UPSC History The Mughal Empire NCERT Extracts - Age of Akbar

Akbar

• When Humayun was retreating from Bikaner, he was gallantly offered shelter and help by the Rana of Amarkot.
• It was at Amarkot, in 1542, that Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal rulers, was born.
• When Humayun fled to Iran, young Akbar was captured by his uncle, Kamran. He treated the child well. Akbar was re-united with his parents after the capture of Qandhar.
• When Humayun died, Akbar was at Kalanaur in the Punjab, commanding operations against the Afghan rebels here.
• He was crowned at Kalanaur in 1556 at the young age of thirteen years.
• Bairam Khan, the tutor of the prince and a loyal and favourite officer of Humayun, rose to the occasion. He became the wakil of the kingdom, with the title of Khan-i-Khanan, and rallied the Mughal forces.
• The threat from the side of Hemu was considered the most serious.
• Hemu, who had started life as a superintendent of the markets under Islam Shah, had rapidly risen under Adil Shah.
• He had not lost a single one of the twenty-two battles in which he had fought.
• Adil Shah had appointed him the wazir with the title ofVikramajit, and entrusted him with the task of expelling the Mughals.
• The battle between the Mughals and the Afghan forces led by Hemu, took place once again at Panipat (5 November, 1556).
• The leaderless Afghan army was defeated, Hemu was captured and executed.

Early Phase - Contest with the Nobility (1556-67)

• Bairam Khan remained at the helm of affairs of the empire for almost four years.
• Once Bairam Khan realised that Akbar wanted to take power in his own hands, he was prepared to submit, but his opponents were keen to ruin him. They heaped humiliation upon him till he was goaded to rebel.
• Akbar received him cordially, and gave him the option of serving at the court or anywhere outside it, or retiring to Mecca.
• Bairam Khan chose to go to Mecca. However, on his way, he was assassinated at Patan near Ahmedabad by an Afghan who bore him a personal grudge.
• Bairam's wife and a young child were brought to Akbar at Agra. Akbar married Bairam Khan's widow who was his cousin, and brought up the child as his own son.
• This child later became famous as Abdur Rahim Khan-I Khanan and held some of the most important offices and commands in the empire.
• During Bairam Khan's rebellion, groups and individuals in the nobility had become politically active. They included Akbar's foster-mother, Maham Anaga, and her relations.
• Though Maham Anaga soon withdrew from politics, her son, Adham Khan was an impetuous young man who assumed independent airs when sent to command an expedition against Malwa. Mirza Hakim was Akbar's half brother.

Early Expansion of the Empire (1560-76)

• Malwa was being ruled, at that time, by a young prince, Baz Bahadur. His accomplishments included a mastery of music and poetry.
• Stories about the romance of Baz Bahadur and Rupmati, who was famous for her beauty as well as for music and poetry, are well known.
• During his time, Mandu had became a celebrated centre for music.
• The army however had been neglected by Baz Bahadur. The expedition against Malwa was led by Adham Khan, son of Akbar-s foster-mother, Maham Anaga.

• Baz Bahadur was badly defeated (1561) and the Mughals took valuable spoils, including Rupmati. However, she preferred to commit suicide to being dragged to Adham Khan's harem.
• At About the same time, Mughals army overran the kingdom of Garh-Katanga.
• The kingdom of Garh-Katanga included the Narmada valley and the northern portions of present Madhya Pradesh.
• Sangram Shah had further strengthened his position by marrying off his son to a princess of the famous Chandella rulers of Mahoba.
• This princess, who is famous as Durgavati, became a widow soon afterwards. But she installed her minor son on the throne and ruled the country with great vigour.
• Finding that the battle was lost and that she was in danger of being captured, she stabbed herself of death. The capital of Garh-Katanga was Chauragarh, near modem Jabalpur.
• A major step in his campaign against the Rajput states was the siege of Chittor.
• It commanded the shortest route from Agra to Gujarat. But above all, it was a symbol of the Rajput spirit of resistance.
• Chittor fell (1568) after a gallant siege of six months. At the advice of his nobles, Rana Udai Singh had retired to the hills, leaving the famous warriors, Jaimal and Patta, in charge of the fort.
• The Rajput warriors died after extracting as much vengeance as possible.
• In honour of the gallant Jaimal and Patta, Akbar ordered that two stone statues of these warriors, seated on elephants, be erected outside the chief gate of the fort at Agra.

