u/Ok_Way_1625

17 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire

I missed yesterday, so today will be a double, mostly about the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II. It will be in two parts: first about the empire during his time and about him personally, and the second part about the fall of the empire.

This is part 2.

British cartridges. Apparently made with cow fat and pig fat. You had to bite them to use them. Hindus and Muslims were very angry. A soldier attacked his officer over it and was hanged. Hindustan went up in flames.

The Sepoy mutiny was of course much more complicated than that, but for the sake of simplicity, you just need to understand that everyone was angry at the British and a massive soldier uprising had begun. Both Muslims and Hindus went to Delhi and declared Bahadur Shah Zafar the only rightful King of Hindustan. The poor man didn’t even have the power to say no.

I’m not going to cover the war. The British won.

Delhi became a battleground. The British killed many civilians in Delhi.

As the story goes, the British broke in, found all the princes, cut off their heads, and presented them on a tray to the emperor. Imagine an emperor who had lived his entire life in luxury, who only knew servants and the beauty of the world, suddenly seeing his own sons’ heads on a tray. It must have been soul-crushing and unimaginable.

The last emperor of a once-glorious empire was exiled to Rangoon (in present-day Myanmar), where he lived out the rest of his days. With his exile, the empire officially died, not without a bang, tragedy, and pride.

A few years later, the next emperor, or should I say empress, was crowned. It was Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Long live the Queen.

Credit for the last two maps: Simeon Netchev from worldhistory.org

17 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire

I missed yesterday, so today will be a double, mostly about the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II. It will be in two parts: first about the empire during his time and about him personally, and the second part about the fall of the empire.

This is part one.

The empire was far from a proper empire between 1837–1857. The emperor was practically just kind of like a count over Delhi. Symbolically, however, he was still the emperor of the entire subcontinent.

In practice, almost everything that remained was the legendary Mughal court. There was no longer really any military to manage. Very little administration to deal with, so it was almost purely focused on art, music, poetry, and philosophy.

There were also some very well-known figures. Mirza Ghalib, who is often considered the greatest Urdu poet, was part of the court. Bahadur Shah, also known by his poetic name Zafar, is actually still very well known today for his poetry. Zauq and Momin Khan Momin were also there, but not gonna lie, I’ve never heard of them before lol.

Zafar wrote poetry about love, or rather the lack of it, separation, and the loss of home, country, and honor. He was at the center of a real tragedy, and he expressed it through his poetry. His very name was ironic, since “Zafar” means “The Victorious,” yet he was a man who had lost everything.

Delhi was also a very active city at the time. Even though it didn’t control a massive empire anymore, there were still bazaars selling spices, jewels, fabrics and textiles, and there was plenty of culture; music, poetry, art, and diverse traditions.

Bahadur Shah Zafar didn’t really have much power, but he was still a symbol for the people. A symbol of a golden age, in contrast to British oppression.

19 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire

I can’t remember if I’ve gone through languages in the empire before, but its gonna be today’s topic.

The first language was the Mughals’ personal language. It was Chagatai Turkish. It was a language spoken by some of the earlier Mughals because Babur came from Central Asia. It was an advantage to know a language that not even the court understood.

The next was the court language. At first it was Persian because it was a very prestigious language. It was basically what French was for England.

Then there was the languages of the people. Hindustan is a large place with many languages. There were many languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, etc.

When it came to languages for religious matters, there was Arabic for Muslims, Sanskrit for Hindus, and Punjabi for Sikhs.

In the Mughal armies, a new language also emerged. Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and local languages were used since there were so many mercenaries. It also spread through trade and simply began to emerge in different places because these languages were everywhere. Together, Urdu came out of this. It later also became the court language.

This language has become iconic for the empire, and around 25 million people in Pakistan and 60 million people in India speak it as their mother tongue today. It can also be understood by almost everyone in Pakistan and the majority of India.

I haven’t properly fact-checked any of the maps, so take everything with a grain of salt.

Credit:

Map 1: Simeon Netschev from worldhistory.org

Map 2: u/ariangang1 on Reddit

Map 3: deleted user on Reddit

20 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

1739. A year the empire would never forget.

In Iran (Persia), the Safavid dynasty had been overthrown by Nader Shah, the Napoleon of the East. He would expand Iran to its greatest size in a long time, but it would come at the expense of the Mughal Empire.

The empire had little chance of survival, and the Marathas were still a problem. The empire was still rich, the emperor was powerless, and the state was weak. Nader Shah put two and two together. In 1739, he invaded.

He plundered Hindustan and took a vast amount of treasure from the empire. The famous Koh-i-Noor was also taken (though it eventually returned to Hindustan).

The Peacock Throne was also taken, as we have already discussed, and was ultimately lost there.

This invasion truly destroyed whatever chance the empire might have had.

In a way, it is symbolic that the Mughals, the descendants of Timur, ended up ruling Hindustan after Timur had devastated the region, and then developed it and created a golden age, only for another Persian empire to repay the dynasty by giving them a taste of their own medicine.

