Zahir ud-Din Mohammad (Babur)

Main article: Babur

Claiming descent from both Chengiz Khan and Timur, Babur was known for his love of beauty
in addition to his military ability . Babur concentrated on gaining control of northwestern
India.He was invited to India by Daulat Khan Lodi and Rana Sanga who wanted to end the Lodi
dynasty. He defeated Ibrahim Lodi in 1526 at the First battle of Panipat, a town north of Delhi.
Babur then turned to the tasks of persuading his Central Asian followers to stay on in India and
of overcoming other contenders for power, mainly the Rajputs and the Afghans. He succeeded in
both tasks but died shortly thereafter in 1530.
Babur kept the record of his life in Chagatay Turkish, the spoken language of the Timurids and
the whole Turco-Mongol world at the time. Baburnama is one of the longest examples of
sustained narrative prose in Chagatay Turkish. Akbar's regent, Bayram Khan, a Turcoman of
eastern Anatolian and Azerbaijani origin whose father and grandfather had joined Babur's
service. Bayram Khan wrote poetry in Chaghatay and Persian. His son, Abdul-Rahim
Khankhanan, was fluent in Chaghatay, Hindi, and Persian and composed in all three languages.
Using Babur's own text he translated the Baburnama into Persian. The Chaghatay original was
last seen in the imperial library sometime between 1628 and 1638 during Jahangir's reign.

Humayun
Main article: Humayun
Baburs favorite son Humayun took the reins of the empire after his father succumbed to disease
at the young age of forty-seven. In 1539, Humayun and Sher Khan met in battle in Chausa,
between Varanasi and Patna. Humayun barely escaped with his own life and in the next year, in
1540, his army of 40,000 lost to the Afghan army of 15,000 of Sher Khan. A popular Pakhtun
Afghan General "Khulas Khan Marwat" was leading Sher Shah Suri's Army. This was the first
Military Adventure of Khulas Khan Marwat and he became soon, a nightmare for Mughals.
Sher Khan's Army under the command of Khulas Khan Marwat had now become the monarch in
Delhi under the name Sher Shah Suri and ruled from 1540 to 1545. Sher Shah Suri consolidated
his kingdom form Punjab to Bengal (first one to enter Bengal after Ala-ud-din Khilji did more
than two centuries earlier).He was credited to have organized and administered the government
and military in such a way that future Mughal kings used it as their own models. He also added
to the fort in Delhi (supposed site of Indraprastha), first started by Humayun, and now called the
Purana Qila (Old Fort). The mosque Qila-I-Kuhna inside the fort is a masterpiece of the period,
though only parts of it have survived.
The charred remains of Sher Shah were taken to a tomb in Sahasaram, midway between Varanasi
and Gaya. Although rarely visited, the future great Mughal builders like Akbar, Jahangir and
Shah Jahan emulated the architecture of this tomb. The massive palace like mausoleum is three
stories and fifty meters high. [1] Sher Shahs son Islam Shah held on to power until 1553 and
following his death the Sur dynasty lost most of its clout due to strife and famine.

Humayun was a keen astronomer.In fact he died due to a fall from the rooftop of Sher Shahs
Delhi palace in 1554. Thus Humayun ruled in India barely for ten years and died at the age of
forty-eight, leaving behind Akbar then only thirteen-year-old as his heir. As a tribute to his father,
Akbar later built the Humayuns tomb in Delhi (completed in 1571), from red sandstone, that
would become the precursor of future Mughal architecture. Akbars mother and Humayuns wife
Hamida Banu Begum personally supervised the building of the tomb.

