The Mughals

This is Chapter 4 of Our Pasts – II. gess103 ended with Sher Shah’s administration becoming Akbar’s model; this chapter is about the Mughal Empire itself, from Babur’s victory at Panipat (1526) to the late seventeenth century. It is a short chapter in the rationalised (2022) book — eight pages of reading — so this page has nine concept sections, not more. The 2022 edition removed the old tables of military campaigns, the account of Akbar’s provinces and officials and the narrative of his religious debates; three exercise questions still ask about them, and their outlines say so. The chapter covers: who the Mughals were; Babur and the campaigns (Map 1); succession; relations with the Rajputs and other rulers; mansabdars and jagirdars; zabt and zamindars; the Akbar Nama, Ain-i Akbari and Nur Jahan; sulh-i kul; and the empire in the seventeenth century and after. The next chapter, gess105, turns to tribes, nomads and settled communities; gess108 takes up the eighteenth-century states that grew out of the empire.

• Links in this book: gess101 (sources, the meaning of ‘Hindustan’, the period’s new groups); gess103 (iqtas, Sher Shah, Humayun and Akbar’s dates); gess105 (Gonds, Ahoms and others who met Mughal power); gess108 (Hyderabad, Awadh and other eighteenth-century states).
• Senior pages: lehs204 (Class 12: Peasants, Zamindars and the State — the Mughal agrarian system and the Ain in depth), lehs201 (Bernier and other travellers on Mughal India), lehs202 (Bhakti–Sufi traditions), kefa108 (Mughal architecture — Humayun’s tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, the Taj), kehs103 (Genghis Khan and the Mongols), iest203 (Class 9: Mewar, Haldighati, the Ahoms and the Marathas). This page links them and does not re-teach them.
• UPSC: Prelims has asked what mansabdars and jagirdars were (1979, 1980, 2019), why the mansab system existed (1996), Akbar’s land revenue and zabt (1980, 1990), Abul Fazl’s Ain (1988), the Ibadat Khana (2014), Babur’s arrival (2015) and Aurangzeb’s nobility (1979). GS1 asked about Akbar’s religious syncretism (2025).

• Who: descendants of Genghis Khan (d. 1227, mother’s side) and Timur (d. 1404 per NCERT, 1405 standard; took Delhi 1398, father’s side); they preferred to be seen as Timurids, not ‘Mughal’ or ‘Mongol’.
• Babur (1526–1530): ruler of Ferghana in 1494, driven out by the Uzbegs, took Kabul 1504, defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat, 1526 (cannons). Map 1 dates Akbar’s and Aurangzeb’s campaigns, e.g. Chittor 1568, Kashmir 1586, Golconda 1687.
• Succession: not primogeniture but coparcenary (all sons share). Rajputs: marriages (Jahangir’s mother from Amber, Shah Jahan’s from Marwar), high posts; Mewar resisted; defeated rulers got watan jagir.
• Mansab = rank: zat fixes rank and salary, sawar the cavalry to maintain; paid by jagir (like an iqta, but not lived in). Top (5,000-zat) mansabdars: 29 under Akbar, 79 under Aurangzeb; jagir shortage → peasants squeezed.
• Revenue: zamindars = all intermediaries; Todar Mal’s survey 1570–1580 → zabt: cash tax per crop, revenue circles; not in Gujarat and Bengal; zamindar–peasant revolts from the late 17th century.
• Sources and ideas: Abul Fazl’s Akbar Nama (3 vols; the 3rd is the Ain-i Akbari); Nur Jahan (married 1611): coins and farman; sulh-i kul (universal peace); 445 of 8,000 mansabdars (5.6%) took 61.5% of revenue; Hyderabad, Awadh break away in practice.

The Mughals descended from two great lineages of rulers. On their mother’s side they were descendants of Genghis Khan (died 1227), the Mongol ruler of parts of China and Central Asia. On their father’s side they were successors of Timur (died 1404, says NCERT), ruler of Iran, Iraq and modern-day Turkey. Yet they did not like to be called Mughal or Mongol: Genghis Khan’s memory was tied to the massacre of innumerable people, and the name was also linked with the Uzbegs, their Mongol rivals. They were proud of their Timurid ancestry — not least because Timur had captured Delhi in 1398 — and celebrated it in pictures, each ruler having a painting made of Timur and himself.

Babur, the first Mughal emperor (1526–1530), succeeded to the throne of Ferghana in 1494, when he was only twelve years old (NCERT). He was forced out of his ancestral throne by the invasion of another Mongol group, the Uzbegs. After years of wandering he seized Kabul in 1504. In 1526 he defeated the Sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, at Panipat, and captured Delhi and Agra. NCERT’s pictures stress the army: elephants, cavalry and — new in sixteenth-century warfare — cannons, which Babur used effectively at the first battle of Panipat. From the later sixteenth century the Mughals expanded from Agra and Delhi until, in the seventeenth century, they controlled nearly all of the subcontinent.

