The role played by women of the imperial household in the Mughal Empire:

(i)   In the Mughal household a distinction was maintained between wives who came from royal families (begams), and other wives (aghas) who were not of noble birth. The begams, married after receiving huge amounts of cash and valuables as dower (mahr), naturally received a higher status and greater attention from their husbands than did aghas.

(ii)   The concubines (aghacha or the lesser agha) occupied the lowest position in the hierarchy of females intimately related to royalty. They all received monthly allowances in cash, supplemented with gifts according to their status.

(iii)   The lineage-based family structure was not entirely static. The agha and the aghacha could rise to the position of a begam depending on the husbands’s will, and provided that he did not already have four wives. Love and motherhood played important roles in elevating such women to the status of legally wedded wives.

(iv)   Apart from wives, numerous male and female slaves populated the Mughal household. The tasks they performed varied from the most mundane to those requiring skill, tact and intelligence. Slave eunuchs (khwajasara) moved between the external and internal life of the household as guards, servants, and also as agents for women dabbling in commerce.

(v)   After Nur Jahan, Mughal queens and princesses began to control significant financial resources. Shall Jahan’s daughters Jahanara and Roshanara enjoyed an annual income often equal to that of high imperial mansabdars. Jahanara, in addition, received revenues from the port city of Surat, which was a lucrative centre of overseas trade.

All the Mughal books were manuscripts. In other words, they were handwritten. The centre where the work of manuscript production was taken was known as the imperial kitabkhana. This Kitabkhana was like a library. It was a scriptorium. In other words, it was a place where the emperor kept his collection of manuscripts and produced new manuscripts.

A large number of people were involved in the creation of manuscript. They included the following:

(i) Paper makers who prepared the folios of the manuscript.

(it) Scribes or calligraphers who copied the texts.

(iii) Guilders who illuminated the pages of the manuscript.

(iv) Painters who illustrated scenes from the text.

(v) Book binders who gathered the individual folios and set them within ornamental covers.

In the end, all these manuscripts were considered very precious and invaluable. They were a work of beauty and intellectual wealth.

1. Iran and Turan : The political and diplomatic relations between the Mughal kings and the neighbouring countries of Iran and Turan hinged on the control of the frontier defined by the Hindukush mountains that separated Afghanistan from the regions of Iran and Central Asia.

2. To control strategic out-posts (such on Kabul and Qandhar) : All conquerors who sought to make their way into the Indian subcontinent had to cross the Hindukush to have access to north India. A constant aim of Mughal policy was to ward off this potential danger by controlling strategic outposts-notably Kabul and Qandhar.

3. Qandhar as a bone of contention between the Safavids and the Mughals: Qandhar was a bone of contention between the Safavids and the Mughals. The fortress-town had initially been in the possession of Humayun, reconquered in 1595 by Akbar. While the Safavid court retained diplomatic relations with the Mughals, it continued to stake claims to Qandhar. In 1613 Jahangir sent a diplomatic envoy to the court of Shah Abbas to plead the Mughal case for retaining Qandhar, but the mission failed. In the winter of 1622 a Persian army besieged Qandhar. The ill-prepared Mughal garrison was defeated and had to surrender the fortress and the city to the Safavids.

4.  To have facilities of free movement for Muslim pilgrims and relation with Ottomans:The relationship between the Mughals and the Ottomans was marked by the concern to ensure free movement for pilgrims in the territories under Ottoman control. This was especially true for the Hijaz, that part of Ottoman Arabia where the important pilgrim centres of Mecca and Medina were located.

5.    Mughals and Ottomans and Trade (commerce etc.): The Mughal emperors usually combined religion and commerce by exporting valuable merchandise to Aden and Mokha, both Red Sea ports, and distributing the proceeds of the sales in charity to the keepers of shrines and religious men there. However, when Aurangzeb discovered cases of misappropriation of funds sent to Arabia, he favoured their distribution in India which, he thought, “was as much a house of God as Mecca”.

In the Mughal court, king was always the centre of all attractions during the daily routine and special activities. Every activity or festivity exposed the power of the king. The following examples can be cited in this regard:

(i) Discipline in the Court : There were precise rules to determine the status amongst the Mughal elites. The elites having proximity to the king were accorded an important place in the court. There was a perfect discipline in the court. Once the emperor sat on the throne, no one was allowed to move from his seat. Besides no one could leave the court without permission.

(ii)    Forms of Address and Courtesies:

All had to follow norms in the court. They had to follow the norms of address, courtesies and speech which were acceptable in court. Even a slightest deviation in etiquettes fetched punishment on the spot.

(iii)    The Forms of Salutation : There were many forms of salutation in the court. They indicated the status of the person in the hierarchy. The deeper prostration represented higher status. The complete prostration or sijda meant the highest form of submission. However under the reign of Shah Jahan, these rituals were replaced with Chahar Taslim and Zaminbos i.e. kissing the ground.

(iv)    Jharoka Darshan : The Jharoka Darshan was introduced by Akbar. He wanted to broaden the popular faith in the imperial authority. After performing his devotional prayers, he would go to a small balcony facing the east. The crowd of people comprising of soldiers, merchants, peasants, craft persons and women had the view of the emperor. It was called the Jharoka Darshan.

I. Major features of Mughal Provincial Administration:

(i)    Subadar : The division of functions established at the centre was replicated in the provinces (subas) where the ministers had their corresponding subordinates (diwan, bakhshi and sadr). The head of the provincial administration was the governor (subadar) who reported directly to the emperor.

(ii)    Faujdars : The sarkars, into which each suba was divided, often overlapped with the jurisdiction of faujdars (commandants) who were deployed with contingents of heavy cavalry and musketeers in districts. The local administration was looked after at the level of the pargana (subdistrict) by three semi-hereditary officers, the qanungo (keeper of revenue records), the chaudhuri (in charge of revenue collection) and the qazi.

(iii) A large support of staff of different categories such as clerks, accountants, messengers etc : Each department of administration maintained a large support staff of clerks, accountants, auditiors, messengers, and other functionaries who were technically qualified officials, functioning in accordance with standardised rules and procedures, and generating copious written orders and records. Persian was made the language of administration throughout, but local languages were used for village accounts.

II. The control of the provinces of the centre : The Mughal chroniclers usually portrayed the emperor and his court as controlling the entire administrative apparatus down to the village level. Yet, as you have seen, this could hardly have been a process free of tension. The relationship between local landed magnates, the zamindars, and the representatives of the Mughal emperor was sometimes marked by conflicts over authority and a share of the resources. The zamindars often succeeded in mobilising peasant support against the state.