Overview of The Later Great Mughals

A Brief Outline of Emperors Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb

Aug 8, 2008

Afghans of Mongol descent, the Mughals displaced the Sultan rulers of the small kingdom of Delhi (ironically Afghans themselves) in the mid sixteenth century.

Jahangir

Reigned 1605-1627

With royal authority given on his father’s deathbed , Jahangir was 32 when he became emperor. Possessing his father’s open-mindedness and relative tolerance to non-Muslims, Jahangir also possessed his father’s enquiring mind, developing a keen interest in botany and also patronising the arts. His qualities however have always been somewhat overlooked in comparisons with his father, Akbar.

Long addicted to opium and wine, and sharing the same fondness for the good things in life as his grandfather Humayun, Jahangir gradually lost his grip over the affairs of state, allowing his chief Queen Nur Jahan to assume the reins of power.

This she did successfully, putting down two rebellions, one headed by Shah Jahan, the emperor’s son. Making no attempt to retain power on her husband’s death in 1627, she retired to Lahore where she lived for eighteen years until her death.

Shah Jahan

Reigned 1627-1658

The pomp and ceremony that were the hallmarks of Mughal rule reached their zenith under Shah Jahan. He took a special interest in architecture and built among other beautiful buildings, the Taj Mahal, to commemorate his favourite queen Mumtaz Mahal. This structure took around twenty two years to be completed and required the efforts of around twenty thousand workmen.

Shajahanabad, a mini-city in Delhi housing the emperor’s famous Diwan-i-khas palace, and the Jama Masjid mosque, the largest in India, were other splendid and costly architectural projects undertaken by the emperor.

On a smaller scale Shah Jahan ordered the famous Peacock Throne to be built for himself, a throne costing ten million rupees in materials alone, and which was “so much talked of in the Indies” according to Thevenot, a contemporary European traveller.

The emperor also regularly invoked tuladana, where a favoured subject was presented with their weight in gold. A doctor curing his daughter Jahanara of burn injuries received this, as did numerous poets and artists.

Architecture swung back towards Persian influences and governance too began to look back towards its Persian and Islamic roots. Toleration towards non-Muslims began to wane, although this would be more marked under Aurangzeb.

Illness in 1657 sparked in-fighting amongst his sons, from which Aurangzeb emerged victorious, usurped the throne and then imprisoned his father at Agra for the remainder of his life.

Aurangzeb

Reigned 1658 - 1707

Under Aurangzeb Mughal governance reverted further back to its Persian and Islamic roots.

Jizya, the tax levied on non-Muslims was re-imposed and Hindu temples were demolished more systematically than under Aurangzeb’s predecessors.

The luxurious trappings associated with the Mughal lifestyle also receded markedly; Aurangzeb lived an almost ascetic existence and it was said that he met his personal needs by selling caps he had made.

In terms of conquest though, Aurangzeb can claim to be the greatest of the “Great Moghuls”. In 1681 he swept down on Southern India, sweeping all before him and imposing Mughal rule on practically all the subcontinent.

Even as Mughal rule reached its zenith however, cracks were beginning to appear in the very foundations of the empire. Uprisings by the Marathas (from present day Maharashtra) weakened the regime militarily while the old order consisting of idle, sycophantic amirs (nobles) had grown too corrupt under years of misrule to support itself.

Aurangzeb’s famous warning, from his deathbed in Ahmadnagar in Maharashtra :”After me, chaos!” would prove hauntingly true. Weakened by factional infighting and continued Maratha harassment, the empire continued to shrink until the British deposed and exiled the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, for supporting the Indian Uprising of 1857.

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