Indian History Notes # 16

Source: XII NCERT History Part II Chapter 5

• The name Mughal derives from Mongol.
• Mughals referred to themselves as descendants of the turkish ruler Timur on the paternal side.
• The founder of the empire, Zahiruddin Babur, was driven from his central Asian homeland, Farghana, by the warring uzbeks. He first established himself at kabul and then in 1526 pushed further into the Indian subcontinent.
• Babur's successor,Nasiruddin Humayun expanded the frontiers of the empire, but lost it to the Afghan leader Sher shah suri.
• Humayun took refuge in the court of the safavid ruler of Iran.
• Akbar succeeded in extending the frontiers of the empire to the Hindukush mountains and to check the expansionist designs of the Uzbeks of Turan(central Asia) and the Safavids of Iran.
• As the Mughals were Changhtai Turks by their origin, Turkish was their mother tongue.
• Mughal court chronicles were written in Persian.
• Babur wrote poetry and his memoirs in Turkish language.
• Akbar Nama was written in persian.
• The Mahabharata was translated into persian as the Raznama(Book of wars).
• Akbars favourite calligraphic style was the nastaliq, a fluid style with long horizontal strokes. It is written using a pieces of trimmed reed with a tip of 5-10mm called Qalam, dipped in carbon ink.
• Abu'l Fazl worked on the Akbar nama for 13 years.
• Akbarnama is divided into three books of which the first two are chronicles.
• Abu'l Fazl fell victim to a conspiracy hatched by Prince Salim, and was murdered by his accomplice, Bir singh Bundela.
• A pupil of Abu'l Fazl, Abdul Hamid Lahori is known as the author of the Badshah nama.
• Badshah nama is the official history of Shah Jahan.
• Shah Jahan's wazir, sadullah khan, revised the volumes of badshah nama.
• The Asiatic society of Bengal founded by Sir william jones in 1784, undertook the editing, printing and translation of many manuscripts.
• Edited versions of the Akbarnama and Badsha nama were first published by the Asiatic society in the 19th century.
• Akbar nama was traslated into English by Henry Beveridge.
• Abu'l Fazl describes the ideal of sulh-i-kul (absolute peace) as the corner stone of enlightened rule.
• During the 1560's Akbar had the fort of Agra constructed with red stone.
• In the 1570's, Akbar build a new capital, fatehpur sikri, Sikri was located on the direct road to Ajmer.
• In 1585, the capital was transferred to Lahore.
• Kornish was a form of ceremonial salutation in which the courtier placed the palm of his right hand against his forehead and bent his head.
• Akbar introduced the concept of Jharoka darshan. Jharoka was a small balcony facing east. Below, a crowd of people waited for a view of the emperor.
• The Mughal kings celebrated three major festivals a year:

1.                  the solar and the lunar birthdays of the monarch
2.                  nauroz, iranian new year

• On his birthdays, the monarch was weighed against precious commodities which were then distributed in charity. This was known as Jashn - i - Wazn or tuladan.
• The granting of titles to men of merit was an important aspect of Mughal polity.
• The title Mirza raja was accorded by Aurangazeb to his highest ranking nobles, Jai singh and Jaswant singh.
• A courtier while approaching the emperor, he offered either a small sum of money(nazr) or a large amount( peshkash).
• The term Harem is frequently used to refer to the domestic world of the Mughals. It originates in the persian word haram, meaning a sacred place.
• Jahanara and Roshnara were two daughters of Shah Jahan
• The bazar of Chandni chowk was designed by Jahanara.
• Gulbadan was the daughter of babur. She wrote Humayun nama.
• Chandrabhan Barahman wrote char chaman during the reign of shah jahan.
• Akbar married daughter of a Hindu rajput chief, Raja Bharmal kachhwaha of Amber.
• Raja todar mal was Akbar's finance minister.
• Mansab- Rank of holder of government offices.
• Zat- It was indicator of position in the imperial hierarchy and the salary of the official.
• Akbar established spiritual relationships with a select band of his nobility by treating them as his disciples( murid).
• Tajwiz was a petition presented by a nobelman to the emperor, recommending that an applicant be recruited as Mansabdar.
• Three ministers who were in charge of Fiscal and monetary institutions of the empire. They were 

1. mir bakshi(paymaster general)
2. diwan-i-ala ( Finance minister)
3. Sadr-us-sudur (minister of grants)

• The mirbakshi supervised the corps of court writers (waqia nawis) who recorded all applications and documents presented to the court and all imperial orders ( farman).
• All conquerors who wish to make their way into the Indian subcontinent had to cross the Hindukush to have access to the North India.
• Mughals in order to ward of this potential danger, they controlled strategic outposts - namely - Kabul and Qandahar.
• Qandhahar was a bone of contention between the safavids and the Mughals.
• In 1622, Mughals lost the city of Qandahar to the Safavids.
• The Jesuit accounts are the earliest impressions of the Mughal court ever recorded of European writers.
• Akbar was curious about christianity and dispatched an embassy to Goa to invite Jesuit priests.
• The first Jesuit mission reached Mughal court at Fatehpur sikri in 1580.
• Akbar's quest for religious knowledge led to interfaith debates in the Ibadat khana at fatehpur sikri between learned Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and christians.