UPSC NOTES BY ANISH RAHUL

EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA

INDIA BETWEEN 750–1200 AD

 Has been regarded as a dark phase in Indian history.

 Because in this period, there was no centralized rule and numerous regional states which were busy
fighting with each other.
 However, this perception has changed due to recent studies.
 Even though India was politically divided, there was growth in the fields of art, literature, and
language.
 The best of temple architecture and Indian literature belongs to this period, therefore, it was far from
being ‘dark’.
 Instead, it can be called as a bright and vibrant phase of Indian history.

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE PERIOD

 This period can be further divided into two phases

1. 750–1000 AD
2. 1000–1200 AD
 The first phase had three important political powers in India viz.,
1. Gurjara Pratiharas in Northern part of India
2. Palas in eastern India
3. Rashtrakutas in South India
 These three dynasties were constantly in conflict with each other to establish control on the fertile Gangetic
region.
 This conflict in Indian history is known as ‘Tripartite struggle’.
 In the second phase, these powers undergo break up into many smaller kingdoms all over the country.
 For example, the Pratihara empire disintegrated into various Rajput states under the control of
different Rajput dynasties such as the Chauhans, Chandellas, Paramaras, etc.
 They fought against the Turkish invaders such as Ghazni and Ghori but couldn’t stand unitedly.

PRATIHARAS

 It was founded by Nagabhatta I of the Rajput clan in Malwa region in the 8th century.
 One of his successors, Vatsaraja expanded the kingdom to a large part of North India and made
Kannauj, his capital.
 This policy of expansion led to conflict with Dharmapala, the Pala King of Bengal and Bihar and
Dhruva, the Rashtrakuta king from South India. Thus, began the Tripartite Struggle.
 The struggle carried on for 150 years under different kings but the Gurjara-Pratiharas continued to
hold their power over Kannauj till the last.
 Mihira Bhoja in the 9th century was one of the important and famous kings of this dynasty.
 An Arabian Scholar called “Sulaiman” praised Mihira Bhoja in his writings.
 He expanded the empire but on the east was defeated by Devapala, the Pala king. After the death of
Devapala, he expanded to the east.

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 He then tried to conquer the parts of Malwa, Deccan, and Gujarat but was resisted by Rashtrakutas.
 He could control Gujarat and parts of Malwa but couldn’t proceed towards Deccan.

KING MIHIR BHOJA

 He turned attention towards north again and according to inscriptions, he conquered till the river Sutlej.
 He was a devotee of Vishnu and adopted the title of “Adi Varaha” Bhoja died in 885 AD and was
succeeded by his son Mahendrapala I who tried to expand the kingdom till 908-09 AD.
 Al-Masudi, a traveller from Baghdad, wrote about this kingdom.
 He called it ‘al-Juzr’, a corrupt form of Gurjara and writes details about The extent of the kingdom and
their strengths.
 Between 915-918, Rashtrakuta king Indra III attacked Kannauj and devastates it.
 The Pratihara empire is weakened after this and surrendered several territories such as Gujarat etc.
 Another attack by Krishna III of Rashtrakutas in 963 AD resulted in rapid decline of Pratiharas.

PALAS

 Founded by GOPALA in 750 AD.

 He was the son of a soldier but was elected by noblemen to reign in the anarchy.
 He unified Bengal under his control and brought Magadha (Bihar) under his control.
 His son and grandson DHARMAPALA and DEVAPALA expanded the power and prestige of the Pala
dynasty.
 They were constantly in a fight with Pratiharas for control over Kannauj but failed to win.
 They turned attention towards eastern side and controlled Pragjyotishpur (Assam) and parts of
modern-day Odisha.
 Even extended their suzerainty to parts of modern-day Nepal.
 They were the followers of Buddhism and promoted the religion by building Viharas (monasteries) and
temples in eastern India.
 Dharmapala also revived the Nalanda University and allowed it to collect revenue from 200 villages to
meet is expenses.
 He also founded the famous VIKRAMASHILA UNIVERSITY near Bhagalpur in Bihar which
attracted students from all parts of India and also from Tibet and Sanskrit texts were translated into Tibetan
at this monastery.
 Atisha Dipankara who was greatly respected in Tibet was associated with Vikramashila University.
 Arab Merchant, Sulaiman has also left an account of the Pala empire.
 Information about the Pala empire is also reconstructed from the Tibetan chronicles.
 They also extended their patronage to the Shaivism and Vaishnavism and gave grants to Brahmanas.
 They established cultural contacts with Sailendra dynasty of Southeast Asian countries of Malaya, Java,
Burma, Sumatra, etc. Also established trade with them.

RASHTRAKUTAS
 The kingdom was founded by DANTIDURGA with capital at Manyakheta or Malkhed in today’s
Gulbarga region of Karnataka.
 They dominated the areas of northern Karnataka and Maharashtra.
 They were in constant conflict with Pratiharas in the North for Gujarat, Malwa and mainly for control
over Kannauj.
 In the south, they fought with Chalukyas of Vengi ( in modern Andhra Pradesh) and against Pallavas of
Kanchi, and Pandyas of Madurai.
 KRISHNA I was one of the most important kings of the Rashtrakuta dynasty and uncle of Dantidurga.
 He commissioned the Kailasha temple at Ellora, dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple is carved out of a
single piece of rock.

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 Another proficient king of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty was DHRUVA (780-793 AD).
 He succeeded the throne and assumed the titles as ‘Maharajadhiraja’, ‘Dhanavarsha’, ‘Parmeshwar’
and ‘Kalivallaba’.
 AMOGHAVARSHA (814-880 AD) is another famous Rashtrakuta king and gave royal patronage of
Jainism.
 It was during his reign, the regional literature flourished.
 Great-grandson of Amoghavarsha, INDRA III defeated the Pratihara king Mahipala.
 The Rashtrakuta dynasty lasted for about 200 years and KRISHNA III was the last great king of
Rashtrakuta dynasty.
 The Arab travellers accounts about this dynasty inform us that the Rashtrakutas were quite friendly
with the Arab traders.
 They even allowed them to build mosques and follow their religion without any hindrance.
 The Rashtrakutas showed a liberal attitude towards all religions and had a sea trade with Arabs at that
time.
 They issued coins like SUVARNA and DRAMAS in silver and gold.

IMPERIAL CHOLAS

 In extreme South India, the Cholas founded a mighty empire during AD 1000–AD 1200.
 These medieval part of “Imperial Cholas” different from the Cholas of Sangam age.
 Rather, the relationship between the “Imperial Cholas” with the earlier Cholas of Sangam age is not clear.
 Chola dynasty was founded by VIJAYALAYA CHOLA (9th century AD).
 His son adhithya put an end to the Pallavas After defeating aparajitha in South India Thus Imperial Cholas
rose to power.
 Paranthaka 1 (early) defeated ruler of pandya and cylon but lost to rastrakuta in the “BATTLE OF
TAKKOLAM”.

 After gaap of 30 years it regained under RAJARAJA I AD (985–AD 1014) and his son RAJENDRA I
(AD 1014–AD 1044). (both shaivism)
 During the peak of the Cholas, the empire extended from River Tungabhadra in the north to Kanya
Kumari in the south.
 The Chola Kings had a strong navy and even conquered the Maldives and the Lakshadweep Islands,
parts of Sri Lanka. (thus called imperial)
 They also defeated the kings of Malaya, Java, and Sumatra.

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RAJARAJA I
 Defeated chera in nvy battle, pandyas, challukyas of kalyani, telugu chodas conquered gangavad
and nolambadi in Mysore region, invaded northern cylon, lastly naval attack on Maldives.
 Constructed a majestic and one of the most famous temple known as Rajarajeshwara or
Brihadeshwara temples, dedicated to Lord Shiva at Tanjore.
 He took title such as MUMMIDI CHOLA, JAYAKONDA & SIVAPADASEKARA.

RAJENDRA I
 Cylon ruler tried to regain but he defeated and annexed southern cylon too(thus whole srilamka).
 Defeated jayasimha II of west chalukya hence thungabadra was considered as boundary btw
them.
 Defeated the Pala King, Mahipala crossing ganges.
 To commemorate founded new capital called “GANGAIKONDA-CHOLAPURAM” and he
acquired a the title GANGAIKONDA (conqueror of Ganga)and built RAJESHWARAM
TEMPLE there.
 Naval expedition to kadaran(srivijaya) n took title KADARANKONDAN
 He was also a patron of learning, hence, was known as the “Pandita-chola”.
 Tolerant towards vaishnav and buddhst.
 The later Chola imp king was Kulottunga (1070–1122 AD), after which the Chola empire started disintegrating
and shrunk much smaller area.(first cylon  (vengi n mysore captured by western chalulya
 Rajendra III last ruler defeated by pandya and they absorbed it.

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CHOLA ADMINISTRATION
1. Central
 Perundanam and sirundanam were officials
 They undertook royal tour as check
2. Revenue
 Land revenue were called PURAVUVARITHINAIKKALAM.
 Lands were surveyed for assessment of revenue.
 Taxed all like marriage, judiciary, transit but hard time it was remitted(kulottunga I)
3. Military
 Elephants, cvalry, infantry, navy and royal troups were called KAIKKOLAPERUNPDAI
 Special attention on navy and training troops , controlled coromanda n Malabar.
4. Provincial
 Devided into province NADUSLOCAL SELF GOVTUR (gen assembly)mahasabha.
 3 types of village assembly
(a) Ur
(b) Sabha/mahasabha
(c) Nagaram(in towns) it was seperatley mentioned n wall of rajesshwar temple.
5. Village
 The uttaramerur inscription of parantaka informs about constituition and working of village.
 2 types of village
i. UR :common type with UR assembly and consisted all member of village
ii. BRAHMADEYA: agraharas granted by king to brahmanas and had sabha as assembly
 Village was devided into wards and there were qualifications like ownership of land,own
residence,>30n<70years of age and knowledge of veda. Disqualifications like people committed
sins,stolen property, who did not submit account, and who were member ealier for 3years.
 Became prosperous with the spread of irrigation and agriculture.
 Sabha was Brahman predominant villages whereas the settlements of peasants were known as Ur.
 The groups of such villages were called Nadu.
 The village council was also given several administrative functions such as dispensing justice and collecting
taxes.
 The richer peasants belonged to the Vellala caste.
 They exercised considerable control over the affairs of the Nadu under the supervision of the
central Chola govt.

SOCIETY
 Caste system was prevailing but there was cooperation and 2 major caste mentioned s VALANGI and
IDANGAI
 Women status did not improve sati was prevalent devadasi system emerged here.
 Saivism and vaishnavism flourished along with temples
 Weaving industry rose up esp at kanchi silks
 Inscriptions like ennayiram, thirumukkudal and thirumbhuvanai indicates existence of college.
 , moovarulu says abt life of 3 chola, Sivakasinthamani of 10th cen

RAJPUTS

 The period of rising can be ascribed between 647 AD- 1200 AD.
 The origin of Rajputs is disputed. Some historians argue they were the descendants of various groups
of foreign invaders coming to India from the northwest and settling around that area such as Sakas,
Kushans, Huns, etc.

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 Another set of people believe they are the descendants of Lord Rama (Surya Vamsa) or Lord Krishna
(Chandra Vamsa) or the Hero who sprang from the sacrificial fire (Agnikula theory).

ORIGIN OF RAJPUTS- TODAY’S VIEW

o According to today’s scholars, there is a connection between the rise of Rajputs and the extension of
agriculture activities in Rajasthan.
o The land grants led to an increasing number of agricultural settlements and gave rise to the creation of
many local chiefs with financial and political power to set up an independent authority.
o They invited Brahmanas from Gangetic and other regions to perform royal rituals and ceremonies in
return for a Dakshina, To acquire legitimacy and authenticity,
o They also commissioned writings about their illustrious ancestors linking them with Lord Rama and
Lord Krishna to claim a dignified position of a warrior class.

DIFFERENT CLANS OF RAJPUT

1) Chalukyas of gujarath
2) Chauhans of ajmer
3) Chandelles ruled in the Bundelkhand region.
4) Gahadwala of kanauj
5) Solankis in Kathiawar region.
6) Pawars or Parmaras ruled over Malwa with capital at Dhar near Indore.
7) Guhilas rose to power in Mewar south of the Chauhans.
8) Tomaras in Haryana and the Delhi region.
9) The others include Senas in Bengal and Gahadavalas of Kannauj were also Rajputs.

 Several hill states of Punjab came to prominence in the period such as

a. Champaka (Chamba)
b. Durgara (Jammu)
c. Kuluta (Kulu)

INVADERS
 The Arab merchants and sailors narrated the great wealth of India which attracted the Arabs to invade
India.
 The invasion of India in the medieval period began in the early 8th century from the North-West region.
 The follower of of muhammed set up empire called CALIPHATE and ummayad and Abbasids were
caliphs
 Muhammad Bin Qasim, a general of the Umayyad Caliphate in 712 AD invaded India in sindh , and
extened further into region in multan. But the people were gven zimmis(protecton)
 After that, the other major invaders in the early medieval period were Mahmud of Ghazni and
Muhammad Ghori.

MAHMUD OF GHAZNI

1) Ghazni was founded by a Turkish nobleman in the 10th century in Afghanistan.

2) Mahmud was one of the rulers of the kingdom and he aimed to make Ghazni big and powerful.
3) He wanted to conquer entire Central Asia, meanwhile He was told about the riches of India, hence decided to
attack India to rob Indian wealth.

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4) Aptigin was one of caliph whose son subuktigin attacked peshwar captured it.
5) The first raid was 1,001 AD and first encountered the Hindu shai ruler(who were guarding gates in NW),
Jaipal. (thus now defenceless)which made afghan n turk invasion easy
6) After jayapalas defeat his son anandapala fought but he too was defeated in the “ BATTLE OF WAIHIND”
7) In the subsequent years Mahmud Ghazni attacked the rulers of Multan and Punjab passed into the hands of
the Ghaznavids.
8) He mostly attacked only on the temple towns in northern India such as Nagarkot, Thanesar, Mathura, and
Kannauj, hearing about the gold and jewelry kept in the big temples of India.
9) One of the most devastating attacks was the destruction of the Somnath temple located in western India.
10) Mahmud Ghazni died in 1030. BUT he paved the way for turks and afghans
11) Over a period of 25 years, Mahmud made 17 raids.
12) He destroyed temples in India but he was not mere a raider he built empire from Punjab to Caspian sea in west
and samarkhand in the north to gujarath in south.he built beautiful mosques and a large library.
13) The famous Persian poet, Firdausi, who wrote the epic poem ‘Shahnama.’ was in Ghazni’s court.
14) He sent Al-Beruni to India, who wrote his experience of living in India in KITAB--HIND, describing the
condition of the people.

