The Mughal Empire II: Jahangir to Aurangzeb and the Later Mughals — Politics, Economy, Society, Culture and Decline

Start Here — From Climax to Collapse

🎯 Exam priority: High-yield (T1). Prelims has asked: the shift in Mughal painting from illustrated manuscripts to albums and portraits under Jahangir (2019). Questions on the economy, trade and the European companies are standard. Mains asks 'Why did the Mughal empire decline?' in many forms.

The empire's century after Akbar has two parts: Jahangir and Shah Jahan (1605–58) — the age of peak wealth, architecture and administration; and Aurangzeb (1658–1707) with the longest reign, the empire's largest extent and the start of its weakening — followed by the decline from 1707. This article treats the politics briefly, the economy and society in detail, and concludes with the debates on decline.

Jahangir and Shah Jahan

Jahangir (1605–27)

• Continued Akbar's policies. His son Khusrau rebelled (1606) with the support of the Sikh Guru Arjan, who was executed. Nur Jahan, whom he married in 1611, headed a powerful group (the 'junta': her father Itimad-ud-Daula, brother Asaf Khan, and Prince Khurram) until the 1620s. Mewar's Rana Amar Singh accepted Mughal suzerainty in 1615; Kangra fell in 1620; Kandahar was lost to Iran in 1622. In the Deccan he faced the Abyssinian minister Malik Ambar of Ahmadnagar, whose guerrilla warfare held the Mughals back. Mahabat Khan's coup (1626) showed the court's divisions.

• Sir Thomas Roe (1615–19) obtained trading rights for the English; the emperor's Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri records his interests in nature and art; he installed the zanjir-i-adl (chain of justice).

• Painting. Under Jahangir the emphasis shifted from illustrated manuscripts to album paintings and individual portraits (2019 PYQ), with fine naturalistic studies of birds, animals and flowers by Ustad Mansur, Bishandas and Abul Hasan; European influences came through prints and gifts.

Shah Jahan (1628–58)

• Suppressed Khan Jahan Lodi and the Bundelas, expelled the Portuguese from Hugli (1632), annexed Ahmadnagar (1633) and imposed treaties on Bijapur and Golconda (1636); Aurangzeb as viceroy of the Deccan with Mir Jumla reorganised the region's revenue. The expensive Central Asian expedition (Balkh and Badakhshan, 1646–47) failed, and Kandahar was lost again (1649), strains that began to affect finances. The capital moved to Shahjahanabad (the present Old Delhi).

• Culture. The Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, the Peacock Throne (described by the French jeweller Tavernier), Persian poets and Hindi-Persian court writers; Dara Shikoh's Majma-ul-Bahrain ('Confluence of the Two Seas') on Vedanta and Sufism, and his Persian translation of the Upanishads (Sirr-i-Akbar).

• War of succession (1657–58). After Shah Jahan's illness, the four brothers fought: Aurangzeb defeated Dara at Dharmat and Samugarh (1658), crowned himself at Delhi, killed Dara and Murad, imprisoned Shah Jahan in Agra Fort, where he died in 1666. Aurangzeb won through his military talent, capable commanders and the opposition to Dara's liberalism among orthodox nobles.

Aurangzeb and the Challenges

• Religious policy. An orthodox Sunni, he banned the Mughal court's musical functions, discouraged jharokha darshan and Nauroz, appointed muhtasibs to enforce morals, reimposed the jizya (1679), levied higher customs on non-Muslim traders, and destroyed or desecrated some temples (Kashi Vishwanath, Mathura's Keshav Rai, 1669–70), while also giving grants to others (Mahakaleshwar, Umananda) and employing more Hindu mansabdars than any predecessor (about a third of the nobility, mostly Marathas and Rajputs). Historians debate whether these acts were political, fiscal or religious; most agree that they alienated allies.

• Rajputs. The Jaswant Singh succession question in Marwar (1679) caused a long Rajput war and the break with Mewar; alienation of the Rajputs, who had been the empire's pillars, cost Aurangzeb dearly.

• Jats, Satnamis, Sikhs, Afghans. Jat revolts under Gokula (1669) and Rajaram, Churaman; Satnami uprising at Narnaul (1672); execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur (1675) and later conflict with Guru Gobind Singh; the Afghan (Khushhal Khan Khattak) revolts in the north-west.

