The historian who labeled Akbar’s ‘Din-i-Ilahi’ a religion was Abdul Qadir Badauni. As an orthodox Muslim theologian and chronicler, Badauni was severely critical of Akbar’s syncretic policies, viewing the Din-i-Ilahi not as a philosophy but as a heretical new religion ...
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Despite his orthodox policies, the Mughal army under Aurangzeb had the maximum number of Hindu generals (Mansabdars). This was a structural necessity for governing his vastly expanded empire, particularly due to the long, sustained military campaigns in the Deccan. The ...
The Tomb of Rabia-ud-Daurani (Dilras Banu Begum), famously known as the Bibi Ka Maqbara, is often called the ‘Second Taj Mahal’ or the ‘Mini-Taj Mahal’. Located in Aurangabad, it was commissioned by Emperor Aurangzeb’s son, Prince Azam Shah, in 1660, ...
The Mughals adopted the celebration of the festival Nowruz/Navroz from the Parsis (and the wider Persian cultural tradition). Nowruz, meaning “New Day,” is the Persian New Year. The Mughals, with their Persian cultural heritage, celebrated it with great pomp and ...
Emperor Jahangir wrote his autobiography, the ‘Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri’, in Persian. Unlike his grandfather Babur, who wrote the Baburnama in Chagatai Turkish, Jahangir used the language of the Mughal court. The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri is a valuable primary source detailing the political, cultural and ...