Day - 47 | History | Consolidation of Mughal Empire - Age of Akbar | UPSC | Mr. Kishore Kumar

Hello, my dear friends. I'm Kishore Kumar. So, what we've seen so far is the Thimayun, Babur and Suri dynasties, the Mughal Empire. Before that, there was a big uproar in North India. There was a struggle for the position of North India. People were fighting with each other. Bengal, Orissa, Gujarat, Assam, Malwa, Mewar. They fought with respect to Delhi Sultanate. Why did it become weak? Why did Babur come? How many wars did he wage? How much did Umayyad suffer? Suri's interconnection. How did he capture Umayyad again? He fell in 1556. His library is called Sher Mahal. He fell there and died. That was in 1556. So, what is happening at this time? The next one to come is our King Akbar. So, who are we going to see in this video? It is with respect to the consolidation of the Mughal Empire. Or it is the age of Akbar. We are going to concentrate on the 13th chapter. So, we have to go a little ahead. We are not in 1556. Now, we are going to 1542. In 1542, during the Umayyad exile. Umayyad was in exile. That is when Akbar was born to Umayyad. Where was he born? He was born in Amarkot. He was a Rajput King. He was born and grew up there. What happens in the middle? His half-brother, Kamran. He imprisons Akbar. But he was treated well by the Kamran. This became a pretext for Umayyad to attack Kamran. In 1545, Kamran houses him. Umayyad captures Kabul. Umayyad and Akbar reunite. This happens in 1545. After 10 years, he is preparing to raid Delhi. In 1555, he captures Delhi again. He dies in 6 months. Where was Akbar when he died? He was in a place called Kallanur in Punjab. He was crowned there. When this happened in Punjab, Lahore, Akbar was watching the rebellion of the Afghans. What happens here is, The Afghan Sardars are very strong. They are very strong from Chunar to Bihar. Bihar and Bengal. The Afghan Sardars are very strong. Suri's nephew, Sikandar Suri. One of them is Sikandar Suri. His vizier or his commando. His name is Hemu Vikramaditya. Hemu Vikramaditya or Vikramaditya. He has never lost in any of the 22 battles. What he does is, He uses the events of Humayun's death as an excuse to capture Agra and Delhi. He came to power. But before he can consolidate, His name is Bairam Khan. Bairam Khan. The vizier of Humayun. What he does to Akbar is, He becomes a self-anointed vizier. Self-anointed vizier. He becomes a vizier. He is also called a vizier. Or sometimes he is called a lawyer. That is, deputy to the sultan. Or deputy to the king. What he does is, He gathers all the forces and In Panipat, Again, for Hemu Vikramaditya and Akbar, The second battle of Panipat takes place. 1556. Very very important. After the first battle of Panipat, This happens. It happens in 1526. The second battle of Panipat happens in 1556. Very very important. The first battle of Panipat Happened to whom? Tell us in the comments. Now, what happens in this is, Hemu Vikramaditya fights very well. Everything is ok. At the last moment, When he is about to win, An arrow falls on his eye. What happens to him is, He faints and falls down. After that, he is executed. So, again, Akbar comes to a situation where he wins his kingdom back. Ok? What happens next is, At this time, An early phase in Akbar's rule. The first four years. As a de facto ruler, When is Akbar? He comes to his kingdom in 1556. His age is only 13. 13 years and 4 months. When he comes to his kingdom as a king. What happens in the first four months? Four years. From 1556 to 1560. Whose hand is bent? Bairam Khan's hand is bent. Bairam Khan. Ok? His hand is bent. He has kept all the nobles in their positions. He has not allowed anyone to rebel. Ok? Many powerful nobles in the course of action are his enemies. What happens to him is, He becomes very violent. We are everything. If we say, the king has to listen. To such an extent, he becomes an opponent. Akbar does not like this at all. So, what Akbar does is, He goes hunting on the pretext of hunting. He goes hunting on the pretext of hunting. He leaves Agra and goes straight to Delhi. He leaves Agra and goes straight to Delhi. After going to Delhi, he becomes a ferman. Ferman means royal order. He becomes a ferman. Because, Bairam Khan has to leave his position. Because, He has to expose Bairam Khan's surrender to all nobles. He gives an order that I am the king I am accepted by all. He gives an order publicly that I am the king I am accepted by all. Many people were teasing him. He couldn't accept it because he was a proud noble. He couldn't accept it immediately. So he started a rebellion. His rebellion kept the kingdom busy for 6 months. After that he came to his senses and reconciled with Akbar. Akbar gave him 