Mughal South Asia

Styles of Kingship & Administration

I. Mughal South Asia: 1526-1707

Uzbekistan

Timur

Chingiz Khan

Babur

Humayun 1556

Akbar 1556-1605

Aurangzeb 1658-1707

Early modern polities

Maharashtra

British East India Company

II. Akbar: Religious Patronage

Ulama

Chishti Sufis

non-Muslim religious teachers

Sufi saints

From Akbar-Nama, a formal history of Akbar’s rule

“When the capital was illumined by the return of the Imperial presence, the old regulations came again into operation, and the house of wisdom shone resplendent on Friday nights with the light of holy minds. … in that place of meeting the lamp was kindled to brighten the solitude of seclusion … and the merits of the philosophers of the colleges and monasteries were put to the test… Sufis, doctors, preachers, lawyers, Sunnis, Shii’as, Brahmans, Jains, Buddhists, Charvakas, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and learned men of every belief were gathered together in the royal assembly… the disputations and contentions were long and heated.”

III. Sufi Tombs

pilgrimage tours and state visits

Nizammudin Auliya at Delhi

high culture

protective power

Fatehpur Sikri

Agra

IV. Akbar: Administration

Creating-periphery ties

Non-Muslim & Muslim high office holders

Akbar’s marriage

Punjab

Land grants

Land surveys and tax systems

Zamindars

Power on the move

V. The Challenge of Bengal

Agriculture

Maritime trade

Center-periphery distance

Army of dependencies

“… [the high-ranking regional administrator] received the Imperial commands to put aside his work of punishing the rebels of Bihar, and to devote his energies to the conquest of Bengal. By good fortune, the rebels of Bihar had been put to flight before the arrival of the Imperial forces. But the rainy season came on, and the campaign was deferred for that year. When the rains subsided,

[the chosen noble military leaders] took their departure from Court. Officers were also sent bydifferent roads to all the chiefs of Illahabas, Oudh, and Bihar. In a

short time a large force was collected … and was eager for the advance.”