The Mughal Dynasty was founded by Zahiru al-
Din Babur upon three successive victorious
battles that allowed him to secure control of
northern India. A Muslim minority in a Hindu
land, the Mughal would rule India from 1526-
1858. After Babur, each ruler managed to
extend Mughal dominance over the natives until
the entire subcontinent was under their
authority, from the foothills of the Himalayas all
the way to the southern tip of Cape Comorin.
However, soon after, Emperor Aurangzeb
abandoned the religious tolerance that
characterized the rule of his ancestors and
attempted to convert the whole of India to Islam.
This deliberate change in policy naturally ignited
numerous rebellions. As the revolts spread
across the land, including groups that had been
loyal to the Mughals for many generations, the
arrival of the Europeans added further
complications. The ambitions of the European
powers extended beyond mere trade, and their
superior military power and organization
completely stripped the Mughal of any naval
power. The Mughal Dynasty continued onward,
becoming successively weaker and weaker with
each ruler until the British finally overcame both
the Mughals and the native Hindus by exploiting
their animosity towards each other, ending a
three hundred year period of Muslim rule in the
subcontinent.
Emperor Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar,
popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the
third ruler of Indian powerful Mughal Dynasty.
Although he ascended the throne when he was
only thirteen, he was blessed with a sense of
justice and fairness far exceeding his youthful
age. Both a wise ruler and a able warrior, he
strove to consolidate Mughal power and desired
to unify the entire subcontinent under the
Mughal banner. He appeased the Hindu majority
by offering them posts in the army and
government and by marrying a Rajput princess.
He based his imperialism upon religious
tolerance, however, he was willing to ban some
Hindu practices that he deemed immoral such as
animal sacrifice and child marriages. He
revolutionized the tradition of marriage in India
by insisting that the consent of the bride and
bridegroom be obtained in addition to that of the
parents, whereas before young girls could be
forced to marry regardless of their opinion.
However, while many of the Rajput clans
succumbed to his power, the House of Mewar
rebelled, refusing to live under the rule of a
Muslim. Akbar showed no mercy to those how
denied his supremacy and he initiated a
campaign to conquer the Mewar. However, his
initial victories against the Mewar forced them to
flee into the rugged valleys of the Aravallis from
where they launched a guerilla war against
Akbar’s forces. Alas, Akbar was unable to break
the independent spirit of Mewar and never
succeeded in dominating them like he had with
the rest of Rajputana.
- (C.0350)
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