3 choices. He could be in the army or in the court or he could go to Mecca. He decided to go to Mecca. On the way, he was killed by an Afghan in Gujarat. After he was killed, his wife, Bairam Khan's wife, was adopted by Akbar. He brought her up like his own son. His name is Abdur Rahim Khaan-e-Khaan. Next was the next level of nobility. He sent Bairam Khan out. After that, there was another level of nobility. Who was that nobility? Maham Anga. Maham Anga was Akbar's foster mother. She was the one who gave milk to Akbar. Initially, this went on for 2-3 years. According to her, the kingdom is a petticoat government. The kingdom is run from the harem, not from the court. During this period. In her influence, Akbar saw her as his own mother. He listened to her for her respect. But that was exploited by her and her relatives. Akbar gradually left her too. There is an episode. His son. His name is Adham Khan. His son's name is Adham Khan. He goes to Malwa. Malwa is a province. He goes on a ride in this province. He goes on a ride with his army. The king of Malwa is called Baaz Bahadur. Baaz Bahadur. He captures him. But he mistreats the nobles and his wife. The lady commits suicide. This is what is revealed. Akbar remains silent. But he wants to make him a vizier. Mahamanga says that Akbar cannot do it. He kills a temporary vizier. Akbar gets very angry. He pushes him from the parapet. He does not kill him once. He kills him 4-5 times. Mahamanga's plan was to make his son a vizier. After his son's death, she leaves politics. Initial phase of the rebellion and the nobility. This is important. The next rebellion is the Uzbek nobility. They create a big problem. The Uzbek nobility send out the Afghan nobility. Humayun sends out the Uzbek nobility. They create a rebellion. Akbar kills them too. He pardons them many times. If he cannot do it again, he kills them all. This happens till 1567. He has to handle the internal rebellions for 10 years. He is going to consolidate. He is going to expand the empire. He is going to concentrate on the administrative part of the empire. We will see what all that is. What should you remember about Akbar? Why is he great? First is his expansion policy. He expands in many places. We will see what all that is. Next is his Rajput policy. Rajput policy is one of the expansion policies. It is an important policy. We will see it separately. Next is his religious policy. His administrative policy. These are the four policies that we need to know about Akbar. We will see each policy separately. First is his expansion policy. His expansion policy includes Rajputna states. Rajputna states. Then Gujarat. Then Chunar, Bihar and Bengal. Then Kashmir. He already has Kabul and Kandahar. Then Deccan. In Deccan, he has Kandesh, Gujarat and Rajputna states. Except Mewar. Except Mewar, he has Rajputna states, Kabul, Kashmir, Chunar and Bengal. He has everything. At the height of Akbar, his province was divided into 12 Subahs. 12 Subahs. In his period, he did not do any administrative work. Subahs, Sarkar and Pargana. It was like this. He had 12 Subahs. That is how much he was involved in his expansion policy. What is important in his expansion policy is his Rajput policy. Rajput policy. He was born and raised in a Rajput family. In his early life, he was exposed to the Rajput way of life. He is fond of their valor. They will not go against their promises. They were a warrior class. He understood all this. He understood all this at a young age. He was also a broad minded person. He was not a narrow religious minded person. He was very close to the Rajput people. From the time of his expansion in 1556, he was close to 72 years of his kingdom. He regarded them as his local allies. He was very close to them. That's all. What you have to do is, You have to accept my Zuzurnati. I will give you complete internal freedom. Complete internal freedom. I will give you complete internal freedom. You have religious freedom, internal freedom and hereditary rights. What you have to do is, You have to come and function under me. That's all. The next important thing is, You have to fight for me against the Rajput states nearby. He used the expansion policy of the local allies. Initially, there were people like Amber. The technique he used for this was, Marriage alliances. Marriage alliances and broad religious policy. Broad religious policy. Heavy administrative policy. Administrative policy. He was involved in all these. As far as alliances are concerned, Amber, the daughter of King Birmal of Rajput state, He married her daughter. His son's name is Bhagwan Das. His grandson's name is Mansingh. They all got a high position in the Mughal military. He got a high position in Baramal as Mir Saman. He was