MOHAMMED GHORI
1) He was vassal of ghazni but became independent after his death.
2) Apart from looting the wealth of India, he was also wanted to conquer parts of India.
3) 1175- captured multan and whole of sindh,1186-punjab fro kushru mallik annexation of Punjab made his
dominion eastward.
4) In his efforts to conquer, he faced resistance from the Chauhan ruler, PRITHVIRAJ III. He defeated Ghori
in the “FIRST BATTLE OF TARAIN.”
5) However, in 1192, Ghori defeated Prithviraj in the “SECOND BATTLE OF TARAIN”.
6) it allowed Ghori to establish power in the Delhi area. Thus first muslim kingdom was estd @ajmer and he
returned to ghazni leaving behind QUTBUDDIN AIBAK to administer the kingdom on his behalf.
7) 1193-gahadvalas and kannauj was occupied after BATTLE OF CHANDAWAR
8) Ghori was murdered in 1206 and it started the rule of the Slave Sultans in North India between 1206 AD to
1526 AD. Hence, this period is called the Delhi Sultanate.

CAUSE OF FAILURE OF HINDU KINGDOM

1. Lacked unity, Devided by factions and Mutual conflicts.
2. Military methods were outdated and inferior from muslims
3. Indians relayed n elephants, muslms-cavalry
4. Muslims had zeal and greed where as hindu soldier were fighting as duty and they were always defensive.

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LATER MEDIEVAL HISTORY

DELHI SULTANATE
 As mentioned, the period between 1206-1526 AD i.e. over three hundred years, the region was ruled by
five different dynasties.
1. MAMLUKS or slave kings (1206-1290)
2. KHALJIS (1290–1320)
3. TUGHLAQS (1320–1412)
4. SAYYIDS (1412–1451)
5. LODIS (1451–1526)
 Ibrahim Lodi was the last Delhi Sultan and was defeated by Babur in 1526 who established the Mughal
Empire in India.

Mamluks/ slave-(1206-1290)
 “Mamluk” means “owned” in Arabic. It referred to the imported Turkish slaves meant for military service.
 3 dynasty were formed
1. QUTIB DYNASTY (1206-1211)-by Qutubuddin aibak
2. First ilbari dynasty(1211-1266)-by Iltumish
3. Second ilbari dynasty(1266-1290)-by Balban

QUTUBUDDIN AIBAK
 Qutbuddin Aibak was slave of ghori and after the death of ghori in 1206 he became the first independent
Muslim ruler and the founder of Delhi Sultanate and made Lahore as capital
 Qutbuddin Aibak was given a title of “Lakh Baksh” due to his generosity.
 As he was slave he never took the title mallik or sipahsalar.
 Estd 2 mosques quawwath-ul-islam, adhai-din-ka-jopra(modified vshnu temple)
 Aibak defeated Yaldauz and occupied Ghazni and re-conquered both Badayun and Farrukhabad from
Rajputs.
 He started construction in the name of sufi saint kwaja qutubuddin bhakthyar kaki which was completed by
iltumish
 1210 died while playing chaugan. (Polo).

ILTUTMISH
 His son ARAM SHAH ascended to the throne but he was an incapable ruler and the Turkish Amirs
opposed him and invited the governor of Badayun, “Iltutmish” (son-in-law of Qutbuddin Aibak) to
come to Delhi.
 Iltutmish defeated Aram Shah and became the Sultan with the name of ‘Shamsuddin’ and made delhi as
capital.
 Iltutmish consolidated the sultanate by defeating Yaldauz in 1215 in the battle of Tarain and drove away
Qabacha from Punjab.
 In 1220, Chengiz Khan destroyed the Khwarizm empire.
 Jalaluddin Manggabarani, the son of the Shah of Khwarizm, sought shelter at Iltutmish’s court.
 Iltutmish realized the need for avoiding a confrontation with the Mongols and he turned manggabarani
away.
 Therefore, Iltutmish is credited of saving the Delhi Sultanate from The Chengiz Khan and the Mongol
invasion.(who crossed Chinese wall twice)

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 He acquired Bengal and Bihar into Delhi Sultanate and similarly captured Ranthambore, Mandor,
Jalore, Bayana,ajmer and Gwalior from Rajput Chiefs between 1226-1231.
 He led expedition against PARAMARAS of malwa but it was not succesfull.
 Nizam-ul-mulk, taj-ud-din were some of contemporary scholars

ADMINISTRATION OF ILTUTMISH

 Thus, he separated the Delhi Sultanate from Ghazni, Ghori and Central Asian politics.
 He obtained a ‘Letter of Investiture’ in 1229 from the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad by which he became
legitimate ruler
 In terms of administration, he introduced few measures such as
(1) Iqta system.
 Territorial assignment given to noble with law,order, and revenue power in return they
maintained army for sulthan.
 Holder were called MUQTI or IQTADAR
 To prevent consolidation of power they were transferred regularly.
(2) Army.
(3) Currency system.
 Standardized the monetorry system by intro of silver coin TANKA and copper coin JITTAL.
 He also organised his trusted Turkish nobles into a “group of Forty” called CHALISA (Turkan-i-
Chahalgani) to advise him in administering the Sultanate.

RAZIA SULTANA
 Iltutmish nominated his daughter Raziya Sultana to the throne. But still qasi of delhi and wazir
(ulema)put RUKNUDDIN on the throne.
 When ruknuddin went to suppress the multan revoult he was killed there by people
 Thus razia ascended to the throne in 1236.
 She attracted the ire of Chahalgani nobles when she appointed theAbyssinian slave, Malik Jamaluddin
Yaqut as the(Amir-i-Akhur) the master of the horses.
 Raziya was not willing to be a puppet of the nobles and they started revolting against her and accused her
of violating feminine modesty.(bcz she went fr hunting and led army and also held court with face unveild)
 So altunia governor revoulted against her where she went personally to suppress but she was captured and
prisoned meantime nobles put bahram on throne but raziya smartly married altunia and came back but she
was defeated and killed in 1240.

BALBAN
 BAHRAM ruled till 1246 but after that in 1246 ulugh khan succeeded in placing inexperienced
NASRUDDIN MAHMUD as sulthan (grandson of iltumish)
 He assumed the position of Naib i.e. deputy to the sulthan nasirudin. (wazir next imp offier after naib)
( and finance was headed by diwani-wizarath)
 But he gave his daughter to nasiruddin and strengthened his position.
 According to Ibn Battuta and Isami, Balban poisoned Nasiruddin and ascended the throne in 1266.
 But his experience as regent made him understand problem of sultanate.
 At the time, he had to counter the hostile Turkish chiefs, the Mongols who were looking forward to an
opportunity for attacking the Sultanate, Rajputs and the governors trying to assert their independence.
 The law and order situation had deteriorated, the Mewatis were plundering people in the outskirts of
Delhi.

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 Although he said he is SHADOW OF GOD he still contd to practice including name of caliph in KUTBA
and coins.
 He adopted a stern policy, killed plundering Mewatis, destroyed Rajput strongholds such as Badayun.
 Malik baqbaq was killed for cruelty against his servant, haybat khan (a governor)was punished for killing a
drunkard, shows he was keen on law and order.
 There was no succession law all children had equal right to throne and these nomination to be accepted by
nobles.
 He stood as champion of Turkish nobility but at the same time never shared power with other nobles (bcz
he knew real threat was them and only by controlling them by enchancing power of manarchy he could
rule).
 He controlled the nobles and broke the power of Chahalgani (spared only obedient noble and eliminated
other)and appointed spies in every department.
 He re-organised the army department called DIWAN-I-ARZ and deployed in different parts to put down
the rebellion. There was a strong centralized army.
 In 1279, when the governor of Bengal, TUGHRIL BEG, revolted and assumed independence, but he
beheaded him.
 He appointed his son as the governor.
 He used harsh methods to control the chaos. He even started the ceremony of SIJADA and PAIBOS in
the court to stamp his authority.
 Mongols invaded from NW but he sent his son PRINCE MAHMUD but he was killed.
 After Balban’s death in 1287, thenobles raised his grandson KAIQUBAD to the throne and was soon
replaced by his 3 year old son, KAIMUR who remained on the throne for just 3years
 During Balban’s reign, Firoz had fought many successful battles against the Mongols in the north-west.
 So, he was appointed as Ariz-i-Mumalik (Minister of War) but in 1290 Firoz took a bold step and
murdered Kaimurs to seize the throne.
 Diwani rasalath= dept of religious affairs, head of judicial dept=Qazi

KHILJI DYNASTY
 A group of Khalji nobles led by Firoz established the Khilji dynasty and this event as the ‘Dynastic
Revolution’ of 1290.
 It ended the so-called Slave dynasty and Firoz took to the throne under the title of ‘Jalaluddin Khilji’.

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JALALUDDIN KHILJI (1290-96)

 He was 70 years old when ascended to the throne and ruled only for a short span of six years.
 He adopted a soft policy to mitigate some of the harsh aspects of Balban’s rule.
 He was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate to recognize that the “state should be based on the willing
support of the governed”.
 According to him, since the large majority of the people in India were Hindus, the state in India could not
be a truly Islamic state.
 He practiced a policy of tolerance and avoided harsh punishments to the nobles who revolted against him.
 He forgave them and even at times rewarded them to win the support of nobles.
1) When Chhajju revoulted it was suppressed but he was pardoned.
2) When thugs looted the country they were allowed to go after warning.
 But when malik chhajju revolted for the second time he was replaced by allaudn khalji.
 His leniency was misunderstood as a weak sultan by many.
Alauddin Khilji (1296–1316)
 Allaudin had helped jallaudin in his struggle for power, so Alauddin was appointed as Amir-i-Tuzuk (Master
of Ceremonies).
 During the reign of Jalaluddin, Alauddin carried out the successful expedition of Bhilsa (Vidisha) in 1292 and
led the first Turkish expedition to southern India and plundered Devagiri in 1294.
 In return, he was given the Iqta of Awadh and was also appointed Arizi-i-Mumalik (Minister of War).
These proved Alauddin’s ability as a military commander and efficient organizer.
 In 1296, he murdered his father-in-law Jalaluddin Khalji and crowned himself as the Sultan, with allaudin
there began sultanate imperialism.
 He followed the policy of ruthless governance and curbed the powers of the nobles and interference of Ulema.

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 He kept religion out of the affairs and declared he is not bound by sheriath. And took title SIKANDAR—
SAINI
 He took direct control over north and allowed southern rulers to continue by paying tribute
 Barani wrote in Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi that Alauddin saw the following as reasons for the rebellions;
1. Excess accumulation of wealth.
2. Social intercourse among the nobles and intermarriage among them
3. Inefficient spy system;
4. Drinking liquor
 So to prevent the rebellions, he formulated regulations such as:
a) Taxed the landholdings to curb the excess of wealth and confiscated excess.
b) Reorganized the spy system and made it effective(secret activity immediately reported)
c) Banned the use of liquor and intoxicants.
d) Social gatherings or inter-marriages without sulthans permission was forbidden.

ADMINISTRATION UNDER ALAUDDIN KHALJI

1) MARKET CONTROL POLICY

 A huge standing army was established for both conquests and to protect the country from Mongol
invasion.
 To maintain a large army, he lowered and fixed the price and introduced other measures to control the
markets.
 To control the prices
i) Grain market (Mandi),
ii) Cloth market (Sarai Adl) and
iii) Market for horses, slaves, cattle, etc
 each market was placed under officer Shahna-i-Mandi. To enforce them,he created market control dept
called DIWAN-I-RIYASATH under naib-i-riyasath.
 He also received daily reports of the market from two other independent sources,
1. Barid (intelligence officer)
2. Munhiyans (secret spies)
 Even during famine price was maintained but not sure whether same regulations applied outside delhi.
2) Revenue administration
 Allaudin first ruler ordered for land measurments
 collected 50% produce as tax and it was collected on day of harvest half in cash and half in kind.
 His land revenue reform provided basis for future sher shah and akbar
3) To deal with shortage
 he created buffer stock in delhi & chan in rajasthan
 Introduced ratoning system-nobody were allowed to purchase excess
4) Military reforms
 NW frontier was fortified and appointed warden to march.
 Introduced 2 new system to avoid corruption
1. DAGH: branding of horses
2. CHEHRA(huliya): descriptive role of soldier(height weight etc)

EXPANSION OF SULTANATE

1. In1299 he first conquered GUJARAT to use its riches to pay for his future conquests.
 It also allowed him to use the seaport to ensure a regular supply of Arab horses for his army.
 The temple of Somnath was captured and an enormous booty was collected.
2. In 1301After Gujarat, RANTHAMBORE was attacked to break the power and morale of the Rajputs.
 The immediate cause was because the ruler of Ranthambore, Hamerdeva gave shelter to two rebellious
Mongol soldiers.

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 Initially, Khalji forces suffered losses but in 1301, the fort finally fell to Alauddin after he entered the
battle.
3. In 1303 Alauddin besieged CHITTOR in another powerful state of Rajputana.
 Some scholars argue that Alauddin attacked Chittor because he coveted Rani Padmini, the beautiful
queen of Raja Ratan Singh.
 But, some scholars do not agree with this because as this is the first mentioned by Malik Muhammad
Jayasi in his book “Padmavat” more than 200 years later.
 Chittor was renamed ‘Khizrabad’ after the name of Sultan’s son Khizr Khan.
4. Alauddin, however, returned back quickly to Delhi as Mongol army was advancing towards Delhi.
5. In 1305 His commander Ain-ul-Mulk captured MALWA in and thus other states such as Ujjain, Mandu,
Dhar, and Chanderi were also captured.
6. In 1307 captured siwana – sital dev
7. In 1311 conquered jalore – kangardeva.

By 1311, Alauddin had completed the conquest of large parts of Rajputana and became the master of North India.
Then, he turned his eye towards the South and Alauddin sent his trusted commander Malik Kafur to the South
who held the office of the Naib.

1. In 1306 conquereed DEVAGIRI from YADAVA DYNASTY

2. In 1308 against Pratap Rudradeva of WARANGAl in the Telangana area.
3. In 1310-11 against DWARASAMUDRA in Karnataka- HOYSALA DYNASTY.
 Vr balla agreed to pay tribute to Sultan without any resistance. Yet, destroyed the temples of Belur,
Halebidu.
4. In 1310-11 attacked MADHURAI- Pandya Kingdom and plundered wealthy temples such as
Chidambaram.

END OF KHILJIS

 Alauddin died in 1316 and the Delhi Sultanate plunged into confusion.
 Malik Kafur occupied the throne for a few days but was deposed by MUBARAK SHAH soon
after(only king to declare himself caliph)
 But he was murdered too by naib malik KHUSRAU SHAH who then ascended the throne.
 Some dissatisfied officers, led by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, defeated and killed Khusrau shah in a battle.

TUGHLAQS (1320-1412)
 Ghazi Malik founder of the Tughlaq dynasty took the title “Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq” in 1320 when he
ascended the throne.
 He was first sultan to build irrigation and postal system but he only ruled for a brief period and died in
1325.