• The Deccan. After Shivaji's coronation (1674) and his death (1680), Aurangzeb went south in 1681, conquered Bijapur (1686) and Golconda (1687), captured and executed Sambhaji (1689), and then spent 18 years against Maratha guerrilla warfare, fighting under Rajaram, Tarabai and others; Gingee fell in 1698. The empire reached its greatest extent (about 4 million sq km) but overextension, absence from the north and the cost of campaigns weakened it.

The Jagirdari Crisis and Other Theories of Decline

• The jagirdari crisis (the classic structural thesis). The number of mansabdars grew faster than the land available as jagirs; the gap between the paper revenue estimate (jama) and actual collection (hasil) widened; nobles competed for lucrative jagirs and tried to squeeze peasants in short tenures; the appointment of princes and favourites to the best jagirs, the shortage of paibaqi (reserved) land, and the lack of new conquests after the Deccan annexations made the problem worse. The result was bejagari (nobles without jagirs), disorder in the countryside and revolts of peasants and zamindars.

• Agrarian crisis (Irfan Habib). Rising revenue demands, up to a half of the produce, left peasants with little; flight and rebellion — Jats, Satnamis, Sikhs and Marathas drew on this discontent.

• Imperial overreach and religious policy: Aurangzeb's Deccan wars; orthodox policies; the alienation of the Rajputs; inadequate navy; Maratha guerrilla warfare and rising regional identities.

• Weak successors and factional nobility after 1707: wars of succession, the Sayyid brothers as kingmakers, the Irani–Turani–Hindustani rivalry; the army's old-fashioned organisation; Nadir Shah's invasion (1739) at Karnal — he carried off the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor — and the invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali (1748–67), with Panipat III (1761) beating the Marathas.

• Regional states emerged: Bengal (Murshid Quli Khan), Awadh (Saadat Khan), Hyderabad (Nizam-ul-Mulk, 1724), the Marathas under the Peshwas, the Rajputs, Jats and Sikhs, Mysore under Hyder Ali — a trend some revisionist historians stress as the 'regional resurgence' rather than collapse.

• Mains approach. Combine structural (jagirdari and agrarian crises, the nature of the mansabdari state) and contingent (Aurangzeb's policy, invasions, weak rulers) causes; show how the European companies exploited the vacuum.

Economy: Agriculture, Crafts and Trade

• Agrarian structure. Peasants were khudkasht (resident cultivators with hereditary rights) and pahikasht (non-resident); zamindars acted as hereditary intermediaries with a right to a share of the produce (about 10 per cent) and sometimes as local chiefs; the state demand ranged from one-third to half the produce under Aurangzeb; the villages paid in cash. The village community was linked to a market through traders called banjaras, who carried grain by pack-bullocks.

• Crafts. Cotton textiles (Dhaka muslin, Gujarat and Coromandel chintz, Banaras brocade), silk, shawls (Kashmir), shipbuilding (Bengal and Gujarat), iron and steel, paper, carpets and royal karkhanas that produced weapons, jewellery and luxury goods. The craft sector was the most advanced in Asia and fed a vast export trade.

• Trade. Internal trade moved along rivers, roads (Grand Trunk), by pack-animals and through market towns; the ports on the west coast (Surat, called the 'gateway to Mecca'), the Coromandel (Masulipatnam) and Bengal (Hugli, Satgaon, Pipli) supported the Indian Ocean trade. India exported textiles, indigo, saltpetre, spices and sugar, and received silver and gold, with a persistent favourable balance of trade that made coin abundant. Money-changers (sarrafs), hundis and insurance (bima) and a standard silver rupee, copper dam, and the gold mohur lubricated trade.

European companies

• The 2016 PYQ's 'Araghatta' (water-wheel) and the Banjaras remind us how medieval farming and trade worked; the Mughal empire kept the Persian wheel and tanks and built canals (Shah Jahan's Hansi canal to Delhi).