an official of correspondence. He had to take care of the harem. He had to make sure that everything was in place. He was in such a high position. So, marriage alliances. Then, broad religious policies. Marriage alliances were not enough. Even the states that did not have marriage alliances, For example, Ranthambore. Ranthambore. They were all in that state. He was also involved in administrative policies. Who was there in Mewar at that time? Rana of Mewar. Rana Pratap. He was his contemporary in 1572. In 1572, Akbar sent many envoys to Mewar. But, he did not care. So, except Rana of Mewar, everyone else was in Mewar. They came as local allies. Jaisalmer and Bikaner. Many Rajput provinces came as local allies to the Mughal Empire. Second, From 1572 to 1578, They were used as a sword arm. Sword arm. Sword arm of empire. Not only inside, Even for expansion, Rajput princes were used. For example, After 1557, In 1575, Battle of Haldighathi. In 1575, After that, Until 1781, Battle of Haldighathi. It was between Raja Mansingh. Raja Mansingh Versus Rana Pratap. Rana Pratap and Raja Mansingh. Battle of Haldighathi was the last battle which Rana fought. In the open terrain. After that, He goes into the guerilla warfare. He was used for expansion. After that, Mansingh was sent for Bengal campaign. He was sent for Bihar campaign. Similarly, Bhagavan Das was sent for Kashmir campaign. He was sent for many places. He was used as a sword arm. Next, After 1578, Till the death of Akbar. Until 1605. They were called as Equal partners. Equal partners of empire. Many positions like Subedar. Subedar or Governor. Governor postings were given. Mansabdari rank was 7000. 7000 Zat. Mansabdari was given to the Mansingh. Mansingh was given. So, they were They have become the equal partners of the empire. After 1778. So, what happens due to this alliance? It becomes a win-win situation for both the parties. Because, they cannot stand against a big Mughal empire. So, they surrender. But not their pride. With their pride, they are surrendering. So, they are also becoming the equal partners of the Mughal empire. So, not only their area, They get the Mansabdari of many important positions. They get the Jagirdari. So, they are increasing their wealth. Rajputs are increasing their wealth. What do they get? They get their value. Akbar gets their fighting skill. They get more money. They get their pride. So, they can rule their area as per their wish. So, this is called the Akbar's Rajput policy. Which is mainly the backbone of expansion. This is the backbone of expansion of Akbar. The next important policy is It is Akbar's religious policy. Akbar's religious policy. Akbar is a broad-minded person. So, he does not get involved in the local parochial activities. Quasis do not like this. Ulemas do not like this. But, he does not care about Ulemas. Because, he is a strong person. Strong personality. In which episode can we know this? If we know that someone is fighting against him, Once he has made up his mind, There is no returning back. If I say, it should happen. That's all. It is done. But, if they realize their mistake from that side, If they ask for forgiveness, He has not failed to forgive. So, he is that kind of a person. So, these are the initial characters of Akbar. So, according to the religious policy, He is a broad-minded person. His Hindu wives, He does not interfere in their personal matters. So, this is another important thing. The next important thing is, With respect to religious policy, He does three reforms. First, he is abolishing Jizya tax. Jizya tax. Abolishing the Jizya tax. After that, he is also abolishing the pilgrimage tax. Pilgrimage tax. If we want to go to a holy place, The kings before this, They had to pay tax to Hindus, Jains or Buddhists. So, he is abolishing the tax as well. Similarly, If someone is caught as a prisoner of war, Before this, they had a forced conversion. Forced conversion. He is abolishing this forced conversion. So, abolishing this forced conversion, We can easily see it in Rajput policy. That is why, He is telling us to stay in our religion. Then, we can surrender to him. That's all. He is a broad minded personality in religious policy. After that, how his religious policy changes is, He gets curious about the other religions. He gets curious. After that, what he does is, He is building a city near Agra. It is called Fatehpur Sikri. Fatehpur Sikri. In this Fatehpur Sikri, He is building a place called as Ibadath Gana. Ibadath Gana. In this Ibadath Gana, He is sending many religious scholars inside. After sending them inside, He is having discussions with them. In Ibadath Gana, He is having discussions with many religious personalities. They are coming from Hinduism, They