TLDR : Found human avarice , game of thrones captivating in madans inimitable style . Lot of interesting tid bits and takeaways captured plight of delhi over 1000 years nearly!
Review : 4 on 5 , must read for history buffs
Long version- notes
Babur
His dad was known to live and eat lavishly and came from turkish origin. His mom was direct descent of taimur and chengiz going to moguls. Babur considered himself turkish but unfortunately the empire he founded came to be called after monguls . Baburs dad fell off the terrace feeding pigeons and died. Babur at 13 became ruler of berkana (Uzbekistan) and eyed samarkand which he lost multiple times to sheybani khan. After fleeing with his mom nd some loyalists he went towards india but not before suffering numerous betrayals and losses along the way . Baburs reign esp early part was full of struggles multiple losses betrayals etc but he dint lose hope or faith in god. When ibrahim lodi was not deemed fir enough and folks from india reached our to babur - he grabbed it with both hands.
Defeated ibrahim lodi in battle of panipat and took up agra, delhi and formed his empire. He famously inspired his troops and repelled a rajput batallion. Babur again starting without much kama emded up with multiple consorts and a serial alcohol addict . He died around the same time that humayun got seriously ill . Babur warned his subjects of the ambition shown by sher kahn as then commander.
Humayun
He squandered much of what babur had by trusting nd forgiving his scheming brothers.. he trusted everyone and had a soft underbelly he was chased out of india to persia by baburs general shershah. Humayun also had fondness for opiums and could spend hours in opium dens. Humayun lacked political awareness but was definitely a warrior who did not run away from battles. Finally only a tragic turn of events gave the mantle back to mughals. Sher shah in his 5 yrs ruled india magnificently with originality- his grand trunk roads were a testament namely the 2000 mile road connecting Punjab to Bengal is still being used today. Shershah ensured great law and order and wisely divided fiefdoms to smaller sircars and held everyone accountable. He brought in transfers to govt employees to cut laxness and printed first ever silver 1 rs coin. Shershah not only built roads but put in milestone, shelters every 2 miles and dug wells. He also planted trees esp fruits so ppl can enjoy em during journeys. This wise king alas passed away in a cruel manner torn to pieces by a grenade attack - that formed lifeline for mughals to continue from where they left off . Akbar was the beneficiary. Humayun it was only fitting died at the majestic sher mandal(built by sher shah) in purana kila mahal slipping down the spiral stairs!!
Akbar
Initially he was under control out if respect for his foster mom. Maham anga had ulterior motive to advance the position for his spoilt brat of son Adham khan. He conquered malwa and mismanaged the place tried to take hostage all the beauties in harlem. Akbar did not like this and relegated him from the post of general. Adham khan wanted to rise to chief general and commander of moghal army and killed the incumbent adnan khan unaware akbar was nearby. Akbar hit him hard and ordered his execution by throwing twice from terrace. Maham anga did not survive the news and died 40 days later. Akbar showed patience in annexing most of the Rajput and gujarat territories and ensured subjects were on his side. However his patience wore thin with the famous chittoor fort. Rana uday singh the king in charge of Chittoor left 7000 brave soldiers under two amazing generals and fled to his pictureque udaipur palace in the middle of jodhpur lake. The 7000 warriors fought till last breath and only when the two generals were killed by Akbar with his guns did they lose morale and succumbed to the patient 4 month long mughal assault. This vanquish also showcased some state of the art warfare strategies of akbar employing modern rifles, guns and barrels as well as using deceptive armor systems en masse.
Post chittor falling Akbar already weary and impatient did not stand in the way of his soldiers murdering , plundering wealth of the chittoor empire and most of the insubordinates got viped out in the process only two small fiefdoms of Ranthambore and another Rajput clan signed peace treaties by marrying their daughters to Akbar.