Society, Cities and Culture

• Society. A hierarchy of nobility, a small middle class (clerks, bankers, merchants, doctors) and a vast peasantry and artisan class; caste panchayats; slavery; sati continued though Akbar and Aurangzeb tried to regulate it; royal women (Nur Jahan, Jahanara, Roshanara, Zebunnisa) had power, wealth and literary talent. Travellers: Bernier (French physician, wrote about the absence of private property in land and a stagnating economy), Tavernier (gem merchant), Manucci, Roe, Terry, Peter Mundy; historians have since criticised Bernier's thesis.

• Cities. Agra, Delhi (Shahjahanabad), Lahore, Fatehpur Sikri, Ahmedabad, Surat, Dhaka and Patna were large; Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, per the Englishman Ralph Fitch, were bigger than London.

• Literature. Persian was the court language; histories — Padshahnama (Abdul Hamid Lahori), Alamgirnama, Muntakhab-ul-Lubab (Khafi Khan); Hindi poets — Tulsidas (Ramcharitmanas), Keshavdas, Bihari, Bhushan; Sanskrit works; the Hanafi code Fatawa-i-Alamgiri under Aurangzeb.

Architecture

Painting and music

• Painting. Akbar's atelier produced the Hamzanama and Razmnama; Jahangir's period saw naturalism, portraiture and the album; Shah Jahan's paintings are formal, finely finished and lavish; Aurangzeb withdrew patronage, and artists dispersed to Rajput and Pahari courts, helping the growth of regional schools (see the Painting article in Part C).

• Music. Dhrupad flourished under Akbar and Shah Jahan; contrary to popular belief, Aurangzeb's restriction of court music led to more music outside the court; the khayal gained prominence under Muhammad Shah Rangila (Sadarang and Adarang).

Administrative Trends and Visitors' Accounts

Travellers' accounts

Evaluating Aurangzeb — a balanced answer

• Strengths: an able administrator and soldier with a simple life; extended the empire to its widest in the Deccan; compiled the Fatawa-i-Alamgiri and showed concern for revenue regularity; appointed a large share of Hindus to high rank (by some counts about one-third of the nobility); his farmans protected certain temples and Jain shrines.

• Weaknesses: distrust of nobles and sons; a rigid policy of orthodoxy that alienated Rajputs, Sikhs, Jats and Marathas; the long, expensive Deccan war; the decline of cultural patronage at court; neglect of the north and of the sea. Historians treat the 'bigot' versus 'tolerant' debate as too simple and look at administrative and structural causes.

The Later Mughals — A Quick Chronology

• Bahadur Shah I (1707–12): a conciliatory ruler; compromise with Rajputs and Marathas. Jahandar Shah (1712–13): a puppet of Zulfiqar Khan. Farrukhsiyar (1713–19): the Sayyid brothers (Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali) as kingmakers; the 1717 farman gave the English Company duty-free trade in Bengal for an annual payment. Muhammad Shah (1719–48): killed the Sayyids; Nizam-ul-Mulk left to found Hyderabad (1724); Nadir Shah sacked Delhi (1739).

• Ahmad Shah Abdali: raids (seven or eight between 1748 and 1767); the Marathas' defeat at Panipat III (14 January 1761); Shah Alam II (1759–1806) lost Buxar (1764) and became a pensioner of the English; Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal, was exiled to Rangoon after 1857.

How UPSC Has Asked It — And What Could Come Next

• Seen: Mughal painting under Jahangir (2019), economic terms of the medieval period (2016); and in Mains, causes of Mughal decline (a recurring question over many years).

• Likely next: Mughal painting by reign (Hamzanama, Razmnama, Jahangir's album and Mansur); architecture by emperor (Taj, Red Fort, Itimad-ud-Daula, Bibi ka Maqbara); European travellers matched to emperors (Roe–Jahangir, Tavernier–Shah Jahan, Bernier–Shah Jahan/Aurangzeb, Manucci–Aurangzeb); the English Company's early privileges (Hawkins, Roe, Child); the jagirdari crisis; economic terms (khudkasht/pahikasht, khalisa, jama/hasil); Aurangzeb's key dates (jizya 1679, Bijapur 1686, Golconda 1687).

• Traps: Shah Jahan's capital was Shahjahanabad but he also built at Agra; the Taj Mahal's architect is traditionally Ustad Ahmad Lahori; Aurangzeb did not rule only 'for jizya'; Bernier's views on land ownership are contested; Panipat III (1761) was against Abdali, not against the English.

