What the History of Mughal Dynasty?

. The forces of what would become the Sur Empire defeated Humayan and the Mughals. Humayun was exiled to Persia for over a decade, but with the help of the ruling Safavid dynasty, Humayun was eventually able to reclaim his empire. What, you thought the Mughals were done that quick?

At his death in 1530 he controlled all of northern India from the Indus River on the west to Bihar on the east and from the Himalayas south to Gwalior.

Babur feels that he has an inherited claim upon northern India, deriving from Timur's capture of Delhi in 1398, and he makes several profitable raids through the mountain passes into the Punjab.

The Mughal Empire can trace its lineage to two of history’s most powerful rulers. Babur, the empire’s founder, is the descendant of both Timur of the Timurid Dynasty and Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire

But his first serious expedition is launched in October 1525.

Bābur’s son Humāyūn (reigned 1530–40 and 1555–56) lost control of the empire to Afghan rebels, but Humāyūn’s son Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) defeated the Hindu usurper Hemu at the Second Battle of Panipat (1556) and thereby reestablished his dynasty in Hindustan.

The first two Mughal rulers were of Central Asian descent, with large Mongol ancestry with strong Turkic influences, such as the adoption of Islam as their religion. As a result, the Mughal Empire is often said to have Turco-Mongol roots.

Some forty years later (but not sooner than that) it is evident that Babur's descendants are a new and established dynasty in northern India

The greatest of the Mughal emperors and an extremely capable ruler, Akbar reestablished and consolidated the Mughal Empire.

The official language of the empire was Persian. However, over the years and decades of their rule, Persian words and phrases were heavily adopted into the native languages of the conquered lands. The Persian influence is most pronounced in the language of Urdu, the national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India.

Babur thinks of himself as a Turk, but he is descended from Genghis Khan as well as from Timur. The Persians refer to his dynasty as mughal, meaning Mongol.

Through incessant warfare, he was able to annex all of northern and part of central India, but he adopted conciliatory policies toward his Hindu subjects and sought to enlist them in his armies and government service.

While Urdu is virtually the same as Hindi (together they are often referred to as Hindi-Urdu or Hindustani), Urdu is distinct for using a script that’s based on the Persian alphabet, whereas Hindi uses a Devanagari script derived from the ancient Sanskrit language.

And it is as the Moghul emperors of India that they become known to history.

The political, administrative, and military structures that he created to govern the empire were the chief factor behind its continued survival for another century and a half.

At Akbar’s death in 1605 the empire extended from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal and southward to what is now Gujarat state and the northern Deccan region (peninsular India).

By the early 16th century the Muslim sultans of Delhi (an Afghan dynasty known as Lodi) are much weakened by threats from rebel Muslim principalities and from a Hindu coalition of Rajput rulers

The architecture of the Mughals is perhaps one of the most visible testaments of their power, wealth, and great artistic sensibilities.

Akbar’s son Jahāngīr (reigned 1605–27) continued both his father’s administrative system and his tolerant policy toward Hinduism and thus proved to be a fairly successful ruler.

Mughal architecture is characterized by the use of vaulted entryways, large bulbous domes, and ornate decorations that were influenced by Turkic, Persian, and Indian architecture traditions. Mughal buildings that are still intact today are some of South Asia’s most popular tourist attractions.

When Babur leads an army through the mountain passes, from his stronghold at Kabul, he at first meets little opposition in the plains of north India.

His son, Shah Jahān (reigned 1628–58), had an insatiable passion for building, and under his rule the Taj Mahal of Agra and the Jāmiʿ Masjid (Great Mosque) of Delhi, among other monuments, were erected.

The decisive battle against Ibrahim, the Lodi sultan, comes on the plain of Panipat in April 1526.

The most iconic example of Mughal architecture is the Taj Mahal. Located in Agra, India, the Taj Mahal was commissioned by Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved late wife Mumtaz.

His reign marked the cultural zenith of Mughal rule, but his military expeditions brought the empire to the brink of bankruptcy. Jahāngīr’s tolerant and enlightened rule stood in marked contrast to the Muslim religious bigotry displayed by his more orthodox successor, Aurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707).