Akbar for all his great prowess and conquests had a nagging problem , he did not produce heir to the throne till 27! He went to a famous saint salim in sikri near Delhi and he asked akbar not to worry and instead promised him heir if he brought his pregnant wife to stay in his ashram. Akbar obeying the divine word immediately got a heir who was named after the saint Salim through a rajput princess. Other sons of Akbar Murad, Thaniel were also born in Sikri .. Akbar by now shifted his capital to the Sikri area and built what was known as 'Fatehpur Sikri' which became renowned through its majestic fortress, palace construction. Akbar was also very benevolent to Hindus proclaiming himself just and equally reachable ruler for all. He even allowed Rajput princes, subjects in his palace to celebrate hindu festivals including Diwal. Akbar sometimes also allowed hindus to put tilak on his forehead much to the dismay of the holy seers. Akbar however was practical and understood india is very much a hindu majoritian state and therefore he can only conquer the hearts by accepting the opposite faith and allowing ppl to be themselves. Akbar was not entirely spared by rajputs - rana prathap singh son of uday singh fought in guerilla style and vowed to end mughals or die himself , he basically wanted to restore rajput pride and clear stain of uday singh. Prathap fought bravely repeatedly and finally died passing baton to his son amarsingh who also died fighting bravely. Akbar acknowledged the rajput warriors even hononuring the commanders killed in chittor battle with statues!! Akbar built huge palaces in fatepur sikri even building in rajput sandstone styles for birbal, Jodabhai and Thondimal.. Akbar showed great interests in sports and debate and built special places for polo, debate rooms etc. Birbal met akbar in chance circumstances called mahesh das and endeared himself to akbar for his no nonsense, witty humour style. Akbar nama was written by akbars trusted deputy abul faizal who kept diligent notes on everyday things. Akbar for all his wisdom and decision making was actually illiterate most historians agree that kept akbar on his toes always listening intently from everyone and able to grasp things in a flash . Not only that akbar ensured experts ran all the key areas with him managing them. Akbar abandoned all his hard work at Fatepur sikri and left to Agra as a capital again in 15 years perhaps coinciding with death of the seer salman. Jahangir had mixed childhood under akbar with him blowing hot and cold. Akbar nd birbal had many interesting memories together and birbal certainly made akbar wiser . In fact akbar started enjoying learning abour other religions, he commenced healthy debates and formed his own tolerent religion din i ilahi which bombed. Birbal meanwhile suffered a very cruel death injured then beheaded by afghan army in north west expedition..akbar first time recounts abdul faizal mourned and suffered for two days... his vengeance was swift and brutal to afghans.
Jehangir
Salim who was Akbar's son did not find favor with his father who did not approve of the wild ways of his son. Salim spent most of his adulthood and adolescence with Opium, Alcohol and women.. he reportedly married 300 women by 30! His two brother thaniel , murad were deemed unworthy by akbar and both succumbed to alcohol addiction and died young. Salim did not obey Akbars orders to capture bengal or go to south and instead even defied the emporer openly minting coins in Salim's names and circulating .. Giving away titles and deeds to his friends in Bihar and trying to spur a mutiny. Akbar once belted Salim after confronting him in his private room and locked him up for a good no. of days only giving him his daily dose of opium and Alcohol nothing more .. This happened after Salim conspired with a Rajput king and killed Akbar's trusted minister Abdul Faizal and brutally beheaded him and threw his head in a dustbin at Allahabad. Salim came around and stopped his plots for rebellion. Akbar at 63 had severe stomach issues that consumed him and then formally coronated Salim as he was his only heir ..
Salim changed his name to Jehangir (King of the World) as the Turkish sultan was also called 'Salim' Contrary to Akbar's worries ... Jehangir was an able administrator and particularly fond of art and animals. He studied birds and animals great deal documenting their food , migration , reproductive habits for posterity. Jehangir even built zoos , sanctuaries and employed hundreds of keeper and artists under him ... He was celebrated as an Artist Emperor. Jehangir married Noor mahal who was renamed to noor jehan after her husband died in bengal owning suspiciously to a skirmish with Jehangir's men. Noor mahal's dad was a high minister under Jehangir and her brother was a commander of the army. Noor jahan came to Agra with her young daughter and in one of the parties jehangir laid eyes on her and immediately married her . Noor jahan was very skilled at hunting, politics, poetry, arts. She once hunted 4 tigers in a day and reportedly invented 'Attar' the perfume. East india company set foot in india and started trading with Jehangir through sir Thomas Roe but mostly jehangir was concerned about beer, scotch from England nothing else. He reportedly could guzzle about 20 glasses in one sitting such was his capacity according to Roe but roe never once saw the famed beauty noor jehan. Noor Jehan was plotting power and tried to marry off her daughter to eldest son of Jehangir Khusru he already had a wife and declined. Khurram or later known as Shah jahan refused suspecting Noor jahan's power plot . Finally she married her daughter at 16 years to shahryar the youngest son of Jahangir. This greatly increased suspicion on Shah jahan part and he started a rebellion to get power. By then Khusru had already rebelled and was blinded by Jahangir since Khusru was always put up for coronation by Akbar and Man singh the Bengal governor. Khusru after blinded stayed in house arrest before shah jahan had him murdered to consolidate his position. Khurram also joined hands with manbed shah who defeated him multiple times when he rebelled against Jehangir and since he married asaf khan's daughter mumtaz mahal had the support of asaf khan Nur jahan's brother. Khurram also once defied Nur jahan's order to safeguard kandahar from Persians wisely and he could stay in contention for power / throne. Once he defeated Shahrayar and Nur Jahan's army after Jehangir passed away at age 58 he took over throne not without drama. Shah jahan ensured there were no dissenting voices and mercilessly executed khusru's two sons (his nephews), Dhaniyals sons , his own brother and ensured Nur jahan spent her life in prison.