are coming from Zoroastrianism, They are coming from Muslim Ulemas, He is sending two Portuguese people. Many people are having discussions. He is listening to the discussions. When he is listening, He is able to differentiate between right and wrong. Because, everyone wants to prove their own truth. They want to prove their religion is the greatest. That is the first thing. The second thing is, Every established religion has a small truth. He understands both of these. He understands that there is a commonality. What he does from this is, There is a doctrine he is deriving. Which is called as Sul Aikul. Sul Aikul means, Universal Peace. All religions say the same thing. It is nothing but Universal Peace. The next thing he does is, He is also launching his own religion. After that, he cancels the Ibadath Gana discussions. Because, it is turning into an ugly phase. No one wants to prove their own truth. He wants to prove the truth of their own religion. So, he cancels the Ibadath Gana. He says, Ibadath Gana will never happen again. But, what he does using the gained knowledge is, He wants to launch his own religion. He is launching a religion with a broader mindset. It is called as, Thahuth Hai Ilahi. Thahuth Hai Ilahi. I have given all these in my book. You can check it out. Or, you can check it out in our PPT. But, it is not like a story in PPT. That is why I am telling it in an organized way. If you read the PPT after watching this story, you will understand. So, Thahuth Hai Ilahi means, Divine Monotheism. Divine Monotheism. He is launching Divine Monotheism. He is the Guru. He is the religious head. Whoever you want to join, you can join. He does not force anyone. Whoever you want to join, you can join. Mansingh did not join. He said, I will stay in Hinduism. He did not force anyone. This is an important thing. This is a religious policy. This is a broader religious policy. He is abolishing these three things. He is launching Thahuth Hai Ilahi, Divine Monotheism. He is following it in detail. Universal Peace. This is also very important. Next, what is important is, it is with respect to his religious policy. Now, administrative policy. Expansion policy, Rajput policy, religious policy. Now, administrative policy. In administrative policy, there are two things. One is his land revenue. Land revenue settlement. Next is his military. Military reforms. Both of these are important. In land revenue settlement, what he is doing is, he wants to assess the land first. He wants to go for land revenue according to the quality. He is following, majorly following Sersa Suri's land revenue settlement. He is fixing the crop rate. To fix the rate, what Sersa Suri is doing is, he is following a central list. Centralized list. For a year, he is selling a centralized list. So, capital also has the same amount of money. Capital also has the same amount of money. Town also has the same amount of money. Villages also have the same amount of money. So, what happens is, people in capital give more money. Because there is more inflation. Even now, in urban area, the value of a product will be more. If you go to the same village, the value of that product will be less. Ok? What he is doing in this system is, he wants to fix it. How does he do it? First, he is doing annual assessment. In annual assessment, Kusbos, the local hereditary land owners, what they have to do is, they have to say, what is the price in this land. They have to say, what is the price in this land. But, no one is telling the truth. They are saying, what is the price in this land. Only then, we will get tax. So, what he is doing is, there are officers called Corios. He is correcting them. When he corrects them, they are doing wrong. So, he is implementing a system called as Aini Dasala. Dasala means 10 years. Ok? 10 years. So, what he is doing is, various crops, 10 years, how much is the yield, how much is the yield. He is putting an average in that. In that average, what he is doing is, he is settling it as a land tax. The name of this system is Aini Dasala. Ok? Without this, there are many other systems. What are those systems? They are called as Gala Bakshi or Batai system. This is, after the ploughing is done, now you have ploughed the crop, the crop is ploughed, then you cut it, then you tie a knot. When you tie a knot, from the knot, you are paying a part of the tax. That is called as Bati. For Dasala, this should be paid in cash. This Bati, the authorities can decide how to pay the tax. Whether I am going to pay tax through Dasala system or Batai system. You can decide like this. If you decide like this, in Batai system, you can pay in cash or crop. After that, there is a system called Nask or Kankuth system. What is this? Just by looking