International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume 7 Issue 5, September-October 2023 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470

Expansion of Mughal Empire from Akbar to Aurangzeb

Krishna Kanta Das
Assistant Teacher (History), Chaitanyapur Junior High School, Chaitanpur, West Bengal, India

ABSTRACT How to cite this paper: Krishna Kanta

The core philosophy of Akbar and his successors up to Aurangzeb Das "Expansion of Mughal Empire from
was to expand the power of the Mughals over the entire subcontinent Akbar to Aurangzeb" Published in
and to deepen their administrative control over the rural and urban International
subjects by a wise and liberal policy of integration. The present study Journal of Trend in
Scientific Research
has been carried out to study the territorial expansion from Akbar to and Development
Aurangjeb. For this purpose the researcher has followed the (ijtsrd), ISSN:
secondary sources of information in terms of different books, 2456-6470,
journals and internet sources. The study concludes that along with Volume-7 | Issue-5, IJTSRD59991
conquests, the process of consolidation was also initiated. As a result, October 2023,
the conquered territories were placed under a unified administrative pp.631-634, URL:
system. The consolidated Empire created by Akbar was maintained www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd59991.pdf
with a measure of success by his successors for more than hundred
years. Copyright © 2023 by author (s) and
International Journal of Trend in
KEYWORDS: Bengal Territory, Akbar’s Administrative, Mughal Scientific Research and Development
Empire Journal. This is an
Open Access article
distributed under the
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Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)
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INTRODUCTION
It is their success in the second battle of Panipat in and the Mughal Empire was a war state. What J.F.
the year 1556 that provided secure space for the Richards holds appears to be true.
Mughals in India. Since 1556 to 1707, the
Yet the Mughals not only expanded their territorial
Mughals, “the professional kings” strictly
extent by wars and conquests, they also devised
followed the dictum of the earlier Hindu and
administrative measures to consolidate themselves
Muslim rulers of the past that “a monarch should as rulers by winning the loyalty of their subjects.
ever be intent on conquest, otherwise his enemies
In the following pages, let us treat the twin
rise in arms against him”. policies of expansion and consolidation followed
Babur founded the Mughal Empire in India in AD by Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb till
1526 after his success in the first battle of Panipat. 1707 along with diplomatic tactics adopted by
But after the sudden demise of Babur in 1530 and them.
in between before the accession of Akbar in AD Statement of the Problem:
1556, the Mughals had to struck hard to retain
After overcoming initial problems and consolidating
their hold in India and in their effort they failed his hold on the throne, Akbar started a policy of
against the determined Afghans and the Rajputs. extending Mughal temtories. Any policy of expansion
By the time Akbar ascended the throne in 1556 to
meant conflict with various political powers spread in
claim his right; the Mughals were at their lowest
different parts of the country. Akbar through a
ebb of prestige. systematic policy started the task of expanding his
The core philosophy of Akbar and his successors Empire. It must be noted that the major expansion of
up to Aurangzeb was to expand the power of the Mughal Empire took place during the reign of Akbar.
Mughals over the entire subcontinent and to During the reigns of his successors (Jahangir,
deepen their administrative control over the rural Shahjahan and Aurangzeb), very little was added in
and urban subjects by a wise and liberal policy of terms of temtory. The main additions in the later
integration. As John Fleet Richards observes, the period were made during Aurangzeb's reign in South
dynamism of the Mughals was at its core military India and North-East (Assam). Keeping in mind with