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MUHAMMAD BIN TUGHLAQ

 His son (jauna khan) ascended the throne and further expanded Sultanate.
 The regions of the Deccan had stopped paying tribute after the decline of Khaljis and proclaimed
independence.
 Hence Muhammad Tughlaq incorporated south under direct control
 In the Northwest, to deal with the Mongol invasions, he secured the frontier from Lahore to Kalanaur
and new administrative control was established.
 Only sultan to have literary, religious, philosophical educaton.
 High secular participated in HOLI, DIWALI, gave grants to delhi, had religious discussion with jain saint
“jeena prabha suri”.
 He appointed people of humble origin like barber,cook etc into sultanate nobility.
 He abolished ULEMA and brought them on par with common people.
 Created separate agri dept called “DIWANI KOHI
REFORMS
1. TRANSFER OF CAPITAL

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 He transfered his capital from DELHI to DEOGIR and renamed it as ‘DAULTABAD’ as per Barani,
in 1326–27, it was because it was more centrally located.
 According to some scholars,- safer distance from the North West- safe from Mongols.
 He built a road from Delhi to Deogir and set up rest houses but the journey was extremely hard and a
large number of people died of heat.
 There was discontent and the north could not be controlled from south, Sultan decided to abandon
Daultabad plan.
2. TOKEN CUURENCY
 1329 since there was worldwide shortage gold and silver(as Kublai khan of chna printed paper note)he
Replaced gold and silver coins with copper and brownse coins so he tried to preserve them but local
started making fake coins since sulthan hadn’t monopolized it led to inflation. So again back to gold.
 According to Barani, the token currency was because the treasury was empty due to the Sultan’s
schemes of conquest and generosity.acc to him heap of copper coin were lying on roadside in
tughlaqabad.
3. KHURASAN EXPEDITION
 There was power vaccum in khurasan after decline of mangols so he employed 3,50000 army and paid
1years advance and kept them idle for a year by then it was occupied by other so abandoned the plan.
4. QARACHIL EXPEDITION
 To secure Himalayan invasion by Chinese. Initially successful but later army unnecessarily crossed
over Tibet where entire army was annihilated by Tibet hilman.
5. AGRARIAN REFORMS
 Due to financial crisis from token currency he doubled the tax in ganga Yamuna doab but that time it
was witnessing crop failure, peasants revolted and set standing crop on fire resulted in 7years of
famine —he realized his mistake and announced relief measures
(1) Agri loan to farmers(takkavi) first one to do so
(2) Created separate dept for agriculture DIWAN-I-KOHI
(3) Promoted practice of crop rotation.
 Here also he failed since loans never reached farmer and intermediaries were corrupt.

END OF TUGHLAQS

 In 1335 madhurai became independent under hashan shah

 N 1336 vijayanagara became independent under harihara &bukka.
 In 1339 bengal became independent under Mubarak shah.
 In 1347 bahamani kingdom under allaudin Bahaman shah
 By 1412, the Tughlaq rule was near the end and the Sultanate was confined to a small territory in north
India.
 Large parts of Punjab were occupied by independent nobles. Gujarat, Malwa, and Rajput states became
independent and no longer treated Delhi Sultans as their overlords.
 In 1351 mohd bin tughlq died. And was succeeded by firoz shah tugluq
 According to barani he was mixture of oppositions and he reign marked beginning of decline.

FIROZ SHAH TUGLAQ

 Though no new territories were added to the Sultanate under him, he managed to keep large areas intact
with great efforts.
 He was known for Benevolent rule
 he appointed KHAN-JAHAN-MAQBAL as wazir(PM)(converted frombrahman).
 But he strictly followed ulema and made all their property hereditary thus iqta sytem not only revived but
also was hereditary now

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 Only 4 tax were sanctioned and he imposed jessiya even from Brahmans.
1. Kharaj= on agri
2. Zakath=wealthy muslim
3. Jessiya=non muslims
4. Khams=share of war loot
 First to impose irrigation tax ie HAQ-I-SHRUB but at the same time he built canals
(1) Canal from Sutlej to hunsi
(2) Canal btw Yamuna and hissar
 he created charity dept called DIWAN-I-KHAIRATH(orphans & widows) and provided assistance for
marriages of poor muslims girls.
 Created pension dept called DIWAN-I-ISHTIHAQ and provded old age pension.
 Created employment bureau and also gave unemployment benefit.
 Built govt hospital at delhi DAR-UL-ISLAM where free treatmen irrespective of religion.
 Collected slaves and made a slave dept called DIWAN-I-BANDGON and gave them skill training to
slaves which boosted commodity production.
 Renovated Qutub minar and added 5th story to it.
 Transporte ashokan pillar from meerut and topra to delhi.
 Estd large no. of cities like hzar-firoza, firoz shah kotla in delhi, jaunpur, fatephur, & ferozabad
 Only sulthan to write autobiography called FUTUHAT-I-FIRUZSHAHI
 Translated hindu text called = dalalath firozshahi.
 Barani and shamsi wrote TARIKH-I-FIROZ SHAHI.
 He was intolerant towards shia and sufis
 Abolished all abwabs(cess) which is unislamic.

POLICY OF APPEASEMENT
 When he came to power he faced problem bcz of bin tughalaqs policy so he followed ths
(1) He made all post hereditary
(2) Gave up dagh and chehara
(3) Brought ulema back into politics
(4) All military post hereditary
(5) Burnt register of agri loan.

Military campaign
 He had to face problems of preventing disintergration.
 He tried to safeguard his authority over north india instead of reasserting his authority over south
 He led 2 expedition to Bengal but both were failure Campaigned against jajnagr returned with rich
booty.
 He died in 1398
TIMUR INVASIONS
 Timur invaded Delhi in 1398 during the rule of Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Tughlaq and devastated the
area by plunder and rape of women.
 He also overran Haridwar in 1399 and returned to his capital the Amu Darya and built a grand mosque
at Samarkand.
 Timur was the founder of the Timurid Dynasty
1394- jaunapur become independent,
1401-malwa become independent,
1407- Guj become independent,
1412- death of nasiruddin

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SAYYID DYNASTY (1414-1450)

 Timur after the invasion in 1398, appointed KHIZR KHAN as the ruler of Multan.
 Khizr Khan defeated Sultan Daulat Khan to occupy Delhi and founded Sayyid dynasty.
 He never took ttle sulthan instead took RAIYATH-ALA , After Khizr Khan’s death, Mubarak Shah and
Muhammad Shah ascended the throne one after another between 1432–45.
 In 1445, Alam Shah became the Sultan but was an incompetent ruler.
 So, his Wazir Hamid Khan invited Bahlol Lodi to take charge of the army.
 Realizing the difficulty to continue as Sultan, Alam Shah left forBadaun.

LODI DYNASTY (1451-1526)

BAHLOL LODI (1451–1489)

 Became the Sultan and laid the foundation of Lodi dynasty.
 The Lodis were the first time AFGHANS HEADED Delhi Sultanate.
 Bahlol Lodi was a capable general and was also aware of the fact that he would require help and support of
Afghan nobles.
 Therefore, to placate the nobles, Bahlol Lodi declared that he considered himself one of the Afghan peers
and not the king.
 He did not sit on the throne nor insisted on the nobles to stand in his court.
 This policy helped him rule over a long reign and was relatively trouble-free.
 Bahlol Lodi suppressed the revolts in Mewat and Doab and annexed Jaunpur in 1476. But, he failed to
reoccupy Bengal, Gujarat, and the Deccan.

SIKANDAR LODI (1489–1517)

 ascended the throne as Bahlol successor.
 He showed little tolerance towards the non-Muslims and imposed Jaziya on them.
 He undertook contrasting policy unlike Bahlol Lodi and compelled nobles to show formal respect to the
Sultan in darbar.
 Sikander Lodi re-annexed parts of Bihar, Dholpur, Gwalior, etc.

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END OF LODI DYNASTY

 SIKANDAR LODI died in 1517 and Ibrahim Lodi was favored by the nobles.
 Ibrahim Lodi’s rule was full of revolts as his brother Jalal Khan rebelled but Ibrahim Lodi got him
killed.
 Came into conflict with rajputh king of mewar rana sangha and n battle of ghatkok 1519 lodi was defeated
by him.
 The Punjab governor Daulath khan lodi rebelled disturbed by Sultan’s behaviour (he insulted in
public)and rana sangha invited Babur at Kabul to invade India.
 BABUR defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodi in AD 1526 in the ‘BATTLE AT PANIPAT’.
 The Sultanate of Delhi took birth on the battlefield of Tarain in 1192, breathed its last in 1526, a few miles
away on the battlefield of Panipat.
 This was baburs 5th invasion into india and marked end of sultanates.

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INDIA UNDER SULTANATES

1. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT.
 There was no succession law, all had equal rights.
 Various dept
 =, =, =

 FINANCE  Diwani-wizarath
 MILITARY  Diwani-ariz headed by ariz-mummalik
 military dept 1st setup by balban further
improved by allaudin,
 RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS  Diwani-rasalath headed by chief sadr
 JUDICIAL DEPT  Headed by QAZi muslim. Sheriath law for civil
and hindus were governed by their own persnnal law
which is dispensed by village panchayath

 DEPT OF CORRESPONDENCE  headed Diwani-insha

2. ECONOMY
 LAND WERE CLASSIFIED INTO

IQTA LAND Land assigned to official

KHALISA LAND Land under direct control
INAM LAND Land granted to religious


Tugaalq took initiative to increase production and built irrigation and gave takkavi loan, firoz encouraged
horticulture and mohd bin created sept agri dept called DIWANI-KOHI.
 Process of urbanization got momemtum, no. of cities grew eg: Lahore,multan,daulatabad, delhi and jaunpur,
anhilwara, laknauti.
 India exported large no.of commodity to countries in Persian gulf, west asia and SE asia overseas trade was
under contro of multanis and afghans, land route was dominated by gujarath marwars ,merchants and
muslim Bohra merchant. Good road facilitated it SARAIS made travel conveinient.
 Cotton textiles , silk industry flourished and sericulture was introduced it made inda less dependent fr raw
silk.
 Paper industry had grown and extensive use of paper btw 14th&15th cent
 Leather making, metal crafts and carpet-weaving flourished due to high demand.
 Royal karkhanas produced costly gold and silver ware for sulthan.
 System of Coinage developed : iltumish issued silver tankas (1T=48jittal) gold coins became popular during
allaudin copper coins were less in number, mohd bin not only experimented token currency but also issued
gold and silver coins.
3. SOCIAL LIFE
 lil change in structure of hindu society but traditional caste system with brahmanas on top contd,
 subservient position of women contd, sathi was prevalent, seclusion of women and wearing purdah become
common among upper class women brough by arab & turks.
 Muslim society remained divided into several ethnic and racial groups. The turks, irans, afghans, and Indian
muslims developed exclusively NO intermarriages btw these groups.
 Hindu converts from lower class were also not given equal respect
 Very rarely hindus got high position and they were considered as ZIMMIS for which they were forced to
pay JIZZIYA.

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 In the beginning jiziya was collected as part of land tax but firoz separated it and collected jizziya separately
sometimes Brahmins were exempted.
4. ART AND ARCHITECTURE
 The art and architecture was distinct from Indian style.
 Turks introduced DOME, ARCHES, LOFTY TOWERS or MINERATES & decorations using Arab script.
 In the beginning converted temples and other structures demolished into MOSQUE eg:QUWWATH-UL-
ISLAM delhi but later they began to construct new structures.
 Magnificent structure of 13th cent was QUTUB MINAR started by aibak dedicated to sufi saint khwaja
qutubdn bhakthyar kaki and then completed by iltumish. But later alaudin added entrance to this called as
ALAI-DARWAZA.
 Buildings of tuglaq were constructed by combining Arch and Dome. Palace complex TUGLAQABAD was
built during Ghiyasudin. Mohd bin built TOMB OF GHIYASUDIN ,KOTLA FORT by firoz.
 LODI GARDEN example of Lodi architecture.
5. MUSIC
 New music instruments called SARANGI and RABAB were introduced here.
 Amir khusru introduced many new ragas such as GHORA and SANAM and new form of light music called
as QWALIS by blending hindu and Iranian system.The invention of SITAR also attributed to him.
 Indian classical work RAGADARPAN was translated into Persian during firoz
 Pir BHODAN was one of great musician and raja man singh was patron of music and he encouraged work
called MAN KAUTUHAL
6. LITERATURE
 Learned men came from Persia and Persian language got encouragement from rulers.
 Beside this poetry and history writing encouraged and some sulthan had their own historians like HASAN
NIZAMI, ZAIUDIN BARANI, MINHAJ SIRAJ. Baranis TARIKH-I-FIROZ SHAHI contains history of
tugluq dynasty. Mnhaj siraj wrote TABAQAT-I-NASARI history of muslim dynasty.
 Amir khusru was famous Persian writer and created new style of Persian poetry called SABAQ-I-
HIND(Indian style) KHAZAIN-UL-FUTUAH speaks about alaudin conquest, and his TUQLAQNAMA
deals with rise of Ghiyasudin.
 Zia nakshabi first to translate sanskrith to Persian, TUTU NAMA become popular, RAJATHARANGINI by
kalhana belonged to perion of zain-ul-abidin ruler of Kashmir
 In Arabic Alberunis KITAB-UL-HINDI is most famous.
 Chand baradi was famous HINDI poet, Bengali literature also developed and NUSRATH SHAH patronized
translation of MAHABHARATHA into Bengali.
 Bhakti cult led to development of gujarathi and Marathi whereas vijayanagara empire patronized telugu and
kannada literature.

RISE OF THE PROVINCIAL KINGDOMS

 The disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate started after the death of Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
 Though Firoz Shah Tughlaq tried to control but failed.
 A number of provincial rulers declared their independence from the rule of the Sultanate during this
period. Prominent of these are the following
(1) Jaunpur
(2) Malwa
(3) Kashmir
(4) Gujarat
(5) Bengal

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JAUNPUR

 Malik Sarwar was the Governor of Jaunpur under the Delhi Sultanate.
 He acquired territories of Kanauj, Kara, Awadh, Bihar, etc.
 Although he did not assume the title of Sultan, he laid down the foundation for the Sharqi Dynasty.
 Malik Sarwar died in 1399 and his Malik Karanphul assuming the title of Mubarak Shah, ascended the
throne.
 He was the first ruler of Sharqi dynasty.
 Post Mubarak Shah’s death in 1402, his brother Ibrahim ascended the throne and ruled for 34 years.
 Ibrahim is considered the greatest ruler of Sharqi dynasty for his initiatives to make it an important centre
of learning.
 He started a distinct style of architecture which came to be known as sharqi style of architecture.
 Atala Masjid at Jaunpur is one of the most famous buildings in the area.
 Ibrahim’s successor Mahmud invaded Delhi but was defeated by Bahlol Lodi.
 After Mahmud, Jaunpur Muhammad Shah and Husain Shah succeeded.
 They were weak and Husain Shah died in 1500 and thus ended the Sharqi dynasty.

KASHMIR

 Shamshuddin Shah became the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir in 1339.

 But the most powerful ruler was Sikandar who ascended the throne in 1389.
 Sikandar ruled over Kashmir for about 27 years and died in 1416.
 His son Ali Shah ascended the throne but after some years his brother
 Shah Khan ascended the throne under the title of ‘Zainul Abidin’.
 Zainul Abidin was a liberal and enlightened ruler.
 To secure the support of all the groups, he called back all such groups who had been banished by
Sikandar.
 He abolished Jaziya, prohibited cow slaughter, and paid great attention towards the economic growth
of Kashmir.
 He was a great scholar of Persian, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Kashmiri languages and ordered the
translation of Mahabharata and Rajatarangini into Persian.
 Zainul Abidin’s successors were weak, using this as an advantage Mirza Haider, a relative of Babur
conquered Kashmir.
 In 1586, Kashmir was annexed by Akbar and Kashmir became part of the mighty Mughal Empire.

