The Mughal Empire: The old India.

The bazaar at Lahore, E. L. Weeks, 1889.

The British Empire, through the East India Company, had started trading with India using a number of trade stations as far back as 1615. During the first century and a half, this was a peaceful economical enterprise, occurring with and alongside the great Mughal Empire. However, since 1757 this relationship became more tense (to say the least), while the East India Company gradually began taking land from the Mughals, up until growing ever weaker, the Mughals finally lost all power in India by the year 1857 and the Indian Mutiny.

So what was the Mughal Empire, how did the two empires co-exist, and what eventually brought to the first crumbling into the pages of history, while the second took over, eventually coming to rule the whole of India and a quarter of the worlds population.

Mongols & Mughals

Mughal India at the end of the
17th century.

To someone who is new to Central Asian history, the term 'Mughal Empire' may sound very similar to a much more known empire: 'The Mongol Empire'. This is no mere coincidence, the first Mughal emperor and founder Zahir Udin Muhammad Babur belonged to the dynastic families of both the 'Timurid Empire' (being the great grandson of Timur) and 'Mongol Empire' (being directly descendant of Genghis Khan). At the time of it's formation in 1526, the Mughals saw themselves as a continuation of the Timur dynasty; thus seeing themselves as the Timur Empire, the name Mughal has been in use from a later time (the 19th century) and refers to Babur's other side of his family and Mongol heritage.

The Mughals ruled a Muslim feudal kingdom which was forged in battle, however the empire was known for it's peaceful and religiously tolerant rule. Stretching at it's peak from the mountains of Afghanistan, the Himalayas and encompassing all but the very bottom part of the Indian sub-continent, it included a number of peoples and religions predominantly Hinduism. The Mughals brought a united rule to India, creating for the  first time an idea of India as one political entity, albeit somewhat different than the borders we know today. The rulers had brought with them a Persian and Muslim flavor to India, building vast monuments, palaces, forts and gardens all over India (especially in the north), introducing new festivals, ideas and administrative systems.

Explorers, traders & conquerors

Mughal soldiers at the gate of Agra,
the Mughal capital, E. L. Weeks.

During it's first few years, the rule and control of the young empire had not yet solidified, with many threats coming from both the tribes in Afghanistan and the small kingdoms surrounding the empire. The second emperor had not managed to hold the lands his father had conquered, but eventually managed to take them back during the 1550's. However, it was Akbar the Great grandson of Babur, who stabilized and expanded the Empire, creating a solid rule and stabilizing the empire. By the time of his death in 1605, the empire had expanded to incorporate all of northern India from the Bay of Bengal, along the Ganges river and well into Afghanistan, including parts of central India. Also by the time of his death, a number of European powers had developed an interest in direct trade with India, setting up trading ports in the western and eastern coasts of the sub continent.

In 1615, the British had joined other European empires in forming the trading port at Surat, at that same year the first formal British ambassador to India Sir Thomas Roe, had met with the Moghal emperor Jahangir. This was to be the first formal meeting between the empire with would eventually give birth to a complex relationship between the two, where at the end only one would remain standing. With growing trading power in local European trading ports, so too the power and reach of the Mughals grew threw out the 17th century. This era was to be the golden era of the empire, enjoying almost unrivalled expansion, economical and great cultural growth, by the time of Urangzeb's death - the last of the great Moghal emperors - in 1707, the empire had reached it's zenith in both power and size.

The crumbling of an empire

During the first half of the 18th century, with the European foothold in India growing slowly, the Moghal Empire started on it's course of decline. Internal revolts had undermined the Moghal rule, along side external invasions and threats, these coupled with a succession of weak and unpopular rulers attempting to hold their ancestors legacy, had all brought the once great empire to it's demise by the year 1857.

The British capture the last hire to the Moghal throne
 Bahadur Shah II during the Indian Mutiny, 1857.

During the last century of Mughal rule, the British became a force to be reckoned with in the Indian sphere. They had slowly secured their position (through the governing of the East India Company) after a series of wars in Europe, effecting their standing in face of the other European trading missions in south Asia (notably the French, Dutch and Portuguese). They had also waged a number of campaigns against Indian kingdoms throughout the end of the 18th century and early 19th century, thus increasing their political power and land possessions in the sub-continent.

By the time the Indian Mutiny had broke, the East India Company was the dominant power in India, through direct rule and political leverage. The once great Mughal Empire was all but over by this time, while the last ruler Bahadur Shah II received a pension from the British. During the Mutiny however, the mutineers had turned to the memory of Mughal rule one last time, conquering Delhi and securing Bahadur as the true emperor and king of the short lived "free India". This attempt last only a few months, the Delhi was captured back by the British, the Shah sent to final exile in Rangoon (Burma) and his sons (who were prominent mutiny leaders) executed. Thus, the British crushing of the mutiny is considered to be the official end of the Mughal Empire.

Legacy

The Taj Mahal, one of India's greatest symbols, built
by Shah Jahan during the mid 17th century.

In the Indian heritage and nationalist discourse, the Mughal Empire is viewed today very positively, as one of the most important truly 'Indian' unified national entities defining the last chapter of Indian history just prior to the British rule of India. Many of the great sites and building around India were built by the Mughals, or during their time. Indians today can look back fondly at the Indian culture and arts that flourished during this time, albeit with much Persian and Muslim influence.

However, perhaps more than any thing else, the religious and political tolerant nature of Mughal rule stands at the hart of the empire's heritage today. Many Indian nationalists have tried to maintain that very tolerant approach to the forming Indian state, this was not very successful during the Indian Independence in 1947, and subsequent partition into India and Muslim Pakistan. Today however, those lessons seem to hold some water in the creation of a calm, tolerant and generally accepting atmosphere in modern day India.

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Further Reading

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/396125/Mughal-dynasty