Akbar has been seen as one of the greatest rulers of the Mughal dynasty in India. He came to the ... more Akbar has been seen as one of the greatest rulers of the Mughal dynasty in India. He came to the throne in 1556 upon the death of his father Humayun. The time at which he ascended the throne was a particularly unstable period, when the still developing Mughal state was confronting a great deal of problems – both political and religious. The challenges came not only from the ruling groups but also from indigenous forces in Hindustan. Akbar has been credited with the establishment of the institutional basis of the state and the crystallization of its ideological and political stance. Before we analyse the challenges faced by Akbar, it is helpful to look at the primary contemporary sources and how they influence our perception of Akbar. Abul Fazl's Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari are the two primary accounts giving what can essentially be seen as the official position on various affairs. Abul Fazl was in favour of Akbar's ideology and being the court chronicler has presented him in a very positive light. As a corrective to Fazl's almost eulogical work is Abdul Qadir Badauni's Muntakhab-ut-tawarikh. Badauni was also at Akbar's court, but he was a man of orthodox beliefs, who did not endorse Akbar's liberal ideology and is hence overly critical of his policies. There are however many things mentioned in his account like the Mahzarnama, which are not present in Badauni, thereby giving us a complete picture of Akbar. Another source is Nizamuddin Ahmad's Tabaqat-i-akbari. We also have the accounts of the Jesuit missionaries at Akbar's court. Their accounts however are restricted due to their lack of local knowledge. Also, they held a grudge against Akbar who never promoted Christianity the way they would have expected him to. Hence, they too look upon his policies with a prejudiced eye. We need to study these sources in conjunction in order to arrive at a more or less accurate picture of the time. When Akbar ascended the throne at Kalanaur on 14 February, 1556, he had only a tenuous hold on the Punjab and the Delhi-Agra area. What can be called Mughal political patterns and institutions developed during the first half of Akbar's reign. Babur had brought the Timurid dynasty to India but could not develop distinctively Mughal institutions, practices, and political and cultural styles. Akbar's reign saw the development of a new set of administrative institutions, a new conception of kingship and the constitution of government, a new military system, and new norms of political behaviour. Douglas Streusand believes that evolution of Mughal institutions under Akbar are characterized by the element of compromise. The regime survived because it satisfied both the ruler and the members of the political elite. It represented a compromise between the ideals represented in the rituals and texts which propounded the constitution and economic and military realities, and also between the desires and expectations of the ruler and the nobility. Akbar created the Mughal Empire from two sets of components, what he found in Hindustan and what his father had brought with him from Central Asia. He synthesized these two legacies to produce a distinctly Mughal
The evolution of relations between the Mughals and the Rajputs during the reign of Akbar can be p... more The evolution of relations between the Mughals and the Rajputs during the reign of Akbar can be placed within more than one historical context. They can be seen in terms of the expansion of Mughal territorial control and State power, the evolution of Akbari religious policy, and the mutual need for some kind of a political accomodation on the part of both the Rajputs and the Mughals. It is also possible to look at the obverse of this, as Norman Ziegler has done, and look at the constitution of Rajput identity in the context of Mughal suzerainty. However, on the whole, historiographical focus on this has not been adequate. The study of Mughal-Rajput relations is particularly important because it illustrates, among other things, the incorporation of a distinct – though not homogeneous – cultural group within the larger matrix of Mughal state power, and this involved many different levels of control and accomodation. The identity of the Rajputs is by no means unambiguous, barring the fact of geographical location – in and around Rajputana. The question of the origins of the Rajput principalities and families has remained a matter of controversy. Among recent explorations of Rajput identity is an extremely rich study by Kolff, who points to certain otherwise neglected features of the evolution of Rajput identity, as it came to be understood in the Mughal period. Kolff locates the origins of this in the transition made by pastoralist bands of fighters to a measure of landed status between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries. Ties of solidarity were constructed between these kin groups, and they came to occupy the titlèRajput' (literally`son of a king'). The emphasis on genealogy as a form of legitimation in the Mughal state, argues Kolff, provided a context for the construction of elaborate, caste-based (specifically kshatriya) origin myths, replacing the open-status and socially mobile nature of Rajput hierarchies. Unilineal kin bodies came to be recognized as the sole constituents of Rajput social identity. However, Kolff argues that a variety of North Indian peasant groups and tribal elites, often constituting a mobile pastoralist soldiery, kept alive the traditions of the older Rajput character. Using North Indian folk poetry and ballads as a source, Kolff highlights the importance of military service (naukari) as one of the loci of Rajput identity, and thus places this history within the wider context of the evolution of the military labour market in North India. Certain geo-political factors spurred the Mughal rulers to seek lasting arrangements with the Rajputs. First, Rajputana was strategically located: if not controlled from the Centre, it might make the Mughal state vulnerable to attacks both from the North West Frontier and from Malwa. Second, the areas towards the north and south of Rajputana were fertile, and potentially a source of substantial revenue. This area was criss-crossed by important trade routes running between Gujarat and the north Indian plain. Finally, Rajputana also contained a number of formidable forts, legendary for their capacity to withstand sieges, such as Chittor and Ranthambhor. According to many historians, including J.F Richards, the (generally) accomodative and
