Great Mughals

• The first Mughal emperor was Babur. He ruled from 1526 to 1530
• In 1526, babur met ibrahim Lodi in the first battle of panipat. The Lodi army was many times bigger than that of babur’s. Babur, however had a battle hardened cavalry and an efficient artillery. He defeated Ibrahim Lodi and conquered delhi and Agra. In 1527, he defeated Rana Sangha of Mewar at khanua. In 1529, he defeated the afghan chiefs at ghaghara. These three battles secured baburs position in northern India.
• Babur’s autobiograghy is known as tuzuk-i-Baburi or Baburnama. In it Babur has described the physical features, climate, animals, birds, flowers, fruits, the life of the people and the places he visited. He also wrote about his life in detail.
• The major problems that Humayun faced when he ascended the throne were:

  1. The kingdom was still without a proper system of administration. 
  2. Humayuns brothers were dissatisfied with the territories that they have been given.
  3. The kingdom was under threat from all sides. The Rajputs, Bahadur shah, the ruler of Gujarat, and the afghans were planning to fight him.
• • Akbar defeated the Rajputs but did not humiliate them. He allowed most Rajput Kings to continue ruling over their territories. He did not interfere in their internal matters.
  • Akbar married into Rajput families. He himself married Rajput princess called Jodha bai. His sons also took Rajput princesses as their wives. Rajput ladies were given complete religious freedom.
  • Akbar gave high posts to Rajput chiefs in his administration Raja Man Singh and Raja Birbal, two of his most trusted officials, were Rajputs.
• Jahangir, like Akbar, maintained friendly relations with Rajputs, married into Rajput families and awarded high posts to deriving Rajput chiefs. Thus, Jahangir continued the Akbar’s policies of tolerance.
• Sher Shah introduced a new currency, a silver coin called the rupia.

  He also reduced custom duties and built on excellent network of roads including the grand trunk road. All these measures encouraged trade. Many of Sher Shah‘s reforms were continued by Akbar.