at it, up to this point, in this land, up to this point, you can pay the tax. This is called as Assessment or Kankuth. After that, what does he do with the land? He classifies it. He classifies the land into four types. The land that is ploughed for a year is called Polaj. The land that is ploughed for a year is called Paratai land. Fallow land. If it is not ploughed for 2-3 years, then it is called Chachar land. If it is not ploughed for more than that, then it is called Banjar land. Why is it classified like this? For Polaj land, it is classified as tax. For Patari land, if it is ploughed for next year, it is classified as Polaj land. For Charchar land, Banjar land is classified as Uncultivated land. What do they do for that? For 5-8 years, they keep the tax very low. After that, they go for the original tax rates. So, they are encouraging to make the uncultivated lands to be cultivated. Next, what does he do? He gives loans to his peasants. He tells them to give loans to his peasants. The returns of the Minister should be low. He tells them not to be torture. He tells the Amils to be parental. land revenue settlement. After that we saw military settlement. In military, he is introducing a system called as Mansabdari system. Mansabdari system. Initially, Mansabdars were not of two ranks. In 1592, they were divided into two ranks. Two ranks are Mansabdars. They are both acting as a military and civil officers. Military officers as well as civilian officers. Both are called Mansabdars. According to this, there are two ranks. Zot rank and Savar rank. Zot rank is nothing but his personal rank. Personal rank. Savar rank is the number of cavalrymen. Savar rank is the number of cavalrymen they command. There were three categories. The number of Zot is equal to Savar. They are the first category. The highest Zot is equal to 7000. 7000, 5000, 7000. The Zot rank is equal to the number of Savars. 5000 Savars they are maintaining. This is the first category. Zot rank is 5000. But they are maintaining 3000 Savars. This is the second category. More than half of the Savar. Zot rank is 5000. They are maintaining 1000 Savars. This is the third category. There were three categories in each rank. He has also followed 10-20 rule. 10-20 rule means, 10 cavalrymen must have 20 horses. This is the 10-20 rule. In the Jagangir period, Dhu Aspa, C Aspa system was followed. Dhu Aspa, C Aspa system. Two horses for one cavalryman. This is the 10-20 formula. Until this formula was good, Mansabdari system was very powerful. For this formula, the horses must be in good condition. So, he is branding the horses. Dog system and Chera system. He is re-establishing it. Since there should not be any strict mentality, he is using mixed contingent. In one contingent, there will be Mughals, Mongolians, Pathanians, Hindustanians, Arabs, Turkish, etc. They will not be narrow minded. They will not be loyal to one person. They all will be loyal to the king. He is using mixed contingent. Next, he introduces Jahirdari system. Mansabdari system has to pay salaries. Salaries are paid in two ways. Either in cash or in land. In land, the land is equal to the cash. It is the assessed land. The name of the land is Jahir. Mansabdari maintains it. The name of the land is Jahirdari. This system is introduced in his period. This is an important military system. Rajput policy, religious policy, administrative policies with respect to land revenue, especially Dasala. His military policy, Mansabdari. All these are the reasons for his success. If you look at his campaign, initially, he started the internal rebellion. Then he expanded to Gujarat. Then he expanded to Bengal and Bihar. Then he expanded to Kashmir and Kabul. He is again re-establishing the scientific frontier in the north-west of India. He is maintaining it till Kabul. He is also maintaining Kashmir. He is ensuring the silk route and trade route. Another important thing is, Akbar is involved in social reforms. It is not an ordinary thing. Once upon a time, a Rajput prince fell from his balcony and died. He would ask his daughters not to disturb Sathya. To ban Sathya, he would ask her not to share the bed with her husband. Similarly, he would ask her not to marry many times. For the first wife, it is not a rule, but an insistence to get married Next, he is raising the marriage age. He is raising it to 14 for women and 16 for boys. He is reducing drinking as much as possible. All these are important social reforms. All these did not succeed. Why is it partially successful? The reason is, this cannot be done by a single person. It has to be done as a society. Only then it can be done. Is it clear? That is what they think. Next, all these are slightly unsuccessful. to say something