MALWA
 Malwa was conquered by Alauddin Khilji in AD 1310 and remained the part of Delhi Sultanate till the
death of Firoz Tughlaq.
 Dilawar Khan declared independence in 1401 after the invasion of Taimur weakened Sultanate.
 He did not take the royal title of Sultan but after the death of Dilawar Khan in 1405, his son Ala Khan
acquired the title of ‘Hoshang Shah’ and ascended the throne.
 Mandu became the capital of Malwa and is known for the distinct type of Mandu architecture with
buildings such as Hindi Mahal, Jama Masjid, and Jahaz Mahal.
 Hoshang Shah’s successor, Ghazi Khan, was deposed by his minister Mahmud Khan Khilji in 1436 and
laid the foundation of Khalji dynasty of Malwa.
 Under him, Malwa became a strong kingdom.
 However, in the later years, the Sultan of Gujarat defeated Malwa and annexed Malwa to Gujarat.

GUJARAT

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 Gujarat has been continuously target of the invaders due to its geographical location, prosperity, and
fertility.
 Alauddin Khilji was the first to annex Gujarat to the Delhi Sultanate.
 Turkish governors ruled over Gujarat since then.
 In 1398, at the time of Timur’s invasion, Zafar Khan was the governor.
 He became the independent ruler of Gujarat.
 The most famous of the Gujarat rulers, however, was Ahmad Shah who ruled between 1411 to 1441. He
founded the city of Ahmedabad.
 After his death in 1441, his eldest son Muhammad Shah ascended the throne.
 He was killed by conspirators in 1451.
 After him, the nobles raised Fateh Khan, a grandson of Ahmad Shah to the throne.
 He assumed the title ‘Mahmud’ and was the ablest ruler of his dynasty.He ruled for 52 years and died
in 1511.
 And a number of weak rulers followed until Akbar conquered Gujarat and annexed it to the Mughal
Empire.
THE VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE
 Two brother Harihara and Bukka established the Vijayanagar kingdom also called the Sangama
dynasty in 1336 with capital at Vijayanagara on the banks of the river Tungabhadra.
 They were inspired and guided by a scholar and a saint Vidyaranya for the establishment of their
kingdom
 There are many theories about the origin of the dynasty.
 According to one theory, the two brothers had served in the army of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq and
broke away from the Delhi Sultanate and established an independent state in Karnataka.
 According to some scholars, they were the feudatories of the Kakatiyas of Warangal and after
their fall they served the Kampili state.
 Another view says that they were the feudatories of the Hoysalas and belonged to Karnataka.
 The Vijayanagar Empire was spread over the rule of four families and they are:
No. Dynasty year founder
1. SANGAMA 1336-1485 Harihara
2. SALUVA 1485-1505 Narasimha saluva
3. TULUVA 1505-1570 Vir narasimha
4. ARAVIDU 1572- early 7th cen Tirumala

 Several foreign travellers visited the kingdom of Vijayanagar such as

Travelers Origin
1. IBN BATTUTA Morocco
2. NICOLO CONTI Vinita Says about prevalence of slavery
3. DOMINGO PAES Portuguese
4. ABDUR RAZZAQ Persian
5. Paes  Mentions about beautiful house and rich n large
no. of their servants.
 Says about flourishing DEVADASI system.
6. Nuniz  Acc to nuniz large no. of women were employed n
palace as dancers etc.
 Gives description of SATHI SYSTEM.
 Refers to excavations of canals.

 All of them mention about riches and magnificence of Vijayanagar

 One of the most important rulers of the Vijayanagar kingdom was Krishnadevaraya.
 He was a great commander and an efficient administrator.
 He conquered several of the independent kingdoms that came on the ruins of the Bahmani kingdom.
 He also had to deal with the Portuguese influence in the Deccan.

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 He defeated the Adil Shahis of Bijapur and then attacked Gulbarga.

 Three Bahamani princes who were imprisoned were freed and helped them recover the throne of Gulbarga.
Krishnadevaraya After this, he assumed the title of “Yavana-rajya Sthapana- acharya” (establisher of the
Yavana kingdom)
 After the death of Krishna Deva Raya, his brother Achyuta Deva Raya succeeded to the throne in 1530 AD.
It gave rise to rivalry in the family.
 Rama Raya won the rivalry and immediately removed the old nobility and replaced it with those loyal to him.
 He tried to balance the Deccan powers by playing one against the other but the Deccan states formed a
confederacy and inflicted a crushing blow on the Vijayanagar armies in the battle of Talikota. Rama Raya
was killed.
 The Deccan powers entered Vijayanagar and plundered it and reduced it into ruins.

KRISHNADEVARAYA

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 He belonged to TULUVA and his task was to check Bahamans invasion.

 Defeated raichur and then bidar in 1520 and after that Gajapathi of odisha.
 Helped Portuguese to conquer goa from bijapur .
 Though vaishnavaite he respected all religion and was Patron of A/C and himself a scholar who wrote
telugu amukthamalyadha, and saskrith jambhavathi kalian, and ushapaninayam.
 He built vittalswamy and hazara temple. And a new city called NAGALAPURAM(in memory of his wife)
 His court had 8poets called ASHTADIGGAJA some of them were
1. Allasani peddanna : manucheridam (existence of 4 caste) & harikathasaram  so called
ANDHRA PITHAMAHA & ABHINAVA BHOJA
2. Nandi thimmanna : parijatha, apaharana.
3. Tenali Ramakrishna : panduranga mahatmyan

ADMINISTRATION IN VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE

 King = absolute authority over executive, legislative and judicial matter. Where he hghest court of appeal.
Assisted by COM
 Succession was hereditary but sometimes usurpation eg. by saluva narasimha.
 Empire was devided into
1. Mandalam --MANDALESHWARA/NAYAKA
2. Nadus
3. Shtalas
4. Grama
 Land revenue was fixed 1/6th and harsh punishments were given
 A part of the revenue was used for the maintenance of temples and irrigation works.
 The NAYAKA also commanded the forts.
 The AMARA-NAYAKAS would personally bring tribute annually to express their loyalty. They granted
land to soldier and that was called AMARA.
 As the successors of the kingdom became weak in the 17th century, several of these Nayakas became
independent and established separate states as they used to maintain their own soldiers, forces, and
elephants.
 They challenged the Vijayanagar authority and even contributed to the defeat of the Vijayanagara in
the battle of Talikota.

MILITARY UNDER VIJAYANAGAR EMPIRE

 They needed a large army as they engaged in continuous warfare.

 They imported high-quality horses from Arabia and other Gulf countries.
 Ports on the Malabar coast were used for trade and trade in other luxury commodities.
 The Vijayanagar rulers were familiar with the use of firearms and employed Turkish and Portuguese to
train their soldiers.
 The walls of the forts were made very thick to counter the firearms and even doors.
 They also constructed parapets to put the cannons on it.
 The important feature was the Amara-Nayaka system.
 Every specific area was commanded by called the Nayaka. Nayaka was responsible for expanding
agricultural activities and collecting taxes in his area.
 The revenue used for maintaining his army, horses, elephants, and weapons of warfare
 During reign of ramaraya combined force of bijapur, ahmamadnagar, golkonda defeated him in
“BATTLE OF TALLIKOTA”(rakkasa thangadi). Where the city was destroyed and its generally
considered to mark the end of vijayanagar empire.
 Last rulersr ranga III.

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SOCIETY
 BORBOSA refered to religious freedom enjoyed by subject.
 Muslims were employed in adm and was freely allowed to build mosque.
 BUT the postion of had not improved. However some were educated like GANGADEVI (who authored
madhurivijayan), HANNAMMA, AND THIRUMALAMMA.
 Polygamy was prevalent among royals, SATHI WAS HONOURED.(nuniz)

ECONOMY
 Agri was chief , and they stmulated by irrigation facility (nuniz).
 Metal and other craft flourished, diamond mine @ Kurnool
 Chief gold coin was VARAHA but weight was varied from place to place.
 Silks,spice,iron,rice =export horse, pearl,copper,coral,mercury,china silk,velvet=import.

CULTURE
 Imp feature was tall rayagopuram(speaks epoch of vijaynagar) and kalyanamantapam.
 Horse was extensively found on pillars.
 Hampi,vittalswamy, and hazara temple,varadharaja, n ekamparanatha, were of this style
 Metal images of KDR n wife eg of metal work.

CONFLICT BETWEEN VIJAYANAGAR AND BAHMANIS

 Both the kingdoms were constantly engaged in conflicts over the control of Raichur doab i.e. the land
between rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra. Because the area was fertile and rich in mineral resources.
 The Golconda diamond mines were located in the eastern part of this region.
 The battles between them were not conclusive, sometimes, Bahamani had an advantage and sometimes
the other.
 In 1504, the Bahamanis conquered the Raichur doab only to lose to Krishna Deva Raya.
 At his peak, he conquered Raichur, Mudgal, Nalgonda, and other inland towns from the Bahamanis.
 The constant conflicts have resulted in the increasing power of the Portuguese on coast of SI
 Exhausted the resources and weakened both of them .
 The battles between them are given a communal color i.e.as Hindu-Muslim conflicts.
 However, as described about, the struggle was not due to any religious differences but for territorial and
economic motives.
 Despite hostilities between the two states, there were times when they also cooperate with each other
as Krishnadevaraya took pride in the title “establisher of the Yavana kingdom”.

THE BAHMANI SULTANs

 The Deccan region was under the Delhi Sultanate during the rule of Tughlaq dynasty.
 To establish a stable administration, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq appointed officers called Sadar Amir as
the administrative heads.
 The conflict between the officers in Deccan and Delhi Sultanate began to accelerate in 1337.

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 It led to the establishment of an independent state in the Deccan in 1347 called Bahamani kingdom.
 Initially had their capital at Gulbarga and later shifted to Bidar.
 The Bahamani kingdom was founded by Hasan Gangu. He assumed the title Alauddin Hasan Bahman
Shah.
 According to him, he was descendent of the mythical hero of Iran, Bahman Shah.
 Hence, the kingdom was named after him, the Bahmani Sultanate.

ADMINISTRATION OF BAHMANI SULTANATE

 The administrative system of the kingdom was well organised under Bahman Shah and his son
Muhammad Shah.
 The kingdom was divided into four provinces called ‘Taraf’ each headed by a Tarafdar also called
Subedar.
 The four provinces were the following
(1) Daultabad
(2) Bidar
(3) Berar
(4) Gulbarga
 Some of the land under the jurisdiction of tarafdar was converted into Khalisa.
 Khalisa was that part of the land which was used to run expenses of the king and the royal
household.
 Nobles were paid a fixed salary in cash or in the form of the grant of land or ‘Jagir’

MILITARY UNDER BAHMANI SULTANATE

 For military support, Amirs were appointed. They belonged to two ranks:
(1) One group were Deccanis who were immigrant Muslims but been staying in the Deccan region
for a long time.
(2) The other group was Afaquis or Pardesis who recently came from Central Asia, Iran, and
Iraq and settled in the Deccan region.
 For the first time in India, Bahmanis and Vijayanagar empire used gunpowder in the warfare.
 The Bahamanis were familiar with the use of firearms because they employed Turkish and Portuguese
experts to train the soldiers in the latest weapons of warfare

MAHMUD GAWAN
 Iranian by birth who came to Deccan as a trader.
 He was given the title of Malik-ut-Tujjar (Chief of the Merchants) by the Bahmani ruler, HUMAYUN
SHAH.
 After the sudden death of Humayun shah, his minor son Ahmad III succeeded to the throne. To help him
in administration a regency council was set up.
 Loyal to king and had great knowledge in maths, built Persian style college in bidar.
 Military genius and won over vijaynagar, Orissa, sea pirates and conquered konkan, goa, and Krishna –
godavari delta.
 Mahmud Gawan was made the WAZIR (the prime minister) and was given the title of ‘KHWAJA-I-
JAHAN.’
 He was an AFAQUI but liberal and forged a compromise between the Afaqui and the Deccanis for the
stability of the kingdom.
 He conquered the Vijayanagara Empire’s territories up to Kanchi in the South and Goa and Dabhol on the
West Coast.
 The military power of the TARAFDAR was curbed by making sure only one fort of each province was to
be under the direct control of the provincial Tarafdar, rest placed under QILADAR (a commander of the
forts).
 Allowance were reduced to nobles who shrirked their duty. So they induced(forced) king to execute him by
organizing a plot.

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 But, after his death, by 1526 the provincial governors declared their independence and the Bahamani
kingdom broke up into independent Sultanates of 5 .

BREAKDOWN OF BAHAMANI KINGDOM

 The independent Sultanates of Bahamani Kingdom were:
(1) Nizam Shahis of AHMADNAGAR
(2) Adil Shahis of BIJAPUR
(3) Qutb Shahis of GOLCONDA
(4) Imad Shahis of BERAR
(5) Barid Shahis of BIDAR
 They acted as a league of states called DECCAN SULTANATES. And had matrimonial alliances
between themselves and continued their traditional rivalry with the Vijayanagar rulers.
 However, they finally succumbed to the Mughal armies in the later period.

Advent of portuguese
TREATY OF TORDESILLAS(1494) allowed Portugal the east and spain to the west. In 1487
BARTHOLOMEW DIAS rounded cape of good hope and sailed east he thought he reached india but only in 1497
portugues did

 The seaborne trade between India and west was controlled by the Arabs.
 They bought goods from India and supplied it to the merchants of Venice and Genoa in Italy who in
turn supplied them to European markets.
 This arrangement was disturbed when Portuguese discovered alternative sea routes to India, direct
naval contact was established.
 In 1498, Vasco da Gama sailed around the west coast of Africa via Cape of Good Hope and reached
Koppad near Calicut. He went back next year He was received by Zamorin who were the Hindu Eradi
rulers of in Medieval India.

PEDRO ÁLVARES CABRAL:

 After VASCO DA GAMA In 1500, another fleet came under Pedro Álvares Cabral who discovered
Brazil on the way.
 He made treaties with the rulers of Kozhikode and Cannanore and established the first Portuguese
factory at Calicut To fight with the Arabs.
 He captured Arabian vessels and killed their crew.
 This led to Battle of Calicut in 1501 where Arabs retaliated by burning down the factory and killing
several Portuguese.
 Cabral went back to Portugal after the defeat.

FRANCISCO DE ALMEIDA
 Francisco de Almeida came to India in 1503 as the Governor and Viceroy of India.
 He built Portuguese forts at Cochin, Cannanore, Kilwa, and Anjadiva.
 In 1510 He invaded and conquered Goa in the battle of Goa with Sultans of Bijapur.
 He captured malaca and cylon.
 A Portuguese mint was started and they issued coins in Gold, Silver, and Bronze with a badge of
Portuguese Kings.
 There was the paucity of manpower in Portugal so he encouraged the lower classes of the Portuguese
settlers to marry Indian women.
 Thus, the Portuguese started settling in Goa.
 Albuquerque was the first to abolish the practice of Sati.

