The Muslim Empire Part 3

The Muslim Empire

The Grandeur of the Moguls

Mogul Dynasty Map

Draw

What are the THREE waterways around the Mogul Empire?

The Mogul Dynasty

• In 1500, the Indian subcontinent was still divided into a number of Hindu and

Muslim kingdoms.

• However, the Moguls established a new dynasty and brought a new era of unity to

the region.

• Rise of the Moguls

• The Moguls were not natives of India.

• They came from the mountainous region north of the Indus River Valley.

• The founder of the Mogul dynasty was Babur.

•His father was descended from the great Asian conquerorTimur Lenk; his mother, from the Mongol
conqueror Genghis Khan.
• Babur had inherited a part of Timur Lenk’s empire in an upland river valley of the Syr Dar’ya.

• As a youth, he led a group of warriors who seized Kabul in 1504.

• Thirteen years later, Babur’s forces crossed the Khyber Pass into India.

• Babur’s forces were far smaller than those of his enemies.

• However, they had advanced weapons, including artillery, and used them to great

effect.
• Babur captured Delhi and established his power in the plains of North India.

•He continued his conquests to North India until his death in 1530 at the age of 47.

Multiple Choice

What advanced weapons did Babur's forces use against their enemies?

• Tanks

• Artillery

• Planes

• Canons

The Mogul Dynasty

• The Reign of Akbar

• Babur’s grandsonAkbar was only 14 when he took the throne.

• Intelligent and industrious, Akbar set out to extend his domain.

• By 1605, he had brought Mogul rule to most of India

• How was Akbar able to place almost all of India under his ruler.

• By using heavy artillery, Akbar’s armies were able to overpower the stone fortresses

of their rivals.
• The Moguls were also successful negotiators.

• Akbar’s conquests created the greatest Indian empire since the Mauryan

dynasty.

• The empire appeared highly centralized by was actually a collection of semi-

independentstates held together by the power of the emperor.

• Akbar was probably the greatest of the conquering Mogul monarchs, but he is

best known for the humane character of his rule.

• Like all Mogul rulers, Akbar was born a Muslim, but he adopted a policy of religious

tolerance.
• As emperor, he showed a keen interest in other religions and tolerated Hindi practices.

Multiple Choice

Which leader adopted the policy of religious tolerance?

• Babur

• Charles I

• Akbar

• Suleyman

The Mogul Dynasty

• The Reign of Akbar Cont.

• He even welcomed the expression of Christian views by his Jesuit advisers at

court.

• By taking a Hindu princess as one of his wives, Akbar put his policy of religious

tolerance into practice.

• Akbar was also tolerant in his administration of the government.

• The upper ranks of the governmentbureaucracy were filled with nonnative

Muslims, but many of the lower-ranking officials were Hindus.

• It became common practice to give the lower-ranking officials plots of farmland

for their temporary use.

• These local officials, known as zamindars, kept a portion of the taxes paid by the

peasants.
• They were then expected to forward the rest of the taxes from the taxes from the lands

under their control to the central government.
•Zamindars came to exercise considerable power and authority in their local districts.

Multiple Choice

Who were the local officials that kept taxes during Akbar's reign?

• Zamindars

• Advisers

• Sultan

• Shah

The Mogul Dynasty

• The Reign of Akbar Cont.

• Overall, the Akbarera was a time of progress, at least by the standards of the

day.

• All Indian peasants were required to pay about one-third of their annual harvest to

the state, but the system was applied justly.
• When bad weather struck in the 1590s, taxes were reduced or suspended altogether.

•Thanks to a long period of peace and political stability, trade and manufacturing flourished.

• The era was an especially prosperous one in the area of foreign trade.

• Indian goods, notably textiles, tropical food products and spices, and precious

stones, were exported in exchange for gold and silver.
• Arab traders handled much of the foreign trade because the Indians, like their Mogul rulers,

did not care for travel by sea.

• Decline of the Moguls

•Akbar died in 1605 and was succeeded by his son Jahangir.

• Jahangir was able and ambitious.

