His drunken feasts. Jahangir's justice. His religion. Shah Jahán, Emperor, 1628-58. Agra continued to be the central seat of the government, but the imperial army on the march formed in itself a splendid capital. Jahángír thought that Akbar had too openly severed himself from the Muhammadan faith. The new Emperor conformed more strictly to outward observances, but lacked the inward religious feeling of his father. While he forbade the use of wine to his subjects, he spent his own nights in drunken revelry. He talked religion over his cups until he reached a certain stage of intoxication, when he fell to weeping, and to various passions, which kept them to midnight.' In public he maintained a strict appearance of virtue, and never allowed any person whose breath smelled of wine to enter his presence. A courtier who had shared his midnight revels, and indiscreetly referred to them next morning, was gravely examined as to who were the companions of his debauch, and one of them was bastinadoed so that he died. During the day-time, when sober, Jahangir tried to work wisely for his Empire. A chain hung down from the citadel to the ground, and communicated with a cluster of golden bells in his own chamber, so that every suitor might apprise the Emperor of his demand for justice without the intervention of the courtiers. Many European adventurers repaired to his court, and Jahángír patronized alike their arts and their religion. In his earlier years he had accepted the eclectic faith of his father. It is said that on his accession he had even permitted the divine honours paid to Akbar to be continued to himself. His first wife was a Hindu princess; figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary adorned his rosary; and two of his nephews embraced Christianity with his full approval.1 SHAH JAHAN hurried north from the Deccan in 1627, and proclaimed himself Emperor at Agra in January 1628. He 1 Elphinstone's Hist., p. 560 (ed. 1866), on the authority of Roe, IIawkins, Terry, Coryat. 2 Materials for Sháh Jahán's reign: Sir Henry Elliot's Persian Historians, vols. vi. vii. and viii.; Elphinstone, pp. 574-603. REIGN OF SHAH JAHAN, 1628-58: 1627. Imprisonment of Núr Jahán on the death of Jahángír, by Asaf Khán on behalf of Shah Jahán. 1628. Shah Jahán returns from the Deccan and ascends the throne (January). He murders his brother and kinsmen. 1628-30. Afghán uprisings against Shah Jahán in Northern India and in the Deccan. [Footnote continued on next page. put down for ever the court faction of the Empress Núr Jahán, by confining her to private life upon a liberal allowance; and by murdering his brother Shahriyár, with all members of the house of Akbar who might prove rivals to the throne. He was, however, just to his people, blameless in his private habits, a good financier, and as economical as a magnificent court, splendid public works, and distant military expeditions could permit. loses Under Shah Jahán, the Mughal Empire was finally shorn of Sháh its Afghán Province of Kandahár; but it extended its conJahán quests in the Deccan, and raised the magnificent buildings in Kandahar, Northern India which now form its most splendid memorials. finally in 1653. After a temporary occupation of Balkh, and the actual re-conquest of Kandahár by the Delhi troops in 1637, Shah Jahán lost much of his Afghán territories, and the Province of Kandahar was severed from the Mughal Empire by the Persians in 1653. On the other hand, in the Deccan, the kingdom of Ahmadnagar (to which Ellichpur had been united in 1572) was at last annexed to the Mughal Empire in 1636. Bídar fort was taken in 1657, while the remaining two of the Conquests five Muhammadan kingdoms of Southern India,1 namely Deccan. Bijapur and Golconda, were forced to pay tribute, although not finally reduced until the succeeding reign of Aurangzeb. But the Maráthás now appear on the scene, and commenced, 1629-35. Shah Jahan's wars in the Deccan with Ahmadnagar and Bijápur ; 1634. Sháhjí Bhonsla, grandfather of Sivaji, the founder of the Maráthá 1637. Re-conquest of Kandahár by Sháh Jahán from the Persians. 1647-53. Kandahár again taken by the Persians, and three unsuccessful 1655-56. Renewal of the war in the Deccan under Prince Aurangzeb. 1656. Renewed campaign of Sháh Jahán's armies against Bijápur. Aurangzeb defeats Dárá ; imprisons Murád, his other brother; deposes 1 Vide ante, end of chap. x. in the unsuccessfully at Ahmadnagar in 1637, that series of persistent Hindu attacks which were destined in the next century to break down the Mughal Empire. Aurangzeb and his brothers carried on the wars in Southern India and in Afghánistán for their father, Shah Jahan. Shah Save for one or two expeditions, the Emperor lived a magJahan's buildings. nificent life in the north of India. At Agra he raised the Taj Mahal. exquisite mausoleum of the Táj Mahál, a dream in marble, Delhi Shah Jahan's palace at Delhi. designed by Titans and finished by jewellers.1 His Pearl Mosque, the Moti Masjid, within the Agra fort is perhaps the purest and loveliest house of prayer in the world. Not content with enriching his grandfather Akbar's capital, Agra, with these and other architectural glories, he planned the