78-579: Faujdar under the Mughals was an office that combined the functions of a military commander along with judicial and land revenue functions. The term faujdar contained pre-Mughal origins. During those times, the term referred to a military officer but did not refer to a specific rank. With the administrative reforms of Mughal emperor Akbar , this rank was systemised. It constituted an independent administrative unit and its territorial limits varied from place to place and from time to time. A faujadari comprised
156-580: A massacre but spared the craftsmen to be sent to Samarkand. He left Delhi in January 1399. During Timur's entry into India, he was faced by a sultanate that was already in decline due to the secession of its richest provinces. Later in 1400–1401 he conquered Aleppo , Damascus and eastern Anatolia . In 1401 he destroyed Baghdad, and in 1402 he defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara . This made Timur
234-501: A number of thanas or military outposts. At each of these the number of swears were stationed under a thanadar. Faujdari carried with it a fixed number of sawars and it was up to the faujdar to station soldiers in various thanas under him. In addition in some faujdaris there were a number of thanas described as huzuri or huzuri mashruti. In these thanas the Thanadars were appointed directly by the central government via royal orders or at
312-644: A region, the Mughals always sought to occupy a strategic fortress in some region, which would serve as a nodal point from which the Mughal army would emerge to take on any enemy that challenged the empire. This system was not only expensive but also made the army somewhat inflexible as the assumption was always the enemy would retreat into a fortress to be besieged or would engage in a set-piece decisive battle of annihilation on open ground. The Hindu Marathas were expert horsemen who refused to engage in set-piece battles, but rather engaged in campaigns of guerrilla warfare upon
390-418: A syncretistic mixture of Hinduism and Islam. Akbar allowed freedom of religion at his court and attempted to resolve socio-political and cultural differences in his empire by establishing a new religion, Din-i-Ilahi , with strong characteristics of a ruling cult. He left his son an internally stable state, which was in the midst of its golden age, but before long signs of political weakness would emerge. Akbar
468-479: A territory of more than 4 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles). Mughal power rapidly dwindled during the 18th century and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II , was deposed in 1857, with the establishment of the British Raj . The Mughal Empire was founded by Babur , a Timurid prince and ruler from Central Asia . Babur was a direct descendant of Timur , the 14th century founder of
546-454: Is also known that the same expression was used in flags as well. Standards with a golden crescent are mentioned in different historical sources. Some miniatures depict the red banners of Timur's army, and it is thought that Timur generally used red banners, probably for visibility, with variable cut-outs, to which may have been added the tail of a horse or yak (the Mongol tugh ), topped with
624-685: Is based on an older Zafarnāmeh by Nizam al-Din Shami , the official biographer of Timur during his lifetime. The most famous poet of the Timurid era was Nūr ud-Dīn Jāmī , the last great medieval Sufi mystic of Persia and one of the greatest figures in Persian poetry . Hearing of the Persian culture of the Timurid empire, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II encouraged those under his patronage to engage with
702-582: Is commonly known as the Mughal dynasty though it was directly inherited from the Timurids. By the 17th century, the Mughal Empire ruled most of India but eventually declined during the following century. The Timurid dynasty finally came to an end when the remaining nominal rule of the Mughals was abolished by the British Empire following the 1857 rebellion . Although the Timurids hailed from
780-588: The Barlas tribe, which was of Turkicized Mongol origin, they converted to Islam, and resided in Turkestan and Khorasan . Thus, the Timurid era had a dual character, reflecting both its Turco-Mongol origins and the Persian literary, artistic, and courtly high culture of the dynasty. During the Timurid era, Central Asian society was bifurcated, with the responsibilities of government and rule divided into military and civilian spheres along ethnic lines. At least in
858-535: The Barlas tribe. Timur's father told him the story of how his family was descended from Abu al-Atrāk ( lit. 'Father of the Turks'), according to the statement of his father. According to the Timurid ruler Ulugh Beg's Tārīkh-i arbaʿ ulūs ( lit. 'History of Four Nations'), abridged as the Shajarat al-atrāk ( lit. 'Genealogy of Turks ') , Timurids were descendants of Turk, son of Yāfas ( Japheth ). Turk