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this view the researcher has stated the problem as Mughal Empire to an extent that Akbar had to
“Expansion of Mughal Empire from Akbar to establish a special tax collection department specific
Aurangzeb”. for the administration of revenues of the Gujerat
Objectives of the Study: The present study has been territory (Bakar 1994).
carried out with the following objectives- In 1574, Akbar headed for Bengal using a naval
 To study the territorial expansion under the route. Akbar’s tactics was absolutely unexpected by
Mughal Ruler Akbar. ruler of Bengal, Daud Khan who assumed that the
 To discuss the expansion of Mughal Empire emperor was not keen on maritime activities. Akbar’s
under Jahangir. charge was however a reaction to Daud Khan’s
 To study the territorial expansion under the severing of ties with the Mughals and his self-
Mughal Ruler Shahjahan. proclamation of sultan. Moreover, Daud Khan tried to
 To discuss the expansion of Mughal Empire conquer several territories controlled by the Rajputs.
under Aurangjeb. Once again, Akbar’s assault on Bengal was
Akbar’s Conquest of India unopposed as Daud Khan fled earlier on. Akbar then
The first stage of the conquest began in 1561 and the appointed Mun’im Khan as the Governor of Bengal
target area was the Bengal territory. The first city to and he returned to Fatehpur Sikri (Bakar 2000).
fall to the Mughals was the city of Malwa which was Akbar then marched his army towards Northern India.
ruled by a Hindu king. The fall of Malwa prompted In July 1585, Akbar tamed Kabul and now was
another Hindu kingnamely Raja Amber to extend a plotting his plans to subdue other regions such as
hand of friendship and cooperation, bowing to the Sind, Kandahar and Kashmir. His operation to the
rule of the Mughals. It was purposedly done to avoid north was a success after conquering wealthy regions
his kingdom from having the same fate as Malwa such as Swat, Bajaur and Buner. Kashmir fell to the
(Pandey 1963). Akbar then proceeded to wage war hands of Akbar in 1586 followed by Sind in 1590. In
against Rani Durgavati, ruler of the Gondwana 1595, the Mughals captured Baluchistan and
province in 1564 in the district of Jabalpur. The Kandahar. The Mughals’ successful operation of
Mughal army, under the command of the governor of conquering northern India elevated Akbar’s position
Kara, Asaf Khan, scored another victory killing Rani as a great ruler feared by his contemporaries (Bakar
Durgavati and Raja Bir Narayan. The conquest of 2000)
Gondwana opened a way for Akbar to extend his
Mughal expansion under Jahangir
conquest to the city of Chittor, the capital of Mewar.
 The main achievement of Jahangir was the
Prior to that, Akbar successfully quelled a rebellion settlement of the outstanding dispute with Mewar.
led by Mirza Khan in Punjab, Khan Abdullah Uzbeg In c. 1615 CE, Amar Singh of Mewar (son of
in Malwa and Khan Zaman Uzbeg in Juanpur. Fresh Maharana Pratap) submitted before Jahangir.
from his victory over the rebels, Akbar marched to
Rana’s son, Karan Singh was made mansabdar
Chittor to battle the Hindu Rajput armies who were with the rank of 5000, which had earlier been
defending their forts. In 1568, Akbar’s men
accorded to the rulers of Jodhpur, Bikaner and
conquered Chittor even though it was said that the Amber. Thus, Jahangir completed the task begun
Hindu army’s defence was among the most
by Akbar, and further strengthened the alliance
formidable at that time (De Laet 1974). After that,
with the Rajputs.
Akbar furthered his military expedition to Rajashtan
in his effort to conquer Ranthambor. In 1569, Akbar  With the help of Maratha sardars, Khan-i-Khanan
captured the city destroying the palace of Raja inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined forces
Chauhan in the battle (Bakar 1994). of Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golconda in c. 1616
CE. This defeat shook the Deccani alliance
Akbar’s siege of Chittor and Ranthambor were a against the Mughals.
strong blow to the Rajput armies. Raja Ramchandra
who ruled Kalinjar voluntarily surrendered his city to  Jahangir was the first Muslim ruler to annex
Akbar in 1569. In 1572, Akbar continued his militaric Kangra (in c. 1620 CE).
mission to Gujerat which was renowned for its ports.  In c. 1622 CE, Mughals lost Qandahar and was
Among the important ports in Gujerat were Broach, captured by Shah Abbas of Persia.
Cambay and Surat. Gujerat was also a fertile land and
rich in agricultural produce. Akbar’s assault on  Jahangir tried to follow an expansionist policy in
Gujerat was unopposed as the ruler of Gujerat, the Deccan, however, he achieved little success.
Muzaffar Shah, has fled prior to the attack. The fall of This was mainly due to Malik Ambar, who led the
Gujerat contributed greatly to the economy of the Deccani struggle against the Mughals. Malik