Shah Jahan
Shah jahan's biggest achievement was in Mewar ensuring no further disruptions via the Rajputs. He had two sons Aurangzeb and Dara shikoh and Jahanara begam a daughter. Shah Jahan never ill treated nur jahan who got 2lakh yearly pension and a lavish palace. She even built her own tomb in lahore next to Jahangir and passed away 18 years later. Shah Jahan appointed mehdab kahn wazir in Ajmir and Asaf Khan wazir in Agra and Bengal. Shah Jahan was not very fond of hindus or communal harmony and esp ordered take down of the Varaha moorthy idol in Pushkar . Jahangir was a little more tolerant and in fact allowed tulsi das to publish ramcharitmanas in public forum . However the biggest blunder Jahangir did was alienate the sikhs by killing Guru Arjun singh for helping Khusru with money. Shah Jahan ensured everyone who crossed his path was beheaded mercilessly example some Rajputs who rebelled. Shah jahan also had a good foothold in South and was more disciplined in terms of wine, women compared to jahangir . He married mumtaz mahal and mostly they were united with their 3 kids. Shah Jahan typically always brought mumtaz wherever he went and in one such travels lost her to acute nymonia. Shah jahan was heart broken and went recluse for 2 years . He commenced building the greatest tribute for her in the form of world famous Taj mahal. He brought the best architects, engineers to build this marvel from persia, turkey , afghanistan etc. Ahmet khan one such artist who painted verses of quaran put his signature in the Tomb. Reportedly the Taj's doors were adorned with precious gems which the british adminitration later years robbed it and shipped to england. Luckily lord curzon put stop to some mad plans of destroying taj and recreating it in English soil.
Shah Jahan had a burning desire to conquer the final frontier that is the southern india beyond Godavari , even Akbar had failed in this pursuit. Shah Jahan wanted lasting fame and stuck a clandestine agreement with one of the heirs in Bijapur golconda and easily annexed the tough Golconda fortress and the hyderabad sultanate. However he granted autonomy to the heirs and they ran the show in Bijapur , Golconda and pretty much annexed southern states including karnataka , Tanjore ..However Mughals did not bother much about these areas. Shah Jahan had a perennial thorn in the form of Shaji bhonsle who was sivaji maharaj's dad and he took part in guerilla warfare on the south kingdoms. Now Aurangzeb was put in charge and he actually got Bijapur which wanted to be independent under total control . He spent 4-5 years chasing after and putting out rebellions and attacks of Shaji with his vast army. After 5 years as viceroy in the south and earning name as honest, ruthless commander Aurangzeb was summoned to wed an Afghan princess in Agra. Aurangzeb through his ruthless tax collections added about 5 crore rupees to royal kitty. Aurangzeb was shocked to know his elder sister suffered in a fire accident and barely recovered with ayurveda treatment. More shocking was the plot to alienate him by his brother Dara Sukhoi who was shah jahan's pet and the learned refined opposite to aurangzeb's natural flair and brashness. They both hated each other and Shah Jahan wanted to put all enmities to a stop by crowning Dara which Aurangzeb opposed. Dara teased Aurangzeb by being a thorn in his flesh he twice jeopardized his great conquests of Bijapur, Golconda by sending emmisionaries with messages asking to cut it off and get taxes collected instead. Aurangzeb got fed up and eventually when he got a chance during Shah jahan's prolonged illness he mounted a rebellion against shah jahan and Dara . Dara's troops were defeated and aurangzeb claimed Agra fortress and palace after stopping yamuna water into the fort. Dara and his family fled in fear first to Gujarat via Kutch and having been denied succor by the Ahmedabad king travelled through scorching kutch desert back into Sindh then Multan. By this journey Dara's wife died through stomach flu. Dara asked refuge under Malik Jawan who betrayed him after Dara had helped him once escape death sentence from Shah Jahan. Dara was brutally beheaded in front of his hapless younger son. Shuja the other brother in charge of bengal was chased away into burmese forest reportedly killed by indigenous ppl there. Jaswant singh analogous to today's mla jumped ship multiple times in all this drama nd surprisingly survived - first he was with shuja moved to aurangzeb then dara nd aurangzeb finally. Murad another brother who fought alongside aurangzeb against dara was killed after a heavy dose of alcohol by aurangzeb henchmen.