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#1732780059634936-770: The Golden Horde , with Chinese diplomats like Ma Huan and Chen Cheng regularly traveling west to Samarkand to buy and sell goods. The empire led to the Timurid Renaissance , particularly during the reign of astronomer and mathematician Ulugh Begh . By 1467, the ruling Timurid dynasty , or Timurids, had lost most of Persia to the Aq Qoyunlu confederation. However, members of the Timurid dynasty continued to rule smaller states, sometimes known as Timurid emirates, in Central Asia and parts of India. In
1014-704: The Irshad al-zira'a , covered the agricultural development of Herat and included minor architectural suggestions for gardens. The Timurids also played a very important role in the history of Turkic literature . Based on the established Persian literary tradition, a national Turkic literature was developed in the Chagatai language . Chagatai poets such as Mīr Alī Sher Nawā'ī , Sultan Husayn Bāyqarā , and Zāhiruddīn Bābur encouraged other Turkic-speaking poets to write in their own vernacular in addition to Arabic and Persian. Nawa’i's work, predominantly based on Persian designs,
1092-604: The Mughal Empire , who were all members of the Timurid dynasty ( House of Babur ), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were the supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent , mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India , Pakistan , Afghanistan and Bangladesh . They ruled many parts of India from 1526, and by 1707, and ruled most of
1170-626: The Timurid empire on his father's side, and Genghis Khan on his mother's side. Ousted from his ancestral domains in Turkestan by Shaybani Khan , the 40-year-old prince Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass . Babur's forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow
1248-590: The "earlier dominions of the Timurid Empire", specifically referencing a flag raised over the city of Camull (the modern city of Khamil in Xinjiang ). Yuka Kadoi also noted the existence of Timur's umbrella detail with three-dots decorative motif , as well as some contemporary coins from Samarkand which also have the three circles as a motif. Beyond that, the evidence remains scant and ambiguous, but according to Kadoi "one can reasonably conclude that
1326-549: The 15th century was Gawhar Shad , whose constructions demonstrate a high quality of decoration and increasingly elaborate structural elements, with important examples being her religious and funerary complex in Herat and the mosque of Gawhar Shad in Mashhad . The power and prestige of the empire, along with the scale of its patronage, ensured that its architectural style was a major subsequent influence in many regions. In Iran, it
1404-582: The 16th century, Babur , the Timurid prince of Ferghana (modern Uzbekistan ), invaded Kabulistan (modern Afghanistan ) and established a small kingdom there. Twenty years later, he used this kingdom as a staging ground to invade the Delhi Sultanate in India and established the Mughal Empire . Timurid historian Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi states in his work Zafarnama (Book of victories) that
1482-506: The Marathas. The Indian campaign of Nader Shah of Persia culminated with the Sack of Delhi and shattered the remnants of Mughal power and prestige, as well as capturing the imperial treasury, thus drastically accelerating its decline. Many of the empire's elites now sought to control their own affairs and broke away to form independent kingdoms. The Mughal emperor, however, continued to be
1560-570: The Middle Ages. These same Mongols intermarried with the Persians and Turks of Central Asia, even adopting their religion and languages. Yet their simple control of the world at that time, particularly in the 13th–15th centuries, reflected itself in the idealised appearance of Persians as Mongols. Though the ethnic make-up gradually blended into the Iranian and Mesopotamian local populations,
1638-637: The Mongol stylism continued well after and crossed into Asia Minor and even North Africa . Timurid architecture elaborated on the existing tradition of Iranian and Central Asian architecture that had grown up to the preceding Ilkhanid period. The Timurid style is distinguished by large-scale buildings, layouts with strong axial symmetry , prominent double-shelled domes in bulbous form , rich exterior tile decoration (in both tile mosaic and banna'i techniques), and sophisticated interior vaulting . Timur used various tools for legitimisation, including urban planning in his capital, Samarkand. One of
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#17327800596341716-503: The Mongols. Mawarannahr ( Arabic : ما وراء النهر ) also appears as the name of the realm. According to Shia authors, the ruling dynasty of Timurids was called Gurkani ( Persian : گورکانیان , Gurkāniyān). Gurkani means 'son-in-law', a title applied by Timur to help legitimise his rule as he could not claim Genghisid descent. To this end, he married a Genghisid princess, Saray Mulk Khanum . Timurid dynasty originated from