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 He fought with the Muslim confederacy from Egypt, Turkey, and Gujarat.
 He defeated them but died soon in 1510 and Alfonso de Albuquerque came as his successor

ALFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE
 Another important Portuguese Governor was Nuno da Cunha who made Mombasa, Mozambique as
Portuguese colonies.
 Daman and Diu and Bassein were acquired from Gujarat’s ruler Bahadur Shah and compelled him to
sign a Treaty of Bassein.
 Bahadur Shah tried to win the support of Portuguese by giving them Mumbai and surrounding areas.
 But he was killed by his Portuguese friends and by 1534, Portuguese acquired Mumbai, Vasai, Virar,
Surat, and entire Goa.

NUNO DA CUNHA
 They even established a factory at Hugli.
 The Portuguese meted out cruel treatment towards natives in the name of their spirit of crusading.
 Their aim was to convert all their subjects to Christianity at the point of the sword and displayed the
intolerant bigotry.
 They introduced all the horrors of the inquisition and it was one of the main reasons that they could
not survive for long.

DECLINE OF PORTUGUESE
 They were the first Europeans to settle and colonize in India but were wiped out from most of the
territories by the 17th century.
 They lost Surat to British in 1612 and Mughals recaptured Hugli from them in 1631.
 Bombay was given in dowry to Prince Charles-II of England by the Portuguese government in 1661
 They were only confined to Goa and Daman and Diu which they retained till 1961 when the adrmies
of Independent India forced them out.

BHAKTI MOVEMENTS
 SAIVAIT NAYANMAR, and VAISHNAVAIT ALWAR preached bhakti cult under PALLAVA, PANDYA,
and CHOLA. But this is different from medieval BM.
 Medieval BM was direct result of spread of Islam in India.
 Preaching of sufi teachers shaped the thinking of bhakti reformers like kabir das, ramananda, gurunanak

SUFISM:
 Liberal reform movement within Islam origined in Persia came here on 11th cent
 First saint SHAIKH ISMAIL and famous one  KHWAJA MUINUDDIN CHISTI and his followers were
called sufis.
 NIZAMUDDIN AULIYA: belonged to chisti order regarded as mighty spiritual force.
 Sufi saints revered even today not only by Muslims also by Hindus.
 Sufi saint shihabudin suhrawardi and his follower were called “SUFIS OF SUHRAWARDI ORDER”
 Suhrawadis unlike chisti accepted maintainance grants from sulthan stating it will help to serve poor better
 Naqsshhbandi silsilah estd by kwaja bahaudn ,qadri silsilah.
 Stressed on love and devotion as means of realizing god and they believed service to humanity is tantamount to
service to god.

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 Self discipline essential to gain knowledge of god by perception.

MUSLIMS SUFISM
Emphasized on external conduct Stressed on inner purity
Believed in blind observance of rituals Considered love and devotion as only means to attain
salvation.

 One must have Guru without which spiritual development is impossible

 They inculcated goods seeds such as spirit of tolerance, meditation, good actions, repentance of sins,
prayer, fasting.
 Sufi movement influenced bhakthi saints in medieval indi and shaped religious outlook and policy.
 Doctrine of 2 parallel movement contributed in bringing them together but did not last.

BHAKTHI MOVEMENT:
 9th cent 1. shankaracharya started Hindu revivalist movement, new orientation to Hinduism
 Doctrine of ADHVAITHA was too abstract common man to understand
 There was a reaction against the concept NIRGUNABRAHMANA(god without attributes) and
SAGUNABRAHMANA.

2. RAMANUJACHARYA
 He was born in Chennai In 12th cent and preached VISHISHTADHVAITHA
 According to him god is sagunabrahmana
 He said creation process and all object are real as against shankara
 He said god, soul, matter are real. And god is inner substance and rest are his attributes.
 Advocated PRABATTIMARGA ie path of self surrender.
3. MADHAVACHARYA (13th cent)
 DVAITHA siddantha or dualism of jivathma and paramathma
4. VALLABHACHARYA
 Popularised Krishna cult in north india. SURDAS was disciple of him
 Mirabhai became famous in Rajasthan.
 Tulasidas was worshipper of rama and composed RAMACHARTHAMANAS.
5. Ramananda kabir and nanak.
 They drew nspiration from old but showed new path
 Helped commons to shed age old superstition and attain salvation.
 They were not included in any religion unlike before.
 Condemned polytheism and believed in one god and denounced all idolatory.
 Strongly believed bhakti only means to salvation
6. RAMANANDA
 In 14th and 15th cent A vaishnava bhakti saint.
 Originally follower of ramanuja now followed own sect. worshipped rama
 First to employ vernacular medium to preach. Thus simplified worship and emancipated people from
traditional caste.  2imp contribution
 He opposed caste system and kabir was his disciple.
7. KABIR
 Born to Brahmin and brought up by Muslim couples. Ramananda initiated him into greater knowledge
of hindu and muslim.
 Thus his objective was to reconcile both and establish harmony, essential oneness of all religion by
saying both are pot of same clay.
 Denounced idolatry and emphszed on equality of man and god. All god are one.
8. GURUNANAK
 Founder of sikh religion and disciple of kabirdas and he denounced caste sect
 Exhorted people to give selfishness hypocrisy etc and live honest, kind life.

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9. CHAITHANYA
 From Bengal he popularized Krishna. He proclaimed universal brotherhood of man and condemned all
distinction based on caste etc
 Accepted all caste people as disciple and believed with love, devotion, song,dance, one can feel the
presence of god
10. GNANADEVA:
 Founder of BM in maharastra in 19th cent and it was called MAHARASTRA DHARMA
 Wrote gnaneshwari.
11. NAMADEVA: (13th cent)Preached gospel of love, opposed idol worship, caste system and priest
domination.
12. EKANATHA: opposed caste system and kind towards low caste
13. TUKARAM: contemporary of shvaji responsible for creating background for Maratha nationalism.
Opposed all distinction.best known for his ABHANGA poetry

IMPORTANCE
 BM was done on regional language through this they could they nook and corner.
 Caste system was condemned by bhakti saints and lower caste position was raised.
 Importance of women also increased since this movement gave equal importance.
 Moreover it gave simple religion rather complicated ritual.
 New idea of life of charity and service to god fellow people developed.

THE MUGHAL ERA

BABUR
 With the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate, the regional powers declared independence and autonomy.
This created a vacuum.
 Meanwhile, Babur (who was descendent of Mongols from mother’s side and Timur from father’s
side) ascended the throne at Farghana at the age of 12 in 1494.
 The Central Asian region was not stable and Babur faced resistance from the nobility itself.
 The nobles deserted him when he captured Samarkand.
 Babur also lost Farghana to the Uzbeks.
 He wrote his memoirs , TUZUK-I-BABURI in turkey lang.
 Therefore, he planned to move towards Hindustan and took decisive steps from 1517 onwards.
 The unstable political situation in Lodi dynasty after Sikandar Lodi’s death allowed him to disorder in
the Lodi Empire.
 At the same time, invitations from Rana Sanga and Daulat Khan Lodi
 encouraged Babur’s ambitions.
 Babur successfully captured the following
(1) Bhira in 1517,
(2) Sialkot in 1520, and
(3) Lahore in 1524.
Battle Of Panipat (1526)
1) The major success was when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in 1526.
2) The success at the Battle of Panipat was a great achievement of Babur’s military tactics because he had an
active army of only 12000 soldiers while Lodi’s army was about 100,000 soldiers.
3) Babar used the Rumi (Ottoman) method of warfare effectively as he encircled Lodi’s army from two
flanks.
4) He used gun fires by expert Ottoman gunners and built trenches and barricades for defence against the
march of the enemy.
5) Ibrahim Lodi died in the battle field and Babur took control of Delhi and Agra.

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6) He distributed the rich treasure of Lodis among his commanders and soldiers.

Challenges before Babur

a) He soon faced with problems:-

b) His nobles and commanders wanted to return to Central Asia as they did not like the climate of India.
They also felt alienated culturally.
c) Rajput chiefs united and wanted Rana Sanga as the king and looked to expel the Mughal forces.
d) Afghans even after a defeat at Panipat, were still a formidable force in eastern parts of UP, Bihar, and
Bengal and were re-grouping to reclaim their lost powers.
e) He convinced his nobles and soldiers to stay back and help in consolidating the conquered territories.
f) He sent Humayun to face the Afghans and he himself fought Rana Sanga and defeated him in 1527 at
“BATTLE OF KHANWA”, a place near Fatehpur Sikri.
g) He once again showcased his superior military tactics.
h) The defeat of Rana Sangha shattered the biggest challenge in North India.
i) Babur died soon after, in 1530, the consolidation and expansion of Mughal rule were incomplete as still the
rulers of Gujarat, Malwa, and Bengal enjoyed substantial military power. 1528 he won chanderi.
j) It was left to Humayun to face these regional powers.

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HUMAYUN

 Humayun succeeded Babur. And he devided empire among his brothers,kamran was given Kabul,
sambhal- askari, alwar-hindal.
 The newly acquired territories and administration were yet to be consolidated.
 In 1555 he returned and won delhi and Punjab after the “BATTLE OF MACHHIWARA”
 Fighting with mughals , he got news of bahdur shah of gujarath is advancing he hastily concluded
treaty with afghan leader sher khan, and he captured gujarath.

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 Meantime sher khan became powerful and humayun marched against him thus “BATTLE OF
CHAUSA” was held, where he was defeated.
 He then reached agra to negotiate with his brothers but as they were not cooperative he was forced to
fight with sher khan alone in the “BATTLE OF BILGRAM”(BOkannauj)
 The Mughal nobility didn’t respect Humayun as they did Babur especially the Chaghatai nobles.

SHER SHAH

 Founder of sur dynasty was sher shah who original name FARID the son of a Jagirdar, he served
under afghan ruler of bihar who gave him title SHER KHAN
 He defeated Bengal Army in the “BATTLE OF SURAJGARH” and established himself as the
undisputed Afghan leader.
 Humayun was busy in Gujarat fighting Bahadur Shah, Sher Shah started consolidated himself in Bihar
and Bengal.
 Humayun failed to estimate his capabilities and asked his governor of Jaunpur, Hindu Beg to check
the movements of Sher Shah.

BATTLE OF KANNAUJ (1540)

 Sher Shah moved towards Agra and the armies of the two clashed at Kannauj called the battle of Kannauj
(1540) in which Humayun suffered a fatal defeat and ran away.
 Thus, 14 years after the first Afghan kingdom under the Lodis was replaced by Babur in 1526, Sher Shah
succeeded in establishing the Second Afghan rule in India in 1540.
 He consolidated his position in Northern and Eastern India by defeating Malwa in 1542 followed by
Chanderi. He fought against the Rajputana states such as Marwar, Ranthambhore, Nagor, Ajmer, Merta
Jodhpur, and Bikaner.
 He defeated rebellious Afghans in Bengal and by 1545, he became the supreme ruler from Sindh and
Punjab covering Rajputana in the West and Bengal in the East.
 He wanted to conquer Bundelkhand too while besieging the fort of Kalinjar, he died in 1545 in an
accidental blast of gunpowder.
 Sher Shah’s son Islam Shah and Adil Khan fought with each other and many Afghan nobles.
 Thus, the Afghan empire was substantially weakened.

ADMINISTRATION OF SHER SHAH

 The king was assisted by 4 ministers

1. DIWAN-I-WIZARATH(wazir)revenue and finance
2. DIWAN-I-ARIZarmy
3. DIWAN-I-RASALATforeign
4. DIWAN-I-INSHAcommunication
 The EMPIRE was divided into 47 divisions called “Sarkars”(head chief munsif)
PROVINCE CHIEF SHIQDAR(law & order)
SARKAR CHIEF MUNSIF(land revenue)
PARGANA SHIQDAR(law and order)
VILLAGE AMIL(land revenue treasurer etc)

 The Sarkar further divided into Parganas headed by a Shiqdar.

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 At Pargana Level, Munsifs was to collect the revenue, an Amir was to hear the Civil Cases whereas Qazi
or Mir-i-Adal was to hear the criminal cases.
 The first Rupee, a Silver coin and was called “Rupia” which remained in use throughout the Mughal rule.
 Todarmal Khatri became popular in Akbar’s reign was groomed in Sher Shah’s administration.
 He re-introduced land measurement. The land in his administration was measured as Sikandari Gaj
equivalent to 39 inches. It was introduced by Sikandar Lodi.
 The Patta system was introduced by him in which the area is sown, types of crops cultivated, and revenue
share was written on a Paper.
 One of the greatest legacies of him is the major road built across the Gangetic, it was called the “Sadak-
i-Azam”.he built 4 imp highways
 It was initially built from Agra to Sasaram in Bihar later extended to Multan in west and Sonargaon in
the West.
 It was renamed as ‘Grand Trunk Road’ by the British running between Calcutta to Peshawar.
 Classified land into three. Good, middle, and bad and tax share was 1/3rd
 His historian abbas khan sarawani says that zamindars were cowed tht none dared to raise banner against
him.
 He intro SARAI guestroom and separate fr hindu and muslims and he used it as news service. Also built
mausoleum at sasaram.
 If any merchant died on road he made zamindar responsible fr it. And abbas sarwani mentions that even f
you take basket of gold and go out no thief would dare to plunder in fear of punishment.

COMEBACK OF HUMAYUN
 Weakening of the Afghan empire gave Humayun a window and he moved towards India.
 He captured the lost kingdom once again by 1555 and ended the second Afghan Empire and established
himself as the emperor of India.
 Now, he had to consolidate his position but he died after falling from the stairs of the library at Sher
Mandal in Delhi in 1556.
 The kingdom fell into the hands of Akbar who was mere 13 years old.

HEMACHANDRA(1556)
 Known for winning continues 22 battles. Came to power on1556 by taking delhi from mughals assuming
the title “VIKRAMADITHYA”. He estd Hindhu rule in north india.

SECOND BATTLE OF PANIPATH(NOV 1556)

 Hemu was almost on the point of victory but an arrow pierced hs eyes thus his army fled and the fortune
favored Akbar

AKBAR
 Akbar was at Kalanaur in Punjab1556 (since his father died)
 Bairam Khan a confidant of Humayun served as the regent of the Akbar from 1556 to 1560. He became
the wakil of the kingdom and was given the title of Khan-i-Khanan.
 During this regency period, the forces of Hemu and the Afghan were posing a serious threat to the
Mughal Empire.
 They were defeated in the second battle of Panipat in 1556.
 Thus Bairam Khan emerged as most powerful noble & became very arrogant.
 Akbar also wanted to assume full control now, so pensioned off Bairam Khan. When he revolted, he was
defeated and Akbar pardoned him and asked him to retire.
 Later Bairam Khan was killed by an Afghan near Ahmedabad.
 Later, his son became an influential noble as Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana under Akbar.

