Mughals+leaders

the Sultans of the Mughal Empire

Babur (1483-1530) -the founder of the mughal dynasty and was related to both Genghis Khan and Timur the Turkish conqueror. Eventually ruled over the greatest islamic state of the indian subcontinent. As a youth, Babur, a prince of the house of, was unable to maintain his sovereignty over the small Central Asian state bequeathed to him by his father. Instead, he turned his attention to the southeast, where he occupied Kabul in 1504, and almost immediately thereafter embarked on his conquest of India. By 1527 took over much of Northern India. However, at the time of his death, in 1530, he had not yet transformed his territorial acquisitions into an empire. This task was left to Humayun, Babur's son and successor, who unfortunately lacked the military genius of his father and soon was invaded by an Afghan named Sher Shah. Only through Persian military intervention did humayun manage to regain the capital cities of Agra and Delhi in 1555. Yet it is Humayun's son Akbar who has the credit of the real foundation of the Mughal empire.

Akbar “The Great” (1542-1605)- was the grandson of Babur and the most powerful Mughal Caliph to ever rule India. He had a quality of being a good leader, soldier, and a strategist. on feb. 14, 1556 his father had died and At age 13 he was the successor to the Mughal throne. Akbar successfully destroyed the Afghan threat and ushered in a widespread level period of peace and prosperity in india. He conquered nearly the whole indian subcontinent except the southern areas. he had many accomplishments some was His court which consisted many famous philosophers, Persian poets, Muslim and Hindu scholars and thousands of wives.

one of the great accomplishments Akbar made was the formation of a centralized bureaucracy and well-organized government which unified india by doing these things the Mughal Empire enjoyed a time of opulence and relative harmony.
 * 1) punishing local goveners that misused their power to hurt the peasants.
 * 2) imposing a tax on land which applied to everyone equally. This was very different because the wealthy landowners were usually not taxed before.
 * 3) dropping the tax on non-Muslims
 * 4) appointing several Hindus to high positions in his court.
 * 5) marrying a Hindu princess in order to cement his relationships with the neighboring Hindu kingdoms.
 * 6) allowing Hindus to live under their own laws and form their own courts instead of having Muslim laws imposed on them. This let him win a willing acceptance to his imperialism.
 * 7) believing that all religions should be tolerated and that the ruler should treat all beliefs equally.

Since Akbar embraced tolerance of all beliefs and he eventually formed his own universal religion called Din-i Ilahi ("The Religion of God").” he was considered to be the Perfect Man and free from all sin. Besides this he constructed many great huge and beautiful buildings including the Red Fort in Agra, this was the city of Fatehpur Sikri he constructed in 1578. In this city, he constructed a beautiful palace complete with gardens and worship hall for followers of Din-i Ilahi. This city was built with red sandstone and many masons and artisans were employed to build it. Akbar died on October 7, 1605 due to slow poisoning. His last years were spent crushing a rebellion started by one of his sons. He was buried in a tomb near Agra, in a place called Sikandra.

Shah Jahan (**1628-1658)** Prince Khurram was 35 years old when he ascended the throne as Shah Jahan (King of the World) in 1627. He meet all the qualities required of a medieval Muslim ruler, he was a brave and competent commander; a generous master who treated his servants with respect, dignity and affability; and a far-sighted leader with a strict sense of justice. He was also an active patron of palaces and mosques.His greatest achievements of course were the world's famous and breathtaking Taj Mahal, which he built in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, and the magnificent city of Shahjahanabad (1639), which remained the capital of India till well into the 19th century. There was a downside, of course. He was a bigoted Muslim and a confirmed nepotist. He provided the imperial princes in the matter of administrative and judicial postings regardless of age, capability and talent. This might have just been a clever way to keep them occupied but that was not how the nobility saw it. The nobles viewed the practice as an obstacle in the path of their prosperity and promotions. During his 30-year reign, Shah Jahan had never expected that his last days would be so utterly tragic. With his old age and his poor health, Shah Jahan could only helplessly watch the serious outbreak of hostility among his sons. his son, Aurangzeb, as the undisputed victor led to the father's imprisonment in the Agra fort, where he could still see the beautiful taj mahal, and he stayed in the fort for eight years. After his death, Shah Jahan was buried there beside his dead queen, Mumtaz Mahal.