Administration

• The system of administration elaborated by Sher Shah had fallen into confusion after the death of Islam Shah. Akbar, therefore, had to start afresh.
• One of the most important problem facing Akbar was the system of land revenue administration.
• Akbar adopted Sher Shah's system. But it was soon found that the fixing of central schedule of prices often led to considerable delays, and resulted in great hardships to the peasantry.
• Akbar, therefore, reverted to a system of annual assessment.
• After returning from Gujarat (1573), Akbar paid personal attention to the land revenue system. Official called karoris were appointed all over north India.
• They were responsible for the collection of a crore of dams (Rs. 2,50,000), and also checked the facts and figures supplied by the qanungos.
• On the basis of the information provided by them regarding the actual produce, local prices, productivity, etc., in 1580, Akbar instituted a new system called the dahsala.
• Under this system, the average produce of different crops as well as the average prices prevailing over the last ten (dah) years were calculated.
• One-third of the average produce was the state share. The state demand was in cash.
• The system of measurement and the assessment based upon it is called the zabti system.
• Akbar introduced this system in the area from Lahore to Allahabad, and in Malwa and Gujarat. The dahsala system was a further development of the zabti system.
• A number of other systems of assessment were also followed under Akbar. The most common and, perhaps, the oldest was called batai or ghalla-bakhshi.
• In this system, the produce was divided between the peasants and the state in fixed proportion.
• A third system which was widely used in Akbar's time was It seems that it meant a rough calculation of the amount payable by the peasant on the basis of what he had been paying in the past.
• Others think that it meant rough appraisement both on the basis of the inspection of the crops and past experience, and thereby fixing the amount to be paid by the village
• as a whole. It is also called
• In fixing the land revenue, continuity of cultivation was taken into account.
• Polaj - Land which remained under cultivation almost every year was called polaj.
• Parati - When it remained uncultivated it was called parati (fallow). Parati land paid at the full rate when it was cultivated.
• Chachar - Land which had been fallow for two to three years was called chachar, and if longer than that, banjar.
• These were assessed at concessional rates, the revenue demand gradually rising till the full or polaj rate was paid in the fifth or the eight year.
• Akbar was deeply interested in the improvement and extension of cultivation.
• He asked the amil to act like a father to the peasants.
• He was to advance money by way of loans (taccavi) to the peasants for seeds, implements, animals, etc., in times of need, and to recover them in easy instalments.
• The zamindar had a hereditary right to take a share of the produce.
• The peasants, too, had a hereditary right to cultivate their land and could not be ejected as long as they paid the land revenue.
• The dahsala was not a ten-years settlement. Nor was it a permanent one, the state retaining the right to modify it. However, with some changes, Akbar's settlement remained the basis of the land revenue system of the Mughal Empire till the end of the seventeenth century.
• The zabti system is associated with Raja Todar Mal, and is sometimes called Todar MaPs bandobast.
• Todar Mal was a brilliant revenue officer who had first served under Sher Shah. But he was only one of a team of brilliant revenue official who came to the forefront under Akbar.

Mansabdari System and the Army

• Under this system, every officer was assigned a rank (mansab). The lowest rank was 10 and the highest was 5000 for the nobles.
• Princes of the blood received higher mansabs.
• Towards the end of Akbar's reign, the highest rank a noble could attain was raised from 5000 to 7000, and two premier nobles of the empire, MirzaAziz Koka and Raja Man Singh, were honoured with rank of 7000 each.
• This limit was retained basically till the end ofAurangzeb's reign.
• The ranks were divided into two - zat and sawar.
• This word zat means personal. It fixed the personal status of a person, and also the salary due to him.
• The sawar rank indicated the number of cavalrymen (sawars) a person was required to maintain.
• A person who was required to maintain as many sawars as his zat rank was placed in the first category of the rank; if he maintained half or more, then in the second category and if he maintained less, then in the third category. Thus, there were three categories in every rank (mansab).
• Great care was taken to ensure that the sawars recruited by the nobles were experienced and well-mounted.
• For this purpose, a descriptive roll (chehra) of the soldier was maintained, and his horse was branded with the imperial marks. This was called the dagh system.
• The Mughal cavalry force remained an efficient one as long as the 10-20 rule was adhered to.
• The mansabdari system, as it developed under the Mughals, was a distinctive and unique system which did not have any exact parallel outside India.
• The origins of the mansabdari system can, perhaps, be traced back to Changez Khan who organised his army being ten, and the highest ten thousand (toman) whose commander was called khan.
• There is a good deal of controversy as to when the mansabdari system was started.
• From the available evidence, it seems to have been initiated by Akbar in the 19th year of his reign (1577), at the same time that he reformed the revenue system and introduced what are called zat and sawar.
• Persons holding rank below 500 zat were called mansabdars, those from 500 to below 2500 were called amirs, and those holding rank of 2,500 and above were called amir-i-umda or umda-i-azam.
• A person could also be demoted as a mark of punishment.
• People entered service at the lowest rung of the ladder, and could hope to rise to the position of an amir-i-umda. To that extent, careers were thrown open to talent.
• A mansabdar with a rank of 5000 could get a salary of Rs 30,000 per month, a mansabdar of 3000, Rs 17,000 and of 1000, Rs 8,200 per month.
• The Mughal mansabdars formed the highest paid service in the world.
• Akbar was very fond of horse and elephant. He also maintained a strong part of artillery. Akbar was specially interested in guns. pe devised detachable guns which could be carried on an elephant or a camel.