The next to unify India and take the Koh-i-Noor would not be the Persians. The Marathas had done much to conquer the subcontinent, but Nader Shah ultimately removed the last chances of resisting the British.

21 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

I lowk forgot to post yesterday, so this is an extra post for today.

The court didn’t really react to the empire falling apart. They didn’t take it personally that suddenly there wasn’t as much money.

That was also because Aurangzeb wasn’t a big fan of the elite spending all of the empire’s and the peasants’ money, so he had cut back a lot on luxury. For religious reasons, he had also made things less haram, but the next emperors really loved to drink and party hard.

When it comes to the cultural side, there weren’t many large scale projects like buildings, but things like art (such as the miniature paintings), dance, language, and music were still going strong.

They also didn’t change the capital again, so Delhi became a bit like what Paris is to France, a capital that felt deeply cultural, iconic, and representative of the empire.

It also became a court of intrigue. Everyone was playing for power in Shahjahanabad, which meant that the emperor was often a puppet for some powerful royals.

21 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

I lowk forgot to post yesterday, so there will be a double post today.

Aurangzeb died in 1707. He is the emperor who sat on the throne for the longest time, which was just a little longer than Akbar. They both reigned for about 49 years.

The Mughals "survival of the fittest" system came back as always. Aurangzeb’s sons, first Azam Shah and then Bahadur Shah I, took power. Unfortunately, they were old since Aurangzeb had ruled for so long. They didn’t have the time or the opportunity to consolidate power as his father did and died before the empire had been properly handed over. When a leader doesn’t manage to centralize the empire completely before they die, it becomes much more decentralized.

Under the first two new emperors, the empire still resembled itself quite a lot, and Aurangzeb’s centralization policies still held the empire together, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

The empire slowly but surely became extremely decentralized until the Mughals were only symbolic rulers of everything except the Delhi province.

23 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

Today we’re taking the controversial side of Aurangzeb. This will probably be the most controversial post I’m going to make.

The first reason is one I’ve already covered. He took power before his father died. His father, Shah Jahan, had supported his brother, so Aurangzeb decided to keep him imprisoned. Many believe that was wrong, and if we use a moral philosophy like that of Immanuel Kant, it was arguably wrong.

There are also some misunderstandings I want to quickly address:

1. He massacred Hindus and Sikhs. That’s not true, and I’m not entirely sure where people get that from.

2. He destroyed Hindu temples out of hatred. That’s false. No ruler can just do something like that based purely on emotion, it would create too much instability in the empire. It was for political reasons. Hindu leaders did the same to delegitimize each other. He allowed more temples to be built in his empire than he destroyed.

Also controversial is his religious reforms. He reintroduced the Jizya tax. That tax is a long discussion I honestly don’t feel like arguing it right now, but you can easily find explanations on YouTube.

Another reason he is controversial is his long campaigns in the Deccan Plateau. There’s no argument about that the Marathas needed to be dealt with, but many argue that war was not the solution. It drained the empire’s resources. Many say it should have been handled like the Rajputs, allowing by granting them privileges in exchange for becoming vassals at the compromise of Islamic rules.

Aurangzeb also sponsored less culture than his predecessors. He used most of the empire’s resources on the wars in the Deccan Plateau.

In conclusion, Aurangzeb is an emperor who is viewed in many different ways today.

24 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

I’m making a two-parter about Aurangzeb’s legacy, one about his positive side and one about his controversial side. Today, we’re looking at his positive side. I already know i'm gonna get flamed for this one.

First, I want to start with his courage. When he was young, around 14–15 years old, during one of his father Shah Jahan’s events, an elephant broke loose. All the other princes on their horses began riding away as fast as they could, but Aurangzeb took his spear and rode straight toward it at full speed. The elephant was stopped by some soldiers before they met tho.

Aurangzeb, also known as Alamgir I, was a very humble man.

He wore simple clothing and avoided excessive luxury and festivities. He lived like a simple, devout man. He abstained from alcohol and from having many women. His ancestors had otherwise been very fond of opium, wine, and women.

Contrary to what many people today mistakenly believe, Alamgir I didn't at all dislike Hindus. Out of all the emperors, he had the highest percentage of Hindus employed in his court.

Another thing Alamgir I is very positively remembered for is his conquests. He conquered more than any other emperor, and his empire was the largest of any in his line, except for the kinda psychopathic Timur the Great. He had almost the entire subcontinent under one empire. It was the richest the subcontinent would ever be in terms of its percent of the world’s GDP.

Some of his reforms are criticized a lot , but one positive thing he did was his intense effort to centralize the empire. He worked extremely hard and slept only 4–6 hours a night to carry out all of his work.

He strongly believed that an emperor should not use the empire’s resources for personal luxury, so instead he sewed prayer caps and handwrote copies of the Qur’an himself to earn money for his own grave. On a sign near the grave it says:

“The wealthy may build domes of gold and silver over their graves, but for a poor man like myself, the sky is enough!”