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EXPANSION OF MUGHAL EMPIRE UNDER AKBAR

 Akbar started expanding soon after he consolidated his hold on the throne. He faced obstacles from the
following major political powers:
 Rajputs concentrated mainly in Rajasthan.
 Afghans who held control mainly in Gujarat, Bihar, and Bengal.
 Khandesh, Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Golkonda, and few other kingdoms in South India and
Deccan were quite powerful.
 Kabul and Kandahar were ruled by Mughal factions but were hostile towards Akbar.
 Akbar had devised a systematic policy to expand his Empire. Malwa and Gondwana:
 The first expedition was in 1559–60, he captured Gwalior before moving towards Malwa.
 Malwa was ruled by Baz Bahadur and. He defeated Baz Bahadur.
 RANI DURGAWATI, the widow of DALPAT SHAH was ruling the state of Gondwana in Central
India. It was conquered and annexed in 1564.

RAJASTHAN:

 He realized the importance of Rajput kingdoms, hence made marriage alliances to win over Rajputs and
also inducted them into Mughal service.
 All rajputh except some Rajput kingdoms like Mewar and Jodhpur surrendered.
 1567 After a prolonged struggle, Akbar succeeded in defeating the Mewar forces under RANA UDAY
SINGH and sieged the fort of CHITTOR. This was only occasion where akbar declared JIHAD.
 After UDAY, MAHARANA PRATAP SINGH of Mewar posed a serious challenge to Akbar and
refused to submit and contd. to fight with him.
 1576 The BATTLE OF HALDIGHAT he was defeated (commanded by raja man singh) but still Prathap
contd guerilla warfare with tribes. Prathap died in 1597 but contd. By amar singh

 After the fall of Chittor, even Ranthambore and Kalinjar were captured.
 Soon Marwar, Bikaner, and Jaisalmer also submitted to Akbar and by 1570 Akbar captured almost
the whole of Rajasthan.

GUJARAT:

 Akbar’s eye then turned towards Gujarat in 1572 when princes, Itimad Khan had invited Akbar to come
and conquer it.
 Akbar himself took part in the expedition and conquered Ahmadabad and Surat.
 And in a short time, most of the principalities of Gujarat were brought under his control.
 Gujarat was organized into a province and was placed under governor Mirza Aziz Koka.
 Within six months rebel groups revolted against the Mughal rule and the Mughal governor failed to
hold them.
 Akbar marched at a rapid pace towards Ahmedabad and in 10 days he quickly suppressed the rebellion.
 Similarly, the provinces of Bengal and Bihar were conquered by 1576.
 By 1592, the Mughal mansabdar- Raja Man Singh brought the Orissa under the Mughals.

NORTH-WEST REGION:

 1585 In the North-west, Mirza Hakim was creating problems so Akbar himself marched towards Lahore
and defeated him and then marched towards Kabul and conquered it.
 Kabul was given to his sister Bakht-un-Nisa Begum but later on, given to Raja Man Singh in jagir by
appointing as the governor of Kabul.

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 By 1595, the complete supremacy of Mughals over the North-West region was established after
capturing the remaining parts of Sindh, Multan, etc.

KASHMIR:

 1586 Kashmir was annexed to the Mughal Empire in 1586.

DECCAN:

 After 1590, Akbar concentrated on Deccan to bring these states under Mughal control.
 He sent offer to the Deccan states asking them to accept Mughal sovereignty but they didn’t. So, he
opted the policy of aggression.
 Mughal forces invaded Ahmednagar in 1595 and its ruler Chand Bibi decided to face the
Mughals.
 She sought the help of Ibrahim Adil Shah of BIJAPUR and Qutub Shah of GOLKONDA
with no success. Chand Bibi lost and ceded Berar to Mughals.
 By 1598, Ahmednagar was also captured and ADIL SHAH of Bijapur also expressed allegiance
to Akbar.
 Akbar then initiated the Policy of Absorbing the chieftains into Mughal nobility.
 This policy paid rich dividends to the empire as they got the support of chieftains and their armies
for new conquests.
 As part of Mughal nobility, a friendly relationship with them ensured peace for the empire.
 In return, the chieftains were allowed to retain their territories and were given Jagir and
Mansab.

Conclusion:
1) The expansion under Akbar took the Mughal Empire to its zenith.
2) Only a few territories were added during the regions of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb in the Deccan and North
East of India.

MUGHAL ADMINISTRATION

Under Akbar
 Akbar was not just expansionist but also a strong administrator, hence, he has been called the “Akbar,
the Great”.
 Akbar’s administrative system was well-planned and can be categorized into 5 main divisions:
(1) Centralized Government,
(2) Provincial Governance,
(3) Legislative,
(4) Military, and
(5) Financial Departments.
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

 The central government headed by Akbar had important officials such as:
 Wakeel- As chief advisors of the Emperor
 Mansabdars- For auditing and controlling the finances.
 Mir Baksh- Distributed the salaries of senior officials.
 Sadar- I- Sadr- Head of the religious advisory with a task to maintain religious unity among the
masses.
 Khan-I- Saman- In-Charge of the Royals store for facilitating the kitchen, social gatherings, and
the maintenance of the palace interiors.
 Muhatib- Royal counselor for the upkeep of Muslim ethics and culture.

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 Kotwaal- Head of the Intelligence and postal department. He kept records of new immigrants.
 Abolished forcefull conversion of prisoner of war in 1562, pilgrimage tax in 1562, JESSIYA in 1564.
 N 1576 he estd “IBADATH KHANA” at his capital FATEFUR SIKHRI – religious discussion, by this
he came to know that there is no perfect religion so started SULH-I-KUL. And he tried to create loyal
following based of this.
 1579 he issued MUHZERNAMAH with this he claimed final right to interpret Islamic law
 Theologians revolted but he suppressed it and introduced “DIN-I-ILAHI” in 1582

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION

 Kingdom was divided into 15 provinces called Subas, each headed by a Subedar. Imp officials were following.
(1) Diwan- For financial matters and salary payouts at the provincial level.
(2) Sadr-Handled judicial matters at the state level and helped people in need of charity. Qazi- Local
judge for petty judicial matters and solved in a small time limit.
(3) Kotwaal- For maintaining law and order situation on state levels.
(4) Mir Baksh- For the collection of local taxes
(5) Waqr-I-Nawis- Spies and secret agent.
MILITARY ADMINISTRATION

 The army officials were placed under the Mansabdars.

 They were paid on time, regular health check-ups were conducted, and injured soldiers were given
treatment.
 Army officials were granted tax-free rations and deserving soldiers were awarded.

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION
 Land revenue was the major source of income for the empire and the Finance Officer Raja Todar Mal
designed a well-thought-out policy.
 He followed the idea of measuring the land on the scales of bigha.
 The land was divided into four types for assessment of revenue:
(1) Polaj- Land cultivable throughout the year.
(2) Parati- Land left fallow for almost 2 years after 1 harvest to regain lost fertility.
(3) Chhachhar- Land left fallow for 4 to 5 years after 1 harvest
(4) Banjar- Uncultivable infertile land.
 State got 1/3rd of the produce and the taxes were waived off during drought and floods or any kind of
natural calamities.

LEGISLATIVE ADMINISTRATION

Akbar reformed the judicial system according to the Hindu laws for Hindus and had separate laws for
Muslim or Islamic laws.
 He was a tolerant ruler.
 During his rule, only King had the authority to pronounce capital punishment despite having many
courts.
SOCIAL & CULTURAL

 He tried to reform religion and he fixed marriage age for BOY-14 and for GIRL-12
 He banned FORCIBLE sathi and it was not allowed for below 9year old.
 During the end prince salim revolted and killed akbars best friend abul fazal with help of bir singh bundela
but akbar smartly pardoned him

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MUGHAL RULE UNDER JAHANGIR AND SHAHJAHAN

 Akbar had a son after a long wait, with the blessings of Sufi saint Mohammad Salim Chishti.
 Hence, the child was named Nur-ud-din Mohammad Salim.
 After Akbar’s death, Salim ascended the throne in 1605 by assuming the title ‘Jahangir’ (Conqueror
of World).
 Jahangir married Mehrunnisa popularly known as Noor Jahan and appointed Asaf Khan, her elder
brother as Khan-i-Saman.
 In 1612, Jahangir's son Khurram (later Shah Jahan) was married to Asif Khan’s daughter,
Arjumand Banu Begum (later known as Mumtaz).
JAHANGIR
 Jahangir followed the Expansionist policy of Akbar in the Deccan.
 1611 he married mehrunisa and she soon took control later when he was ill.
 In 1615 he settled dispute with MEWAR being far liberal and said them no need for PERSONAL
SUBMISSION.
 Jahangir couldn’t add many territories to the Mughal Empire and the holdover Deccan rather weakened.
 Over domination of his wife forced son Khurram to revolt against his own father and Mughal nobles
were also involved in a number of conflicts.
 Meanwhile kurram with mallik amber of Ahmednagar took control of deccan. Thus jahangrs trusted noble
mahabbath khan revolted and imprisoned him to save him from nur jahan but she destroyed the revolt
 He was also at war with Amar Singh of Mewar, Ahoms of Burma, rulers of Kangra, and most of the
States of Deccan trap regions.
 These wars made Jahangir’s army tired and fed up and they started losing interest in the king’s orders.
 He was also in conflict with the Sikhs and beheaded, GURU ARJAN DEV, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs at
the Sheesh Ganj Gurudwara which brought complete enmity with the Sikhs.
(1) Two reasons are ascribed for this event, Sikh guru helped prince Khusrau (eldest son) against the
emperor and
(2) Guru Arjan Dev was becoming popular and promoting the creed of Sikhism.
 Finally died on 1627.
 Destroyed PUSHKAR TEMPLE. (varaha god). And expelled jains from gujarath.
 Jahangir is famous for his ‘GOLDEN CHAIN OF JUSTICE’. It had 60 bells.
 People seeking justice should pull this chain to put forth their complaints or petitions to the King.
 He wrote an autobiography called “TUZUK-I-JAHANGIRI”.
 Captain W. Cook and Sir Thomas Roe (the ambassador of King James) visited the court of Jahangir.
 He sought permission from Jahangir to start a factory at Surat and allow English to trade.
 The Persians and the Uzbeks aware of the political loopholes were attacking the empire and in his final
days he was stressed and depressed and therapies failed on him.
 He was shifted to Kashmir for a change of environment but died in 1627.
 His son Khurram ascended the throne with the title “Shah Jahan”.

SHAH JAHAN
 Shah Jahan followed an Aggressive policy towards Deccan and wanted to recover the lost territories. He
isolated Ahmednagar and won over Bijapur and Marathas as Fateh Khan son of Malik Ambar made
peace with Mughals.
 He appointed Mahabat Khan as the governor of Deccan, the conflict with Deccan culminated in 1636
treaties signed with Bijapur and Golconda.
 Both Sultan of Golconda and Adil Shah of Bijapur accepted the Mughal suzerainty.
 Adil Shah (20lkh) indemnity and had to help Mughals in conflict against Shahji Bhonsle. the Mughals.
 He married a Persian princess "Kandahari Begum”.
 In 1638, the Persian governor head of Kandahar, Ali Mardan Khan, surrendered that post to the Mughals.

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 But Shah Jahan was dedicated to Mumtaz Mahal throughout his life.
 Her death made a significant effect on Shah Jahan's personality and he constructed the TAJ MAHAL
where the body of Mumtaz Mahal was reburied later on.(initially in garden)
 When Shah Jahan became sick, his eldest son DARA SHIKOH came forward to accept responsibility.
 At this point, his other sons SHUJA (Viceroy of Bengal) and MURAD BAKSH (Viceroy of Gujarat)
announced their freedom and marched towards Agra to claim the wealth of their father.
 Aurangzeb was most able son. He accumulated an armed force and fought a battle with Dara Shikoh for
succession. Where he lost to Aurangzeb in “BATTLE OF SAMUGARH”.
 Aurangzeb also won battles of -DHARMATH” in 1658, KHWAJA”in 1658, DEVROI”in 1659 declared
Shah Jahan as incompetent to rule and put him under arrest in the house of Agra Fort.
 Shah Jahan died in 1666 and buried alongside with the body of wife Mumtaz Mahal.

AURANGZEB(1658-1707)
 He ascended the throne in 1659 after defeating his brother. And coroneted twice.
 He followed an expansionist policy.
 At his peak, Aurangzeb’s Empire comprised of 21 provinces from-- Afghanistan in the northwest to the
Bengal in the east and from Kashmir in the north to the Carnatic in the south.
 His entire reign of about 50 years was full of wars and conquests in different parts of India.
 He followed a particularly aggressive policy towards Deccan.
 His conquest policy of Deccan can be divided into three phases:
(1) Phase I- (1658 to 1668): ):
 The initial focus was to acquire Kalyani, Bidar, and Parenda from Bijapur.
 He also tried to secure the help of Deccan states against Marathas.
(2) Phase II- (1668 to 1684)
 There was a shift in the policy with the death of Adil Shah of Bijapur.
 Also, the power of Shivaji was growing, the influence of Akkanna and Madanna two
brothers in Golconda administration was also increasing. Aurangzeb was also not successful
in containing Marathas.
 Golconda tried to tie up with Shivaji and Bijapur. Because of the alliance and frequent
tensions in some form or the other, Aurangzeb decided not to annex the Deccan state
(3) Phase III (1684–87):
 The Phase of outright annexation of the Deccan states.
 He directly supervised the siege of Bijapur and by 1687 both Bijapur and Golconda along
with the territory of Karnataka were annexed in the Mughal empire.
 After the conquest of Deccan, the conflict with Marathas continued from 1687 to 1707. He
spent most of his time in Deccan.
 Deccan policy of AZ was started from reign of Akbar who conquered khandesh and berar, Jahangir fought
against mallik amber of Ahmnednagar and during shahajahan time AZ was governor of deccan where he
followed aggressive deccan policy.
 But first 25years he concentrated on NW frontier during this time shivaji carved out an independent state in
konkan.
 So to contain spread of Maratha he invaded bijapur defeating sikandar shah & eliminated kutb shahi dynasty of
golkonda by annexing it.

PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER

 He was industrious and disciplined in pvt life with simple food and dress and no wine.
 Earned money by copying Quran and sellng it.
 Conducted prayer 5time a day and strict fasting on ramzan
 Misunderstood true nature of Maratha movement and antagonized them and finally failed to solve Maratha
problem and left open sore.
 Deccan policy was proved to be wrong his religious policy also failed

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 Antagonistic policy towards non-muslims did not help him to rally the muslims to his side rather
strengthened political enemies

CRITICISM
 Destruction of deccan was a political blunder of AZ. Barrier btw both were removed and thus ensued direct
confrontation
 Deccan campaign exhausted the treasury.
 J.N sarkar said “DECCAN ULCER KILLED AURANGAZEB”
 After his death, in 1707, at Aurangabad, the Deccan states reasserted independence and succeeded in a short
period.