Further Reading

• Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on ancient, medieval and cultural Indian history (any UPSC reading list).

Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs

For Mughal II: tie each emperor to a revolt, a monument and a traveller; then the causes of decline.

Practice Questions

Q1. Who among the following was the head of the Mughal 'junta' under Jahangir along with Itimad-ud-Daula and Asaf Khan?

• (a) Jahanara

• (b) Nur Jahan

• (c) Mahabat Khan

• (d) Maham Anga

Q2. The English ambassador to Jahangir's court between 1615 and 1619 was:

• (a) Job Charnock

• (b) Sir Thomas Roe

• (c) Josiah Child

• (d) William Hawkins

Q3. Dara Shikoh's work 'Majma-ul-Bahrain' attempted to:

• (a) Reconcile Vedanta and Sufism

• (b) Narrate the war of succession

• (c) Codify Islamic law

• (d) Describe Mughal administration

Q4. Aurangzeb reimposed the jizya in:

• (a) 1669

• (b) 1658

• (c) 1679

• (d) 1707

Q5. Which of the following was conquered by Aurangzeb in 1687?

• (a) Ahmadnagar

• (b) Khandesh

• (c) Golconda

• (d) Bijapur

Q6. The Mughal jagirdari crisis refers to:

• (a) A shortage of jagirs relative to mansabdars

• (b) A rebellion of jagirdars

• (c) A famine in jagirs

• (d) The abolition of jagirs

Q7. Nadir Shah's invasion of India occurred during the reign of:

• (a) Farrukhsiyar

• (b) Bahadur Shah I

• (c) Muhammad Shah

• (d) Shah Alam II

Q8. Which Mughal painter is renowned for bird and animal studies in Jahangir's court?

• (a) Ustad Mansur

• (b) Abdus Samad

• (c) Daswanth

• (d) Basawan

Q9. The Taj Mahal was completed between:

• (a) 1612 and 1625

• (b) 1632 and 1653

• (c) 1648 and 1660

• (d) 1657 and 1670

Q10. The 1717 farman that gave the English East India Company duty-free trade in Bengal was granted by:

• (a) Aurangzeb

• (b) Farrukhsiyar

• (c) Muhammad Shah

• (d) Bahadur Shah I

Q11. Panipat III (1761) was fought between the Marathas and:

• (a) Nadir Shah

• (b) Hyder Ali

• (c) The English

• (d) Ahmad Shah Abdali

Q12. Which French traveller wrote about the Mughal court, the absence of private ownership of land and was Dara Shikoh's physician?

• (a) Bernier

• (b) Manucci

• (c) Tavernier

• (d) Thevenot

UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Real UPSC Prelims questions linked to the Mughal age — painting (2019), Portuguese-introduced crops (2025) and the cession of Diu (2023) — answers matched to UPSC's official key. Explanations in our own words.

Q13. (UPSC Prelims 2019) Who among the following Mughal Emperors shifted emphasis from illustrated manuscripts to album and individual portrait?

• (a) Akbar

• (b) Jahangir

• (c) Shah Jahan

• (d) Humayun

Q14. (UPSC Prelims 2025) Consider the following fruits: I. Papaya II. Pineapple III. Guava How many of the above were introduced in India by the Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

• (a) Only two

• (b) None

• (c) Only one

• (d) All the three

Q15. (UPSC Prelims 2018) Which one of the following foreign travellers elaborately discussed about diamonds and diamond mines of India?

• (a) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

• (b) Francois Bernier

• (c) Abbe Barthelemy Carre

• (d) Jean de Thevenot

Q16. (UPSC Prelims 2023) Who among the following rulers of medieval Gujarat surrendered Diu to Portuguese?

• (a) Ahmad Shah

• (b) Bahadur Shah

• (c) Mahmud Begarha

• (d) Muhammad Shah

Mains Practice Questions

Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.

• What were the causes of the decline of the Mughal empire after Aurangzeb? Discuss the jagirdari crisis.

• Assess Aurangzeb's religious and Deccan policies.

• Describe the economic life of Mughal India — agriculture, crafts and trade.

• Compare the political and cultural contributions of Jahangir and Shah Jahan.

• How did the Mughal empire's weakness help the European trading companies?