Akbar
(1542-1605)
Main article: Akbar
Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun (r. 1530-40 and 1555-56), whose rule was interrupted by
the Afghan Sur Dynasty, which rebelled against him. It was only just before his death that
Humayun was able to regain the empire and leave it to his son. In restoring and expanding
Mughal rule, Akbar based his authority on the ability and loyalty of his followers, irrespective of
their religion. In 1564 the jizya tax on non-Muslims was abolished, and bans on temple building
and Hindu pilgrimages were lifted.
Akbar's methods of administration reinforced his power against two possible sources of
challenge--the Afghan-Turkish aristocracy and the traditional interpreters of Islamic law, the
ulama. He created a ranked imperial service based on ability rather than birth, whose members
were obliged to serve wherever required. They were remunerated with cash rather than land and
were kept away from their inherited estates, thus centralizing the imperial power base and
assuring its supremacy. The military and political functions of the imperial service were separate
from those of revenue collection, which was supervised by the imperial treasury. This system of
administration, known as the mansabdari, was based on loyal service and cash payments and was
the backbone of the Mughal Empire; its effectiveness depended on personal loyalty to the
emperor and his ability and willingness to choose, remunerate, and supervise.
Akbar declared himself the final arbiter in all disputes of law derived from the Qur'an and the
sharia. He backed his religious authority primarily with his authority in the state. In 1580 he also
initiated a syncretic court religion called the Din-i-Ilahi (Divine Faith). In theory, the new faith
was compatible with any other, provided that the devotee was loyal to the emperor. In practice,
however, its ritual and content profoundly offended orthodox Muslims. The ulema found their
influence undermined.
Several well known heritage sites were built during the reign of Akbar. The fort city of Fatehpur
Sikri was used as the political capital of the Empire from 1571 to 1578. The numerous palaces
and the grand entrances with intricate art work have been recognized as a world heritage site by
UNESCO. Akbar also began construction of his own tomb at Sikandra near Agra in 1600 CE.

Jahangir
(1569-1627)
Main article: Jahangir
Prince Salim (b. 1569 of Hindu Rajput princess from Amber), who would later be known as
Emperor Jahangir showed signs of restlessness at the end of a long reign by his father Akbar.
During the absence of his father from Agra he pronounced himself as the king and turned
rebellious. Akbar was able to wrestle the throne back. Salim did not have to worry about his
siblings aspirations to the throne. His two brothers, Murad and Daniyal, had both died early
from alcoholism.
Jahangir began his era as a Mughal emperor after the death of Akbar in the year 1605. He
considered his third son Prince Khurram (future Shah Jahan-born 1592 of Hindu Rajput princess
Manmati), his favourite. Rana of Mewar and Prince Khurram had a standoff that resulted in a
treaty acceptable to both parties. Khurram was kept busy with several campaigns in Bengal and
Kashmir. Jahangir claimed the victories of Khurram Shah Jahan as his own.
He also had unlimited sources of revenue largely due to a systematic organization of the
administration by his father, Akbar. The Mughal Empire reached its pinnacle during Jahangir and
Shah Jahans rule. Jahangir built his famous gardens in Kashmir though the daily administration
was delegated to close aides. One such person was Jahangirs wife, Nur Jahan, whom he married
in 1611. She was the thirty-year-old widow of one of his Afghan nobles. Her father, Persian born
Itimad-ud-Daula became a minister and closest advisor to the emperor. Very able Nur Jahan
along with her father and brother Asaf Khan, who was a successful general, ran the kingdom.
Jahangir had kept a diary are used as his memoirs. Though not a soldier, Jahangir was an ardent
patron of Mughal art and an avid builder. He completed Akbars five-tiered tomb in Sikandra.
The emperor kept busy building in Lahore, Allahabad and Agra. While the de facto emperor, Nur
Jahan was attending to administrative details, Jahangir found solace in loitering in his gardens
and appreciating art and nature.
The darkest incident of his rule perhaps was the disposition of a peaceful leader of newly formed
religion called Sikhism. Akbar had watched the blossoming of the new religion founded by Guru
Nanak, with fascination. Jahangir, in a controversy with its leader, was responsible for the death
of Sikh Guru Arjan(who was placed on a hot iron until he died, unwilling to convert to Islam)
and this would have lasting consequences for future Mughal emperors. The peaceful religion of
Sikhism would turn militant later when Jahangirs grandson Aurangzeb murdered the ninth Sikh
Guru Tegh Bahadur. Jahangir, died in 1627 from alcohol abuse and Prince Khurram(Shah
Jahan)s reign as the emperor began.

Shah Jahan
Main article: Shah Jahan
Prince Khurram, who would later be known as Emperor Shah Jahan, ascended to the throne after
a tumultuous succession battle.

