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The Mahal Empire : The Fall Of The Mughal Empire

Decent Essays

Mughal Empire Museum
Virtually surpassing Ashoka Samrat’s Mauryan Empire, the Mughal Sultanate was one of the largest autocratic governments instituted in the Indian Subcontinent and parts of (modern-day) Afghanistan. The dynasty was established, in 1526, by the Chagatai Turkic Prince, Muhammad Babur, who was the descendant of the Turkish conqueror, Timur, and, the Mongol emperor, Genghis Khan. The Mughal Empire is noted to have maintained a stable administration for over two centuries and integrate a single Muslim and Hindu State, India. However, internal problems, such as oppressive regulations, constant wars and British colonization, led to the fall of the Mughal dynasty in 1857. The Mughal supremacy is a puissant illustration of minority rule, which can be seen through Mughlai artifacts such as the Hamzanama, Taj Mahal and Aurangzeb’s armor.
Presumably written in the era of Mahmud of Ghazni (first Sultan of India), the Hamzanama documents the adventures of Amir Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. Similar to the Hindu text, Mahabharat, the Indo-Islamic epic, Hamzanama was constantly narrated (by court storytellers) and (eventually) became a favorite of the illiterate Mughal Shahenshah, Akbar. Thus, at the age of fourteen, “Akbar personally recited the Hamzanama and ordered it to be the subject of the first royal manuscripts illustrated in India during his reign” (The National Museum of Asian Art). “The Hamzanama (Story of Hamza) is one of the most unusual and

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