else, his other important post, post under Akbar. The post under Akbar is, the position of the vizier is very important. After the king, the vizier. After the vizier, it is like a ceremonial post. In Akbar's period, instead of calling him a vizier, the term Akbar prefers is, Diwan-i-Ala or Diwan, those who are responsible for the revenue. He makes the vizier like a finance minister. The next important person is, in Akbar's period, Mir Bakshi, who is the commander of the forces. Commander of the forces, Mir Bakshi. He is the head of nobility, not the vizier during the Mughals. Mir Bakshi is the head of nobility. He is the one who recommends, he or she, he only recommends, recommends the Mansab's appointment. Let it be for promotion. And Mansabdari, is based on the merit system. Merit. Whoever it is, the lowest rank is, Zot is 10. The highest can go up to 7000. Or 5000. 7000 is very special for them. Maximum everyone can go up to 5000. And from 10, no matter how many people show their merit, they can go up to 5000. That much it has been opened. Okay. Next is, He is also the head of, Mir Bakshi is the head of intelligence department also. The intelligence officers are called Barijs. News reporters are called Vakyanavis. He is the head for this also. After that, the next important post is called as Mir Saman. Who is the head of imperial household. He takes care of imperial households. Supply provisions, and all other things. Next is Chief Quazi. Chief Justice. Chief Justice is also a very important post. He is also the head for charitable religious endowments. When he is the head, he is called as Chief Sadar. Sadar Usadar. He is also called as Chief Sadar. Okay. What he does is, he divides his land in three ways. He divides it in three ways. One is Kalsi. Kalsi land. Jaheer land. Imam land. Why Imam? To give religious endowments. For religious purpose, he gives lands as Inaam. That is why, we talk about Inaam. Inaam land. He gives this to everyone. Regarding the religious, he gives this to everyone. Similarly, Hindus give Sanath. Sanaths. Inaam land, Sanath land. He gives this to everyone. He does two important things. First is broad. He gives this to everyone. Second thing is, he gives half of the land as wasteland. Cultivable wasteland. What is cultivable wasteland? Pattai. He gives Pattai land. Because, he wants to expand the cultivation. Okay. I told you that 12 Subahs are divided. Okay. In each Subah, there will be a Governor, Mirbakshi, Vakyanavis, Barids. Everyone will be in the set of offices. So, it will be checks and balances. Used as checks and balances among each other. No one should become a big shot. Okay. Next important thing is, with respect to Akbar, it is his architecture. His patronage. His patronage on art and architecture. Okay. When it comes to patronage on art and architecture, you should know 2-3 important buildings. Buildings built during Akbar's time. First one is, Agra Fort. You have to know about it. He mainly uses red sandstones. Agra's Red Fort. Delhi's Red Fort is built by Sajaghan. Agra's Red Fort is built by Akbar. Agra Red Fort. Next important building is, his Pathepur Sikri. In Pathepur Sikri, there is a building. That is, Salim Chishti. Sheikh Salim Chishti's mausoleum. That alone is built in white marble. In Pathepur Sikri. Everything else is built in red sandstone. Okay. Some of the famous buildings are Panchmahal. Panchmahal is this. See, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Panchmahal. Next one is, its gateway. Bulandharvasa. This is called Bulandharvasa. That is, if there is a dome, if you cut it in half, you get a shape. That is its shape. If you cut it in half, you get a shape. That is its shape. This is Bulandharvasa. It means victory door. Victory for what? Victory for Gujarat's victory. Some people say. Some people say, it was built for the victory in Deccan. Maximum, it was built for Gujarat's victory. Okay. In Pathepur Sikri, it was built in 1570s. Later, it was abandoned due to lack of water. It was built near Agra. Pathepur Sikri. This is also very important. Next one is, it was built as a temple. Neelkanth Temple. Many of you may not have heard about it. It was built in Mandu. Neelkanth Temple. It is a Shiva temple which is built based on the Mohal architecture. Neelkanth Temple in Mandu. So, I hope you have understood about Akbar. In the next class, we will see, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb, climax, disintegration of the Mughal Empire and Marathas. We will see all these in two classes. We will see comprehensively. I hope this class was comprehensive. So, watch it. If you don't understand anything, ask me. If you have any doubts, I will clarify. Revise it. Share the video. Enjoy life. Thank you. Be happy.