1794-421: The Mughal supply lines. The Marathas were unable to take the Mughal fortresses via a storm or formal siege as they lacked the artillery, but by constantly intercepting supply columns, they were able to starve Mughal fortresses into submission. Successive Mughal commanders refused to adjust their tactics and develop an appropriate counter-insurgency strategy, which led to the Mughals losing more and more ground to
1872-639: The Timurid/Mongol tradition of partitioning the empire as well as several civil wars. The Aq Qoyunlu conquered most of Iran from the Timurids, and by 1500, the divided and war-torn Timurid Empire had lost control of most of its territory, and in the following years it was effectively pushed back on all fronts. Persia, the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and Eastern Anatolia fell quickly to the Shiite Safavid Empire , secured by Shah Ismail I in
1950-420: The ancient greater Persian territories in Central Asia, primarily Transoxiana and Khorasan , from 1363 onwards with various alliances. He took Samarkand in 1366 and Balkh in 1369, and was recognized as ruler over them in 1370. Acting officially in the name of Suurgatmish , the Chagatai khan , he subjugated Transoxania and Khwarazm in the years that followed. Already in the 1360s he had gained control of
2028-457: The authority of the emperor, accepting him only as 'King of Delhi' and removing all references to him from their coinage. After the Indian rebellion which he nominally led from 1857–58, the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar , was deposed by the British, who then assumed formal control of a large part of the former empire, marking the start of the British Raj . Titular emperors Over
2106-469: The bulk of it was published in Arabic. The Timurid prince Baysunghur also commissioned a new edition of the Persian national epic Shāhnāmeh , known as Shāhnāmeh of Baysunghur , and wrote an introduction to it. The Persian poet 'Ismat Allah Bukhari taught poetry to Khalil Sultan , grandson of Timur. According to T. Lenz: It can be viewed as a specific reaction in the wake of Timur's death in 807/1405 to
2184-409: The conscription of troops from settled populations. They were unable to fully subjugate many other nomadic tribes. This was not because of lack of military power as Timur succeeded in defeating them, but rather because he was unwilling to integrate autonomous tribes into his power structure due to his centralised governance. The tribes were too mobile to effectively suppress and the loss of their autonomy
2262-1028: The course of the empire, there were several claimants to the Mughal throne who ascended the throne or claimed to do so but were never recognized. Here are the claimants to the Mughal throne historians recognise as titular Mughal emperors. (4 years, 8 months and 6 days) (9 years, 4 months and 21 days) 22 February 1555 – 27 January 1556 (11 months and 5 days) (49 years, 8 months and 16 days) (21 years, 11 months and 25 days) (30 years, 6 months and 12 days) Alamgir عالمگیر (48 years, 7 months and 3 days) (3 months 6 days) Shah Alam I (4 years, 253 days) (0 years, 350 days) (6 years, 48 days) (0 years, 98 days) (0 years, 105 days) (28 years, 212 days) (6 years, 37 days) (5 years, 180 days) (0 years, 282 days) (27 years, 301 days) (0 years, 63 days) (18 years, 339 days) (30 years, 321 days) (19 years, 360 days) Timurid empire The Timurid Empire
2340-525: The court, however, began to exceed the revenue being levied. Shah Jahan's eldest son, the liberal Dara Shikoh , became regent in 1658, as a result of his father's illness. Dara championed a syncretistic Hindu-Muslim religion and culture. With the support of the Islamic orthodoxy, however, a younger son of Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb , seized the throne. Aurangzeb defeated Dara in 1659 and had him executed. Although Shah Jahan fully recovered from his illness, there
2418-499: The crescent of Islam. During the Indian campaign , a black banner with a silver dragon was used. Before the campaign to China, however, Timur ordered the depiction of a golden dragon on the army's banners. There is little certainty about the actual flag of the Timurid Empire. Yuka Kadoi studied the possibility that the "brown or originally silver flag with three circles or balls" in the Catalan Atlas could be associated with
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2496-518: The developments in Safavid Iran – Chinese art and artists had a significant influence on Persian art. Timurid artists refined the Persian art of the book, which combines paper, calligraphy, illumination, illustration and binding in a brilliant and colourful whole. The Mongol ethnicity of the Chaghatayid and Timurid khans was the source of the stylistic depiction of Persian art during
2574-573: The dynasty being "regarded as ideal Perso-Islamic rulers". The empire was founded by Timur (also known as Tamerlane), a warlord of Turco-Mongol lineage, who established the empire between 1370 and his death in 1405. He envisioned himself as the great restorer of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan , regarded himself as Genghis's heir , and associated closely with the Borjigin . Timur continued vigorous trade relations with Ming China and
