Introduction to the Mogul Conquest of India (1526–1707)

The Mogul Empire (1526–1857) was the most important of the Indian Islamic states and one of the greatest of the Indian empires. The state was founded during the years 1526–30 by Babur (1483–1530), a Turkish prince and military adventurer. Babur invaded India from his kingdom in Afghanistan at the invitation of regional rulers during the civil war that developed in the powerful Lodi Sultanate of Delhi on the accession of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (?–1526) to his father’s throne. Babur defeated Sultan Ibrahim at the battle of Panipat on April 20, 1526, declared himself emperor at Delhi, and proceeded to conquer a territory that extended across northern India from Afghanistan to the borders of Bengal.

Babur’s empire was almost lost by his son, Humayan (1508–1556), who was driven into exile by a confederation of disaffected Afghani nobles led by Sher Shah Sur, the ruler of Bihar from 1540–45. Taking advantage of a succession struggle among the Afghani nobles, Humayan retook Delhi in 1555 and died shortly thereafter.

The empire passed to his son Akbar (1542–1606) who lived up to his European title, “The Great Mogul.” During his long reign, Akbar expanded the boundaries of his empire across north and central India, from Afghanistan to the Deccan Plateau (southern India). His reign was characterized by the political, economic, and administrative unification of the empire and a policy of religious tolerance toward his non-Muslim subjects. Akbar was succeeded by Jahangir, who ruled from 1605–1627, and Shah Jahan, who ruled from 1627–1658.

The empire’s last major ruler was Aurangzeb (1618–1707), who imprisoned his father and took the throne at the end of a fratricidal civil war in 1658. He ruled until 1707. Aurangzeb was the first emperor since Akbar to extend the empire’s boundaries, conquering the Deccani sultanates in 1686 and 1687. By the end of his reign, Aurangzeb ruled more territory than any Indian monarch before or since. His military success was counter-balanced by a policy of returning to more stringent Islamic practices, which alienated his non-Muslim subjects and resulted in several rebellions, the most serious being the Sikh uprising in the 1670s. After peaking in the 1680s, Aurengzeb’s power quickly declined. By 1700, the Marathas, Hindu warriors, ravaged the Deccan. The Rajputs—friends of the Moguls since Akbar’s time—abandoned their old ties with the empire. The Sikhs and Jats of the Punjab, no longer content with vassal status, established independent regimes.

Following Aurangzeb’s death, the empire was faced with challenges to its supremacy on all sides. The five states of the Maratha Confederacy controlled most of south India and had replaced the Moguls as the dominant power in the Gujarat region. Regional Muslim governors like the Nizam of Hyderabad paid token respect to the emperor at Delhi and claimed to rule in his name, but had effectively become independent states. European trading companies had created spheres of influence along the coast. In 1739, Nadir Shah, the ruler of Persia, invaded India and sacked Delhi. Thereafter, the Mogul emperor was no more than a puppet ruler. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Mogul emperor ruled at the pleasure of the British East India Company. The last emperor, Bahadur Shah, who ruled from 1837–1857, was deposed by the British and exiled to Yangon (Rangoon) after the violence of 1857, commonly referred to as the Indian Mutiny.