Organisation of Government

• Hardly any changes were made by Akbar in the organisation of local government. The pargana and the sarkar continued as before.
• The chief officers of the sarkar were the faujdar and the amalguzar, the former being in charge of law and order, and the latter responsible for the assessment and collection of the land revenue.
• The territories of the empire were divided into jagir, khalisa and inam.
• Income from khalisa villages went directly to the royal exchequer.
• The inam lands were those which were allotted to learned and religious men.
• Jagirs were allotted to nobles and members of the royal family including the queens.
• The amalguzar was required to exercise a general supervision over all types of holdings so that the imperial rules and regulations for the assessment and collection of land revenue were followed uniformly.
• Only an autonomous rajas were left free to continue their traditional land revenue system in their territories. Even there, Akbar encouraged them to follow the imperial system.
• Akbar paid great attention to the organisation of the central and provincial governments.
• His system of central government was based on the structure of government which had evolved under the Delhi Sultanat, but the functions of the various departments were carefully recoganised, and meticulous rules and Regulations were laid down for the conduct of affairs.
• The Central Asian and Timurid tradition was of having an all-powerful wazir under whom various heads of departments functioned.
• He was the principal link between the ruler and the administration.
• In course of time, a separate department, the military department, had come into being. The judiciary had always been separate.
• Akbar reorganised the central machinery of administration on the basis of the division of power between various departments, and of checks and balances.
• To emphasise this point, Akbar generally used the tittle of diwan or diwan-i-ala in preference to the word wazir.
• Sometimes, several persons were asked to discharge the duties of diwan jointly.
• The diwan was responsible for all income the expenditure, and held control over khalisa, jagir and inam lands.
• The head of the military department was called the mir bakhshi
• It was the mir bakhshi and not the diwan who was considered the head of the nobility.
• The mir bakhshi was also the head of the intelligence and information agencies of the empire.
• Intelligence officers (barids) and news reporters (waqia-navis) were posted to all parts of the empire.
• The third important officer was the mir saman. He was in charge of the imperial household, including the supply of all the provision and articles for the use of the inmates of the harem or the female apartments.
• The fourth important department was the judicial department headed by the chief qazi.
• It fell into bad odour due to the corruption and venality of Akbar "s chief qazi, Abdun Nabi.
• Akbar separated the inam lands from the Jagir and khalisa lands, and divided the empire into six circles for purposes of grant of inam lands and their administration.
• Two features of the inam grants are noteworthy.
• First, Akbar made it a deliberate part of his policy to grant inam lands to all persons, irrespective of their religious faith and beliefs.
• Sanads of grant to various Hindu maths made by Akbar are still preserved.
• Second, Akbar made it a rule that half to the inam land should consist of cultivable wasteland. Thus, the inam holders were encouraged to extend cultivation.
• Akbar divided the empire into twelve subas in 1580. A governor (subadar), a diwan, a bakhshi, a sadr, a qazi, and a waqia-navis were appointed to each of the provinces.