OTHER CONFLICTS FOR REGIONAL INDEPENDENCE

1. In 1669 the JATS peasantry had conflict mostly against Jahangir and shajahan but later against AZ in the
Mathura region for which he had to come to down to quell it.
 They were defeated and GOKLA was executed but movement was not completely crushed but
simmer and the discontent contd.
 In 1672 with SATNAMIS peasants, again emperor had to march down to crush it.
 1685 another rebellion under rajaram
 Meanwhile jats began guerilla method
 To suppress this AZ appointed raja bshan singh and made him zamindar of Mathura. But now conflict btw
Jats and rajput over zamindari got complicated.
 1691 rajaram was compelled to submit. But unrest among jats contd. And their plundering activity made
delhi-agra road unsafe.
 In 18th cent taking advantage of mughal civil war and weakness, churaman carved out Separate jat
principality. Thus what apparently started as peasant uprising was diverted from its character and
culminated in a state in which JATS chief became ruling class.
2) The reactionary policies of Aurangzeb and agricultural distress led to a revolt by the Bundelas under the
leadership of Champati Rai and Chhatrasal.
 Though the rebellions were suppressed and eventually they led to the rise of the autonomous Jat and
Bundelas states in the early 18th century after the death of Aurangzeb.
 There was the rift in Mughal-Rajput relationship as well as he annexed Marwar after the death of
Raja Jaswant Singh.
3) Afghan revolt: this was not new as akbar(where akbar los birbal) and even had faced it earlier. They were hilly
tribesmen.
a) Kind of pol,eco, religious conflict. Bcz of bad geography adopted to plunder thus mughals paid them and
kept them happy.
 But growth of pop and leadership led to breach of tacit agreement. In 1667 BHAGU proclaimed him as
king.
 Religious revivalist movement called RAUSHANAI emphasizing on strict ethical life devotion to PIR
provided intellectual and moral background to movement. Bhagu started plundering in hazara, attock,
and Peshawar. AZ sent army & suppressed.
b) Second afghan revolt in 1672 where they declared war against mughal closing Khyber pass but defeated
which brought into fray.
 In 1674 AZ went there and stayed till 1975 restoring peace.
 This revolt showed us that sentiment of resistance to mughal rule was not confined to HINDUS
alone
 This is crucial because it helped to reduce pressure on shivaji by which it was difficult if not impossible
to march deccan till1676 by which shivaji formed alliance with B&G
4) CONFLICT WITH SIKHS
 Initially there was no clash btw them till 1675. After the beheading of Guru Arjan Dev, as a permanent
organization of Sikhs came about.

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 Har Govind (1606-1645) son of Guru Arjan Dev came into conflict with Shah Jahan and then Guru
Tegh Bahadur with Aurangzeb.
 Aurangzeb ordered the destruction of Sikh Gurdwaras.
 Guru Tegh Bahadur rose against him.Thus, the conflict with Aurangzeb completed the transformation of
Sikhs from a Bhakti movement into a military brotherhood.
 Guru Tegh Bahadur was captured by him and was asked to embrace Islam.
 On refusal, Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded in1675.
 Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru of Sikhs organized the Sikhs into a strong military power against the
Mughal Empire.
 However, he had to undergone great hardships as he lost all his four sons in the hands of Mughals.
 He lived in Nanded and only returned to North India after the death of Aurangzeb but died in 1708 when
he was stabbed by an Afghan who was commissioned by Wazir Khan, the Nawab of Sirhind, against
whose army the Guru Gobind had fought several wars.

RELIGIOUS POLICY OF AURANGZEB

 He was an orthodox Sunni Muslim and his ideal was to transform India into an Islamic state.
 A separate department was created to enforce religious moral codes for which high-powered officer
called MUHTASIB was appointed to the department.
 He banned all kinds of intoxications, drinking was prohibited, cultivation and use of bhang and other
drugs were banned.
 Music was forbidden in the court and the practice of Jharokha Darshan was discontinued.
 Discontinued DUSSEHRA FESTIVAL
 The Royal astronomers and astrologers were dismissed from service.
 He initially banned construction and repair of old also destroyed Hindu temples such as the ones in
Mathura and Banaras were reduced to ruins.
 In 1679 the Jizya and pilgrimage tax then abolished by Akbar were re-imposed.
 The Shia sect was also abhorred by him and he stopped the celebration of Muharram and his invasion
against the Deccan sultanates was also partly due to his hatred of the Shia faith.
 His religious policy turned Rajputs, Marathas, and the Sikhs into the enemies of the Mughal Empire
and ignited the rebellions of the Jats of Mathura and the Satnamis of Mewar.

CAUSE OF DECLINE
 Weakness was exposed when nadir shah imprisoned and and looted mughals in 1739.
1. Religious and deccan policy of AZ
2. Weak successors demoralized the army and paved way for decline
3. Vastness of the empire became unwieldy
4. Financial difficulties due to continues wars
5. Neglect of sea powers felt when Europeans began to settle
6. Invasion of NADIR SHAH & AHMED SHAH ABDALI weakened the state

LATER MUGHAL
 At the time of Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, in spite of setbacks and adverse circumstances, the Mughal
administration & army was strong.
 Post his death, the stability of the Empire was shaken.
 1707 is considered to separate the era of the great Mughals from that of the lesser Mughals or Later
Mughals.

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 With the weakening of Mughal authority due to weak rulers, the provincial governors started to assert
their authority and in the due course gained independent status.
 Aurangzeb was succeeded by Bahadur Shah I also known as Shah Alam I.

BAHADUR SHAH 1
 The new emperor ruled Between 1707–12 and followed a policy of compromise, pardoning all nobles
who had supported his rivals.
 He didn’t abolish jizya but didn’t put efforts to collect the tax.
 At first, he tried to control the Rajput states of the rajas of Amber and Jodhpur. But they resisted, hence
he came to a settlement with them.
 He followed a compromise policy with Marathas but a strict policy towards the Sikhs.
 He released Shahu, the son of Sambhaji and granted the Marathas with the Sardeshmukhi of the
Deccan but not the Chauth.
 The move led to fighting for supremacy between Tarabai and Shahu thus Marathas remained
dissatisfied even after conciliatory.
 Bahadur Shah I was, however, successful in conciliating Chhatrasal, the Bundela chief, and
Churaman, the Jat chief

JAHANDAR SHAH(1712–13.)

 He was a weak and ineffective ruler. His wazir-ZULFIQAR KHAN became powerful and tried to
establish friendly relations with the Rajputs and the Marathas to save the empire.
 HE ABOLISHED HATED JIZYA but contd. the old policy of suppression against the Sikhs.
 He also attempted to reform the economic system but failed to enhance the revenue collection of the state.
 Farrukh Siyar (nephew) challenged Jahandar Shah and Zulfiqar Khan with a large army and funds from
Bihar and Bengal, the coffers of Jahandar Shah were depleted.
 Farrukh Siyar ascended the throne after killing king but he was guided by Sayyid brothers, Abdullah
Khan and Husain Ali Khan Baraha, who acted as kingmakers.
 They were made Wazir and Chief Bakhshi and acquired control over the affairs of state.
 But soon, there was divisiveness between the Wazir and the emperor as some nobles filled emperor’s ears
that Sayyid brothers were plotting against him.

FARRUKH SIYAR (1713-19)

 In 1719, the Sayyid brothers deposed the emperor and raised to the throne three young princes in quick
succession within eight months in 1719.
 Rafi-ud- Darajat and Rafi-ud- Dawlah (Shah Jahan II) died of consumption.
 Muhammad Shah assumed the title and set himself away from the brothers’ control. Thus killed by the
same brothers.
 He issued to farman to british for curning his stomach pain.
 Under the leadership of the Nizam-ul-Mulk, Chin Qilich Khan, and Muhammad Amin Khan dislodge
the Sayyid brothers in 1720.

MUHAMMAD SHAH RANGEELA

 During this time the nobles had assumed a lot of powers.

 Rangeela for his obsession with different pleasures. And celebrated holy
 They issued farmans in the name of the emperor in their favour.
 The position of emperor became symbolic with real powers vested in groups of nobles. Thus, the royal
authority of Mughals declined.

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 During this time nadir shah invades India, “BATTLE OF KARNAL” takes place btw rangeela and nadir
shah in 1739. Where actual disintegration began
 Nadir shah acquired red fort, peacock throne, and Kohinoor diamond.

AHMED SHAH(1748-54)
 A1st invasion of afghan ruler AHMED SHAH ABDALI. But emperor escaped to awadh.

ALAM GIR II(1754-58)

 Ahmed shah abdali repeatedly invaded and ruler escaped. AZ was first to take title as alamgir so
SHAH ALAM II(1758-1806)
 again here repeated nvasion of abdali and here the ahmed shah participated in “BATTLE OF BUXAR” in
1764 and lost but british did not annex territory rather controlled t.
AKBAR II(1806-36)
 he was not satisfied with inadequate pension given by british so he gave title RAJA to ram mohan roy and
sent him to London for asking more.
BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR(1836-57-61)

 The Mughal empire had lost much of its influence and territory by the end of the 1700s.
 When Zafar came to the throne in 1837, his rule extended only to Delhi and its surroundings. But for his
subjects, he always remained Badshah - the King.
 He is known for his skills of calligraphy, a notable poet, Sufi Pir, and a man who valued the importance
of Hindu-Muslim unity.
 He is particularly remembered for his mystical work in Urdu.
 He was the last ruler of the Mughal dynasty and exiled to Burma by British for participating in the
Revolt of 1857 even after british pension where he died in 1862.

INDIA UNDER MUGHALS

1. ECONOMY & SOCIAL LFIE
 This period witnessed important social and economic development during which many European travelers
and traders came to india.
 They described wealth prosperity and luxurious life of aristocratic class and also poverty and sufferings of
ordinary people.
 NOBILITY was privileged to turks and afghan etc but Akbar time onwards Hindus (rajputh) were included
eg: raja man singh, birbal, toder mal later even Maratha. Where each maintained large no. of servants horse
and elephants
 RURAL MASS: wealthy wore silk whereas poor minimum clothnikitan observed people of deccan bare
footed. Fish was common and milk pdt was cheap since many had cattle.
 AGRICULTURE: variety of crops such as rice, wheat, gram, barley, pulse but commercial crops were
indigo, cotton, sugarcane, and oilseed. 17 th cent tobacco and maize were introduced, potato and red chilly
came n 18th cent but NO new agriculture technology however still india was able to export rice and sugar
 GROWTH OF TRADE: SETH and BOHRA traders were specialized in long distance while local traders
were called BANIK, banjaras were another class-long+heavy bulk goods. Trading community did not
belonged to one caste or religion. Coromandal coast became centre of textile production and Gujarat was
entry point of foreign goods. Imports were metal, tin, copper, war horse etc.growth of foreign trade resulted
in increased inflow of gold and silver in 17th cent

CULTURAL DEVELOPMETNS
Here Indian traditions were blended with turko-iranian culture which was bought by mughals.
2. ART AND ARCHITECTURE

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 Mughal garden such as NISHATH BAGH in Kashmir, SHALIMAR BAGH in Lahore, PINJORE
GARDEN in Punjab.
 Durng shershah MAUSOLEUM at sasaram(bihar), PURANA QILA in delhi were considered as marvels
of medieval time.
 During akbar- forts at agra, Lahore, alahabad. The climax of fort reached in shahjahan time with
REDFORT with its RANG MAHAL, DIWAN-I-AM and DIWAN-I-KHAS was his works.
 Akbar also built palace-cum fort at fatefur sikhri, gujarathi style building for his wives. JAMA MASJID &
gateway to it BULAND DHARWAZA was built to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. JODH BHAI
PALACE & PANCHAMAHAL other work at faterfur.
 Akbar built HUMAYUNS TOMB, Nur jahan built TOMB OF ITIMADDAULAH where “pietra dura”
style of decoration were used it was also used to in TAJ MAHAL.
 Mosque contruction was at peak during shah jahan. MOTI MASJID at agra with white marbleand JAMA
MASJID in delhi with red stone.
 Many features of them can be seen in GOLDEN TEMPLE of amrithsar.

3. PAINTING & MUSIC

 Foundation was laid by Humayun when he was in Persia, he bought mir sayyad ali and abdal to india and
during akbar they became famous but miskina and daswant and basawan attained great position in his
court.
 Persian version of Ramayana and Mahabharata was produced in miniature form. Works like akbar nama
remained main theme of their painting.
 HAMZNAMA was imp work consisting 1200paintings. It reached climax during reign of Jahangir he
employed many artist and portrait painting & panting of animal developed.
 Akbar patronized TANSEN of gwallior who composed many ragas
4. LANGUAGE & LITERATURE
 Persian language became widespread in mughal empire. ABUL FAZL was great scholar as well as
historian of this persion
 Historical works like AIN-I-AKBARI & AKBAR NAMA by abul fazl translation of Mahabharata into
Persian was done under his supervision.
 UTBI & NAZIRI were 2 other imp Persian poet
 Jahangirs autobiography TUZUK-I-JAHANGIRI was famous for its style, he patronized scholar like
Ghiyas beg, naqib khan, niamatulah.
 Shahjahan patronized writers like abdul hamid lahori- author of PADSHAH NAMA, inayath khan who
wrote SHAH JAHAN NAMA. His son DARA SIKKHO translated GITA& Upanishad into Persian.
 Regional lang such as Bengali, oriya, rajasthani & gujarathi developed in this time, tulasidas was most
influential poet who wrote hindi version of Ramayana and RAMACHARITAMANAS

REGIONAL STATES IN 18TH CENTURY

 After Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire became weak and in the 18th century, the Mughal Empire
collapsed.
 With the weakening of the Mughal Authority, the provincial governors and Subedars became
independent and created new states.
 The new regional states of the period can be categorized as follows:
1. Whose founders were Mughal Nobles and high ranking Mansabs.
2. Those states that had already enjoyed a lot of independence during the Mughal rule as Watan Jagirs
such as Rajputs.
3. The regional states who emerged after rebelling against the Mughal authority such as Jats and
Sikhs.
 Some of the important states in the first category are Awadh, Bengal, and Hyderabad.
(1) Bengal was founded by Murshid Quli Khan

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(2) Awadh state founded was Saadat Khan.

(3) Hyderabad state founded by Asaf Jah who assumed the title “NIZAM-UL-MULK”
 They belonged to the Mughal nobility and were the governors of these provinces.
 With the decline of central Mughal family, there was a large-scale migration of soldiers and
administrators from Delhi to these new states that promised numerous opportunities.
REGIONALISM & ITS CHARACTERISTICS
1) Language:
 Oriya, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi developed in the early medieval and
medieval period and came to be spoken in various regions of India.
2) Trade and Commerce:
 There was an interaction between the states through trade and commerce and migration of artisans from
one region to another.
 For example, the silk weavers, Pattanulkars migrated from the Gujarat region to the Vijayanagar state.
3) Local regional cults and Religious affiliations:
 The cult of Jagannath grew in Orissa.
 A number of sects and the bhakti religion developed in the regions.Such as Namdev, Raidas,
Tukaram, Guru Nanak etc.
 KARTIKEYA was worshipped in the Tamil region as Murugan.
 Sufism spread to regional states as well.
 Development of local and regional art schools:
 Bihar, Bengal, Assam, Central India, and Rajasthan and so on developed their own regional
architecture due to the patronage by royal dynasties.

