riding (Victoria and Albert Museum)

46. Integration of Sufi music with Bhaktas (Victoria and Albert Museum)

47. Babur visiting Gorakhtari from the Babur-Nama (British Library)

48. The heroine being served by a maid from Lor Chanda (John Ryland Library)

49. Captivity of Himu (Chester Beatty Library)

50. News of the birth of Akbar communicated to Humayun (Khudabakhsh Library, Patna)

51. Workmen building Agra fort (Victoria and Albert Museum)

52. Village life from Anwar Suhayli (Bharat Kala Bhavan Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi)

ix

IMPORTANT DATES

c. 571 Birth of the Prophet Muhammad

622 Hijra (emigration) of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina

630 The Prophet conquered Mecca

632 The Death of the Prophet

632-4 Abu Bakr, the first caliph

634—44 'Umar, the second caliph

644-56 'Usman, the third caliph

656-61 'All, the fourth caliph

661-749 The Umayyads

680 The martyrdom of Imam Husayn

705-715 Caliph al-Walid

712 Conquest of Sind by Muhammad bin Qasim

749-1258 The 'Abbasids

998-1030 Mahmud of Ghazni

1150-1 Sack of Ghazni by Ghurid 'Ala'u'd-Din Jahan-suz

1178 Defeat of Mu'izzu'd-Din Muhammad bin Sam at Anhilwara

c. 1185-1205 Lakshmana Sena's rule in Bengal

1191 Defeat of Mu'izzu'd-Din Muhammad bin Sam at the first battle of Tara'in by Prithviraja Chauhan

1192 Second battle of Tara'in, defeat of Prithviraja Chauhan

1192-3 Delhi seized by Qutbu'd-Din Aybak

1200 Conquest of Bihar and Bengal by Ikhtiyaru'd-Din Bakhtiyar Khalji

1206 Death of Mu'izzu'd-Din Muhammad bin Sam

Ilbari Turks; 1206-90

1210 Death of Qutbu'd-Din Aybak

1221 Chingiz chases Jalalu'd-Din Mingburnu

1227 Chingiz died

1235 Death of Khwaja Qutbu'd-DIn Bakhtiyar Kaki

1236 Death of Sultan Iltutmish

Death of Khwaja Mu'inu'd-Din at Ajmir

1236-40 Raziyya

1246-66 Nasiru'd-Din Mahmud Shah

1265 Death of Baba Farid

1266-87 Ghiyasu'd-Din Balban

x

Khaljis: 1290-1320

1290-6 Jalalu'd-Din Firuz Shah II

1294 Devagiri invaded by 'Ala'u'd-Din

1296-1316 'Ala'u'd-Din Muhammad Shah

1297 Conquest of Gujarat

1303 Capture of Chitor

1306-7 Expedition of Devagiri

1309-10 Malik Kafur's invasion of Warangal

1310-11 Kafur's invasion of Dvarasmudra near Bangalore

1316 Death of 'Ala'u'd-Din Khalji

1316-20 Qutbu'd-Din Mubarak Shah

Tughluqs: 1320-1414

1320-5 Ghiyasu'd-Din Tughluq Shah

1325 Death of Shaykh Nizamu'd-Din Awliya'

Death of Amir Khusraw

1325-51 Ghiyasu'd-Din Muhammad Shah I

1327 Deogiri, renamed Daulatabad, made the second capital

1330-2 Token currency

1332 Arrival of Ibn Battuta in India

1340-1 Investiture from the 'Abbasid Caliph

1341-3 New code (Asalib)