re-transfer of the seat of Government to Delhi, and adorned that city with buildings of unrivalled magnificence. Its Great Mosque, or Jama Masjid, was commenced in the fourth year of his reign and completed in the tenth. The palace at Delhi, now the fort, covered a vast parallelogram, 1600 feet by 3200, with exquisite and sumptuous buildings in marble and fine stone. A deeply-recessed portal leads into a vaulted hall, rising two storeys like the nave of a gigantic Gothic cathedral, 375 feet in length; the noblest entrance,' says the historian of architecture, to any existing palace.'2 The Diwán-i-Khás, or Court of Private Audience, overlooks the river, a masterpiece of delicate inlaid work and poetic design. Shah Jahán spent many years of his reign at Delhi, and prepared the city for its destiny as the most magnificent capital in the world under his successor Aurangzeb. But exquisite as are its public buildings, the manly vigour of Akbar's red-stone fort at Agra, with its bold sculptures and square Hindu construction, has given place to a certain effeminate beauty in the marble structures of Shah Jahán.3 1 Shah Jahan's architectural works are admirably described in Dr. James Fergusson's Hist. Architecture, vol. iii. pp. 589-602 (ed. 1876). See also article AGRA CITY, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 2 * Fergusson's Hist. Architecture, vol. iii. p. 592. See also article DELHI CITY, The Imperial Gazetteer of India. * PROVINCES OF THE DELHI EMPIRE UNDER SHAH JAHAN, SHAH JAHAN'S REVENUES. 305 Aurang Akbar's dynasty lay under the curse of rebellious sons. As Rebellion Jahangir had risen against his most loving father, Akbar; and of Prince as Shah Jahán had mutinied against Jahángír; so Shah Jahán zeb, 1657. in his turn suffered from the intrigues and rebellions of his family. In 1658, Shah Jahán, old and worn out, fell ill; and in the following year his son Aurangzeb, after a treacherous conflict with his brethren, deposed his father, and proclaimed Shah himself Emperor in his stead. The unhappy Shah Jahan was Jahan deposed, kept in confinement for seven years, and died a State prisoner 1658. in the fort of Agra in 1666. Under Shah Jahán, the Mughal Empire attained its highest union of strength with magnificence. His son Aurangzeb revenues. added to its extent, but at the same time sowed the seeds of its decay. Akbar's land revenue of 17 millions had Shah been raised, chiefly by new conquests, to 22 millions sterling Jahan's under Shah Jahán. But this sum included Kashmir, and five Provinces in Afghánistán, some of which were lost during Sháh Jahán's reign. The land revenue of the Mughal Empire within India, under Shah Jahán, was 20 millions. The magnificence of Shah Jahan's court was the wonder of European travellers. His Peacock Throne, with its tail blazing in the shifting natural colours of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, was valued by the jeweller Tavernier at 6 millions sterling. Brought forward, 5. Daulatábád, 6. Berar, 7. Ahmadábád, 8. Bengal,. 9. Allahábád, دمة Rs. 85,000,000 13,750,000 13,750,000 13,250,000 12,500,000 10,000,000 - Mr. Edward Thomas Revenue Resources of the Mughal Empire, p. 28. 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 Total Rs. 220,000,000 VOL. VI. U Aurangzeb's AURANGZEB proclaimed himself Emperor in 1658, in the room of his imprisoned father, with the title of Alamgir, the tion, 1658. Conqueror of the Universe, and reigned until 1707. Under usurpa Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire reached its widest limits.1 But his long rule of forty-nine years merely presents on a more magnificent stage the old unhappy type of a Mughal His reign, reign. In its personal character, it commenced with his 1658-1707 rebellion against his father; consolidated itself by the murder of his brethren; and darkened to a close amid the mutinies, intrigues, and gloomy jealousies of his own sons. Its public aspects consisted of a magnificent court in Northern India; conquests of the independent Muhammadan kings in the south; and wars against the Hindu powers, which, alike in Rájputána and the Deccan, were gathering strength for the overthrow of the Mughal Empire. The chief events of the reign of Aurangzeb are summarized below. The year after his accession, he defeated and put to death his eldest brother, the noble but impetuous Dará 'Materials for Aurangzeb's reign: Sir Henry Elliot's Persian Historians, vols. vii. and viii.; Elphinstone, pp. 598–673. 2 REIGN OF AURANGZEB, 1658-1707 :— 1658. Deposition of Sháh Jahán, and usurpation of Aurangzeb. 1660. Continued struggle of Aurangzeb with his brother Shujá, who 1661. Aurangzeb executes his youngest brother, Murád, in prison. 1666. Death of the deposed Emperor, Sháh Jahán. War in the Deccan, 1667. Sivají makes peace on favourable terms with Aurangzeb, and obtains an extension of territory. Sivají levies tribute from Bijápur and Golconda. 1670. Sivají ravages Khándesh and the Deccan, and there levies for the first time chauth, or a contribution of one-fourth of the revenue. 1672. Defeat of the Mughals by the Maráthá Sivají. 1677. Aurangzeb revives the jaziah or poll-tax on non-Muhammadans. [Footnote continued on next page. |