With the wealth created by Akbar, the Mughal kingdom was probably the richest in the world.
Prince Khurram gave himself the title of Shah Jahan, the King of the World and this was the
name that was immortalized by history. With his imagination and aspiration, Shah Jahan gained a
reputation as an aesthete par excellence. He built the black marble pavilion at the Shalimar
Gardens in Srinagar and a white marble palace in Ajmer. He also built a tomb for his father,
Jahangir in Lahore and built a massive city Shahajanabad in Delhi but his imagination surpassed
all Mughal glory in his most famous building the Taj Mahal. It was in Shahajanabad that his
daughter Jahanara built the marketplace called Chandni Chowk.
His beloved wife Arjuman Banu (daughter of Asaf Khan and niece of Nur Jahan) died while
delivering their fourteenth child in the year 1631. The distraught emperor started building a
memorial for her the following year. The Taj Mahal, named for Arjuman Banu, who was called
Mumtaz Mahal, became one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The great Jama Masjid built by him was the largest in India at the time. He renamed Delhi after
himself as Shahjahanabad. The Red Fort made of red sandstone built during his reign near Jama
Masjid around the same time came to be regarded as the seat of power of India itself. The Prime
Minister of India addresses the nation from the ramparts of this fort on Independence day even to
this age. Shah Jahan also built or renovated forts in Delhi and in Agra. White marble chambers
that served as living quarters and other halls for public audiences are examples of classic Mughal
architecture. Here in Agra fort, Shah Jahan would spend eight of his last years as a prisoner of his
son, Aurangzeb shuffling between the hallways of the palace, squinting at the distant silhouette
of his famous Taj Mahal on the banks of River Jamuna.

Aurangzeb
Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb
Main article: Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb's reign ushered in the decline of the Mughal Empire. Aurangzeb, who in the latter
half of his long rule assumed the title "Alamgir" or "world-seizer," was known for aggressively
expanding the empire's frontiers and for his militant enforcement of orthodox Sunni Islam.
During his reign, the Mughal empire reached its greatest extent (the Bijapur and Golconda
Sultanates which had been reduced to vassaldom by Shah Jahan were formally annexed),
although it is likely that his policies also led to its dissolution. Still, there is some belief that his
policies may have slowed the decline of the Empire rather than precipitated it. Although he was
an outstanding general and a rigorous administrator, Mughal fiscal and military standards
declined as security and luxury increased. Land rather than cash became the usual means of
remunerating high-ranking officials, and divisive tendencies in his large empire further
undermined central authority.
In 1679 Aurangzeb reimposed the hated jizyah tax on Hindus. Coming after a series of other
taxes, and other discriminatory measures favouring Sunni Muslims, this action by the emperor,
incited rebellion among Hindus and others in many parts of the empire--Jat, Sikh, and Rajput
forces in the north and Maratha forces in the Deccan. The emperor managed to crush the
rebellions in the north, but at a high cost to agricultural productivity and to the legitimacy of
Mughal rule. Aurangzeb was compelled to move his headquarters to Daulatabad in the Deccan to

mount a costly campaign against Maratha guerrilla fighters led by Shivaji, which lasted twentysix-years until he died in 1707 at the age of ninety.
In the century- and one-half that followed, effective control by Aurangzeb's successors
weakened. The mansabdari system gave way to the zamindari system, in which high-ranking
officials took on the appearance of hereditary landed aristocracy with powers of collecting rents.
As Delhi's control waned, other contenders for power emerged and clashed, thus preparing the
way for the eventual British takeover.
The Mughal state reached its hight under Aurangzeb's leadership. It had 29.2 percent of the
world population under its flag (175 million out of 600 million in 1700 AD) and was one of the
richest states the world had ever seen, with 24.5% of the world's GDP (the equivalent of $90.8
billion out of $371 billion in 1700).
Aurangzeb, as is his father before him, is remembered as a builder-emperor. The Badshahi
Masjid (Imperial Mosque) in Lahore was constructed in 1673 on his orders. It was not only the
largest mosque ever built by a Mughal emperor but was at that point the largest mosque in the
world. He also constructed the Alamgiri Gate of the Lahore Fort, which is today a UNESCO
World Heritage Site. Moti Masjid inside Delhi's Red Fort was also finalized by him.