Aurangzeb, Sivaji, Sikhs & Rajputs
Aurangzeb fell madly in love at 35 years despite being married thrice with 6 kids to heera bhai in south expedition. She was a grand beauty who influenced him deeply but died 2 yrs after marriage. Aurangzeb after being depressed wrotw it off saying its will of god that he has been commanded to govern and not romance. He however unnecessarily disturbed secular landscape getting too many enemies and guerillas in marathas , sikhs , jats , assam tribals etc they proved lifelong achilles heel to mughal empire. Aurangzeb imposed heavy ziziya , ensured no new temples were constructed, destroyed recent temples in mathura kasi gujarat etc ostracizing day to day hindus, farmers, traders etc. He mercilessly killed the 9th Guru Ter Bahadur by having him tortured for 5 days and getting an elephant to stampede him. This created lifelong enmity with sikhs and they started detesting islam and aurangzeb. Guru Gobind singh ter bahadur's 15 year old son showed remarkable composure in uniting and rallying the community against aurangzeb and commanded a strong 80,000 sikh army across caste, regional, ethnic boundaries. Aurangzeb could never command or gain a victory over Gobind singh who died ten years after the monarch by then cementing his place as a peace loving guru by signing a treaty with Aurangzeb's son Bahadur shah who was amicable to them. It was notable that the golden temple was originally built on land donated to 4th sikh guru by Akbar himself.
Meanwhile there was another mutiny brewing after marwar king Jaswant singh died . His witty minister Durgadas rathore tried to instill the 5 year old son Ajit singh and went with two of jaswant's queens to agra only to find all of them imprisoned by the cunning aurangzeb who hatched a plot to annexe marwar, mewar and udaipur. Durgadas reportedly absconded with the kid and queens after disguising all of them as cleaning workers. The crew of rajput loyalists instead dressed up as queens, durgadas and ajit singh and fought bravely with the mughal soldiers eventually dying . Durgadas tried to join hands with Akbar, Aurangzeb's estranged son and proclaimed rajput support to crown him ruler over aurangzeb. Alamgir knowing this cleverly manipulated rajputs by writing a spy letter stating Akbar was doing great with the mutual conspiracy and betraying rajputs! Most rajputs ran away seeing this letter and Durgadas understood the wicked cunning plan of the monarch. Akbar meanwhile spent his life fleeing the mughal army and dying on way to persia.
Shaji and jijabhai were parents to sivaji . Shaji comes from rajput roots . He left to marry another wife early on . Young sivaji was raised to be brave wise and took a guru in ramadas. He however was his own man started commanding troops strategizing early. He took over several deccan maratha forts and was a constant pain for bijapur sultan adil shah . In a secret meeting with afzal khan sivaji disemboweled him and foiled assassination attempt. After this he became pride of bijapur and now Aurangzeb recognized his threat sent siashta khan first who died in a guerilla attack by sivaji.. then appointing jai singh the wily veteran to subjugate him. Jai singh did that and in a treaty of purandar brought sivaji to agra after sivaji surrendered 23 forts keeping only 12. Where sivaji was arrested for insulting sultan. Sivaji and sambhaji after being captured in house arrest for 3 months managed to escape with a clever plan. Sivaji feigned severe stomach pains which got relieved by mughal doctors. However he appealed to sultan to give him chance to do penance and charity to needy ppl . So for a week sultan's guards checked as sivaji dispatched bags of fruits to needy. However one fine day when the guards were lax sivaji and sambhaji escaped in the same fruit basket. This enraged aurangzeb and he ordered a search party. Sivaji knowing the mughal forces will be on severe alert and lookout went through a longer route i.e Telengana , gujarat, mathura and dropping sambhaji with a maratha brahmin in mathura . Sivaji was given a king's welcome by the marathas but knowing aurangzeb will be boiling tried to stay quiet for 3 years and then show his mettle. As sivaji anticipated with growing pains from jats, sikhs, rajputs aurangzeb weakened and accepted sivaji's fiefdom. Now sivaji was confident of himself and crowned himself the title 'Chatrapathi'.. To aurangzeb's ire even french and english attended the ceremony. Sivaji died after capturing most of the lost forts including surat from Mughals at a young age of 50 to illness. His contributions to hindu nationalism cannot be understated people were more enthused, emboldened to oppose oppresors. Sambhaji and his minister who succeeded sivaji fell prey to depravity and had big lapses of security and concentration. In one such lurid parties the mughal forces rounded them up and sambhaji was jailed. When asked to bow before Aurangzeb , sambhaji reportedly defied him and was blinded ... Even after losing his sight and tongue he kept spitting to register his despise of the mughals. This one act elevated sambhaji to a hero among marathas. Sambhaji and sivaji in their reign did capture Tanjore, chidambaram, Mysore from sultanate and tried to revive the hindu rule their glorifying the temples.