Relations with the Rajputs

• Akiga-'s relations with the Rajputs have to be seen against the wider background to Mughal policy towards the powerful rajas and zamindars of the country.
• Akbar expanded and elaborated his policy. Bhara Mal, the ruler of Amber, had come to Akbar's court at Agra immediately after his accession.
• In 1562, when Akbar was going to Ajmer, Bhara Mal paid personal homage to Akbar, and cemented the alliance by marrying his younger daughter, Harkha Bai, to Akbar.
• Akbar followed a different policy. He gave complete religious freedom to his Hindu wives, and gave an honoured place to their parents and relations in the nobility.
• Bhara Mal was made a high grandee. His son, Bhagwan Das, rose to the rank of 5000 and his grandson, Man Singh, to the rank of 7000.
• This rank was accorded by Akbar to only one other noble, Aziz Khan Kuka, his foster-brother.
• In 1572, when Akbar dashed to Gujarat, Bhara Mal was placed in charge of Agra where all the royal ladies were residing, a singal honour given only to nobles who were either relations or close confidants of the emperor.
• Akbar's Rajput policy was combined with a policy of broad religious toleration.
• In 1564, he abolished the jizyah which was sometimes used by the ulama to humiliate non-Muslims.
• He had earlier abolished the pilgrim tax, and the practice of forcible conversion of prisoners of war.
• Following the conquest of Chittor, most of the leading Rajput rulers had accepted Akbar's suzerainty and paid personal homage to him.
• The only state which had stubbornly refused to accept Mughal suzerainty was Mewar.
• In 1572, Rana Pratap succeeded Rana Udai Singh to the gaddi.
• A series of embassies were sent by Akbar to Rana Pratap to persuade him to accept Mughal suzerainty and to do personal homage. These embassies, including the one led by Man Singh, were courteously received by the Rana.
• Man Singh's embassy was followed by one under Bhagwan Das, and another under Raja Todar Mal.
• Early in 1576, Akbar moved to Ajmer, and deputed Raja Man Singh with a force of 5000 to lead a campaign against the Rana.
• A furious battle between the two-sides was waged at Haldighati, a narrow defile leading to Kumbhalgarh, which was then the Rana's capital.
• The defeat at Haldighati did not weaken Rana Pratap's resolve to fight on for independence.
• Moreover, by allowing a large measure of autonomy to the Rajput rajas, Akbar established an empire which those Rajput rajas did not consider harmful to their best interests.
• Apart from Mewar, Akbar had to face opposition in Marwar as well.
• Akbar also had close personal relation with the rulers of Bikaner and Bundi.
• The Rajput policy of Akbar proved beneficial to the Mughal state as well as to Rajputs.
• The alliance secured to the Mughal Empire the services of the bravest warriors in India.
• Akbar's Rajput policy was continued by his successors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
• Jahangir, whose mother was a Rajput princess, had himself married a Kachhawaha princess as well as a Jodhpur princess.
• After his accession in 1605, Jahangir took up the matter energetically. The Rana's son, Karan Singh, who was deputed to proceed to Jahangir court, was graciously received.

Rebellions and Further Expansion of the Mughal Empire

• Akbar's half-brother, Mirza Hakim, the ruler of Kabul, also abetted the rebellion.
• Due to the mishandling of the situation by local officials, Bengal and almost the whole of Bihar passed into the hands of the rebels who proclaimed Mirza Hakim as their ruler.
• Akbar despatched a force under Todar Mal against Bihar and Bengal, and another under Raja Man Singh to check the expected attack by Mirza Hakim.
• Akbar crowned his success by marching to Kabul (1581), the first time an Indian ruler had entered this historic town.

