A Highlight · History
The Mughal Empire
From Babur to Aurangzeb — the empire that built the Taj Mahal, ran the Mansabdari system, and reached its widest extent just before it began to break apart.
Overview
- Mughal EmpireThe Mughal Empire was a Persianate Muslim dynasty of Timurid and Chagatai descent that ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from Babur's victory at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 until the deposition of Bahadur Shah II following the 1857 rebellion, reaching its territorial and cultural peak under Akbar, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb.
- AkbarAkbar, born Jalal-ud-din Muhammad, was the third Mughal emperor, who ruled from 1556 to 1605, expanded the empire across most of the Indian subcontinent, and restructured its administration and religious policy.
- AurangzebAurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707), known also by his regnal title Alamgir, was the sixth Mughal emperor, under whom the empire reached its greatest territorial extent while sustained warfare in the Deccan and religiously restrictive policies strained its finances and cohesion.
More collections
- The Indian Independence MovementFrom the 1857 revolt to Partition — every satyagraha, revolutionary and Congress leader, in one place.
- European Colonial Rule in IndiaFrom Vasco da Gama's landfall to the last Viceroy — the Company's conquest and every Governor-General who ruled after it.
- The Maurya EmpireFrom Chandragupta to Ashoka — the first pan-Indian empire, and the emperor who renounced conquest after seeing what it cost.
- The Gupta Golden AgeClassical India at its height — the age of Aryabhata, Kalidasa, and a revival of Sanskrit literature and science.
- The Chola EmpireSouth India's great maritime power — temple-building, a navy that reached Southeast Asia, and the longest-lived dynasty in Indian history.
- The Vijayanagara EmpireThe last great Hindu empire of the south, built in the fourteenth century as a bulwark against the Sultanates — and sacked in 1565.
- The Islamic Conquest of North IndiaGhaznavid raids to the Delhi Sultanate, 1000–1526 — the temples destroyed, Nalanda burned, Delhi sacked twice, told without euphemism and without inventing what the sources don’t say.
- The Maratha EmpireShivaji’s hill forts to a confederacy that broke Mughal power across the Deccan and north India.
- The Bhakti MovementDevotion over ritual and caste — the poet-saints who reshaped Hindu religious life from the seventh century onward.