Akbar has been seen as one of the greatest rulers of the Mughal dynasty in India. He came to the ... more Akbar has been seen as one of the greatest rulers of the Mughal dynasty in India. He came to the throne in 1556 upon the death of his father Humayun. The time at which he ascended the throne was a particularly unstable period, when the still developing Mughal state was confronting a great deal of problems – both political and religious. The challenges came not only from the ruling groups but also from indigenous forces in Hindustan. Akbar has been credited with the establishment of the institutional basis of the state and the crystallization of its ideological and political stance. Before we analyse the challenges faced by Akbar, it is helpful to look at the primary contemporary sources and how they influence our perception of Akbar. Abul Fazl's Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari are the two primary accounts giving what can essentially be seen as the official position on various affairs. Abul Fazl was in favour of Akbar's ideology and being the court chronicler has presented him in a very positive light. As a corrective to Fazl's almost eulogical work is Abdul Qadir Badauni's Muntakhab-ut-tawarikh. Badauni was also at Akbar's court, but he was a man of orthodox beliefs, who did not endorse Akbar's liberal ideology and is hence overly critical of his policies. There are however many things mentioned in his account like the Mahzarnama, which are not present in Badauni, thereby giving us a complete picture of Akbar. Another source is Nizamuddin Ahmad's Tabaqat-i-akbari. We also have the accounts of the Jesuit missionaries at Akbar's court. Their accounts however are restricted due to their lack of local knowledge. Also, they held a grudge against Akbar who never promoted Christianity the way they would have expected him to. Hence, they too look upon his policies with a prejudiced eye. We need to study these sources in conjunction in order to arrive at a more or less accurate picture of the time. When Akbar ascended the throne at Kalanaur on 14 February, 1556, he had only a tenuous hold on the Punjab and the Delhi-Agra area. What can be called Mughal political patterns and institutions developed during the first half of Akbar's reign. Babur had brought the Timurid dynasty to India but could not develop distinctively Mughal institutions, practices, and political and cultural styles. Akbar's reign saw the development of a new set of administrative institutions, a new conception of kingship and the constitution of government, a new military system, and new norms of political behaviour. Douglas Streusand believes that evolution of Mughal institutions under Akbar are characterized by the element of compromise. The regime survived because it satisfied both the ruler and the members of the political elite. It represented a compromise between the ideals represented in the rituals and texts which propounded the constitution and economic and military realities, and also between the desires and expectations of the ruler and the nobility. Akbar created the Mughal Empire from two sets of components, what he found in Hindustan and what his father had brought with him from Central Asia. He synthesized these two legacies to produce a distinctly Mughal
The evolution of relations between the Mughals and the Rajputs during the reign of Akbar can be p... more The evolution of relations between the Mughals and the Rajputs during the reign of Akbar can be placed within more than one historical context. They can be seen in terms of the expansion of Mughal territorial control and State power, the evolution of Akbari religious policy, and the mutual need for some kind of a political accomodation on the part of both the Rajputs and the Mughals. It is also possible to look at the obverse of this, as Norman Ziegler has done, and look at the constitution of Rajput identity in the context of Mughal suzerainty. However, on the whole, historiographical focus on this has not been adequate. The study of Mughal-Rajput relations is particularly important because it illustrates, among other things, the incorporation of a distinct – though not homogeneous – cultural group within the larger matrix of Mughal state power, and this involved many different levels of control and accomodation. The identity of the Rajputs is by no means unambiguous, barring the fact of geographical location – in and around Rajputana. The question of the origins of the Rajput principalities and families has remained a matter of controversy. Among recent explorations of Rajput identity is an extremely rich study by Kolff, who points to certain otherwise neglected features of the evolution of Rajput identity, as it came to be understood in the Mughal period. Kolff locates the origins of this in the transition made by pastoralist bands of fighters to a measure of landed status between the thirteenth and the fifteenth centuries. Ties of solidarity were constructed between these kin groups, and they came to occupy the titlèRajput' (literally`son of a king'). The emphasis on genealogy as a form of legitimation in the Mughal state, argues Kolff, provided a context for the construction of elaborate, caste-based (specifically kshatriya) origin myths, replacing the open-status and socially mobile nature of Rajput hierarchies. Unilineal kin bodies came to be recognized as the sole constituents of Rajput social identity. However, Kolff argues that a variety of North Indian peasant groups and tribal elites, often constituting a mobile pastoralist soldiery, kept alive the traditions of the older Rajput character. Using North Indian folk poetry and ballads as a source, Kolff highlights the importance of military service (naukari) as one of the loci of Rajput identity, and thus places this history within the wider context of the evolution of the military labour market in North India. Certain geo-political factors spurred the Mughal rulers to seek lasting arrangements with the Rajputs. First, Rajputana was strategically located: if not controlled from the Centre, it might make the Mughal state vulnerable to attacks both from the North West Frontier and from Malwa. Second, the areas towards the north and south of Rajputana were fertile, and potentially a source of substantial revenue. This area was criss-crossed by important trade routes running between Gujarat and the north Indian plain. Finally, Rajputana also contained a number of formidable forts, legendary for their capacity to withstand sieges, such as Chittor and Ranthambhor. According to many historians, including J.F Richards, the (generally) accomodative and
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