What were the concerns that shaped Mughal policies and attitudes towards regions outside the subcontinent?
(i)The Safavids and Qandahar: 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. A constant aim of Mughal policy was to ward off this potential danger by controlling strategic outposts – notably Kabul and Qandahar. The fortress-town Qandahar had initially been in the possession of Humayun, reconquered in 1595 by Akbar.The Safavid court retained diplomatic relations with the Mughals, it continued to stake.claims to Qandahar. Jahangir sent a diplomatic envoy to the court of Shah Abbas in 1613 to plead the Mughal case for retaining Qandahar, but the mission failed to achieve its objectives. Persian army besieged Qandahar in 1622. The Mughal garrison was defeated and had to surrender the fortress and the city to the Safavids.
(ii)The Ottomans: pilgrimage and trade: The relationship between the Mughals and the Ottomans ensured free movement for merchants and 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. The Mughal emperor combined religion and commerce by exporting essential goods to Aden and Mokha, and distributing the proceeds of the sales in charity to the keepers of shrines and religious men there.
(iii)Jesuits at the Mughal court: European received knowledge about India through the accounts of Jesuit missionaries, travellers, merchants and diplomats. After the discovery of sea route to India, the Portuguese merchants set up their trading network stations in coastal region. The Portuguese was also interested in the spread of Christianity with the help of the missionaries of the Society of Jesuits. The Christian missions who sent to India during the sixteenth century were part of this process of trade and empire building. The first Jesuit mission reached the Mughal court of Mughal emperor Akbar at Fatehpur oikri in 1580 and stayed here for about two years. The Jesuits spoke to Akbar about Christianity and debated its virtues with the ulema. Two more missions were sent to the Mughal court at Lahore, in 1591 and 1595. The Jesuit accounts are based on personal observation and shed light on the character and mind of the emperor. At public assemblies the Jesuits were assigned places in close proximity to Akbar’s throne. The Jesuit accounts corroborate the information given in Persian chronicles about state officials and the general conditions of life in Mughal times.
What were the distinctive features of the Mughal nobility? How was their relationship with the emperor shaped?
Discuss, with examples, the distinctive features of Mughal chronicles.
Discuss the major features of Mughal provincial administration. How did the centre control the provinces?
Identify the elements that went into the making of the Mughal ideal of kingship.
Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.
Assess the role played by women of the imperial household in the Mughal Empire.
In what ways would the daily routine and special festivities associated with the Mughal court have conveyed a sense of the power of the emperor?
To what extent do you think the visual material presented in this chapter corresponds with Abu’l Fazl’s description of the taswir (Source 1)?
Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.
What have been the methods used to study the ruins of Hampi over the last two centuries? In what way do you think they would have complemented the information provided by the priests of the Virupaksha temple?
What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?
Explain with examples what historians mean by the integration of cults.
Compare and contrast the perspectives from which Ibn Battuta and Bernier wrote their accounts of their travels in India.
How were the water requirements of Vijayanagara met?
To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.
To what extent do you think the architecture of mosques in the subcontinent reflects a combination of universal ideals and local traditions?
Discuss the picture of urban centres that emerges from Bernier’s account.
What do you think were the advantages and disadvantages of enclosing agricultural land within the fortified area of the city?
Write a note on the Kitab-ul-Hind.
Read any five of the sources included in this chapter and discuss the social and religious ideas that are expressed in them.
What do you think was the significance of the rituals associated with the mahanavami dibba?
What were the similarities and differences between the be-shari‘a and ba-shari‘a sufi traditions?
What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?
What impression of the lives of the ordinary people of Vijayanagara can you cull from the various descriptions in the chapter?
To what extent do you think the architecture of mosques in the subcontinent reflects a combination of universal ideals and local traditions?
How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
Discuss whether the term “royal centre” is an appropriate description for the part of the city for which it is used.
Choose any two of the religious teachers/thinkers/saints mentioned in this chapter, and find out more about their lives and teachings. Prepare a report about the area and the times in which they lived, their major ideas, how we know about them, and why you think they are important.