2652-564: The dynasty within the context of the Islamic Iranian monarchical tradition, and the Baysanghur Shahnameh, as much a precious object as it is a manuscript to be read, powerfully symbolizes the Timurid conception of their own place in that tradition. A valuable documentary source for Timurid decorative arts that have all but disappeared for the period, the manuscript still awaits a comprehensive monographic study. Following
2730-838: The earliest surviving Timurid monuments is the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi in present-day Kazakhstan (1389–1399). Many of the major imperial monuments of the era are found in Samarkand, including the Gur-i Amir Mausoleum (completed c. 1404 ), the Bibi-Khanym Mosque (1399–1404), the Shah-i Zinda necropolis (late 14th to early 15th centuries), and the Ulugh Beg Madrasa (1417–1420). The most important patron of architecture in
2808-480: The early stages, the military was almost exclusively Turco-Mongolian, while the civilian and administrative element was almost exclusively Persian. The spoken language shared by all the Turko-Mongolians throughout the area was Chaghatay . The political organization hearkened back to the steppe-nomadic system of patronage introduced by Genghis Khan . The major language of the period, however, was Persian ,
2886-447: The emblem adopted by Timur was composed of "three circlets" arranged into the shape of a triangle: "The special armorial bearing of Timur is the three circlets set thus to shape a triangle, which same it is said signifies that he Timur is lord of all three quarters of the world. This device Timur has ordered to be set on the coins that he has stuck, and on all buildings that he has erected (…) These three circlets which, as said, are like
2964-543: The empire heavily in both militarily and financially. A further problem for Aurangzeb was the army had always been based upon the land-owning aristocracy of northern India who provided the cavalry for the campaigns, and the empire had nothing equivalent to the janissary corps of the Ottoman Empire. The long and costly conquest of the Deccan had badly diminished the "aura of success" that surrounded Aurangzeb, and from
3042-766: The empire's decline, but he ultimately had to seek the protection of outside powers. In 1784, the Marathas under Mahadaji Shinde won acknowledgement as the protectors of the emperor in Delhi, a state of affairs that continued until after the Second Anglo-Maratha War . Thereafter, the East India Company became the protectors of the Mughal dynasty in Delhi . After 1835 the Company no longer recognised
3120-444: The end of the Timurid century—it was still dwarfed by the Persian literary output that the Timurid elite supported. There are no surviving Turkic historical work from the Timurids, although two Turkic histories seem to have been written during the Timurid period before the flowering of the Timurid historiography in Persian. The golden age of Persian painting began during the reign of the Timurids. During this period – and analogous to
3198-457: The fabulous wealth of the Mughal court, but the glittering court hid darker realities, namely that about a quarter of the empire's gross national product was owned by 655 families while the bulk of India's 120 million people lived in appalling poverty. After suffering what appears to have been an epileptic seizure in 1578 while hunting tigers, which he regarded as a religious experience , Akbar grew disenchanted with Islam, and came to embrace
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3276-605: The faujdar of a charge could be called upon to enforce imperial regulations. They were appointed by virtue of a royal order and the appointment bore the seal of the Bakshi ul Mulki . They received orders directly from the Emperor and submitted petitions directly to the court. Transfer was a well established practice. Generally his military and police duties included: His judicial functions were: His revenue administration functions were: Mughal emperors The emperors of
3354-590: The following decade. Much of the Central Asian lands was overrun by the Uzbeks of Muhammad Shaybani who conquered the key cities of Samarkand and Herat in 1505 and 1507, and who founded the Khanate of Bukhara . From Kabul, the Mughal Empire was established in 1526 by Babur , a descendant of Timur through his father and possibly a descendant of Genghis Khan through his mother. The dynasty he established
3432-504: The governors became conclusively independent. Due to the fact that the Persian cities were desolated by wars, the seats of Persian culture were now in Samarkand and Herat, cities that became the centre of the Timurid renaissance . The costs of Timur's conquests included the deaths of possibly 17 million people. Shahrukh Mirza , the fourth ruler of the Timurids, dealt with the Qara Qoyunlu , who aimed to expand into Iran. But in
