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Shir shah had the basis for the administration and organization of an imperial state, spadework from

which the Mughals were to profit.

Akbar , the son of humayun, was enthroned at the age of fourteen and ruled until 1605. Called

rightly the Great(akbar), he became the most important ruler of the Mughal dynasty. With the

support of highly capable nobles, in particular his friend the liberal thinker ant authoe Abul Fazl

Allami, Akbar expanded the empire over the greater part of India. He brought Malwa, the Rajput

states, Gujrat, Bengal, Kashmir and Khandesh under Mughal rule and secured the northwest trontier

by recapturing Kabul and Qandahar. The latter was however to remain a bone of contention

between the Mughals and the Safawid rulers of Persia.Akbar provided India with a modernised

military aristocracy coprising Turks ,Afghans,Persian and Hindus. Nobility was not inherited but

acquired through military rank (mansab); evn the succession to the throne was not regulated by

primogeniture. All the lands in the hands of nobility belonged to the crown, and reverted to it after

the transfer or the death of the temporary landholders(jagirdars). This regulation had a certain

dampenting effect on the non-imperial architectural patronage. Akbar strove for a reconciliation of 

his Muslim and Hindu subjects, in particular in the intellectual and religious spheres. He had

outstanding works of Sanskrit literature translated into Persian and propagated an enlightenedreligiosity based on reason. His deep intellectual curiosity about religions in general also led him to

invite Jesuit missionaries to the Mughal court. On th diplomatic level Akbar had contracts with the

Safawids, zbegs (Uzbeks) and Ottomans, and even planned to send an envoy to the people to the

pope and to King Philip II of Spain.

The consolidation under Akbar provided the basis for the flourishing of the Mughal empire

during the rule of Akbars son Jahangir and his grandson Shah Jahan (pl. I). Jahangir (the World-

seizer, r. 1605-27) continued more or less on the lines of Akbar. In the last phase of his reign the

real power was in the hands of his Persian wife Nur Jahan (Light of the World) and her family her

father, Ghiyath Beg Tehrani (entitled Itimad al-Daula), who held as wazir and wakil the highest

charges of the empire, and her brother Abul Hasan Asaf Khan. Asaf Khans daughter, ArjumandBanu Begum, as Mumtaz Mahal (the Chosen One of the Palace), became famous for the

mausoleum he built for her.

Shah Jahan (the World Ruler, r. 1628-58) was only able to succeed to the throne through

the ruthless machinations of Asaf Khan. For the first time other pretenders to the throne were

eliminated through murder the Mughals had lost the moral standards of their first hour. The most

prominent victim of Shah Jahans ambition historian Kanbo as a rightful means to secure the

succession and to save the country from turmoil. The Mughal Empire did indeed experience its

phase of greatest prosperity and stability under the rule of Shah Jahan. His ambition to extend

Mughal power further north to Balkh and Badakhan, however, ended in failure. Shah Jahans later

reign was already over shadowed by the first signs of decline. After an illness of the emperor, his sonAurangzeb usurped power in 1658 and was waged a savage war for the succession. The sstruggle

culminated in the public execution under the pretext of heresy of his brother Dara Shukoh (the

Glory of Darius), The favourite son and designated son of Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan was imprisoned

for the rest of his life in the fort of Agra his daughter Jahanara (World Adorment) keeping him

company. Entitled Shah Begum, she had enjoyed the status of the first ladyof the realm after the

death of her mother, Mumtaz Mahal.

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