Meet the Mughals

Descended from Timur and Genghis Khan, the Mughals created one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful empires

In 1494, the 12-year-old Babur was appointed the leader of Ferghana, in Turkestan. When he was deposed by elder relatives, Babur fled south, capturing Kabul in 1504. From there, he invaded the Indian subcontinent, defeating the Sultan of Delhi’s much larger army at the Battle of Panipat in 1526, before conquering Delhi and Agra.

Descended from Genghis Khan on his maternal side, and Timur on his paternal side, Babur’s descendants would later be termed the ‘Mughals’, an Arabic and Persian corruption of ‘Mongol’. Although his son Humayun was a less capable ruler, his grandson, Akbar, who rose to the throne at just 13 years old, presided over a remarkable halfcentury of prosperity.

Backed by heavy artillery, Akbar smashed his way south of the Narmada River into the Deccan Plateau, dramatically expanding the empire with the conquests of Bengal, Gujarat and the Rajput kingdoms. Ruling over an enormous, and diverse, population, he pursued secular policies, abolishing discriminatory taxes and incorporating Hindus into the aristocracy. Akbar also incorporated local dynasties into the empire by granting them official posts, in return for recognition of his supremacy.

Reasonable tax policies helped expand the taxpayer base, making the empire fabulously wealthy, while patronage of the arts and culture created a blossoming Indo-persian tradition. Under his successor Jahangir, the empire grew increasingly stable before reaching a pinnacle under the great builder Shah Jahan, who projected Mughal wealth, prestige and power with magnificent architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal.

After Aurangzeb died, the British East India Company gradually seized control of the subcontinent, reducing the Mughals to figureheads. The dynasty finally collapsed when Babur Shah

II’S failed uprising in 1857 resulted in his exile for sedition and treason.