3510-575: The highest manifestation of sovereignty. Not only the Muslim gentry, but the Maratha, Hindu, and Sikh leaders took part in ceremonial acknowledgements of the emperor as the sovereign of India. In the next decades, the Afghans , Sikhs , and Marathas battled against each other and the Mughals, revealing the fragmented state of the empire. The Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II made futile attempts to reverse
3588-427: The junior partner to Persian, and was not promoted systemically in the Timurid Empire to replace Persian. Chaghatai texts were found at Sultan Husayn Bayqara's court, but the Timurid chancery and court continued to use Persian. Although the body of Turkic literature produced in Central Asia increased during the Timurid era of the fifteenth century—partially as a result of Mir 'Ali Shir Nawa'i's independent efforts toward
3666-454: The kingdom stretched to 3.2 million square kilometres, including parts of what are now India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. After his death in 1707, "many parts of the empire were in open revolt." Aurangzeb's attempts to reconquer his family's ancestral lands in Central Asia were not successful while his successful conquest of the Deccan region proved to be a pyrrhic victory that cost
3744-568: The late 17th century onwards, the aristocracy became increasingly unwilling to provide forces for the empire's wars as the prospect of being rewarded with land as a result of a successful war was seen as less and less likely. Furthermore, at the conclusion of the conquest of the Deccan, Aurangzeb had very selectively rewarded some of the noble families with confiscated land in the Deccan, leaving aristocrats unrewarded with confiscated land feeling strongly disgruntled and unwilling to participate in further campaigns. Aurangzeb's son, Shah Alam , repealed
3822-439: The letter O thrice repeated to form a triangle, further are the imprint of Timur’s seal, and again by his special order are added so as to be seen patent on all the coins stuck by those princes who are become tributary to his government." Often images of abstract symbols ( tamga ) on coins were accompanied by the Persian expression "Rāstī rustī" ( Persian : راستى رستى ), which can be translated as "In rectitude lies salvation". It
3900-470: The literature of the Timurid era, the realm was formally referred to as Iran-o-Turan ( Persian : ایران و توران ) in the same manner that the words 'Turk' and 'Tajik' were paired together. The border between the two areas was considered to be at the Oxus River . Both terms were concerned with imperial traditions, Iran being Persian and Perso-Islamic, and Turan with the steppe empires of the Turks and
3978-470: The models provided by Persian cultural centers like Shiraz and Tabriz, and in particular by the Timurid court of Sultan Husayn Bayqara (r. 1469–1506) in Herat. Mehmed II was determined to foster the creation of a new language and literary-artistic culture for his burgeoning court in Istanbul. In addition, some of the astronomical works of the Timurid sultan Ulugh Beg were written in Persian, although
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#17327800596344056-498: The most preeminent Muslim ruler of the time, as the Ottoman Empire plunged into civil war . Meanwhile, he transformed Samarkand into a major capital and seat of his realm. Timur appointed his sons and grandsons to the main governorships of the different parts of his empire, and outsiders to some others. After his death in 1405, the family quickly fell into disputes and civil wars, effectively weakening themselves, and many of
4134-602: The name of the Timur's state was Turan ( Persian : توران ). Timur personally ordered the name of his state as Turan be carved onto a rock fragment in Ulu Tagh mountainside (present-day Kazakhstan ), known today as Karsakpay inscription . The original text, in particular, states: "... Sultan of Turan, Timur bey went up with three hundred thousand troops for Islam on the Bulgarian Khan, Tokhtamysh Khan..." In
4212-515: The native language of the Tājīk (Persian) component of society and the language of learning acquired by all literate or urban people. Timur was already steeped in Persian culture and in most of the territories he incorporated, Persian was the primary language of administration and literary culture. Thus the language of the settled " diwan " was Persian, and its scribes had to be thoroughly adept in Persian culture, whatever their ethnic origin. Persian became
4290-469: The new cultural demands facing Shahhrokh and his sons, a Turkic military elite no longer deriving their power and influence solely from a charismatic steppe leader with a carefully cultivated linkage to Mongol aristocracy. Now centered in Khorasan, the ruling house regarded the increased assimilation and patronage of Persian culture as an integral component of efforts to secure the legitimacy and authority of
