Mughal Empire

An early modern empire founded by Babur in 1526 that ruled much of the Indian subcontinent. Its court joined Central Asian, Persianate, and South Asian traditions.

Mansabdari system: The Mughal ranking system that assigned officials military obligations, status, and pay. It organized imperial service by tying rank and revenue assignments to duties owed to the emperor.
Babur: The Central Asian ruler who founded the Mughal dynasty and conquered northern India in 1526. His victory at Panipat established the dynasty’s foothold in the subcontinent.
Akbar: The Mughal emperor from 1556 to 1605 who greatly expanded and consolidated the empire. His alliances and administrative reforms helped turn conquest into stable imperial rule.
Taj Mahal: A marble mausoleum in Agra commissioned by Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is the best-known monument commissioned by a Mughal ruler.
Battle of Haldighati: A 1576 battle between Mughal forces and the army of the Rajput ruler Maharana Pratap. It illustrates Mughal efforts to secure authority in Rajasthan through both warfare and alliance.
Zamindar: A local landholder or revenue intermediary who collected taxes and exercised authority in rural South Asia. Mughal rulers depended on local intermediaries to assess and collect agrarian revenue.
Timurid dynasty: A dynasty founded by Timur that ruled parts of Central Asia and Iran from the late fourteenth century. Babur claimed Timurid ancestry and inherited its political and cultural traditions.
Jahangir: The Mughal emperor from 1605 to 1627, known for court patronage and memoirs. His reign continued the courtly arts and imperial institutions built under Akbar.
Urdu: An Indo-Aryan language shaped by interaction among South Asian languages and Persianate court culture. Mughal-era political and cultural exchange helped foster the linguistic environment in which Urdu developed.
Battle of Samugarh: A 1658 battle in which Aurangzeb defeated his brother Dara Shikoh during their struggle for succession. Its outcome secured Aurangzeb’s path to the throne.

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