Towards Integration

• One of the first actions which Akbar took, after he had taken power in his own hands, was to abolish the poll tax or jizyah which the non-Muslims were required to pay in a Muslim state.
• At the same time, Akbar abolished the pilgrim tax on bathing at holy places such as Prayag, Banaras, etc.
• He also abolished the practice of forcibly converting prisoners of war to Islam.
• This laid the essential foundation of an empire based on equal rights to all citizens, irrespective of their religious beliefs.
• Among the latter, the ablest and the most well-known were Todar Mal, an expert in revenue affairs, who rose to the post of diwan, and Birbal, who was a favourite of the emperor.
• Akbar's attitude towards his Hindu subjects is closely linked with his views of how a sovereign should behave towards his subjects.
• These views which have been carefully explained by Akbar's biographer, Abul Fazl, were an amalgam of Timurid, Persian and Indian ideas of sovereignty.
• According to Abul Fazi, the office of a true ruler was a very responsible one which depended on divine illumination (farr-i-izadi).
• All these together constituted what has been called the policy of sulh-kul or peace to all.
• But by the time Akbar reached adulthood, mysticism which was being preached in the length and breadth of the country, began to influence him.
• We are told that he spent whole nights in thoughts of God, continually pronounced his name, and for a feeling of thankfulness for his success, he would sit many a morning alone in prayer and contemplation on a large flat stone of an old building near his palace in Agra. Gradually, he turned away from the path of narrow orthodoxy.
• He gathered at the court a band of talented people with liberal ideas.
• The most noted among these were Abul Fazi and his brother Faizi who, along with their father who was a noted scholar, had been persecuted by the mullahs for having sympathy with Mahdawi ideas.
• Another was a brahmana, Mahesh Das, who was given the title of Raja Birbal, and was a constant companion of Akbar.
• In 1575, Akbar built a hall called Ibadat Khana or the Hall of Prayer at his new capital, Fatehpur Sikri.
• To this he called selected theologians, mystics and those of his countries and nobles who were known for their scholarship and intellectual attainments.
• Akbar discussed religious and spiritual topics with them.
• The behaviour of the mullahs, their pride and conceit in their learning disgusted Akbar, and further alienated him from the mullahs.
• At this stage, Akbar opened the Ibadat Khana to people of all religions - Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Jains, even atheists. This broadened the discussions, and debates.
• This horrified the theologians, and all kinds of rumours began to circulate about Akbar's desire to forsake Islam.
• Instead of bringing credit, the Ibadat Khana brought growing discredit.
• At this time, an enquiry was conducted into the affairs of the Chief Sadr, Abun Nabi, who was found to be extremely corrupt and tyrannical in his dealings in the distribution of charitable lands (madad-i-mash).
• Soon he was dismissed and ordered to proceed to Mecca for haj.
• To further strengthen his position in dealing with the mullahs, Akbar also issued a Declaration or mahzar which asserted that if there were conflicting views among those who were considered fit to interpret the Quran, that is mujtahids, Akbar, by virtue of being "a most just and wise king", and his rank being higher in the eyes of God than of the mujtahids, was entitled to choose any one of the interpretations, which would be of "benefit to the nation and in the interests of good order."
• Further, if Akbar issued a new order "in conformity with the Quran and calculated to benefit the nation", all should be bound by it.
• The Declaration which was signed by the leading ulamas has been wrongly called a "Decree of Infallibility".
• Akbar claimed the right to choose only when there was a difference of opinion among those qualified to interpret the Quran.
• Hence, in 1582, Akbar discontinued the debates in the Ibadat Khana. But he did not give up his quest for truth.
• Akbar invited Purushottam and Devi to expound the doctrines of Hinduism, and Maharji Rana to explain the doctrines of Zoroastrianism.
• He met some Portuguese priests and in order to understand the Christian doctrines better, he sent an embassy to Goa, requesting them to send two learned missionaries to his court.
• The Portuguese sent Aquaviva and Monserrate who remained at Akbar's court for almost three years and have left a valuable account.
• Akbar came into touch with the Jains also and, at his instance, the leading Jain saint of Kathiawar, Suri Vijaya, Hira spent a couple of years at Akbar's court.
• Tauhid-i-Ilahi literally means "Divine Monotheism". The word din or faith was not applied to it till 80 years later. The tauhid-i-Ilahi was really an order of the Sufistic type.
• Those who were willing to join and those whom the emperor approved were allowed to become members.
• Sunday was fixed as the day for initiation. The novice placed his head at the feet of the emperor who raised him up, and gave him the formula, called shast in the Sufi language, which he was to repeat and concentrate upon.
• This contained Akbar's favourite motto "Allah-o-Akbar" or God is great.
• The initiates were to abstain from meat as far as possible, at least in the month of their birth, give a sumptuous feast and give alms on their birthday.
• There were no sacred books or scriptures, no priestly class, no place of worship or rituals and ceremonies, except the initiation.
• Akbar did not use force nor was money used for making disciples. In fact, many leading nobles, including all the great Hindu nobles except Birbal, declined to join.
• However, the four-grades should not be confused with tauhid-i-Ilahi. Under the latter, a large number of persons joined as disciples or murids of the Emperor.
• In enrolling murids Akbar evidently had some political purpose also.
• He wanted a band of nobles who would be personally loyal to him, and support him in his concept of a state based on sulh-i-kul,e. equal toleration of and respect ton all sections, irrespective of their religious beliefs.
• He set up a big translation department for translating works in Sanskrit, Arabic, Greek, etc., into Persian.
• Thus, the Singhasan Battisi, the Atharva Veda and Bible were taken up first for translation.
• These were followed by the Mahabharata, the Gita and the Ramayana.
• Many others, including the Panchatantra and works of geography, were also translated.
• The Quran was also translated, perhaps for the first time.
• Akbar also introduced a number of social and educational reforms. He stopped sati, the burning of a widow.
• Widows of tender age who had not shared the bed with their husbands were not to be burnt at all. Widow Remarriage was also legalised.
• Akbar was against anyone having more than one wife unless the first wife was barren.
• The age of marriage was raised to 14 for girls and 16 for boys.
• The sale of wines and spirits was restricted.
• Akbar also revised the educational syllabus, laying more emphasis on moral education and mathmatics, and on secular subjects such as agriculture, geometry, astronomy, rules of government, logic, history, etc.
• He also gave patronage to artists, poets, painters and musicians so much so, that his court became famous for the galaxy of famous people there or the navaratna.
• Thus, under Akbar, the state became essentially, secular, liberal and enlightened in social matters, and a promoter of cultural integration.