1342 Ibn Battuta sent as ambassador to China

1347 Foundation of the Bahmani kingdom

1351-88 Firuz Shah III

1353-4 Firuz's first Bengal expedition

1356 Death of Shaykh Nasiru'd-Din Chiragh-i Dihli

1359 Firuz's second Bengal expedition

1365-6 Firuz's Thatta expedition

1367 Asoka's pillars transplanted

1370 Death of Khan-i Jahan I

1376 Levy of jizya on the brahmans

1388-1414 Successors of Firuz

1398 Timur seized Delhi

1399 Timur re-crossed the Indus

The Sayyids: 1414-51

Provincial Kingdoms

1336-1576 The Bengali Sultans

1346-1589 The Sultans of Kashmir

1391-1583 The Sultans of Gujarat

1394-1479 The Sultans of Jaunpur

1401-1531 The Sultans of Malwa

1347-1527 The Bahmanids

xi

1422 Death of Khwaja Gisu Daraz

1370-1601 The Faruqi Sultans of Khandesh

The Lodis: 1451-1526

1451-89 Bahlul Lodi

1469 Birth of Guru Nanak

1489-1517 Sikandar Lodi

1505 Death of Kabir

1517-26 Ibrahim Lodi

Early Mughals: 1526-1707

1526-30 Zahiru'd-Din Muhammad Babur

1530-40 Humayun's first reign

1539 Guru Nanak's death

The Surs: 1540-55

1540-5 Sher Shah Sur

1542 Birth of Akbar at Amarkot in Sind

1545-54 Islam Shah

1555 Humayun's second reign

1556-1605 Jalalu'd-Din Akbar

1560 Fall of Bay ram Khan

1562 Akbar's first pilgrimage to Ajmir

Akbar's marriage to Raja Bhar Mai's daughter at Sambher

Abolition of enslavement in war

1563 Remission of tax on Hindu pilgrim centres.

1564 Abolition of jizya

1565 Founding of Agra fort

1568 Fall of Chitor

1569 Birth of Prince Salim, order given to build Sikri palaces

1571 Akbar at Fathpur-Sikri supervising construction work

1572 Gujarat Campaign

1573 Akbar's lightning raid on Gujarat

1574 Mulla Bada'uni and Abu'l Fazl presented at court

1575 Building of the 'Ibadat Khana

1578 Fortress of Kumbhalmir seized

1579 The Mahzar

First Jesuit mission left Goa

1580-1 Bihar and Bengal rebellions suppressed

1585 Death of Mirza Muhammad Hakim at Kabul and

Akbar's departure for the north-west frontier

1586 Annexation of Kashmir

1590-1 Conquest of Sind

xii

1591-2 Second Jesuit mission

1592 The millennial year of Hijra, millenial coins issued

1595 Surrender of Qandahar

Arrival of third Jesuit mission at Lahore

1598 Death of 'Abdu'llah Khan Uzbek of Transoxiana Akbar's return to Agra

1599 Akbar left Agra to command the Deccan expedition

1600 Rebellion of Prince Salim

Fall of Ahmadnagar

1601 Aslrgarh seized

Akbar's return to Agra

1602 Murder of Abu'1-Fazl

1603 Death of Khwaja Baqi Bi'llah

1605 Death of Akbar

1605-27 Nuru'd-Din Jahangir

1606 Prince Khusraw's revolt

Shaykh Nizam Thaneswari's banishment Guru Arjan's execution

1610 Qazi Nuru'llah Shustari flogged to death

1611 Jahangir marries Nur Jahan

1619-20 Mujaddid imprisoned

1622 Mujaddid released

Qandahar seized by Shah 'Abbas

1624 Mujaddid's death

1626 Mahabat Khan's coup it main - foiled by Nur Jahan

1627 Death of Jahangir

1628-58 Shihabu'd-Din Shahjahan

1631 Death of Mumtaz Mahal

1635 Death of Miyan Mir

1638 Qandahar surrendered by the Iranian governor, 'Ali Mardan Khan

1642 Death of Shaykh 'Abdu'l-Haqq Muhaddis Dihlawi

1648 Shahjahanabad founded

Qandahar recaptured by Iranians

1657 Shahjahan's serious illness

1658 Aurangzib defeats Dara Shukoh at Samugarh

1658-1707 Aurangzib

1659 Dara Shukoh executed

1660-1 Execution of Sarmad

1661 Death of Mulla Shah

1663 Death of Mir Jumla

1664 Shivaji's first sack of Surat

1665 Customs duties on Hindus doubled Jai Singh's victories over Shivaji

1666 Death of Shahjahan in captivity at Agra

xiii

Shivaji presented to Aurangzib at Agra, escapes from Agra

1667 Shivaji's second sack of Surat

1674 Aurangzib leaves for Hasan Abdal to suppress Afghan uprisings

1675 Execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur

Aurangzib returns from Hasan Abdal

1678 Jaswant Singh's death at Jamrud

1679 Jizya re-imposed on Hindus

War against Marwar

1680 Death of Shivaji

1681 Rebellion of Prince Akbar foiled Aurangzib leaves Ajmir for the Deccan

1686 Bijapur seized by Aurangzib

1697, Golkonda seized by Aurangzib

1689 Shivaji's son, Shambhaji, and his family taken captive,

Shambhaji executed

Rajaram, the Maratha king, makes Jinji his centre for operations against the Mughals