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Ambar with the help of the Marathas and Ibrahim fertile land of Karnataka, from the river Krishna
Adil Shah, ruler of Bijapur, made it difficult for to Tanjore and beyond. In a short span of time,
the Mughals to consolidate their position in Berar, the territories of these two states were more than
Ahmednagar and Balaghat. doubled and they reached the climax of their
power and prosperity. However, rapid expansion
 During Jahangir's reign, conflict arose in the east.
weakened the internal cohesion these states had.
In c. 1608 CE, Jahangir sent Islam Khan, the
Ambitious nobles such as Shahji and his son
grandson of Sheikh Salim Chisti (famous Sufi
Shivaji, in Bijapur and Mir Jumla, the legendary
saint) to Bengal. Islam Khan handled the revolt
with great energy and foresight. He defeated the noble of Golconda started carving out spheres of
influence for themselves and this again led to the
Afghan rebels and thus Mughal power was firmly
conflicting atmosphere in the Deccan. The
established in East Bengal.
Mughals demanded a price for their benevolent
Shah Jahan neutrality during the expansionist policy of these
As a ruler, Shah Jahan’s first concern was to recover states. In c. 1656 CE following the death of
the territories in the Deccan which had been lost to Muhammad Adil Shah, treaties were ignored.
the Nizam Shahi ruler. He deputed Khan-i-Jahan Shah Jahan asked his son, Aurangzeb, to conquer
Lodhi for this purpose but he failed and he was and annex the territories of the Deccan kingdom.
recalled to the court. Soon, Khan-i-Jahan Lodhi
 In c. 1632 CE, Shah Jahan defeated the
joined the Nizam Shahi ruler. This infuriated Shah
Portuguese near Hugli due to regular abuse of
Jahan and he decided to follow an aggressive policy
trading privileges by them.
to recover lost territories of the Deccan. His Deccan
policy was more successful than Akbar and Jahangir.  Shah Jahan captured Qandahar (in c. 1639 CE)
After ascertaining the facts, he came to the conclusion and fortified it, but Persia wrestled Qandahar
that there could be no peace for the Mughals in the from the Mughals. Shah Jahan launched a
Deccan as long as Ahmednagar continued as an prolonged campaign in the northwest frontier to
independent state. He successfully isolated recover Qandahar and other ancestral lands.
Ahmednagar by winning over Bijapur and the However, realising the futility of his ambition, he
Marathas. Fath Khan, the son of Malik Ambar, also stopped fighting and Qandahar became a
joined the Mughals and Shah Jahan appointed Mahbat permanent loss for the Mughals.
Khan as Mughal viceroy of Deccan. But the conflict Aurangzeb
with the Deccan states continued and finally, in c Aurangzeb was one of the ablest of the Mughal kings.
1636 CE, ahdnama (treaties) were signed with He assumed the title “Alamgir'' (world conqueror).
Bijapur and Golconda. Aurangzeb ruled for almost 50 years and during his
 According to the agreement with Bijapur, Adil long reign, the Mughal Empire reached its territorial
Shah agreed to recognise the Mughal suzerainty, climax. It stretched from Kashmir in the north to Jingi
to pay an indemnity of twenty lakh rupees and to in the south and from Hindukush in the west to
not interfere in the affairs of Golconda which was Chittagong in the east.
brought under Mughal protection. Any dispute  North-East Conquest - In c. 1662 CE, Mir Jumla,
between Bijapur and Golconda was to be referred the governor of Bengal led the expedition against
to the Mughal emperor for arbitration. Adil Shah the Ahoms. He penetrated up to the limit of the
also agreed to cooperate with the Mughals in Ahom kingdom, and forced the Ahom king to
reducing Shahji to submission. sign a favourable treaty (c. 1663 CE). Mir Jumla
 Shah Jahan completed the settlement of the died soon after his brilliant victory. In c. 1667
Deccan by entering into a treaty with Golconda as CE, the Ahoms renewed the contest and
well. The ruler agreed to include the name of recovered the areas ceded to the Mughals. Shaista
Shah Jahan in the khutba and to exclude the name Khan, who succeeded Mir Jumla as the governor
of the Iranian emperor from it. Qutb Shah took an of Bengal, captured the island of Sondip and
oath of loyalty towards the Mughal emperor. The Chittagong. He also chastised Arakanese pirates.
annual tribute of four lakh huns which Golconda  Conquest of Deccan - When Aurangzeb became
was previously paying to Bijapur was remitted, Mughal emperor, for the first 25 years he
instead, Golconda was required to pay two lakh concentrated on the northern regions. At that
huns annually to the Mughal emperor. time, Maratha ruler Shivaji carved out an
 In the decade following the ahdnama of c. 1636 independent kingdom in the territories of north
CE, Bijapur and Golconda overran the rich and and south Konkan. To contain the spread of the

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Marathas, Aurangzeb decided to invade Bijapur [2] Alam, M. 1998. The pursuit of Persian:
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