4368-741: The new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India. The instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun , who was driven into exile in Persia by rebels. Humayun's exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal courts and led to increasing West Asian cultural influence in the Mughal court. The restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayun's triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from an accident shortly afterwards. Humayun's son, Akbar , succeeded to
4446-409: The official state language of the Timurid Empire and served as the language of administration, history, belles lettres, and poetry. The Chaghatay language was the native and "home language" of the Timurid family, while Arabic served as the language par excellence of science, philosophy, theology and the religious sciences. Persian literature, especially Persian poetry, occupied a central place in
4524-463: The process of assimilation of the Timurid elite to the Perso-Islamic courtly culture. The Timurid sultans, especially Shāh Rukh Mīrzā and his son Mohammad Taragai Oloğ Beg , patronized Persian culture. Among the most important literary works of the Timurid era is the Persian biography of Timur , known as Zafarnāmeh ( Persian : ظفرنامه ), written by Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi , which itself
4602-430: The publication of Mukhtar al-Ikhtiyar , a legal manual that was used until the twentieth century, by the head magistrate of Bayqara in Herat, Persian was used as a language of jurisprudence ( fiqh ) under the late Timurids. During the reign of sultan Husayn Bayqara, the Irshad al-zira'a , a Persian agricultural treatise, was written by Qasim b. Yusuf Abu Nasiri. Based on in-depth, first-hand conversations with farmers,
4680-480: The recommendations of the Nizam or Diwan of the province. Such thanadars were to a considerable degree independent officers who could receive orders direct from the central government. They were probably placed under the overall supervision of the faijdar and were expected to cooperate with him in mainataing law and order. They were created to ensure an efficient check on ambitious faujdars. In any case in an emergency
4758-649: The region. In 1394–1395, he triumphed over the Golden Horde, following his successful campaign in Georgia , after which he enforced his sovereignty in the Caucasus . In 1398, the anarchy prevailing in the Delhi Sultanate had drawn Timur's attention. At the beginning of 1398, Timur sent an army led by his grandson Pir Muhammad to cross the Indus and attack Multan ; the successful siege lasted six months. Later in
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#17327800596344836-406: The reign of Aurangzeb , the empire, as the world's largest economy and manufacturing power, worth over 25% of global GDP, controlled nearly all of the Indian subcontinent, extending from Dhaka in the east to Kabul in the west and from Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri River in the south. Its population at the time is estimated to be 158,400,000 (a quarter of the world's population), over
4914-556: The religious policies of his father and attempted to reform the administration. "However, after his death in 1712, the Mughal dynasty sank into chaos and violent feuds. In the year 1719 alone, four emperors successively ascended the throne". During the reign of Muhammad Shah , the empire began to break up, and vast tracts of central India passed from Mughals to the Marathas hands. Mughal warfare had always been based upon heavy artillery for sieges, heavy cavalry for offensive operations and light cavalry for skirmishing and raids. To control
4992-402: The same year, Timur himself marched the main army across the Indus, and after destroying Tulamba joined Pir Muhammad. At Sutlej , he defeated the Khokhar chief Jasrat and then took the Loni and Bhatnair forts , seven miles northeast of Delhi . In December 1398, Timur engaged with the armies of Sultan Mahmud Shah and won. This led to his triumphal entry into Delhi, where he conducted
5070-405: The size of the army for large expeditions. The main symbol of the Timurids is thought to have been the so-called "sign of Timur", which is three equal circles (or rings) arranged in the form of an equilateral triangle ( [REDACTED] ). Ruy de Clavijo (d. 1412), the ambassador of the king of Castile to the court of Timur in 1403, and the Arab historian, Ibn Arabshah described the sign, which
5148-575: The subcontinent. Afterwards, they declined rapidly, but nominally ruled territories until the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , where they gave their last stand against the invading British forces in India. The Mughal dynasty was founded by Babur ( r. 1526–1530 ), a Timurid prince from the Fergana Valley (modern-day Uzbekistan ), was a direct descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan . The Mughal emperors had significant Indian Rajput and Persian ancestry through marriage alliances as emperors were born to Rajput and Persian princesses. During