IJARADARI SYSTEM
 One more prominent change in these states was the rise of the bankers and moneylenders who were
called the Mahajans.
 People depended on them for loans and these bankers became powerful and influenced the
administration.
 It is a system of land auctioning for revenue collection the highest bidders were given the land and it was
usually Mahajans.
 And this system broke the hereditary sytem of zamindari. holders of the right to collect taxes were known
as Ijaradars.
 The Mughals had discouraged this system.
 It is prone to exploitation as those who collected the tax would collect much more than fixed and extort
peasants irrespective of whether drought or flood or any natural calamity.

The Marathas

 Physical environment of Maratha country shaped certain peculiar qualities among Maratha. Mountaneous
region, dense forest made them brave soldier
 Spread of bhakti movt inmaharastra inculcated a spirit of religious unity among them
 Spiritual leaders were tukaram, ramdas, vaman, eknath and eknath political leader was shivaji thus credit
for establishing mh stateeg: shahji bhonsle and his son shivaji
 The Marathas became a vital force under Shivaji in the 17th century and posed a huge challenge to the
Mughal authority.

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SHIVAJI:
 He inherited jagir of POONA from his father in 1637,but only after death of guardian dadaji kondadev
1647 he took full control. But before tht he conquered raigarh, kondana, and torna from bijapur.
 He captured the principality of JAVLI from Maratha chief chanda rao which made him master of mavala
region.
 In 1659 he raided the Bijapur & captured hill forts in konkan thus Sultan sent Afzal Khan to capture
Shivaji. But killed the general of Bijapur
 After multiple failures, the Sultan of Bijapur compromised in 1662 and entered into a peace
settlement with Shivaji.
 Shivaji was recognized as an independent ruler of his conquered territories after which Shivaji began
to devastate the Mughal territories.
 Aurangzeb sent Shaista Khan, the viceroy of the Deccan with a huge army commanded by Rajput ruler Jai
Singh.
 As revenge he attacked shaista khan and killed his sonin 1663 and
 In 1664 he attacked surath and plundered surath port. Thus AZ sent JAI SINGH of amber to fight
 He besieged purandar fort. So Shivaji was forced to sign the TREATY OF PURANDAR (1665)
 With which Shivaji agreed to surrender 23 forts to the Mughals out of the 35 forts held by him. The
remaining 12 forts were left on condition of loyalty to mughals. Other hand mughals recognized shivajis
hold of certain bijapur kingdom. His son sambaji was granted mansab of 5000.
 1666 He was invited to visit the Agra but he was deceived and was taken as a prisoner.
 He escaped and reached Raigarh fort in 1666. He made plans and renewed war against mughals and
conquered back all the forts which he had surrendered in 1670
 He plundered Surat for 2nd time in 1670 and in 1674 Raigarh was made his Capital. And coronated
himself assuming the title of ‘Chhatrapati’.
 He then started expedition towards (south) carnatic and conquered GINJEE VELLORE and many forts in
Karnataka. After returning,
 He died at Raigarh in 1680 ruling for only 6years and succeeded by his son SAMBHAJI.
 But, Maratha chiefs did not support Sambhaji and extended help to Rajaram the other son of Shivaji which
led to an internal conflict weakening the Maratha power.
 Taking advantage of the situation, Sambhaji was captured by AZ & killed in 1689.
 Rajaram succeeded Sambhaji (bcz Shahu was still young) but mughal made him flee to Ginjee where
Rajaram died in 1700. Succeeded by his son SHIVAJI III under the regency of Tara Bai, his mother.
 Yet, AZ repeatedly failed against the Marathas, largely due to Tara Bai’s energy and administrative genius.
 Shahu was released by BAHADUR SHAH, to counter tarabhai
 Hence, the Maratha camp got divided into two camps leading to civil war- One under Tara Bai and other
Shahu.
 Shahu succeeded in deposing Tara Bai with the help of a Chitpavan Brahman named Balaji Vishwanath.
And he then made him his peshwa.

ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

UNDER MARATHAS
 The unique systems of the Marathas was that of Ashta Pradhan with the king at the helm of the affairs.
 Ashta Pradhan referred to the division of the administration into eight departments headed by
ministers.
1. PESHWA looked after the finances and general administration.
2. SAR-I-NAUBAT was the Senapati.
3. AMATHYA/ MAJUMDARlooked after the accounts.
4. WAQENAVIS looked after the intelligence, post, and household affairs.
5. SACHIV looked after official correspondence.
6. SAMANTA Master of ceremonies.
7. NYAYADHISH looked after justice.
8. PANDIT RAO looked after charity and religious affairs.

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 These posts were neither hereditary nor permanent and held at the pleasure of the king. They were
also transferred.
 The provinces were called Prant headed by a SUBEDAR.
 Over a number of Subedar there were SAR-SUBEDAR to control and supervise the work of subedar.
 Smaller units than Prant were called the TARFS headed by a HAVALDAR.
 Lowest units were the MAUZAS or villages and at the village level, KULKARNI kept accounts and
maintained records while PATIL was given legal and policing power.
 DESHPANDE kept accounts & records at the level of Tarf and DESHMUKH had legal and policing
powers.

BALAJI VISHWANATH(1713-20)
 He got certain rights from mughals-farukh siyar one is they recognized shahu as king and second s
allowed shahu to collect chauth and sardeshmukh from six mughal province

BAJI RAO(1720-1740)
 Initiated system of confederacy among Maratha chief under which chief were assigned a territory which
could be administered autonomously.
 Hencemany family such as Gaekwad of baroda, Bhonsle of Nagpur, Holkars of indore, scindhia of
gwallior, peshwa of poona, estd their authority.

BALAJI BAJI RAO(1740-1761)

 Shahu died in 1749 but balaji imprisoned his nominee RAMARAJA.
 Balaji also gave assurance to mughal that they will protect mughal for which chauth of NW province and
total revenue of Agra and Ajmer would be collected by Maratha.
 Thus when ABDALI invaded it became responsibility of Maratha to protect. Though fought bravely lost
at the end in 3rd BATTLE OF PANIPATH(1761) by listening to new peshwa also died.
 Death blow to Maratha where their confederacy weakened due to internal conflict.
 After decline of mughals they emerged as great power but could not succeed n preventing establishments of
BRITISH.

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION

 In rural areas, police were called Faujdar and in the urban area, he was called Kotwal.
 The Maratha polity did not have a unified civilian cum military rank.
 The Brahmin elites were given the charge of the central bureaucracy and the local administration.
 They were called Kamavisdar and had wide powers of tax assessment and collection and they also
adjudicated cases, provided information about local conditions, and kept records.
 In the later days, the post of District collector under the British was modelled on this Maratha officer.

ECONOMY IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

 Agricultural production was the main activity in the medieval period and formed the major source of
income for state revenue.
 Abul Fazal’s Ain-i-Akbari gives an account of the agriculture that different crops and vegetables have
grown.
 We know from other literary sources that during the course of the 16th and 17th centuries, a number of
fruits were introduced in India through outside agencies.
 The Portuguese introduced pineapple, papaya, and cashew nut. Cherry was brought from Kabul.
 Potato, Chillies, and tomato were introduced during the late medieval period from outside.

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 Pepper, clove, cardamom, turmeric, saffron, betel-leaf, and various other spices were produced by
medieval Indian peasants and exported in large quantities to various regions in Asia and Europe.

IRRIGATION IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

 Dams, lakes, and water reservoirs were constructed for irrigation.

 The Madag lake was built by the Vijayanagar rulers on the Tungabhadra river to meet the irrigational
need of the adjoining territories.
 Lakes and water reservoirs were maintained and built by Rajputs in Rajasthan such as
(1) Dhebar, Udaisagar, Rajsamand, and Jaisamand (all in Mewar);
(2) Balsan (Marwar) and
(3) Mansagar (Amber) etc.
 Wells served as another important source of irrigation all over the country.
 Artificial devices were used to lift water from wells such as Pulleys.
 The most advanced water lifting device of the period was Persian wheel (Araghatta) which was
introduced in India from the Delhi Sultanate period.
 A garland of pots was attached to the rim of a wheel along with a gear mechanism and animal power
was used to rotate the wheel.
 The Tughlaqs in particularly promoted canal irrigation.
(1) Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320–1325) built a number of canals.
(2) But Firoz Shah Tughlaq is considered to have built the largest network of canals.
(3) This tradition of constructing canals of Delhi Sultanate was continued by the Mughal emperors
as well.
(4) Nahr Faiz was built by Shahjahan that carried water from the Yamuna and irrigated a large
area.

LAND REVENUE ASSESSMENT IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

 The mechanism of land revenue administration evolved gradually over the course of different medieval
rulers such as Alauddin Khilji, Sher Shah Suri, and Akbar.
 In its most evolved form, the land revenue administration included the following characteristics:
1. Measurement of actual cultivable to assess the extent of land revenue.
2. Classification of land on the basis of the fertility of the soil.
3. Fixation of the rate of the land revenue demand.
4. Well formulated system for collection of revenue.
5. Assessment and collection of land revenue in cash.

METHODS OF LAND REVENUE ASSESSMENT & COLLECTION

1) BATAI (Crop sharing):

 It was the most simple and basic method.
 In this system, the state fixed a certain ratio of produce as the state’s share.
 And a designated official would collect the state’s share out of the total produce.
 The extent of land ownership had no bearing on revenue collection.
 The share was based on actual produce.
 There were three types of Batai:
(1) Division of crop at the threshing floor after the grain was obtained;
(2) Khet-Batai i.e. division of field when the crop was standing;
(3) Lang-Batai in which the crop was cut and stacked in heaps without separating grain.
 The share of the state was decided in this form.

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2) KANKUT:
 This was another important method of measurement.
 Here, the land was first measured and then the productivity of land was estimated to fix the revenue
demand per unit of measured area.
 Sher Shah Suri improved this method of assessment.
 He divided the productivity sample cutting from three types of land Ie. good, middling, and badlands.
 Average yield was obtained and the State share was fixed at 1/3rd of this average yield.
 Revenue demand per Bigha for every crop was declared and was known as Rai of Sher Shah.

3) ZABT:
 Another system that was refined and extensively used by Akbar was a method called Zabt.
 Under this method, all the territories were divided into the revenue circles called Dasturs.
 Per Bigha revenue rates were calculated for different crops in cash based on productivity and prices
for every dastur.

4) AIN-I-DAHSALA:
 A method of Ain-i-Dahsala or ten years revenue rates was adopted to avoid the problem of compiling
fresh rates every year for different localities.
 The average of the rates of the last ten years was taken as cash revenue rate for a particular crop but
these were changed at irregular intervals & not updated every year.
 A document called Patta (title deed) was given to every cultivator by the state.
 It had the details of the type of land held by the cultivator and rate of land revenue payable by him on
different crops that he grew on the land.
 A deed agreement called Qabuliat was taken from the cultivator, in which he promised to pay a particular
amount of land revenue to the state. Apart from the land revenue, additional cess was collected to meet
the cost of assessment and collection of revenues.

LANDED INTERMEDIARIES IN REVENUE COLLECTION

 In the Delhi Sultanate period, landed intermediaries played an important role in revenue collection.
 There were Khuts (small landlords), Muqaddams (village headmen), and a group of intermediaries,
such as Rai, Rana, Rawats, etc.
 In the Mughal period, these and other such intermediaries were called the “Zamindars”.
 They were given hereditary rights over the produce of the land.
 These Zamindars also assisted the state and Jagirdar in the collection of land revenue.
 In north India, the Muqaddam acted as village headmen.
 While in Deccan Patel or Patil acted as village headmen.
 They were responsible for the collection of revenue and maintenance of law and order in the village.

ARTISANAL PRODUCTION IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

1. A variety of crafts existed throughout the country such as the textile, pottery making, dyeing, sugar making,
metal works, armor manufacturing, ship-building, etc.
2. COTTON TEXTILE PRODUCTION CENTRES:
 Bengal, Lahore, Agra, Awadh, Patna, Fatehpur Sikri, Gujarat, etc.
3. SHAWL AND CARPET MAKING CENTRES :
 Kashmir, Lahore, and Agra.
4. DYEING OR BLEACHING CENTRES:
 Bharuch, Ahmadabad, Surat, Patna, Sonargaon, Dacca, Masulipatnam.
5. Golconda was a prominent Diamond mining centre apart from Bairagarh (Berar), Panna (Madhya
Pradesh), Khokhra (Chotanagpur), etc.

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6. Manufacturing of gunpowder, canon, firearm etc. were some of the most important medieval
innovations.
7. The modern artillery was mainly brought to India by Babur who had received it from Persia and by
the Portuguese.
8. Fathullah Shirazi was an engineer in Akbar’s regime, made some invaluable innovations in this sector.
9. Craft production in villages was called the Qasbas and there were also imperial Karkhanas as a part of
the royal establishment.

TRADE AND COMMERCE IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

 The trade at the local level was conducted through regular markets and also periodic markets known as
Hats or Penths.
 The periodic ones were held on fixed days in a week.
 There was inter-regional trade in luxury commodities as well as commodities like food grain, salt,
wooden and iron equipment, coarse cotton textile, etc.
 Ziauddin Barani wrote Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi (It covers the reign of Tughlaqs) which details the trade
during the Delhi Sultanate period.
 According to it, Delhi received the following
(1) Distilled wine from Kol (Aligarh),
(2) Muslin from Devagiri,
(3) Striped cloth from Lakhnauti and
(4) Ordinary cloth from Awadh.

MERCANTILE COMMUNITY IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

 In the medieval period, the mercantile community played an important role in the contemporary
economy and society.
 In the Delhi Sultanate period,
1) Karvanis or Nayakas were merchants who specialised in carrying grains from rural areas.
2) Karvanis is a Persian term which means people who moved together in large number.
3) They were called Banjaras in the later centuries.
4) There are references of Multani merchant who specialized in long-distance trade.
 Following were some of the important mercantile communities of the medieval period:
a) Baniyas in North India
b) Khatris in Punjab
c) Komatis (Telugu speaking) in Golconda region
d) Chettis in Southern parts
e) Kling (along Coromandel coast up to Orissa)
f) Bohras in Gujarat, Ujjain, and Burhanpur
 SARRAF:
 There are references to this community in the Delhi Sultanate period and Mughal period.
 They engaged as money chargers, money lenders, bankers, traders in silver and gold jewellery.
 They also issued Hundis (bills of exchange)
 DALAL:
 Another important commercial community that emerged in the Delhi Sultanate period and became
widespread during the Mughal period.
 They worked as middlemen in various commercial activities and transactions and charged
brokerage in deals with foreign merchants and Indian centres of production.

CURRENCY SYSTEM IN MEDIEVAL INDIA

 The currency in circulation during this period was the silver and copper coins.

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 In the Delhi Sultanate period, the pure silver Tanka with the fluctuating proportion of silver was the main
coinage and the Jital and Dang were copper coins.
 Sher Shah was the first to establish the purity of metals in coinage.
 The rupaya was a basic coin for transactions made of silver with a weight of 178 grains.
 Under the Akbar and his successors, there were minor fluctuations.
 The copper coin named Dam of the Mughals was 323 grains and the value of silver rupee fluctuated as per
the availability of silver.
 In Akbar’s period, 1 silver rupee was equal to 40 copper dams and the gold or Ashrafi had a weight of
169 grains.

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