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Period: 1526 to 1530
Badur
abur, the founder of the largest dynasty India has ever seen-- the Mughals, was born on February 14, 1483 . Considered as one of the finest Mughal emperors, Babur succeeded in securing the dynasty's position in Delhi after a series of sultanates failed to consolidate their seats and his empire went on to rule for over 300 years in India. He passed away on December 26 in 1530. He was 48. -
Period: 1530 to 1556
Humayun
Humāyūn inherited the hope rather than the fact of empire, because the Afghans and Rajputs were merely restrained but not reconciled to Mughal supremacy by the Mughal victories at Panipat (1526), Khanua (1527), and the Ghaghara (1529). Bahādur Shah of Gujarat, encouraged by Afghan and Mughal émigrés, challenged the Mughals in Rajasthan, and, although Humāyūn occupied Gujarat in 1535, the danger there ended only with Bahādur’s death in 1537. -
Period: 1556 to
Akbar
Akbar, in full Abū al-Fatḥ Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar, (born October 15?, 1542, Umarkot [now in Sindh province, Pakistan]—died c. October 25, 1605, Agra, India), the greatest of the Mughal emperors of India. He reigned from 1556 to 1605 and extended Mughal power over most of the Indian subcontinent. In order to preserve the unity of his empire, Akbar adopted programs that won the loyalty of the non-Muslim populations of his realm. -
Period: to
Jahangir
ahāngīr, a heavy drinker and opium eater—until excess taught him comparative moderation—encouraged Persian culture in Mughal India. He possessed a sensitivity to nature, an acute perception of human character, and an artistic sensibility, which expressed itself in an unmatched patronage of painting. Mughal painting reached a high level of elegance and richness during his reign. -
Period: to
Shahryar (de facto)
Shahryar Mirza was the fifth and youngest son of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. After Jahangir's death, Shahryar made an attempt to become emperor and was successful with the help of his powerful stepmother Nur Jahan, who was also his mother-in-law. However, he was only titular and suffered defeat and was killed at the orders of his victorious brother Shah Jahan. -
Period: to
Shah Jahan
Shah Jahān, also spelled Shāhjahān or Shah Jehan, also called (until 1628) Prince Khurram, original name Shihāb al-Dīn Muḥammad Khurram, (born January 5, 1592, Lahore [now in Pakistan]—died January 22, 1666, Agra [now in India]), Mughal emperor of India (1628–58) who built the Taj Mahal. He was the third son of the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr and the Rajput princess Manmati. -
Period: to
Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb’s reign falls into two almost equal parts. In the first, which lasted until about 1680, he was a capable Muslim monarch of a mixed Hindu-Muslim empire and as such was generally disliked for his ruthlessness but feared and respected for his vigour and skill. -
Period: to
Muhammad Azam Shah
Shah Jahān, also spelled Shāhjahān or Shah Jehan, also called (until 1628) Prince Khurram, original name Shihāb al-Dīn Muḥammad Khurram, (born January 5, 1592, Lahore [now in Pakistan]—died January 22, 1666, Agra [now in India]), Mughal emperor of India (1628–58) who built the Taj Mahal. He was the third son of the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr and the Rajput princess Manmati. -
Period: to
Jahandar Shah
The empire under Aurangzeb (ruled 1658–1707) experienced further growth but also manifested signs of weakness. For more than a decade, Aurangzeb appeared to be in full control. The Mughals suffered a bit in Assam and Koch Bihar, but they gainfully invaded Arakanese lands in coastal Myanmar (Burma), captured Chittagong, and added territories in Bikaner, Bundelkhand, Palamau, Assam, and elsewhere. There was the usual display of wealth and grandeur at court. -
Period: to
Farrukhsiyar
Farrukh-Siyar (ruled 1713–19) owed his victory and accession to the Sayyid brothers, ʿAbd Allāh Khan and Ḥusayn ʿAlī Khan Bāraha. The Sayyids thus earned the offices of vizier and chief bakhshī and acquired control over the affairs of state. They promoted the policies initiated earlier by Ẓulfiqār Khan. In addition to the jizyah, other similar taxes were abolished. -
Period: to
Jahan
Muḥammad Shah, in full Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad Shah, original name Roshan Akhtar, (born August 7, 1702, Ghaznā [now Ghaznī], Afghanistan—died April 6, 1748, Delhi [India]), ineffective, pleasure-seeking Mughal emperor of India from 1719 to 1748. Roshan Akhtar was the grandson of the emperor Bahādur Shah I (ruled 1707–12) and the son of Jahān Shah, Bahādur Shah’s youngest son. -
Period: to
Muhammad shah
Muḥammad Shah, in full Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad Shah, original name Roshan Akhtar, (born August 7, 1702, Ghaznā [now Ghaznī], Afghanistan—died April 6, 1748, Delhi [India]), ineffective, pleasure-seeking Mughal emperor of India from 1719 to 1748. Roshan Akhtar was the grandson of the emperor Bahādur Shah I (ruled 1707–12) and the son of Jahān Shah, -
Period: to
Alamgir
ʿĀlamgīr II, in full ʿĀlamgīr II, (born June 6, 1699, Multan [India]—died Nov. 29, 1759, Delhi), Mughal emperor of India who disgraced his reign (1754–59) by his weakness and his disregard for his subjects’ welfare. A son of the emperor Jahāndār Shah (reigned 1712–13), ʿĀlamgīr was always the puppet of more powerful men and was placed on the throne by the imperial vizier , who had deposed his predecessor. -
Period: to
Shah Jahan III
The murder of Farrukh-Siyar created a wave of revulsion against the Sayyids among the various factions of nobility, who also were jealous of their growing power. Many of these, in particular the old nobles of Aurangzeb’s time, resented the vizier’s encouragement of revenue farming (selling the right to collect taxes), which in their view was mere shopkeeping and violated the age-old Mughal notion of statecraft. -
Period: to
akbar 2
Akbar, in full Abū al-Fatḥ Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Akbar, (born October 15?, 1542, Umarkot [now in Sindh province, Pakistan]—died c. October 25, 1605, Agra, India), the greatest of the Mughal emperors of India. He reigned from 1556 to 1605 and extended Mughal power over most of the Indian subcontinent. In order to preserve the unity of his empire, Akbar adopted programs that won the loyalty of the non-Muslim populations of his realm. -
Period: to
bahadur shah
Bahādur Shāh II, (born Oct. 24, 1775, Delhi, India—died Nov. 7, 1862, Rangoon [now Yangon], Myanmar), the last Mughal emperor of India (reigned 1837–58). He was a poet, musician, and calligrapher, more an aesthete than a political leader.