5226-520: The throne under a regent, Bairam Khan , who helped consolidate the Mughal Empire in India. Through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari river . He created a new ruling elite loyal to him, implemented a modern administration, and encouraged cultural developments. He increased trade with European trading companies. The Indian historian Abraham Eraly wrote that foreigners were often impressed by
5304-400: The various successor states of the Ilkhanate . By 1389, he had removed the Kartids from Herat and advanced into mainland Persia where he enjoyed many successes. This included the capture of Isfahan in 1387, the removal of the Muzaffarids from Shiraz in 1393, and the expulsion of the Jalayirids from Baghdad . Tokhtamysh , the khan of the Golden Horde , was a major rival to Timur in
5382-402: The wake of Shahrukh's death, the Qara Qoyunlu under Jahan Shah drove the Timurids out to eastern Iran after 1447 and also briefly occupied Herat in 1458. After the death of Jahan Shah, Uzun Hasan , bey of the Aq Qoyunlu , conquered the holdings of the Qara Qoyunlu in Iran between 1469 and 1471. The power of Timurids declined rapidly during the second half of the 15th century, largely due to
5460-410: The western Chagatai Khanate and while as emir he was nominally subordinate to the khan, in reality it was now Timur who picked the khans, who became mere puppet rulers. The western Chagatai khans were continually dominated by Timurid princes in the 15th and 16th centuries and their figurehead importance was eventually reduced into total insignificance. Timur began a campaign westwards in 1380, invading
5538-416: Was a late medieval , culturally Persianate , Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran , Iraq , Afghanistan , much of Central Asia , the South Caucasus , and parts of contemporary Pakistan , North India , and Turkey . The empire was culturally hybrid, combining Turkic , Mongolic , and Persian influences, with the last members of
5616-438: Was a succession war for the throne between Dara and Aurangzeb. Finally, Aurangzeb succeeded the throne and kept Shah Jahan under house arrest. During Aurangzeb's reign, the empire gained political strength once more, and it became the world's largest economy, over a quarter of the world GDP, but his establishment of Sharia caused huge controversies. Aurangzeb expanded the empire to include a huge part of South Asia. At its peak,
5694-476: Was also interested in elevating the way individuals view leaders with the stylings of his clothes and ensemble. Akbar's son, Jahangir , was addicted to opium , neglected the affairs of the state, and came under the influence of rival court cliques . During the reign of Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan , the splendour of the Mughal court reached its peak, as exemplified by the Taj Mahal . The cost of maintaining
5772-489: Was an attempt to create a culture that was specific to the Turkophone audience. The Bāburnāma , the autobiography of Bābur (although being highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology, and vocabulary), as well as Mīr Alī Sher Nawā'ī's Chagatai poetry are among the best-known Turkic literary works and have influenced many others. Despite being spread throughout Central and South Asia, Chaghatai Turkic remained
5850-499: Was commonly referred as "Father of the Turks". Mughul and Tatar were twin brothers and children of Aljeh Khan, and therefore fifth generation descendants of Turk. Ulugh Beg's work on genealogy classified Mongols as Turks , while also praising their warrior spirit. Ulugh Beg included Yāfas (Japheth), Turk, Mughūl, Tātār and Ughūz in the genealogical record of the Genghisids and Timurids. Timur conquered large parts of
5928-595: Was encountered on the seal of the Amir, as well as on Timurid coins. Timur himself issued several coins bearing the "three annulets" tamgha on the reverse. It is not known for certain what meaning the triangular sign had, but according to Clavijo, each circle meant a part of the world (of which there were three before 1492), and the owner of the symbol was their ruler. The sign consisting of circles perhaps tried to illustrate Timur's nickname of "Sahib-Qiran" (the ruler of three benevolent planets). According to Ruy de Clavijo ,
6006-642: Was inherited by the Safavids , while in the east it was inherited by the Mughals (of Timurid origin) on the Indian subcontinent, where it was blended with Indo-Islamic influences to create the Mughal style . Further west, it also influenced early Ottoman architecture . In the Chagatay translation of Ali Yazdi's Zafarnama , Timur's army is called a "Chagatay army" ( Čaġatāy čerigi ). The Timurids relied on
6084-558: Was unattractive to them. Hence, Timur was unable to win the loyalty of the tribes, and his hold over them did not survive his death. The role of slave soldiers such as the ghilman and mamluks was considerably smaller in Mongol-based armies like the Timurids, as compared to other Islamic societies. The Timurids had a contingent called the nambardar levy, which mostly consisted of native Iranians, and occasionally scholars and fiscal administrators. The nambardar were used to bolster
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