The Mughal Empire was established in India in 1526 when Babur, a descendant of both Genghis Khan and Timur, defeated Ibrahim Lodi of the Delhi Sultanate at the Battle of Panipat. Babur's grandson Akbar expanded the empire significantly during his reign from 1556 to 1605, establishing it as one of the largest and most powerful empires in the world at the time. Akbar promoted religious tolerance and incorporated Hindus into the administration and military. The empire reached its cultural and artistic zenith under Shah Jahan in the 1600s, leaving architectural legacies like the Taj Mahal, but began disintegrating under the long reign of Aurangzeb from 1658 to

1. THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

2. THE INTRODUCTION
 To UNDERSTAND THE KINGS REMEMBER A TERM :-
BHAJSA
 B- BABUR, H - HUMAYUN, A - AKBAR, J - JAHANGIR , S -
SHAH JAHAN, A - AURENZEB

3. THE EMPIRE
 The great grandson of Tamerlane, Babar, who on his mother's side was descended from the famous
Genghiz Khan, came to India in 1526 at the request of an Indian governor who sought Babar's help in
his fight against Ibrahim Lodi, the last head of the Delhi Sultanate. Babar defeated Lodi at Panipat, not
far from Delhi, and so came to establish the Mughal Empire in India. Babar ruled until 1530, and was
succeeded by his son Humayun, who gave the empire its first distinctive features. But it is Humayun's
son, Akbar the Great, who is conventionally described as the glory of the empire. Akbar reigned from
1556 to 1605, and extended his empire as far to the west as Afghanistan, and as far south as the Godavari
river. Akbar, though a Muslim, is remembered as a tolerant ruler, and he even started a new faith, Din-i-
Ilahi, which was an attempt to blend Islam with Hinduism, Christianity, Jainism, and other faiths. He won
over the Hindus by naming them to important military and civil positions, by conferring honors upon
them, and by marrying a Hindu princess.

4. AKBAR
 Akbar was succeeded by his son Salim, who took the title of Jahangir. In his reign (1605-1627),
Jahangir consolidated the gains made by his father. The courtly culture of the Mughals flourished under
his rule; like his great grand-father, Babar, he had an interest in gardens, and Mughal painting probably
reached its zenith in Jahangir's time. Jahangir married Nur Jahan, "Light of the World", in 1611. Shortly
after his death in October 1627, his son, Shah Jahan, succeeded to the throne. He inherited a vast and
rich empire; and at mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the world, exhibiting a degree of
centralized control rarely matched before. Shah Jahan left behind an extraordinarily rich architectural
legacy, which includes the Taj Mahal and the old city of Delhi, Shahjahanabad. As he apparently lay dying
in 1658, a war of succession broke out between his four sons. The two principal claimants to the throne
were Dara Shikoh, who was championed by the those nobles and officers who were committed to the
eclectic policies of previous rulers, and Aurangzeb, who was favored by powerful men more inclined to
turn the Mughal Empire into an Islamic state subject to the laws of the Sharia. It is Aurangzeb who
triumphed, and though the Mughal Empire saw yet further expansion in the early years of his long reign
(1658-1707), by the later part of the seventeenth century the empire was beginning to disintegrate.

5. MAP