• During the early years of his reign, he continued to strengthen the central government's

control over his vast empire.

Multiple Choice

Who took over when Akbar died in 1605?

• Babur

• Meganalla

• Lyleiti

• Jahangir

The Mogul Dynasty

• Decline of the Moguls Cont.

• Eventually, however, his grip began to weaken when he fell under the influence

of one of his wives, Persian-born Nur Jahan.

• As Jahangir slowly lost interest in governing, he gave more authority to Nur Jahan.

• The empress used her position to enrich her own family.

•She arranged the marriage of her niece to her husband’s third son and successor, Shah Jahan.

• During his reign, from 1628 to 1658, Shah Jahan maintained the political system

established by earlier Mogul rulers.

• He also expanded the boundaries of the empire through successful campaigns in the

Deccan Plateau and against the city of Samarqand, north of the Hindu Kush.

• Shah Jahan’s rule was marred by his failure to deal with growing domestic

problems, however.

• He had inherited a nearly empty treasury.

• His military campaigns and expensive building projects put a heavy strain on the imperial

finances and compelled him to raise taxes.
•The peasants were even more deprived as a result of these taxes.
• The majority of Jahan’s subjects lived in poverty.

Multiple Select

What TWO things put a heavy strain on the imperial finances?

• Military Campaigns

• Royal Parties

• Building Projects

• New Naval Fleet

The Mogul Dynasty

• Decline of the Moguls Cont.

• Shah Jahan’s troubles worsened with his illness in the mid-1650s.

• It was widely reported that he had died.

• Such news led to a struggle for power among his sons.

•Battles were fought; alliances and defections were made.
• The victorious son, Aurangzeb, had his brother put to death and imprisoned his father.

• Aurangzeb then had himself crowned emperor in 1658.

• Aurangzeb is one of the most controversial rulers in the his history of India.

• During his reign, the empire reached its greatest physical size.

• Constant warfare and religious intolerance, however, made his subjects resentful.

• As a man of his principle, Aurangzeb attempted to eliminate many of what he

considered to be India’s social evils.

• He forbade the Hindu custom of suttee(cremating a widow on her husband’s

funeral pyre), and he put a stop to the levying of illegal taxes.
• He tried to forbid gambling and drinking as well.

Multiple Choice

Who is one of the most controversial rulers in the history of India?

• Shah Jahan

• Aurangzeb

• Sultan

• Bertha the Bad

The Mogul Dynasty

• Decline of the Moguls Cont.

• Aurangzeb was a devout Muslim and adopted a number of measures that

reversed the Mogul policies of religious tolerance.

• FOR INSTANCE, he imposed a tax on non-Muslims.

• Also, he prohibited the building of new Hindu temples, and he forced Hindus to convert to

Islam.

• Aurangzeb’s policies led to Hindu outcries and domestic unrest

• He even received criticism from Shias.

• In addition, a number of revolts against imperial authority broke out in provinces throughout

the empire.
•Rebellious groups threatened the power of emperor.

• After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, there were many contenders for the throne.

• Their reigns were short-lived.

• India was increasingly divided and vulnerable to attack from abroad.

•In 1739, Delhi was sacked by the Persians, who left it in ashes.

Multiple Select

What TWO things did Aurangzeb's policies lead to?

• War

• Religious Toleration

• Hindu Outcries

• Domestic Unrest

Life in Mogul India

• The Moguls were foreigners in India.

• In addition, they were Muslimsruling a largely Hindu population.

• The resulting blend of influences on the lives of ordinary Indians could be complicated.

•They treatment of women serves as a good example.

• Society and Role of Women

• Women had long played an active role in Mogul tribal society.

• Mogul rulers often relied on female relatives for political advice.

• To a degree, these Mogul attitudes toward women affected Indian society.

•Women from aristocratic families frequently received salaries and were allowed to own land.

• At the same time, the Moguls places certain restrictions on women under their

interpretations of Islamic law.

• These practices generally were adopted by Hindus.

• The practice of isolating women, FOR EXAMPLE, was followed by many upper-class Hindus.

• In other ways, however, Hindu practices remained unchanged by Mogul rule.