1698 Zu'lfaqar Khan seizes Jinji

1700 Rajaram dies, Tara Ba'i rules as queen mother

1707 Aurangzib's death

Later Mughals: 1707-1857

1707-12 Shah 'Alam I, Bahadur Shah

1713-19 Farrukhsiyar

1719-48 Nasiru'd-Din Muhammad Shah

1729 Death of Shah Kalimu'llah Jahanabadi

1739 Nadir Shah sacks Delhi

1757 Clive's victory at Plassey

1757—8 Ahmad Shah Durrani declared Emperor of Delhi, Delhi

and Mathura plundered

1761 Ahmad Shah Durrani crushes Maratha power at Panipat, Delhi plundered by the Afghans

1762 Death of Shah Waliu'llah

1773 Death of Ahmad Shah Durrani

1785 Mawlana Fakhru'd-Din's death

1799 Tipu died defending Seringapatam

1803 Shah 'Alam II (1760-1806) surrenders Delhi to the British

1824 Death of Shah 'Abdu'l-'Aziz

1831 Defeat and death of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid and Shah Isma'il at Balakot

1837-57 Siraju'd-Din Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor

xiv

LIST OF MAPS

India at the close of the ninth century 17

India in 1236 26

India in 1398 54

The Portuguese possessions in the East and the route to India 75

The Sultanates of the Deccan and the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara in the sixteenth century 85

The Mughal Empire at the death of Akbar, 1605 115

The Mughal Empire at the end of the seventeenth century 147

xv

NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION

Every Indian language has a complex phonetic system and contains phonemes which to the average speaker of English seem almost exactly the same, but to the Indian ear are completely different. Only after long practice can the hearing be trained to recognize these differences, or the vocal organs to pronounce them accurately. The scripts of Indian languages reproduce these sounds, but they can be expressed in Roman script only by means of numerous diacritical marks below or above the letters. It is assumed that most the readers of this book will not be students of Indian languages, and therefore a simplified system of alliteration has been used, which gives some idea of the approximate sound.

Words in classical languages are transliterated according to the simplified system mentioned above. Place-names in general follow the present-day official spellings of the governments of the countries of South Asia, as given in Bartholomew's World Travel Map, India, Pakistan, and Ceylon, 1970. Proper names of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Indians are given in the spelling which they themselves favoured. Diacritical marks have been placed over the long vowels in such names, in order to give some ideas of the correct pronunciation. Exceptions are made only in the case of a very few Anglicized words, like Calcutta and Bombay.

Only three letters with diacritical marks are normally used: a, i, and u. These distinguish long from short vowels. In most Indian languages e and o are always long, and therefore do not need diacritics.

Vowels

a short is pronounced like u in 'hut', never like a in 'hat'. Bengali speakers usually pronounce it like a short o as in 'hot'.

a long, as in 'calm'.

e approximately as the vowel in 'same', but closer to the long e in French or German.

i as in 'pin'. The word 'Sikh', incidentally, should sound approximately like English 'sick'. The pronunciation like 'seek' seems to have been adopted by some Englishmen in India for this very reason, in order to avoid depressing overtones in the name of a tough, vigorous people.

xvi

i as in 'machine'.

o approximately as in 'so'. Close to the long o in French or German.

u as in 'bull', never as in 'but'. ('Punjab', however, is an Anglicized spelling, and is more accurately written 'Panjab'. In the case of this word we have deviated from our rule about using the accepted spelling, in order to avoid the pronunciation 'Poonjab', which one sometimes hears from speakers who are doing their best to be correct. The first syllable is like the English 'pun'.

u as in 'boot'.

Consonants

Most of the Hindi consonants are pronounced roughly as in English, but special care should be taken of the aspirated consonants kh, gh, chh, jh, th, dh, ph, and bh. These are exactly like their unaspirated counterparts, k, g, ch, j, t, d, p, and b, but with a stronger emission of breath.

Urdu has imported several sounds from Arabic and Persian. Many speakers are inclined to pronounce words in these languages according to the Indian phonetic system, but educated Muslims attempt to pronounce them correctly.* The Arabic alphabet indicates several shades of pronunciation which cannot be expressed in simple Roman script; for example, t represents two different Persian letters, s three letters, and z four letters. In works intended for specialist readers such consonants are indicated by diacritical marks; this seemed unnecessary in this work. The vowels, a, e, i, o, and u, are pronounced roughly as mentioned above.