The Mughals did not follow primogeniture, in which the eldest son inherits his father’s estate. They followed the Mughal and Timurid custom of coparcenary inheritance — a division of the inheritance among all the sons. NCERT asks which you think is fairer.

The Mughals campaigned constantly against rulers who refused to accept their authority. But as they grew powerful, many other rulers joined them voluntarily. The Rajputs are a good example: many married their daughters into Mughal families and received high positions; many others resisted. The Sisodiya Rajputs of Mewar refused to accept Mughal authority for a long time. Once defeated, however, they were honourably treated: their lands (watan) were given back to them as assignments (watan jagir). This careful balance between defeating but not humiliating opponents let the Mughals extend their influence over many kings and chieftains — but, NCERT adds, it was difficult to keep this balance all the time.

As the empire expanded, the Mughals recruited diverse bodies of people. From a small nucleus of Turkish nobles (Turanis) they expanded to include Iranians, Indian Muslims, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas and other groups. Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as mansabdars. A mansabdar holds a mansab — a position or rank. It was a grading system to fix (1) rank, (2) salary and (3) military responsibilities. Rank and salary were set by a number called zat: the higher the zat, the more prestigious the noble’s position at court and the larger his salary. His military responsibility was to maintain a specified number of sawar (cavalrymen): he brought them for review, had them registered and their horses branded, and then received money to pay them.

Mansabdars received their salaries as revenue assignments called jagirs, which were somewhat like the Sultanate’s iqtas (gess103). But unlike muqtis, most mansabdars did not reside in or administer their jagirs: they had only the right to the revenue, which their servants collected while they themselves served elsewhere. In Akbar’s reign jagirs were carefully assessed so that their revenues were roughly equal to the mansabdar’s salary. By Aurangzeb’s reign this was no longer so: actual revenue was often less than the granted sum, and a huge increase in the number of mansabdars meant a long wait for a jagir. These and other factors created a shortage of jagirs. Many jagirdars therefore tried to extract as much revenue as possible while they held one; Aurangzeb could not control this in his last years, and the peasantry suffered tremendously.

The Mughals’ main source of income was the tax on the produce of the peasantry. In most places peasants paid through rural elites — the village headman or the local chieftain. The Mughals used one term, zamindars, for all these intermediaries. Akbar’s revenue minister, Todar Mal, carried out a careful survey of crop yields, prices and areas cultivated over a 10-year period, 1570–1580. On that basis tax was fixed on each crop in cash. Each province was divided into revenue circles, each with its own schedule of revenue rates for individual crops. This system was called zabt. It worked where administrators could survey the land and keep very careful accounts — not in provinces such as Gujarat and Bengal. In some areas zamindars were very powerful; exploitation by Mughal administrators could drive them to rebellion, and sometimes zamindars and peasants of the same caste allied against Mughal authority. These peasant revolts challenged the empire’s stability from the end of the seventeenth century.

The 2022 text keeps the idea but has dropped NCERT’s older account of how Akbar reached it, which Exercise 6 still asks about. The standard account (Beyond NCERT) runs as follows. In 1575 Akbar built the Ibadat Khana (‘house of worship’) at Fatehpur Sikri for religious discussions. At first only Muslim scholars took part; their quarrels disappointed him, and the debates were opened to Brahmana scholars, Jain monks, Zoroastrians and Jesuit priests from Goa. Akbar concluded that no single tradition held all truth and that a ruler should treat all subjects alike. With Abul Fazl he framed sulh-i kul as a principle of rule. Earlier he had ended the pilgrim tax (1563) and the jizya (1564); Aurangzeb reimposed jizya in 1679.

The empire’s administrative and military efficiency brought great economic and commercial prosperity; international travellers called it a fabled land of wealth. But they were also appalled at the poverty beside the opulence — the inequalities were glaring. Documents from the twentieth year of Shah Jahan’s reign show that the highest-ranking mansabdars were only 445 out of 8,000 — a mere 5.6 per cent — yet they received 61.5 per cent of the empire’s total estimated revenue as salaries for themselves and their troopers. The emperors and mansabdars spent much of their income on salaries and goods, which benefited the artisans and peasants who supplied them; but the scale of revenue collection left very little for investment in the hands of the primary producers. The poorest lived from hand to mouth and could hardly invest in tools and supplies; the wealthier peasants and artisans, merchants and bankers profited. By the late seventeenth century the Mughal elite was an extremely powerful group. As the emperor’s authority slowly declined, his servants became centres of power in the regions, founded new dynasties and held provinces like Hyderabad and Awadh. They still recognised the emperor in Delhi as their master, but by the eighteenth century the provinces had consolidated independent political identities.

The chapter’s question boxes, in page order, and ‘Imagine’.

‘Let’s recall’ (1–4), ‘Let’s understand’ (5–7), ‘Let’s discuss’ (8–11) and ‘Let’s do’ (12), pages 46–48. Questions 2(a), 3 and 6 rest on passages removed in the 2022 rationalisation; their outlines say so.

