History of India

HISTORY OF INDIA VOLUME - 4 The Taj Mahal at Agra History of India Edited by A. V. Williams Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Indo-Iranian Languages in Columbia University V olum e 4 – From the Reign ofA k barthe Greattothe Fall ofthe M oghul Em pire By: Stanley Lane-Poole, M.A., Litt.D., M.R.I.A., Professor of Arabic at Trinity College, Dublin. 1906 Reproduced by Sani H. Panhwar (2018) Introduction by the Editor When Akbar the Great, the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, ascended the throne of India, it was with a heart inspired by the highest ideals ever held by a ruler of Islamitic blood, and the manner in which he lived up to these ideals made him the noblest monarch, after Asoka, that ever reigned over the land beyond the river Indus. Akbar was followed by his son Jahangir, the Great Moghul, and he by Shah Jahan, the Magnificent, who was succeeded in turn by Aurangzib, the Puritan Emperor and last of the line of great Moghuls. Mohammedan India reached the culmination of its glory in the fortunes of this dynasty. The subsequent rise of the Marathas heralded a new era, and signs of the beginnings of European power in India were now at hand. The interesting story of these events, as told by Professor Lane-Poole, has been supplemented by including in this volume two selections from native Mohammedan chroniclers found in that inexhaustible mine of material, Elliot’s“History of India as Told by Its Own Historians” in Professor Dowson’sedition, the indebtedness to which is acknowledged. With reference to the preparation of the text of the present volume editorially and with regard to the illustrations, I have been guided in general by the principles laid down in the preceding volumes of the series. Besides the assistance previously acknowledged in respect to illustrative material and other matter, I desire to unite with the publishers in thanking Mr. Frederick J. Agate, of New York, who was with me in my travels through India, for the use of certain photographs in his collection, and also to thank Dr. Edward S. Holden, Librarian of the United States Military Academy at West Point, for the pictures of two Mohammedan heroines, Nur Jahan and Mumtaz-i-Mahal, reproduced from miniatures in the British Museum, through the courtesy of Messrs. Charles Scribner’sSons, of New York. A. V. Williams Jackson. C O N TEN TS CHAPTER 1. THE UNITED EMPIRE - AKBAR THE GREAT, 1556-1605 A. D .. 1 2. AKBAR'S REFORMS - THE DIVINE FAITH, 1566-1605 A. D. .. 13 3. THE GREAT MOGIIUL AND EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS, 1605-1627 A.D. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 28 4. SHAH JAHAN - THE MAGNIFICENT, 1628-1658 A. D. .. .. 48 5. THE PURITAN EMPEROR - AURANGZIB, 1659-1680 A. D. .. 67 6. THE RUIN OF AURANGZIB - THE MARATHA WAR, 1680-1707 A.D. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 80 7. THE FALL OF THE MOGHUL EMPIRE-THE HINDU REVIVAL, 1707-1765 A. D. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 95 APPENDIX I. AKBAR'S CAPTURE OF FORT ASIR - FROM THE AKBAR NAMAH OF ILLAHBAD FAIZI OF SIRHIND .. .. 103 APPENDIX II. IBRAHIM KHAN'S CHRONICLE OF THE MARATHAS .. .. 116 APPENDIX III. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY .. .. .. .. .. 148 APPENDIX IV. MOGHUL EMPERORS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 150 Chapter 1 – The United Empire – Akbar the Great – 1556–1605 A.D. Cuirass, made of hide covered with velvet, and studded with nails. The long reign of Akbar, which lasted from 1556 to 1605, has been represented as the golden age of the Moghul empire. It was in reality but the beginning of the period of splendor which ended with the disastrous wars of Aurangzib. Akbar was the true founder and organizer of the empire, but it is too often forgotten that it took him twenty years of hard fighting to bring Hindustan under subjection, and that even at his death the process was incomplete. There was no sudden and miraculous submission to the boy of thirteen who found himself called to an as yet unconquered throne by the accident that ended his father’s ineffectual life in the beginning of 1556. A hard struggle was before him ere he could call himself king even of Delhi. He was fortunate, no doubt, in the divisions of his adversaries, and after the crushing defeat of Himu at Panipat he was never called upon to meet a general muster of Indian troops; but the process of reducing usurper after usurper, and suppressing one rebellion after another, was tedious and harassing, and in spite of a wise statesmanship matured by experience, and a clemency and toleration which grew with advancing years, to the day of his death Akbar seldom knew what it was to enjoy a year’s freedom from war. At the time of his accession the only parts of India that he possessed were the Panjab and Delhi in the north, which