NCERT Class 7 History The Creation Of An Empire

THE CREATION OF AN EMPIRE:The Mughal Dynasty

Ruling as large a territory as the Indian subcontinent with such a diversity of people and cultures was an extremely difficult task for any ruler to accomplish in the Middle Ages. Quite in contrast to their predecessors, the Mughals created an empire and accomplished what had hitherto seemed possible for only short periods of time. From the latter half of the sixteenth century they expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi until in the seventeenth century they controlled nearly all of the subcontinent. They imposed structures of administration and ideas of governance that outlasted their rule, leaving a political legacy that succeeding rulers of the subcontinent could not ignore. Today the Prime Minister of India addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi, the residence of the Mughal emperors, on Independence Day. Who were the Mughals?

The Mughals were descendants of two great lineages of rulers. From their mother’s side they were descendants of Genghis Khan (died 1227), ruler of the Mongol tribes, China and Central Asia. From their father’s side they were the successors of Timur (died 1404), the ruler of Iran, Iraq and modern-day Turkey. However, the Mughals did not like to be called Mughal or Mongol.

This was because Genghis Khan’s memory was associated with the massacre of innumerable people. It was also linked with the Uzbegs, their Mongol competitors. On the other hand, the Mughals were proud of their Timurid ancestry, not least of all because their great ancestor had captured Delhi in 1398. They celebrated their genealogy pictorially, each ruler getting a picture made of Timur and himself. Take a look at Figure 1, which is somewhat like a “group photograph”.

Let’s recall

1. Fill in the blanks

(a) The capital of Mirza Hakim, Akbar’s half-brother, was____________.

(b) The five Deccan Sultanates were Berar, Khandesh, Ahmadnagar, ______and __________.

(c) If zat determined a mansabdar’s rank and salary, sawar indicated his ____________ .

(d) Abul Fazl, Akbar’s friend and counsellor, helped him frame the idea of __________so that he could govern a society composed of many religions, cultures and castes.

2. What were the central provinces under the control of the Mughals?

3. What was the relationship between the mansabdar and the jagir?

Let’s understand

4. What was the role of the zamindar in Mughal administration?

5. How were the debates with religious scholars important in the formation of Akbar’s ideas on governance?

6. Why did the Mughals emphasise their Timurid and not their Mughal descent?

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 History The Creation Of An Empire