Consonants are to be pronounced approximately as in English, with the following exceptions: kh sounds like the Scottish 'loch' or German 'buch'; gh is pronounced like the French r, q is a deep guttural unknown in most European languages, pronounced like k but with the back of the throat wider open as though swallowing. The sign ' represents a distinct letter known as ain in Arabic and Persian. It is known to phoneticians as a 'glottal stop'; a similar sound occurs in some dialects in English, as in the eastern English and 'cockney' pronunciation of 'bottle', where the t is not heard, but a momentary suppression of breath and a slight swallowing movement of the throat takes place. The raised comma ' represents the Arabic hamza, which is not strictly a letter. It normally occurs between vowels and indicates that they form separate syllables, but the swallowing sound between is much less noticeable.

* Adapted from A.L. Basham (cd.), A Cultural History of India, Oxford, 1975, pp. xvi, xvii.

xvii

INTRODUCTION, WITH A REVIEW OF SOURCES

India and China have the oldest cultural traditions in the world. India has enjoyed over 4,000 years of civilization, and every period of its history has contributed something to present-day life. The most significant characteristic of Indian civilization, as it evolved through the ages, is its unity in diversity. The Wonder That Was India, first published in 1954, now called Volume I, deals with the ancient civilization of India. It was stated there that the ancient civilization of India differed from those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece in that its traditions have been preserved without a break to the present day.* Muslim rule in India, which was firmly established in the thirteenth century and flourished until the beginning of the eighteenth century, and is now the subject of the present volume, did not destroy the ancient culture of India, as did the onslaughts of the Muslims in Persia.

Under the rule of some of the Delhi sultans of the Middle Ages there was persecution, and we read of temples being razed to the ground and brahmans put to death for practising their devotions in public; but in general the Muslims were reasonably tolerant, and at all times Hindu chiefs continued to rule in outlying parts of India, paying tribute to their Muslim overlords. Conversions to Islam were numerous, though only in a few regions were the majority of Indians persuaded to embrace the new faith. Hindus in those parts of India dominated by Muslims often accepted the situation as normal. In such conditions mutual influence was inevitable. Hindus began to learn Persian, the official language of their Muslim rulers, and Persian words found their way into the vernaculars. Well-to-do Hindu families often adopted the system of 'strict parda' from the Muslims, and made their womenfolk veil their faces in public. The surviving Hindu kings borrowed new military techniques from the Muslims, learnt to employ cavalry with greater effect, and to use heavier armour and new types of weapon. One great religious teacher of medieval India, Kabir (1425-1505), a poor weaver of Banaras, taught the brother-hood of Hindu and Muslim alike in the fatherhood of God, and opposed idolatry and caste practices, declaring that God was equally to be found in temple and mosque. Later, Nanak (1469-1539), a teacher of the Panjab, taught the same doctrine with even greater force, and founded a new faith, that of the Sikhs, designed to incorporate all that was best of both Hinduism and Islam.

* A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India, London, 1954. p. 4.

xviii

Nevertheless, the Muslim invasions, and the enforced contact with new ideas, did not have the fertilizing effect upon Hindu culture which might have been expected. Hinduism was already very conservative when the lieutenants of Muhammad of Ghur conquered the Ganges Valley. In the Middle Ages, for every tolerant and progressive teacher there must have been hundreds of orthodox brahmans, who looked upon themselves as the preservers of the immemorial Aryan Dharma against the barbarians who overran the holy land of Bharatavarsa. Under their influence the complex rules of the Hindu way of life became if anything stricter and more rigidly applied.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Mughal emperors unified practically the whole of North India and much of the Deccan, and built up an empire such as had not been seen since the days of the Guptas. The Mughal period was one of great splendour, which has left its mark on India in the form of many lovely buildings, wherein Islamic and Hindu motifs often blended in a perfect unity. The Taj Mahal at Agra, the Mughal capital, is of course the most famous memorial of the times. Akbar (1556-1605), the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I and the first of the four great Mughal emperors, fully realised that the Empire could stand only on a basis of complete toleration. All religious tests and disabilities were abolished, including the hated poll-tax on unbelievers. Rajput princes and other Hindus were given high offices of state, without conversion to Islam, and inter-communal marriages were encouraged by the example at the Emperor himself. If the policy of the greatest of India's Muslim rulers had been continued by his successors, her history might have been very different.