Travelers During Mughals

Bernier’s Travels in the Mughal Empire is set apart by detailed perceptions, critical bits of knowledge and reflection. His portrayal of India works on the model of binary resistance, where India is introduced as the converse of Europe.

The Mughal Empire’s Ascension

In 1526, a Turkic Prince named Babur (a descendant of the Turkic conqueror Timur and the Mongol monarch Genghis Khan) set out to gain control of India’s Punjab area. Babur acquired control of the Punjab province from his stronghold in Kabul, Afghanistan, and defeated the Delhi Sultan, Ibrahim Lodi. This is referred to as the First Battle of Panipat. Timur’s incursions on India in the 14th century are thought to have motivated Babur’s desire to conquer India. Babur’s military success is largely due to his employment of weapons, as well as the superiority and expertise of his cavalry. As a result, by the time Babur died in 1530, the Mughals dominated the majority of Northern India.

Following Babur’s death, his son, Humayun, ruled over the Mughal Empire. By 1540, however, he had lost control of the province to Afghan insurgents and had been exiled by the Afghan emperor, Sher Shah Sur.  The Moghul Empire was re-established in 1555 with the assistance of the Persians and his son, Akbar, who defeated Hemu (a Hindu pretender) at the Second Battle of Panipat in 1556.  Following his father’s death in 1556, Akbar assumed control of the kingdom.

He was to be known as Akbar the Great and was regarded as the greatest Mughal ruler of all time. During his rule, the Mughal Empire began to realise its full potential. The Mughal Empire grew during Akbar’s rule from “Kashmir in the north and Afghanistan in the northwest to Bengal in the east and the Deccan plateau in the south.” In addition, Akbar established substantial political, military, and administrative systems that would be employed for years to come.

The State and Society

During Akbar’s reign (1556-1605), considerable political, administrative, and military modifications were made to the Mughal Empire’s existing structures. Akbar imposed a centralised administration and governance structure in which mansabdars (warrior-aristocrats) could be selected to rule from different bureaucratic or military posts.

This governing system was also complemented by religious tolerance, with persons of diverse religious or cultural origins able to enrol and serve in the military or government services. Furthermore, Akbar opted to remove the poll tax levied on non-Muslims and declined to seek to convert his region’s Hindu inhabitants to Islam. The resolve to be tolerant and open to other religions was crucial in his quest to unite the many provinces of his empire, as it fostered loyalty and a sense of cohabitation among the various cultural and religious groups.

This was critical for the Mughal Empire’s existence and rule, given the bulk of the empire’s population were Hindus. Furthermore, these improvements insured the empire’s existence for another century while also sparking a number of cultural and artistic revolutions.

The question of land ownership: 

•  One of the major differences between Mughal and European travelers was the lack of individual assets inland
•   He was a believer in the virtue of private property and saw crown ownership of land as being harmful to both the state and its people
• Owing to crown responsibility, landholders couldn’t give their land to their youngsters. So, they were averse to any long-term investment
•  It led to the uniform ruination of agriculture, excessive oppression of the peasantry and a continuous decline in living standards
  
  A more complex social reality
•   He found that artisans had no money to improve the quality of their manufactures because profits were modified by the state
•   Manufacturing was in decline everywhere
•   Vast quantities of the world’s precious metals flowed into India, as manufactures were exported in exchange for gold and silver
•  The existence of a prosperous merchant community, engaged in long-distance exchange was also noticed by him
•   Bernier described Mughal cities as “camp towns”, towns that owed their existence to the imperial camp

Women, Slaves, Sati, and Labourers

• Slaves were openly sold in markets and were regularly exchanged as gifts
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq, intimate Ibn Battuta, was so obsessed with the sermon of a preacher that he gave him “a hundred thousand tankas (coins) and two hundred slaves”
  
  

There was noticeable differentiation between slaves:

•   Some female slaves were experts in music and dance
•   Female slaves were also employed by the Sultan to keep a watch on his nobles
•  To carry people on dola
• In the case of Sati, Bernier noted that while some women seemed to embrace death cheerfully, others were forced to die
• Women from merchant families participated in commercial activities

Timeline: Travelers during Mughals Who Left accounts

• 973-1048: Muhammad ibn Ahmad Raihan al-Biruni (from Uzbekistan)
• 1254-1323: Marco Polo (from Italy)
• 1304-77: Ibn Battuta (from Morocco)
• 1413-82: Abd al-Razzaq al-Din ibn Ishaq al-Samarqandi (from Samarqand)
• 1466-72 (years spent in India): Afanasail Nikitich Nikitin (from Russia)
• 1518 (visit to India): Duarte Barbosa (from Portugal)
• 1562 (year of Death): Seydi Ali Reis (from Turkey)
• 1536-1600: Antonio Monserrate (from Spain)
• 1626-31 (years spent in India): Mahmud Wali Balkhi (from Balkh)
• 1600-67: Peter Mundy (from England)
• 1605-89: Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (from France)

●  1620-88: François Bernier (from France)

Conclusion

Women’s lives, however, revolved around much more than the practise of sati. Their contribution was critical in both agricultural and non-agricultural production.Women from merchant families were involved in commercial activities, even taking mercantile disputes to court. As a result, it appears unlikely that women were confined to their homes’ private spaces.