NCERT Class 7 History Chapter 4: The Mughal Empire YouTube Lecture Handouts

Glide to success with Doorsteptutor material for CBSE/Class-7 : get questions, notes, tests, video lectures and more- for all subjects of CBSE/Class-7.

Get video tutorial on: Examrace YouTube Channel

NCERT Class 7 History Chapter 4: The Mughal Empire

  • Expanded kingdom from 16th to 17th Century
  • PM address Independence Day Speech from Red Fort (Residence of Mughal Emperors)

Illustration: NCERT Class 7 History Chapter 4: The Mughal Empire YouTube Lecture Handouts

Ancestry

Babur

  • Succeeded to throne at 12 years
  • 1st on throne of Ferghana in 1494
  • Uzbegs invaded and was forced to leave
  • Seized Kabul in 1504
  • 1526: Defeated Ibram Lodi in Battle of Panipat
  • Captured Agra & Delhi
  • Afghans were threat to Mughals
  • 1527: Defeated Rana Sanga, Rajput rulers and allies at Khanua
  • 1528: Defeated the Rajputs at Chanderi

Humayun

  • Divided inheritance based on father՚s will
  • Each brother given a province
  • Sher Khan defeated him at Chausa (1539) and Kanauj (1540)
  • He fled to Iran
  • Got help from Safavid Shah
  • Recaptured Delhi in 1555
  • Died in Accident

Akbar

  • Emperor at 13 years
  • Under Bairam Khan – Campiagns against Suris and Afghans
  • Suppressed revolt of his half-brother Mirza Hakim & Uzbegs
  • 1568: Sisodiya capital of Chittor was seized
  • 1569: Ranthambhor was seized
  • Military campaigns to Gujarat, Bihar, Bengal & Odisha
  • Expansion of empire to NW
  • Qandahar was seized from the Safavids
  • Kashmir was annexed
  • Kabul annexed after death of Mirza Hakim
  • Annexed Deccan, Berar, Khandesh and parts of Ahmadnagar
  • Ibadat khana: various religious people discussed (religious scholars who emphasised ritual and dogma were often bigots)
  • Sulh-i-Kul or universal peace – ethics, honesty and peace – was followed by Jahangir & Shah Jahan
Illustration: Akbar

Jahangir

  • Sisodiya ruler of Mewar, Amar Singh accepted his rule
  • Known as Prince Salim
  • Wife: Nur Jahan (Mehrunnisa) – loyal & supportive – had seals and coins with her name

Shah Jahan

  • Prince Khurram
  • Afghan noble Khan Jahan Lodi was defeated
  • Qandahar was lost to Safavids
  • 1632: Annexed Ahmadnagar
  • Aurangzeb was victorious and his three brothers, including Dara Shukoh were killed
  • Was imprisoned for the rest of his life in Agra

Aurangzeb

  • 1663: Ahoms defeated but rebelled again in 1680
  • Initially successful against Shivaji (insulted him when he came to accept Mughal authority)
  • Sent armies to Deccan
  • 1685: Bijapur annexed
  • 1687: Golconda annexed
  • 1698: Against Marathas who followed guerrilla warfare
  • After his death, succession conflict amongst his sons

Succession

  • Primogeniture: Eldest son inherited his father՚s estate
  • Coparcenary inheritance or division of inheritance amongst all the sons – Mughals

Relations to Other Rulers

  • Jahangir՚s mother: Kachhwaha princess, daughter of Rajput ruler of Amber
  • Shah Jahan՚s mother: Rathor princess, daughter of Rajput ruler of Marwar
  • Sisodiyas did not accept Mughal authority – defeated once by Mughals but land (watan) given back as assignments (watan jagir)
  • In Mughal Service: Mansabdars (hold rank mansab)
  • Grading system used by Mughals to fix rank, salary & military responsibilities
  • Rank & salary determined by Zat
  • Higher Zat, more prestigious position with larger salary
  • Maintain cavalry or sawar
  • Mansabdars got salaries as revenue assignments called jagirs similar to iqtas. However, unlike muqtis, most mansabdars did not actually reside in or administer their jagirs.
  • Akbar՚s period: jagirs were assessed
  • Aurangzeb՚s period: actual sum was less than granted sum & huge number of mansabdars. Long wait & shortage of jagirs. Peasantry suffered a lot.

Zabt & Zamindars

Major tax was on produce of peasantry

Taxes paid by rural elite

Zamindars were intermediaries

Todarmal (revenue minister of Akbar) carried crop survey – tax fixed on each crop in cash

Province divided into revenue circle with revenue rates – Zabt – not possible in Gujarat & Bengal

Provinces divided into subas & subas had subedars (political & military functions) , diwans (financial)

  • Military paymaster (bakhshi)
  • Minister in charge of religious and charitable patronage (sadr)
  • Military commanders (faujdars)
  • Town police commander (kotwal)

Abul Fazal wrote Akbar Nama in 3 volumes

  • Volume 1: Akbar՚s ancestors
  • Volume 2: Event of Akbar՚s reign
  • Volume 3: Ain-i-Akbari – Administration and revenue & cultural details – statistics on crops and yields

Shah Jahan period: 5.6% mansabdars received 61.5% of total revenue.

Most income was spent on salary and goods – benefitted artisans and peasantry

Poorest lived from hand to mouth – economic strata created

Mughal elite became very powerful

Mughals declined and servants became powerful – dynasties like Awadh and Hyderabad came into power

Worldwide

  • Queen Elizabeth I (dynasty Tudors) – conflict b/w Catholics and Protestants (reformed church) – tried to establish independence of Church of England from Rome
  • Conflicted with Phillip II from Spain & defeated them
  • Supported playwrighters like Shakespeare & poets like Edward Spenser (wrote epic poem called The Faerie Queene in her praise)

Contemporaries of Akbar

  • Ottoman Turkey, Sultan Suleyman: Al-Qanuni or lawgiver (1520 - 1566)
  • Safavid ruler of Iran: Shah Abbas (1588 - 1629)
  • Russian ruler, Czar Ivan IV Vasilyevich or “Ivan the terrible” (1530 - 1584)

Manishika