were the fruits of the victory at Sirhind in 1555. The Afghan dynasty still held Bengal and the Ganges valley; the Rajputs were independent in Western Hindustan, and there were innumerable chiefs in possession of separate principalities all over the country. It was not till the third year of his reign that Akbar was able to occupy Ajmir. Gwalior fell in 1558, and by 1561 he had driven the Afghans back from Lucknow and Jaunpur. The Moghul empire so far was almost restricted to the Panjab and the Northwest Provinces, though Malwa was partly overrun in 1561, and Burhanpur in Khandesh was captured a year later. The storming of Chitor in 1567 was a conspicuous landmark in history, but it was not till 1572 that the Rajputs were finally brought into the empire. Bengal was not conquered before 1575, and Gujarat, though occupied in 1572, had to be retaken in 1584 and gave trouble for several years History of India, Volume 4; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com 1 more. Kabul, under Akbar’s brother Hakim, was almost a separate kingdom and frequently aggressive. Among the outlying provinces, Orissa became part of the empire as late as 1590, Kashmir in 1587, Sindh in 1592, Kandahar in 1594, and only a small portion of the Deccan was annexed in Akbar’s life. The reign was thus a perpetual series of efforts toward the expansion of a territory originally small. So doubtful indeed seemed Akbar’s prospects of Indian sovereignty at the moment when his father’s unexpected death placed him in command, that in the first council of war the generals strongly urged an immediate retreat upon Kabul, and their advice was overruled only by the firm decision of the regent Bairam, an old Turkman officer who had followed Babar and Humayun, and realized better than the others the divided and leaderless state of the enemy. Matters were certainly in an alarming position. Sikandar of Delhi had been driven to the mountains, where he held Mankot against all attacks, but a far more formidable army was marching to take vengeance. Himu, the general of the Bengal kingdom, a Hindu who had rapidly advanced from a mere shopkeeper to practically supreme power, entered Agra unopposed, defeated Tardi Beg at Delhi, occupied the capital, assumed the historic title of Raja Vikramajit, and then advanced to crush the Moghul forces. When the dispirited remnant of the garrison of Delhi reached Akbar’s headquarters at Sirhind, news had just arrived of another blow, the revolt of Kabul. Fortunately the young emperor had a great soldier at his side to meet the crisis. Bairam, the atalik, or regent, was a consummate general and a man of iron resolution. He instantly made an example of Tardi Beg, for the loss of Delhi, and placed the other disgraced officers under arrest. Then he sent on the advance-guard, which was lucky enough to intercept the entire park of Ottoman artillery which Himu had incautiously set adrift; and on Friday the 5th of November, 1556, the two armies confronted each other on the field of Panipat, where thirty years before Babar had overthrown the Afghan power, and where two centuries later another battle swept away the Maratha hordes and prepared the way for England. In spite of the loss of his guns, Himu commanded a force sufficient to dismay the Moghul leaders. He had three divisions, the centre of which was composed of twenty thousand horse (Afghans and Rajputs) supported by five hundred elephants, and the whole force of elephantry numbered at least 1500. Himu led the advance, “scowling on his elephant Hawa, ‘the Wind.’ ” His charge upon the Moghul left was successful; he then turned to crush their centre. But here the archers stood firm, the enemy were harassed by showers of arrows, and one fortunate shaft pierced the eye of the Hindu leader. There was no one in authority to take up the command, and the masterless crowd broke up like a herd of stampeded horses. Himu on his elephant was driven straight into the presence of Akbar, and Bairam bade the boy flesh his sword on the dying “infidel.” The honourable chivalry which distinguished Akbar above all his line History of India, Volume 4; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com 2 at once burst forth: “How can I strike a man who is as good as dead?” he cried. Bairam had no such fine scruples, and immediately dispatched the wounded man. The palace at Gwalior The crisis had been bravely met, and Akbar had never again to confront so dangerous an enemy. Henceforward, though constantly fighting, he had the advantage – incalculable in Oriental warfare – of being in the position of the attacker, not the attacked. Delhi again opened its gates and received him with effusive loyalty. Agra followed the example of the capital, and after an eight months’ siege Sikandar surrendered Mankot and retired to Bengal.

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