On the fringes of the Subcontinent of India,
there are two countries with a Muslim majority. On the west, there’s Pakistan and on the
east, there’s Bangladesh. Both of these countries, as well as the huge
minority of Muslims living in India have one dynasty to thank for their Muslim faith, the
Mughal Dynasty. This video is sponsored by Magellan TV. Magellan TV, as you might know, is a streaming
service founded by passionate and talented filmmakers. You can find a lot of documentaries and shows
on various types of history and not just history but other genres too. Other than history, I enjoy their science
shows a lot. They’re adding new shows all the time which
you can enjoy on all sorts of devices. Also, best of all, there are no ads and an
increasing percentage of shows is now available in 4k, with no additional cost. They were kind enough to offer Al Muqaddimah
viewers an extended, free, month-long trial. You can use the link in the description to
take advantage of that. I would strongly recommend their documentary
“Promises and Betrayals”, which talks about the British double-dealings in the aftermath
of World War One that led to many of the problems in the Middle East today. Another one I’d recommend is “Iran: Hundred
Year War” which takes a look into how the previous century has led to the current situation
of Iran and how all of it impacts Iranian daily life. Also, I would like to mention that this video
is part of a bigger collaboration called The Discovery of India between various YouTube
History Channels. All of us have made videos covering various
aspects of Indian History. You can find the link to that in the description. Be sure to check out the whole playlist. Back in the 8th Century, the Umayyad Caliphate
had conquered Sindh, in what is today Pakistan. However, India was too distant to control
and subsequent Caliphs were unable to exercise control over it or expand further. Then, in the 11th century, Mahmud of Ghazni
(محمود الغزنوي) invaded India and established a permanent Turkic regime
there after taking Lahore in 1030. After the collapse of his empire, various
dynasties ruled northern India, collectively called Delhi Sultanate. Although, none was very successful for very
long. Hikma History has made a video about the Muslim
invasion of India as a part of the collaboration, you should check that out. The last of these dynasties was the Lodhi
dynasty. However, in 1526, a Timurid prince named Zahir
ad-din Muhammad Babur (ظهير الدين بابر), with nothing to lose and no options
left in the Central Asia, decided to invade India. Babur was a fifth-generation descendant of
Tamerlane (تيمورلنك) and a thirteenth-generation descendant of Genghis Khan (چنگیز خان). Like many other Timurid princes, he claimed
the entirety of Timur’s empire. However, he was barely even able to rule Fergana
valley. He was pushed south from there by the rise
of the Uzbeks until he established his seat of power in Kabul. With the Safavids to the West and Uzbeks to
the North, he had nowhere to go but east. East was India. In 1526, he faced the ruling Lodi Dynasty
at Panipat. Despite the rather overwhelming odds, he defeated
them and over the next four years, he conquered almost all of North India after facing other
local Hindu and Muslim rulers. The dynasty he founded came to be known as
the Mughals, which is the Persian word for Mongol. Although, the dynasty itself held strong ties
to Timur and called themselves the Gurkani dynasty. Gurkan being a title of Timur meaning the
Royal Son-in-Law, the son-in-law of Genghis Khan as Timur liked to boast. Babur died in 1530 at the age of forty-six
or forty-seven. The story goes that his son and heir Nasir
ad-Din Humayun (نصير الدين همايون) had fallen ill and Babur had bargained with
God for his son’s life in exchange for his. Although, as was soon revealed, the bargain
wasn’t not the best bargain he could’ve gotten. Humayun was not a very capable leader and
on top of that, he indulged a little too much in wine and opium. His apparent weakness invited challenge from
many local rulers. One Afghan noble named Sher Khan Suri (شیر
خان صوری) overthrew Humayun in 1539. Humayun pretty much became homeless and wandered
through Sindh for several years. Although, Sher Khan or as he was now called
Sher Shah Suri (شیر شاہ صوری) died in battle in 1545 and his empire was divided
up. On the other side, Humayun asked the Safavids
for help and started conquering the divided empire. By 1555, both Delhi and Lahore were back in
his control. Unfortunately, he lost control while running
down the stairs and fell. He died soon after in 1556. That’s why you should never run down the
stairs or up or just… run. His son, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Akbar (جلال
الدین محمد اکبر), a mere twelve or thirteen-year-old was installed as the
next ruler of the Mughal Empire. Regents ruled and stabilized the empire on
the young Shahanshah’s behalf for the first five years of his reign. By 1561, he was ready to take charge. He expanded the empire further conquering
Gujarat, Bihar and much of Bengal. However, at this point, the Mughals had a
bit of a legitimacy problem. They were a foreign Muslim dynasty ruling
