216 / 822
Eternal India
encyclopedia
LURE - THRU THE AGES
various areas between Delhi and Kanauj. He
settled down in Agra, preparing schemes for
further Conquests and supervising the casting
of mortars. He spent his leisure hours
organizing the laying out of gardens, digging
of wells and planting of fruit trees from Kabul
in Indian soil.
The most powerful menace to the new
born Mughal empire was Rana Sanga, the
Rajput ruler of Mewar. A large number of
Rajput chiefs joined him to fight the Mughals.
The Rana marched to expel Babur from India.
On 17 March 1527 the final battle between
the Mughals and the Rajputs was fought at
Kanwah near Sikhri. The Rajput army out-
numbered Babur's army many times. By the
end of the day, Babur had gained a decisive
victory.
This victory secured Babur the Indian
throne. He assigned his son Humayun the
control of Kabul and Badakhshan. In 1529
Babur met the Afghans of Bihar and Bengal
in a battle at Goga in Bihar and inflicted a
crushing defeat on them.
By now Babur's health had been shattered
by the long and strenuous campaigns he had
fought and the hot Indian climate. He died on
26 Dec. 1530. Several years later his dead
body was taken to Kabul and buried in the
terrace of a beautiful garden.
Babur was also a great writer of poetry
and prose in Chaghatay-Turk, his mother
tongue; his
memoir Tuzuk-e-Babur
frankly
confesses his own failures. Always welcom-
ing the company of scholars and poets, he en-
joyed many erudite discussions with them.
Strengths
*
As a military leader Babur had no equal
in his day. His indomitable courage won
him the confidence of his commanders
and troops. As a soldier he was dauntless,
never giving way to panic or despair.
Nothing could shake his belief in his own
ultimate success with divine help.
*
He was very creative, frequently intro-
ducing innovations when building monu-
ments, laying out gardens and orchards
and casting new types of guns and match-
locks.
Weakness
*
He was a great drinker and at wine par-
ties he drank without restraint.
*
He spent too much wealth in offering
presents and gifts to his followers and re-
mitted certain duties for the Muslims.
Owing to his pre-occupation with wars he
could not build a sound financial and
administrative system.
.
Achievements
*
Babur laid the foundation of the Mughal
Empire in India.
*
The Mughal Empire provided a sense of
cohesiveness, unity and continuity that
had not been witnessed in the Indian sub-
continent for a thousand years that had
elapsed since the decline of the Gupta
empire.
*
During the Mughal rule India became the
richest and one of the most powerful
countries of the world. Persia, Tran-
soxania and Turkey recognised India's
position as a great power. European
nations such as Portugal, England, France
and Holland displayed eagerness to trade
with India.
Humayun
(b. 1508 - d.1556; reigned
1530-40 and 1555-56)
Babur was succeeded by his eldest son
Humayun at the age of twenty-three. His
three brothers, Kamran, Hindal and Askari
also coveted the throne. His cousins Muham-
mad Zaman and Muhammad Sultan were also
pretenders to the throne. His father had net
left behind him a consolidated and well-knit
empire. The Afghan nobles and Rajputs had
only temporarily been subdued. The growing
power of Bahadur Shah in Gujarat was also
a serious threat.
Humayun began badly by invading the
Hindu
principality
of
Kalinjar
in
Bundelkhand, which he failed to subdue. In
1532 he besieged the fortress of Chinar
unsuccessfully. Thereafter he conquered
Malwa and Gujarat, but he could not hold
them. He then proceeded to Bengal to assist
Sultan Mahmud of that province against Sher
Khan. In 1539 he fought a battle at Chausa
against Sher Khan in which Humayun was
defeated. In 1540 in another battle at Kanauj
Humayun was defeated by Sher Khan who
now assumed the title Sher Shah. Humayun
retreated and fled to Lahore and from there
to Sindh, Rajputana and back to Sindh again.
In 1543 he fled to Iran to seek military
assistance from its ruler Shah Tahmasp.
In 1545 Sher Shah died. He was succeded
by Islam Shah who ruled upto 1553. He was
succeeded by Muhammad Adil Shah who left
the government in the hands of his minister
Hemu. His power was challenged by Ibrahim
Shah and Sikandar Shah. Their mutual feuds
broke up the Sun empire. Humayun who was
waiting for such an opportunity invaded
India. In 1554 Humayun captured Lahore.
He occupied Sirhind and captured Delhi and
Agra in 1555. He thus regained the throne of
Delhi after an interval of 15 years. In 1556
Humayun died as a result of an accident in
Delhi.
Akbar, The Great
(b. 1542-d. 1605; reigned 1556-1605)
On Humayun's death, Akbar was pro-
claimed emperor by his guardian Byram
Khan. Delhi which was suffering from a
terrible famine had been seized by Himu. On
5 Nov. 1556 Himu's army met Akbar at
Panipat in a fierce battle. The Mughals were
about to be defeated when Himu was struck
in the eye by an arrow and fell unconscious
on his elephant. His army was seized with
panic and fled in all directions. The Mughals
were victorious. Himu was later killed.
Akbar entered Delhi in triumph, his rule was
established from Kabul to Jaunpur and from
the Punjab hills to Ajmir. In 1560 Akbar or-
dered Byram Khan to go on a pilgrimage to
Mecca. In 1561 Byram was assassinated by
an Afghan at Pataa in Gujarat on his way to
Mecca.
By 1561 Akbar had become old enough to
make his own decisions. In 1561 he con-
quered Malwa. The most important event of
1562 was Akbar's marriage with a Rajput
princess, daughter of Raja Bihammal of
Amber and the conquest of Malwa in Rajast-
han. The marriage led to a firm alliance
between the Mughals and the Rajputs. The
princess became the mother of Akbar's fu-
ture heir and successor Jehangir.
In 1562 Akbar abolished the enslavement
of the prisoners of war and of their forcible
conversion and their women and children to
Islam. By 1562 Akbar freed himself com-
pletely from the influence of the harem. The
harem party, headed by Maham Anaga, her
son Adham Khan and some courtiers mur-
dered the new Prime Minister Atgah Khan.
Akbar killed Adham Khan.
Akbar embarked on a policy of conquest,
establishing control over Jodhpur, Bhatha
(modem Rewa) and the Gokkhar country be-
tween the Indus and the Beas in the Punjab.
Next he conquered the region of Gondwana
in modern Madhya Pradesh. In 1563 he
removed the pilgrimage tax on Hindus. In
1564 the
Jizyah
(poll tax on non-Muslims)
was abolished. In 1569 a son was born to