Numbers

One-liners

• The Mughals descended from Genghis Khan (mother’s side) and Timur (father’s side).
• They preferred Timurid to Mongol descent; Timur had taken Delhi in 1398.
• Babur: Ferghana 1494, Kabul 1504, Panipat 1526 against Ibrahim Lodi.
• The Mughals followed coparcenary inheritance, not primogeniture.
• Jahangir’s mother was a Kachhwaha of Amber; Shah Jahan’s a Rathor of Marwar.
• The Sisodiyas of Mewar resisted long; defeated rulers received their watan as watan jagir.
• Mansab = rank; zat = rank and salary; sawar = cavalry to be maintained.
• Mansabdars were paid by jagirs, which they usually did not live in or administer.
• Under Aurangzeb, more mansabdars and too few jagirs made jagirdars squeeze peasants.
• Zamindar was the term for all rural intermediaries.
• Todar Mal’s survey (1570–1580) gave cash rates per crop — the zabt system.
• Zabt was not possible in Gujarat and Bengal.
• Abul Fazl’s Akbar Nama has three volumes; the third is the Ain-i Akbari.
• Nur Jahan’s name appeared on silver coins and on her own farmans.
• Sulh-i kul meant universal peace; Jahangir described his father’s policy.
• 445 top mansabdars (5.6%) received 61.5% of the revenue in Shah Jahan’s 20th year.
• Hyderabad and Awadh became independent in practice as imperial authority declined.

Traps to avoid

• Mother’s side = Genghis Khan; father’s side = Timur — not the reverse.
• Timur died in 1405 (NCERT says 1404).
• Babur was 11 when he became ruler of Ferghana in 1494 (NCERT: ‘12’).
• Babur did not introduce gunpowder or the arch and dome (UPSC 2015).
• Coparcenary = all sons share; primogeniture = eldest son only.
• Zat = rank and salary; sawar = cavalry. Don’t swap.
• A jagir is a revenue assignment, not land ownership; jagirdars usually did not live there.
• Zabt = cash rates per crop; not used in Gujarat and Bengal.
• Map 1’s Bijapur 1685 → standard 1686.
• The five Deccan Sultanates: Bidar, not Khandesh (NCERT’s exercise lists Khandesh).
• Sulh-i kul is a principle of governance; Din-i Ilahi is a different thing.
• 445 of 8,000 mansabdars and 61.5% of revenue: Shah Jahan’s reign, not Akbar’s.

Prelims — what UPSC asks

• Mansab and jagir (section 5): UPSC 1979 (mansabdars were officials of the state), 1980 (jagirdars were state officials paid by jagir), 1996 (mansab system mainly for army recruitment), 2019 (jagirdar vs zamindar: neither statement correct). Learn zat/sawar, the jagir–iqta contrast and transferability. The 1979 question on Aurangzeb’s government is flawed: Marathas did serve as mansabdars (NCERT; Athar Ali), so strictly no option is right — but the intended answer is (c), the Marathas under Shivaji as the empire’s opponents. Pick (c) if it appears.
• Revenue (section 6): UPSC 1980 (not a feature of Akbar’s system: collection directly at the central treasury) and 1990 (zabt paid only in cash). Todar Mal, 1570–1580, revenue circles, Gujarat and Bengal outside zabt.
• Sources and ideas (sections 7–8): UPSC 1988 (Abul Fazl — Ain-i Akbari) and 2014 (the Ibadat Khana — Beyond the 2022 text but behind Exercise 6). Babur (sections 1–2): 2015 (Timurid dynasty yes; gunpowder and arch–dome no).
• Expect statement traps on NCERT’s slips (Timur’s death, Babur’s age, Bijapur’s date, Khandesh among the Deccan Sultanates) and matching on coparcenary, watan jagir, zat, sawar, zabt, farman, sulh-i kul.

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

• Akbar’s religious policy (GS1 2025: ‘Examine the main aspects of Akbar’s religious syncretism’): NCERT’s sulh-i kul box (Jahangir’s description), Abul Fazl’s role, the Ibadat Khana debates, the end of the pilgrim tax and jizya — then the attributed readings (Abul Fazl, Badauni, V.A. Smith, Iqtidar Alam Khan, Muzaffar Alam) and the distinction between sulh-i kul and Din-i Ilahi. iest203 has the same question.
• State and economy: for answers on Mughal administration, the agrarian system or the empire’s decline, use the mansab–jagir chain, zabt, the zamindar intermediaries, NCERT’s 5.6% / 61.5% figures and the attributed decline debate (Sarkar, Habib, Chandra, Athar Ali, Alam, Bayly). On Aurangzeb, jizya and temples, set the readings side by side (Elliot, Sarkar, Chandra, Athar Ali, Eaton, Truschke) and avoid any present-day framing. The agrarian detail is in lehs204; architecture in kefa108.

Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.

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