Akbar also ended a tax ( jizya ) that had been imposed on non-Muslims.
This discriminatory tax had been much resented, and ending it was a
popular move.
An innovation was the amount of autonomy he allowed to the provinces.
For example, non-Muslimswere not forced to obey Islamic law (as was
the case in many Islamic lands), and Hindus were allowed to regulate
themselves through their own law and institutions.
Akbar and Godism
Akbar took the policy of religious toleration even further by breaking
with conventional Islam.
The Emperor proclaimed an entirely new state religion of 'God-ism' (
Din-i-ilahi ) - a jumble of Islamic, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist
teaching with himself as deity. It never spread beyond his court and
died when he did.
Fatehpur Sikri was the new capital built by Akbar, as a part of his
attempt to absorb other religions into Islam. Fatehpur Sikri is a
synthesis of Hindu and Islamic architecture .
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Jahangir and Jahan
Jahangir
Akbar's son, Emperor Jahangir, readopted Islam as the state religion
and continued the policy of religious toleration. His court included
large numbers of Indian Hindus,Persian Shi'a and Sufis and members of
local heterodox Islamic sects.
Jahangir also began building the magnificent monuments and gardens by
which the Mughals are chiefly remembered today, importing hundreds of
Persian architects to build palaces and create magnificent gardens.
Jahangir's approach was typified by the development of Urdu as the
official language of Empire. Urdu uses an Arabic script, but Persian
vocabulary and Hindi grammatical structure.
Jahan
The architectural achievements of the Mughals peaked between 1592 and
1666, during the reign of Jahangir's successor Jahan.
The Taj Mahal, commissioned by Emperor Jahan, marks the apex of the
Mughal Empire ©
Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal marks the apex of the
Mughal Empire; it symbolises stability, power and confidence.
The building is a mausoleum built by Jahanfor his wife Mumtaz and
ithas come to symbolise the love between two people.
Jahan's selection of white marble and the overall concept and design
of the mausoleum give the building great power and majesty.
Jahan brought together fresh ideas in the creation of the Taj. Many of
the skilled craftsmen involvedin the construction were drawn from the
empire. Many also came from other parts of the Islamic world -
calligraphers fromShiraz, finial makers from Samrkand, and stone and
flower cutters from Bukhara.
By Jahan's period the capital had moved to the Red Fort in Delhi,
putting the Fort at the heart of Mughal power. As if to confirm it,
Jahan had these lines inscribed there: "If there is Paradiseon earth,
it is here, it is here."
Paradise it may have been, but it was a pricey paradise. The money
Jahan spent on buildings and on various military projects emptied his
treasury and he was forced to raise taxes, which aggravated the people
of the empire.
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Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Jahan's son Aurangzeb was the last great Mughal Emperor.
Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb in Agrais considered a landmark in Mughal architecture ©
History's verdict on Aurangzeb largely depends on who's writingit;
Muslim or Hindu.
Aurangzeb ruled for nearly 50 years. He came to the throne after
imprisoning his father andhaving his older brother killed.
He was a strong leader, whose conquests expanded the Mughal Empire to
its greatest size.
Aurangzeb was a very observant and religious Muslim who ended the
policy of religious tolerance followed by earlier emperors.
He no longer allowed the Hindu community to live under their own laws
and customs, but imposed Sharia law (Islamic law) over the whole
empire.
Thousands of Hindu temples and shrines were torn down and a punitive
tax on Hindu subjects wasre-imposed.
In the last decades of the seventeenth century Aurangzeb invaded the
Hindu kingdoms in centraland southern India, conquering much
territoryand taking many slaves.
Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire reached the peak of its military
power, but the rule was unstable. This was partly because of the
hostility that Aurangazeb's intolerance and taxation inspired in the
population,but also because the empire had simply become to big to be
successfully governed.
The Muslim Governer of Hydrabad in southern India rebelled and
established a separate Shi'a state; he also reintroduced religious
toleration.
The Hindu kingdoms also fought back, often supported by the French and
the British, who used them to tighten their grip on the sub-continent.
The establishment of a Hindu Marathi Empire in southern India cut off
the Mughal state to the south.The great Mughal city of Calcutta came
under the control of the east India company in 1696 and in the decades
that followedEuropeans and European -backed by Hindu princes conquered
most of the Mughal territory.
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