Introduction
Babur established the Mughal dynasty in 1526 AD by defeating Ibrahim Lodhi in the first battle of Panipat and also defeated Rana Sangha, Medini Rai, and Afghans.
The Mughal dynasty continued till 1857 but its effectiveness declined after 1740 AD.
During the Mughal period almost all parts of India up to Hindu Kush mountain was integrated.
The growth of Political integration was paralleled by cultural integration.
Indian society developed a more or less unified culture despite differences in race, religion, and language.
The period was also marked by economic development and growth. Trade and manufacturing expanded. There was expansion and improvement in cultivation.
The 17th century witnessed great strides in Gujarat, Coromandel coast and Bengal.
Mutual harmony and toleration
During this period because of the Bhakti and Sufi movement, gradual understanding of fundamental tenets of Hinduism and Islam developed.
Bhakti saints laid emphasis on true faith rather than to formal observance.
There was a setback to the growth of rational sciences. Similarly, India lagged behind in the development of the navy. Watch Full Video In Hindi On Youtube By Clicking On The Icon🔻
Social changes
Caste continued to dominate.
The Bhakti movement and Nath Panthi yogis could hardly make a dent in it.
Brahmins continued to claim privileged positions for themselves including the exclusive right to preach and educate.
Brahmins acquiesced in the advocacy of path of devotion as a way of salvation of all castes specially for Shudras.
Position of women worsened.
There was no right to Hindu women for remarriage or share in their father’s property while muslim women could inherit property of their father. The Hindu women could claim only stree dhan (wedding gifts) from their parents.
The ruling class remained strongly aristocratic in character.
There was less opportunities for people of lower classes to go on the higher scale.
Because of the less opportunities of war, now the Rajput caste started giving primacy over descent instead of military achievement. The open ended Rajput caste became closed.
During this period, a large number of tribals were Hinduised.
An unequal society
Almost all foreign accounts tell us that India was rich and wealthy. Its ruling class led an ostentatious lifestyle while the ordinary people like peasants, artisans and labourers were suffering from acute poverty.
Peasants and lower classes had no sufficient clothes to cover their bodies,
Common People went on bare footed.
The ruling class consisted of the emperor and his scions, kings, nobility and zamindars. They were a privileged class.
Mughal nobles were drawn from central Asia, Iran, Khurasan and Afghanistan
During the period of Akbar, Hindu nobility formed 16% while during the period of Aurangzeb, Hindus nobility constituted 33%.
Muslim and Hindu nobles kept a large number of women in their Harem.
Polygamy became common among nobility and zamindars.
The Mughal nobility constituted a composite ruling class representing different regions and religions. There were two kinds of nobles in the Mughal court - foreigners and indigenous. Among the foreign nobles they were divided into Irani who were drawn from Iran and Turani who were drawn from central Asia. Among Hindu nobles, Rajputs of northern India and Marathas of Deccan constituted two important powerful groups in the Mughal court.
Rapid growth in the number of nobility during the 17th century led to the crisis of the jagirdari system.
The rural areas were dominated by zamindars.
In addition to their own zamindari, they had the right to collect land revenue and the commission for collecting taxes went up to 25%.
Peasants had hereditary rights in land and they could not be dispossessed from land as long as they paid the land revenue.
So, peasants and zamindars had their own hereditary rights in lands.
There were also numerous Rajas or kings who had accepted the sovereignty of Mughals in lieu of a fixed amount of annual homage to the Mughal emperor .
These Rajas or kings collected land revenue in their areas and had sufficient internal autonomy.
Middle class
Because of the relative peace during the Mughal period, India had large number of rich traders and merchants.
In addition, small Mansabdars, shop keepers, professionals like Hakim, musicians, artists, historians, scholars, Qazis, theologians, government officers formed the middle class.
The religious divines, scholars were granted small tracts of land for their maintenance and these grants were called Madad-e-mass. These land grants were often hereditary while the government officers were paid in cash.
Policy of Akbar
Mughal period saw harmonisation of relationship between Hindus and Muslims.
Akbar abolished Jizya, pilgrimage tax, ban on prisoners of war to convert into Islam.
The Sati system was abolished by Akbar but with little success.
Ban on child marriages but with no tangible results.
The policy of Sulah-Kul (conciliation to all) proved beneficial to the Hindu-Muslim unity.
Rajput policy further strengthened the harmony between Hindu and Muslim.
Rajput leaders became the solid rock behind the Mughal empire.
Policy of Aurangzeb
He re-imposed Jizya, toll tax, converted prisoners of wars into Islam and destroyed many temples.
He gave rebates to Muslim traders in custom duties. While the Muslim traders were charged only 2.5 % custom duties, the Hindu traders were charged 5% on merchandise.
He annexed the Shia state of Bijapur and Golconda.
He fought against Shivaji and was reluctant to give Marathas the local autonomy or watan (homeland).
He got killed Sambhaji, which led to the recurrent revolts among Marathas against Mughals.
He suppressed Jat and Satnami revolts.
He got killed Guru Teg Bahadur and four sons of Guru Govind Singh, and thereby alienated Sikhs from Mughals.
He Reversed the Rajput Policy of Akbar. And this was one of the reasons for the alienation of Hindus from the Mughals.
Conclusion
The Mughal period saw harmony among Hindus and Muslims. But during the reign of Aurangzeb, this harmony was disrupted.
India was the biggest economy of the world in 1700 AD but the society was very much unequal .
While the zamindars and nobles led the life of luxuries, common people eked out their livelihood with great difficulties.
In most of the cases, they could not earn more than Rs.5 per month.
Overall, the society was peaceful and harmonious.
Mughals did not face large scale revolts like during the sultanate period before the reign of Aurangzeb.
The reign of Aurangzeb saw large number of revolts by Marathas, Rajputs, Sikhs, Afghans, Satnamis.
The disharmony created by fanatic Aurangzeb led to the downfall of the Mughal empire and in 1739 by the attack of Nadir Shah, the Mughals were exposed to the world.
While the trade and manufactures continued to expand during the 18th century, in spite of the downfall of the Mughal Empire, it remained backward not only in the field of science and the technology but in size also. The craftsmen used simple tools and therefore. their efficiency remained low. Because of the concentration of wealth among zamindars, nobles and the emperors, the artisans and craftsmen could not become entrepreneurs like in Europe. The domestic market was limited and artisans and craftsmen had to be dependent upon merchants and traders. Secondly, the skill of Indian artisans and availability in abundance inhibited efforts to develop and apply machine power to productive enterprises. This resulted in low productivity.
The Mughal period heralded cultural integration in India. They developed a unified culture despite differences in race, religion, ethnicity and language. This unified culture was reflected in an outburst of creative activity. However, this integrated culture came under pressure on account of attacks from the orthodox elements of Hinduism and Islam. On the whole, this cultural unity between Hindus and Muslims continued till the 19th century when people of both religious groups fought against British rule in the 1857 Revolt.
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