over a realm where less than 5% of the population followed the same faith as them. Babur and Humayun were followers of Sufi Islam
and that’s also how Akbar started his reign. Although, over the years, he began a struggle
to reconcile Islam and the various Indian religions. He invited scholars of various religions to
have open discussions in the Ibadat-Khana (عبادت خانہ). He also invited Jesuits from the Portuguese
enclave at Goa. In fact, the Portuguese had arrived in India
three decades before the Mughals did. Akbar reconciled all these ideas into his
Din-I Ilahi (دین الہی) or Divine Religion. This new religion kind of put the ruler as
partly divine and that was not popular with the Muslims who recited that there is not
god but God. He also started worshiping the sun every morning. He tried to cozy up to the Hindu by abolishing
the Jizya tax and by financing Hindu Temples. He was also the one who translated Mahabharata
into Persian so his people could read it and understand Hinduism slightly better. You can watch Useful Charts’ video on Mahabharat
and Hindu mythology, which is also a part of The Discovery of India. By this point, the subcontinent was pretty
much self-sufficient and only imported precious metals, war horses and just a few spices. On the other hand, it exported many valuable
things such as pepper, saffron, sugar, indigo and textiles. Although, as the subcontinent was fractured
between many rulers, there were a lot of taxes that people had to pay as they crossed from
the territory of one ruler to the other. It was also pretty dangerous since everyone
was raiding everyone else. Although, it all changed with the arrival
of the Mughals. During the brief period of Sher Shah Suri’s
rule, he had united all of North India under his banner which allowed trade to flourish
from western edge of India to the eastern one. Sher Shah Suri was also the one who introduced
the Rupee coin. So, Hindu Nationalists, take note, that’s
another thing you gotta change. He also built the Grand Trunk Road or as it’s
called now, GT Road which connected his vast empire from the border of Afghanistan all
the way to Bengal. The Mughals designed a system of bureaucracy
called Mansabdari System which was reformed by Akbar. A Mansabdar (منصبدار) was an official
who was liable to provide the emperor with troops. They had various grades and the higher the
grade, the more troops they had to provide. It ranged from 10 soldiers to 5,000 during
Akbar’s reign. To finance their obligation to the emperor,
they were given a jagir (جاگیر) which was essentially the rights to collect taxes
from a certain amount of land. The emperor himself appointed these Mansabdars
so they remained loyal to him and he moved them around so they wouldn’t be able to
build a base of power in one place. The system was open to all faiths and in fact,
some of the highest Mansabs were held by Mughal and Rajput Princes. The Mansabdars had to handle the Zamindars
(زمیندار) who were landowners with significant degree of command over a single
or a few villages. The Mansabdars often came into conflict with
these Zamindars as they tried to collect taxes or enforce edicts but the Zamindars resisted. Due to all these reforms, Akbar was able to
provide the strong foundation the young Mughal Empire needed to thrive in India. He is considered the greatest Mughal Emperor
by many. In fact, Akbar means “The Great” and was
a title, not his given name. He died in 1605. Akbar’s son and heir, Nur ad-Din Muhammad
Jahangir (نور الدین محمد جہانگیر) further tried to expand the empire but it
had pretty much reached its limits. He even tried to conquer Timur’s former
empire but that didn’t go anywhere. During his reign, he started actively trying
to kill the newly founded Sikh religion, from the region of Punjab. He even executed a Sikh guru. Mythology Guy’s video in the Discovery of
India collaboration talks about the foundation of the Sikhs, do check that out. An interesting thing from Jahangir’s reign
is that he tried to take over Ahmadnagar to the south which fell in 1616 but a rather
famous unknown general named Malik Ambar (ملک عنبر) started guerilla warfare against
the Mughals there. He became a major headache for the Mughals
but more damaging to the Mughals was the legacy of Deccan Resistance against Mughal rule that
he started. He had gathered many Hindus and Muslims in
his mission including a Maratha general named Shahaji Bhosale. He’ll become important later. Malik Ambar died in 1626 and Jahangir died
in 1627, leaving the Mughal Empire to Shahab ad-Din Muhammad Shah Jahan (شھاب الدین
محمد شاہ جہان). Shah Jahan pressed even harder on the Deccan
but again, not very successfully. In 1646, Shah Jahan actually led a campaign
into Transoxiana with the dreams of conquering the Timurid Empire. However, nothing was achieved there either. He was the one who built the Taj Mahal for
his beloved deceased wife, Mumtaz Mahal (ممتاز محل) who, by the way, died giving birth
to the couple’s fourteenth child in the nineteenth year of their marriage in 1631. Shah Jahan seemed like he was close to death
in 1657 and so, civil war erupted among his sons. Even though Shah Jahan recovered, his sons
had too much invested in the war and so, he was overthrown and imprisoned by his own son