Aurangzeb was known as a very disciplined righteous man and divided opinions among his critics . Few marvelled at how little he kept for himself and constantly kept himself busy addressing ppl's needs / petitions and war to safeguard and annexe territory . His devotion to islam and prayers were also legendary. Even when travelling by pallenquins Aurangzeb kept a copy of quran to read . However most people agreed he weakened mughals by going after non believers esp. hindus by imposing unnecessarily Jiziya taxes, destroying more temples and especially his antics like banning music , art from flourishing. Jats, rajputs, marathas, Sikhs were a thorn in his flesh and in his last years he noted this mistake of oppresing everyone to submission which was short term. His kids feared him too AKbar exiled and died in persia while Mohammed as imprisoned and died in jail . His queens deserted him during his last hours and he died a mostly lonely death. After aurangzeb mughals deteriorated very fast , since Aurangzeb kept a tight leash on things and barely shared any power with his sons they were mostly docile and Aurangzeb died only at 91 years by then shah alam his eldest was 64!
Rest & Mughal Decline
Shah Alam managed to kill the remaining siblings and then coronate himself but his reign lasted only 4 more years all the war caught up to him. His son Jahandar shah was a spoilt brat and mostly killed all his nephews and siblings to ascend thrown. However in a year one nephew farrukshsiyar who was in hiding avenged his dads death by killing Jahandar in battle of agra. Farrukhsiyar did not fare well himself succumbing to worldly pleasures and eventually getting himself exiled by the courtiers. The delhi courtiers struggled to find worthy successor and multiple sultans came and went in a dark age for delhi sultanate. This was the time the East india company was steadily capturing power and consolidating base. Finally they found the 18 year old son of Bahadur shah's 4th son Mohammed shah and installed him sultan . He met the worst of fates in the form of persian ruler Nadir shah. Nadir shah was feeling neglected by the delhi sultan as his numerous letters seeking action against marathas to revive islam and consolidate power in delhi was not taken seriously. After one final plea nadir shah took the non chalance of sultan mohd shah to be a grave insult. Mohd shah was more interested in women and wine and bothered less about anything else. Nadir shah did a bloody invasion of agra and delhi with his 1lakh about strong persian army in camels, horses. They mercilessly massacred 20,000 mughal soldiers in 2 hours to get a surrender. Nadir shah climed on to the peacock throne taking mohd. shah prisoner and educating him ways of royalty. In an unexpected chain of events in the two weeks nadir shah was resting as guest in delhi palace his bodyguards and soldiers were insulted by delhi folks and in a market riot 3 of his men were burned alive. A furious nadir shah when he asked ppl to behave was thrown rotten eggs , tomatoes and his body guard was shot by a sniper. Delhi ppl underestimated the power and ruthlessness of persian army. Nadir shah declared war on delhi ppl a bloodbath commenced at 8 am ended by 2 pm no one in sight was spared . Women, girls were gang raped, older folks adults beheaded . Many burned alive total casualties 2 lakh! When mohd shah fell on nadir shahs feet he stopped the madness took back kohinoor diamond peacock throne and cleaned the coffers at delhi.
After mohd shah, ahmed shah akbar shah ascended and they were all powerless just sultans by title. East india company was ruling india now and they paid the mughal rulers title deed. Bahadur shah 2 the last mughal king was imprisoned in rangoon for treason and conspiring with sepoys on 1857 rebellion. He breathed his last in rangoon by 1861 and so the mughal rule ended in despair. Shahs two sons were killed by hutson a british viceroy. Queen victoria fully assumed rule of india.