• The custom of suttee continued in spite of efforts by the Moguls to abolish it.

• Child marriage also remained common.

Multiple Choice

Who had long played an active role in Mogul tribal society?

• Children

• Women

• Men

• Elders

Life in Mogul India

• Society and Role of Women Cont.

• The Mogul era saw the emergence of a wealthy nobility and a prosperous

merchant class.

• During the late eighteenth century, this prosperity was shaken by the decline of the

Moguls and the coming of the British.
• However, many prominent Indians established trading ties with foreigners.

• Mogul Culture

• The Moguls brought together Persian and Indian influences in a new and

beautiful architectural style.

• This style is best symbolized by the Taj Mahal, which Shah Jahan built in Agra in the

mid-seventeenth century.
• The project lasted more than twenty years.

•To finance it, the government raised land taxes, driving many Indian peasants into complete poverty.

• The Taj Mahal is widely considered to be the most beautiful building in India, if

not the entire world.

• The building seems to have monumental size, nearly blinding brilliance, and delicate

lightness.

Multiple Choice

What is widely considered to be the most beautiful building in India?

• Taj Mahal

• Empire State Building

• Eiffel Tower

• Sphynx

Life in Mogul India

• Mogul Culture Cont.

• Another major artistic achievement of the Mogul period was in painting.

• Like architecture, painting in Mogul India resulted from the blending of two cultures:

PERSIANS and INDIAN.
• Akbar established a state workshop for artists, mostly Hindus, who worked under the

guidance of Persian masters to create the Mogul school of painting.
•The “Akbar style” combined Persian with Indian motifs.
• It included the portrayal of humans in action, FOR EXAMPLE-a characteristic not usually seen in

Persian art.
• Akbar also encouraged his artists to imitate European art forms, including the use of perspective

and life like portraits.

Multiple Select

What TWO art styles did Mogul India blend?

• Chinese

• Persian

• Indian

• American

Europeans Come to India
• The arrival of the British hastened the decline of the Mogul Empire.

• By 1650, British trading forts has been established at Surat, Fort William (which was

renamed Calcutta and is now the city of Kolkata), and Madras (Chennai).
• British ships carried Indian-made cotton goods to the East Indies, where they were traded

for spices.

• British success in India attracted rivals, especially the French.

• The French established their own forts.

• For a brief period, the French went on the offensive, even capturing the British forts at

Madras.

• The British were saved by the military genius of Sir Robert Clive, an aggressive

British empire builder.

• Clive served as the chief representative in India of the East India Company, a private

company that acted on behalf of the British Crown.
• Fighting any force that threatened the Company’s power in India, Clive ultimately restricted

the French to the fort at Pondcherry and a few small territories on the southwestern coast.

• While fighting the French, Clive was also consolidating British control in Bengal.

• The Indian ruler of Bengal had attacked Fort William in 1756.

• He had imprisoned the British garrison in the “Black Hole of Calcutta”, an underground

prison.
•Due to the intense heat in the crowded space, only 23 people(out of 146) survived.

Multiple Choice

The arrival of what European country hastened the decline of the Mogul Empire?

• British

• French

• Spanish

• German

Europeans Come to India

• In 1757, Clive led a small British force of about three thousand to victoryover a

Mogul-led army more than ten times he size in the Battle of Plassey in Bengal.

• As part of the spoils of victory, the failing Mogul court gave the East India Company

the power to collect taxes from lands in the area around Calcutta.

• Britain’s rise to power in India, however, was not a story of constant success.

• Many East India Company officials combined arrogance with incompetence.

• They offended both their Indian allies and the local population, who were taxed heavily to

meet the Company’s growing expenses.

• In the late eighteenth century, the East India Company moved inland from the

great coastal cities.

• British expansion brought great riches to individual British merchants and to British

officials who found they could obtain money from local rulers by selling trade
privileges.
• The British were in India to stay.

Multiple Choice

Who did the Mogul court give the power to collect taxes from lands in the area around Calcutta to?

• North India Company

• South India Company

• West India Company

• East India Company