25 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire

Today’s story is probably didn't really happen, but it’s still a good story, so enjoy.

When Aurangzeb was young, around 18 years old (in 1636), and governor of the Deccan Plateau, he was one day going to meet his uncle. There, he fell in love at first sight with a Hindu member of the court. Her name was Hira Bai. It is said they met under a mango tree (check picture two if you don’t know what that looks like).

They could not marry because they were Muslim and Hindu, so instead they had an affair. They loved each other A LOT and took their affair so far that even the emperor eventually heard about it.

It is also said that he loved her so much that when she insisted he try wine, he was about to do it, until she pulled the glass away and said she was only testing their love.

Unfortunately for Aurangzeb, she died very young, not long after their affair began.

Aurangzeb was completely devastated after her death. It is said that he changed himself a lot afterward. He became a more disciplined version of himself in the honor of her memory.

Although this story is very exciting, it is important to remember to be critical of sources. This story is most likely false, though it still appears in multiple places.

26 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

In 1686, the war known as the “Child’s War” began. It was fought between the Mughals (then under Aurangzeb) and the English East India Company, led by Josiah Child.

The English had become a bit overconfident in 1685. Child had been tasked with negotiating some privileges, but instead they were met with higher taxes. He kinda crashed out, got 12 warships from the King of England, and started bombing Mumbai (Bombay) and Surat.

After some more time, some more bombing, and some more questionable activities, Aurangzeb got pretty fed up and personally ordered the capture of all British forts, ships, etc.

The Company was forced to apologize to the emperor, and Aurangzeb decided to pull an absolute clip farm, as you can see in image 2. He forgave them and gave back all their privileges.

Ig you can't spell Aurangzeb without Aura

He probably shouldn’t have done that, but smth smth forgiveness is the greatest thing a person can do yk.

27 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

Please keep racism and hate out of the comments. I know these themes are controversial and still debated, but please be repectful. I didn't much enjoy lookin at the last comment section.

In the year 1657, Shah Jahan became very ill. He would fortunately recover later, but no one knew that at the time. When princes smell their father’s blood, they go crazy like piranhas. Let me introduce you to our characters:

1. Dara Shikoh, the eldest son. Had a lot of influence in Delhi and Punjab.

2. Shah Shuja, the second-born. Governor of Bengal.

3. Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, the third-born. Governor in the Deccan Plateau.

4. Murad Baksh, the youngest. Governor of Gujarat.

These were the four sons who fought for the throne. The war is known as the Mughal War of Succession.

Even though it was a relatively short war, I don’t really have time to cover it all lol.

The most important thing to know is: lots of betrayal, everyone declared themselves emperor here and there, and all of them had to scramble to secure armies from their provinces or wherever they could.

The most important battle was the Battle of Khajwa. The two main contenders were Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, better known today as Aurangzeb, and Dara Shikoh.

Aurangzeb won and gained free access to the empire. He declared his father incompetent. even though he lowk recovered, because his father had previously betrayed him (arguably). He would go on to have the longest rule of any emperor (very closely tied with Akbar).

30 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

Jahangir was opium and alcohol fan #1, but he was also a big fan of science—especially biology.

Jahangir himself wrote down many observations. Even though he was the emperor of the most powerful empire in the world, he was still curious about the small things.

Jahangir also employed a very skilled artist named Ustad Mansur. He is still very famous for his works under Jahangir.

As emperor, he had access to research much more than most others. He could have illustrations made of rare plants and animals, and he could sponsor botany in general.

All of this shows, why the empire was so rich culturally. The emperors spent time on much more than just war and politics.

32 days until the 500th birthday of the Mughal Empire.

The Mughals celebrated Eid very extravagantly.

It always started with the Eid prayer. A bit problematic was the chance of being assassinated, so an Imam would lead the prayer, and the emperor could pray from a secluded spot. People usually wore new clothes for the Eid prayer.

After the prayer, the emperor would participate in a grand celebration, such as at the Red Fort. The emperor would give gold, gifts, and clothes to the court.

Large amounts of charity were given to the poor. The zakat tax that was paid was often given here. Food, money, clothes, etc. were given by the Mughals.

Streets and shops were decorated, especially in large cities like Lahore, Delhi, and Agra. There were public meals with fantastic food and desserts from the Mughal kitchens. Music, poetry, and even fireworks were also part of the celebrations. Lively and colorful streets.

Eid was a magnificent time in Hindustan under the Mughals. It focused on community, generosity, and celebration.

Eid Mubarak to everyone, and also a wonderful day to the rest of you who don't celebrate! ❤️

42 days until the Mughal Empire’s 500th birthday.

The Mughal emperors had a very unique birthday tradition. They possessed immense wealth, so they liked to show it off through a tradition where they sat on a scale and had to match their own weight in gold on the other side.

They held this tradition twice a year: once on their birthday according to the solar calendar, and once on their birthday according to the lunar calendar.

The tradition was started by Akbar and continued through the next two emperors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, until it was stopped by my GOAT Aurangzeb, because it’s legit forbidden in Islam.