The Mughal Empire (1526–1857)

5.1 Babur (1526–1530)

• Founder of the Mughal Empire; a Timurid prince from Central Asia (Ferghana), descended from Timur on his father's side and Genghis Khan on his mother's side.
• Defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat (1526) using superior artillery/gunpowder tactics (Tulughma flanking system and Araba/cart-based defensive line, learned via Ottoman-style warfare).
• Defeated the Rajput confederacy under Rana Sanga of Mewar at the Battle of Khanwa (1527).
• Defeated Medini Rai at the Battle of Chanderi (1528) and the Afghans at the Battle of Ghaghra (1529).
• Wrote the Baburnama (Tuzuk-i-Baburi), an autobiography in Chagatai Turkish, regarded as one of the great memoirs of world literature.

5.2 Humayun (1530–1540, 1555–1556)

• Babur's son; lost his kingdom to the Afghan chief Sher Shah Suri (defeated at the battles of Chausa, 1539, and Kannauj/Bilgram, 1540), spending years in exile in Persia (at the Safavid court).
• Recovered Delhi in 1555 with Persian assistance but died in 1556 after a fall from the stairs of his library (Sher Mandal, Purana Qila).

5.3 Sher Shah Suri (Suri Empire, 1540–1545)

• Though not a Mughal, Sher Shah's brief interregnum was administratively transformative and heavily influenced later Mughal governance.
• Built/renovated the Grand Trunk Road (Sadak-e-Azam), from Bengal to the Indus, with rest-houses (sarais) at intervals.
• Introduced a standardised silver currency, the Rupiya (precursor to the modern Indian rupee), and reformed land revenue assessment based on careful measurement and classification of land.
• Built the octagonal Sher Shah Suri tomb at Sasaram (Bihar).
• Died in 1545 from an accidental gunpowder explosion during the siege of Kalinjar fort.

5.4 Akbar (1556–1605)

• Humayun's son; ascended the throne at age 13 under the regency of Bairam Khan.
• Defeated Hemu (Hemchandra Vikramaditya) at the Second Battle of Panipat (1556), securing Mughal control of Delhi-Agra.
• Pursued a policy of matrimonial alliances and reconciliation with Rajputs (notably marrying a Kachwaha princess of Amber/Jaipur — mother of Jahangir), integrating many Rajput chiefs into Mughal administration and military command (e.g., Raja Man Singh, Raja Bhagwan Das), though Mewar under Rana Pratap remained defiant.
• Religious policy: Abolished Jizya (1564) and the pilgrimage tax; founded the Ibadat Khana ("House of Worship") at Fatehpur Sikri for interfaith debates among scholars of different religions; promoted a syncretic ethical-spiritual order called Din-i-Ilahi ("Divine Faith," 1582), which had very few actual adherents and was not a new "religion" imposed on subjects.
• Administrative reforms: Introduced the Mansabdari system (a graded military-administrative rank system, with Zat denoting personal status/salary and Sawar denoting the number of cavalry a noble was required to maintain); land revenue reforms under his finance minister Raja Todar Mal, including the Zabti/Dahsala system (ten-year average-based assessment of land revenue, categorising land into Polaj, Parauti, Chachar, and Banjar types).
• Built the new city of Fatehpur Sikri (later abandoned due to water scarcity) and patronised art, architecture (Agra Fort, Humayun's Tomb was actually built under his regency for his father), and literature — his court had the legendary "Navaratnas" including Birbal, Tansen, Abul Fazl (author of the Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari), Todar Mal, and Faizi.
• His reign is often regarded as the political and cultural peak of the Mughal Empire.

5.5 Jahangir (1605–1627)

• Akbar's son (born to Rajput princess Jodha Bai/Mariam-uz-Zamani); known for his interest in justice (the legendary "chain of justice" outside his palace) and natural history/painting — Mughal miniature painting reached new heights of naturalism under his patronage (artist Ustad Mansur famous for studies of flora and fauna).
• Married Mehr-un-Nissa, given the title Nur Jahan ("Light of the World"), who wielded significant political influence in the later part of his reign.
• Faced a rebellion by his son Khurram (later Shah Jahan) toward the end of his reign.
• The English ambassador Sir Thomas Roe visited Jahangir's court (1615–1619) representing King James I, securing trading concessions for the English East India Company.

5.6 Shah Jahan (1628–1658)

• Regarded as the golden age of Mughal architecture.
• Built the Taj Mahal at Agra (in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth) — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most celebrated buildings in the world, combining Persian, Timurid, and Indian architectural elements in white marble with pietra dura inlay work.
• Also built the Red Fort and Jama Masjid in Delhi (after shifting the capital from Agra to the newly built Shahjahanabad), and the ornate Peacock Throne (Takht-e-Taus).
• Fought a costly war of succession among his four sons (Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb, Murad) during his final illness; Aurangzeb ultimately emerged victorious, executing Dara Shikoh and imprisoning Shah Jahan at Agra Fort for the remainder of his life.

5.7 Aurangzeb (1658–1707)

• The last of the "Great Mughals"; extended the empire to its greatest territorial extent, particularly through prolonged and costly campaigns in the Deccan against Bijapur, Golconda, and the rising Maratha power.
• Reversed several of Akbar's liberal religious policies: reimposed Jizya (1679), banned certain Hindu religious practices/construction of new temples in some regions, and adopted more orthodox Islamic court practices — policies that historians continue to debate in terms of their precise motivations (religious, political, or fiscal) and actual scale of implementation.
• Faced sustained resistance from the Marathas under Shivaji and later Maratha leaders, the Sikhs (following the execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur in 1675), the Jats, and the Rajputs — a combination of pressures that severely strained the empire's finances and military resources.
• His prolonged Deccan campaigns (spending nearly the last 25 years of his reign camped in the Deccan) are often cited by historians as a major factor in the empire's subsequent decline, alongside administrative overextension and the weakening of the Mansabdari/Jagirdari systems ("Jagirdari crisis").

5.8 Later Mughals and Decline (1707–1857)

• After Aurangzeb's death, a rapid succession of weak rulers (Bahadur Shah I, Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Muhammad Shah "Rangeela," and others) presided over accelerating decline.
• Nadir Shah's invasion (1739): The Persian ruler sacked Delhi and carried away enormous wealth, including the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
• Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani) invaded India multiple times; his decisive victory over the Marathas at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) curtailed Maratha ambitions to fill the resulting power vacuum in North India, indirectly benefiting the rising British East India Company.
• The later Mughal emperors became largely titular figures, dependent first on regional power brokers and eventually on British protection; Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor, was a poet who was made the symbolic figurehead of the Revolt of 1857 and subsequently exiled by the British to Rangoon (Burma), formally ending the dynasty.

5.9 Mughal Administration

• Mansabdari system: A unified rank-and-salary structure for both civil and military officials, graded by Zat (personal rank/status) and Sawar (cavalry maintained); Mansabdars were paid either in cash or via revenue assignments called Jagirs.
• Provincial structure: The empire was divided into Subas (provinces), headed by a Subedar/Governor, with a Diwan (finance), Bakshi (military pay/muster), Qazi (justice), and Kotwal (police/urban administration) at various levels.
• Land revenue: The Zabti system under Akbar/Todar Mal assessed revenue based on measured land and average produce/prices over the preceding decade; other systems (Batai/crop-sharing, Nasaq) were used in different regions depending on local conditions.
• Currency: A trimetallic system — gold Mohur, silver Rupiya (continuing Sher Shah's innovation), and copper Dam.