Muhi ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb (محی الدین محمد اورنگزیب) in 1658 after he
won the civil war against his brother. Shah Jahan would spend the next eight years
imprisoned in Agra fort being able to see but never visit Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb was what’s called traditionally
pious. He revoked many of the tolerant policy implemented
by Akbar. He imposed Islam on the entire realm, even
composed the Fatawa al-Alamgiriyya (الفتاوى العالمكيرية) which is a compilation
of the Sharia from various sources like the Quran and the Hadith. He banned Music but he couldn’t completely
impose that. Although, at the same time, he employed people
in his court based of merit and not religion. He employed the largest percentage of Hindus
in his court, of any Mughal ruler. He did patronize the construction of Hindu
temples while, at the same time, ordering destruction of temples which he deemed “attractive
to Muslims”. Like his great-grandpa Akbar, Aurangzeb was
a conqueror. He spent most of his life in military campaigns. He extended the empire further south but it
got more and more difficult to control. He opened the Pandora’s Box that was the
Deccan. He controlled the Mughal Empire at its territorial
zenith and controlled the biggest portion of India since Muhammad ibn Tughlaq’s (محمد
ابن تغلق) death in 1351. Shahaji Bhosale’s son, the great Maratha
warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhosale founded the Maratha empire which would quickly conquer
quite an impressive amount of land in the south. Freemanpedia has made a video about the Marathas
as a part of the Discovery of India. You can check that out. Busy with keeping and expanding his empire,
Aurangzeb failed to actually rule it. In my opinion, Aurangzeb just never knew when
to end a war and go home. The Zamindars and Mansabdars obtained more
and more power and grew restless. The system established by Akbar needed a strong
and active ruler who could keep an eye on the Mansabdars but that just wasn’t Aurangzeb’s
strong suit. On top of that, the Mansabdars were tired
of raising and sending troops all the time. The empire’s treasury was also depleted
by the constant warring. Aurangzeb spent his final years either conquering
new lands or destroying rebellions in previously conquered ones. After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, a civil
war broke out. Before it was over, two of his sons and three
of his grandsons were dead. His eldest son Bahadur Shah (بہادر شاہ)
ascended to the throne at the age of sixty-four. He repealed his father’s conservative and
discriminatory policies against the Hindus, in order to win them over. Although, Hindus weren’t exactly the biggest
problem the empire was facing. Bahadur Shah himself died in 1712 and before
1720, there were two more wars of succession until the reign of Muhammad Shah (محمد
شاہ) started. His reign was somewhat stabilizing the empire
until in 1739, Nadir Shah (نادر شاہ), the Afsharid ruler of Persia invaded, looted
and sacked Delhi. Whatever illusion those around the Mughals
had about their strength was now shattered. The Marathas had already conquered almost
all of South India. Now, they were eyeing Delhi itself. On the other side, Ahmad Shah Durrani, the
first ruler of Afghanistan and a protégé of Nadir Shah was harassing the Mughals as
well. He attacked Delhi thrice, in 1748, 1757 and
1760. Marathas conquered Delhi in 1757 and the Mughals
were now their tributaries. Their control expanded barely outside the
walls of the city. After the collapse of the Marathas, a joint-stock
English company whose ambition and avarice knew no bound whatsoever, replaced them as
the puppet masters. From 1757 to 1857, the empire remained but
only in name. In 1857, it joined the Indian Mutiny and the
British finally put an end to its miserable existence. The last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah II (بہادر
شاہ ظفر) was imprisoned where he died. Other Mughal princes were beheaded and their
bodies were displayed at the Khooni Darwaza (خونی دروازہ) which literally means
“The Gate of Blood”. You can watch the video in The Discovery of
India by A Long Long Time Ago which discusses the British conquest and Rule over India. The legacy of the 331 years of Mughals existence
in India can still be seen all around the Subcontinent. The culture they developed revolved around
the Turko-Persian culture of their homeland but eventually, it became its own thing after
merging with various local traditions. For instance, it was during the reign of Aurangzeb
that Urdu started to emerge as its own language even though many still insist that it’s
just Hindi with slight changes. Among tourists to the Subcontinent of India,
the Mughals are famous for the beautiful buildings and miniature paintings they left behind. Shah Jahan alone commissioned the imperial
city of Shahjahanabad, the Red Fort of Delhi and the Taj Mahal. Finally, the aspect of Indian life where their
legacy is most obvious is in the spread of Islam. The details of how Islam spread in India are
a story for another time. As Vernon Egger writes… As mentioned before, this video is a part
of a collaboration called The Discovery of India. Do check out the entire playlist. Link is in the description. See you next time.
