Mughal's name comes from Mongol. Although today the word evokes an empire's grandeur, it was not the name chosen by the dynasty's rulers. They called themselves Timurids, descendants on the maternal side of the Turkish ruler Timur.
He spoke Turkish and referred as barbaric hordes derisively to the Mongols. Europeans used the word Mughal during the seventeenth century to define the Indian rulers of this family branch. The word has been frequently used over the past centuries– from it is derived even the name Mowgli, the young hero of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. The empire was cut out by conquests and political alliances between the Mughals and local chieftains from a number of India's regional states.
The empire's founder, Zahiruddin Babur, was pushed by the warring Uzbeks from his Central Asian home country, Farghana. He first settled in Kabul and then moved on to the Indian subcontinent in 1526 in search of lands and resources to meet the requirements of his clan members, Nasiruddin Humayun (1530-40,1555-56) extended the empire's boundaries, but lost it to Afghan ruler Sher Shah Sur, who led him into exile. Humayun took shelter at Iran's Safavid ruler's court. The Surs were defeated by Humayun in 1555, but died a year later.
The Surs were defeated by Humayun in 1555, but died a year later. Many consider Jalaluddin Akbar (1556-1605) the greatest of all the Mughal emperors, for he not only extended his empire but also strengthened it, making it the biggest, strongest and wealthiest kingdom of his moment.
Akbar managed to extend the borders of the empire to the Hindukush mountains and checked the expansionist designs of Turan's Uzbeks (Central Asia) and Iran's Safavids. In Jahangir (1605-27), Shah Jahan (1628-58) and Aurangzeb (1658-1707), Akbar had three relatively capable successors, just as their personalities varied.
The territorial extension continued under them, although at a much lower speed. The three leaders retained and strengthened the different governance instruments. The institutions of an imperial framework were developed during the seventeenth and seventeenth centuries.
These included efficient management and taxation techniques. The court was the visible center of Mughal power. Political alliances and relationships have been established here, defining status and hierarchies. The Mughals ' political system was based on a mixture of military strength and deliberate strategy to accommodate the various traditions they met on the subcontinent.
After 1707, after Aurangzeb's death, the dynasty's authority decreased. Regional powers obtained higher independence instead of the huge empire apparatus controlled from Delhi, Agra or Lahore –the various capital towns. Yet the Mughal ruler's prestige has not symbolically lost its aura. In 1857, the British overthrew the last scion of this dynasty, Bahadur Shah Zafar II.
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India History