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108-570: Munshiganj was originally known as Idrakpur. It is believed that during the Mughal era , a person named Munshi Haidar Hossain lived in Idrakpur, who was appointed as a Faujdar by the Mughal rulers. Due to his virtuous and philanthropic nature, Idrakpur was renamed Munshiganj in his honor. Some also suggest that the district was named after Zamindar Enayet Ali Munshi. Munshiganj was officially declared

216-561: A jauhar , during which women and children within the fortress immolated themselves . A small number of soldiers also collected in Medini Rao's house and killed each other in collective suicide. This sacrifice does not seem to have impressed Babur, who did not express a word of admiration for the enemy in his autobiography. Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi , the last Sultan of the Lodi dynasty , in 1526. Babur ruled for 4 years and

324-516: A district in 1984. Civic administration The East India Company acquired the right to collect taxes from Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa on behalf of the Emperor Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II in 1765, marking the beginning of revenue administration in the region. At that time, Munshiganj was part of Dhaka district . In 1769, Nathaniel Middleton independently managed the revenue administration, leasing out estates to

432-1102: A base for the British East India Company , the French East India Company , the Danish East India Company , the Austrian East India Company , the Ostend Company , and the Dutch East India Company . The British company eventually rivaled the authority of the Nawabs. In the aftermath of the siege of Calcutta in 1756, in which the Nawab's forces overran the main British base, the East India Company dispatched

540-518: A central place in his life, Babur also approvingly quoted a line of poetry by one of his contemporaries: "I am drunk, officer. Punish me when I am sober". He quit drinking for health reasons before the Battle of Khanwa, just two years before his death, and demanded that his court do the same. But he did not stop chewing narcotic preparations, and did not lose his sense of irony. He wrote, "Everyone regrets drinking and swears an oath (of abstinence ); I swore

648-479: A certain attraction to theology, poetry, geography , history, and biology —disciplines he promoted at his court—earning him a frequent association with representatives of the Timurid Renaissance . His religious and philosophical stances are characterized as humanistic . Babur married several times. Notable among his children are Humayun , Kamran Mirza , Hindal Mirza , Masuma Sultan Begum , and

756-581: A defensive position at Khanwa (currently in the Indian state of Rajasthan ), from where he hoped to launch a counterattack later. According to K.V. Krishna Rao, Babur won the battle because of his "superior generalship" and modern tactics; the battle was one of the first in India that featured cannons and muskets. Rao also notes that Rana Sanga faced "treachery" when the Hindu chief Silhadi joined Babur's army with

864-550: A fleet led by Robert Clive who defeated the last independent Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Mir Jafar was installed as the puppet Nawab. His successor Mir Qasim attempted in vain to dislodge the British. The defeat of Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal, Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula of Oudh , and Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II at the Battle of Buxar in 1764 paved the way for British expansion across India. The South Indian Kingdom of Mysore led by Tipu Sultan overtook

972-514: A garrison of 6,000 soldiers. Babur recognised Sanga's skill in leadership, calling him one of the two greatest non-Muslim Indian kings of the time, the other being Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara . The Battle of Chanderi took place the year after the Battle of Khanwa. On receiving news that Rana Sanga had made preparations to renew the conflict with him, Babur decided to isolate the Rana by defeating one of his staunchest allies, Medini Rai , who

1080-459: A great ambition to capture the city. In 1497, he besieged Samarkand for seven months before eventually gaining control over it. He was fifteen years old and for him the campaign was a huge achievement. Babur was able to hold the city despite desertions in his army, but he later fell seriously ill. Meanwhile, a rebellion back home, approximately 350 kilometres (220 mi) away, amongst nobles who favoured his brother, robbed him of Fergana. As he

1188-484: A great-great-great-grandson of Timur (1336–1405). Babur ascended the throne of Fergana in its capital Akhsikath in 1494 at the age of twelve and faced rebellion. He conquered Samarkand two years later, only to lose Fergana soon after. In his attempt to reconquer Fergana, he lost control of Samarkand. In 1501, his attempt to recapture both the regions failed when the Uzbek prince Muhammad Shaybani defeated him and founded

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1296-573: A loyal following and received imperial patronage from the Mughal court in Delhi and the Nawabs of Bengal. A provincial Bengali style of Mughal painting flourished in Murshidabad during the 18th century. Scroll painting and ivory sculptures were also prevalent. Bengal's population is estimated to have been 30 million prior to the Great Bengal famine of 1770 , which reduced it by as much as

1404-527: A major silk-producing region of the world. The increased agricultural productivity led to lower food prices . In turn, this benefited the Indian textile industry . Compared to Britain, the price of grain was about one-half in South India and one-third in Bengal, in terms of silver coinage. This resulted in lower silver coin prices for Indian textiles, giving them a price advantage in global markets. In

1512-501: A new imperial metropolis in Dhaka from 1610, with well-developed fortifications, gardens, tombs, palaces and mosques. It served as the Mughal capital of Bengal for 75 years. The city was renamed in honour of Emperor Jahangir . The Mughal conquest of Chittagong in 1666 defeated the (Burmese) Kingdom of Arakan and reestablished Bengali control of the port city, which was renamed as Islamabad. The Chittagong Hill Tracts frontier region

1620-536: A person must follow. Whenever one leaves a good custom, it should be followed. If ancestors leave a bad custom, however it is necessary to substitute a good one." Making clear that to him, the categorical text (i.e. the Quran ) had displaced Genghis Khan's Yassa in moral and legal matters. Babur was an acclaimed writer, who had a profound love for literature. His library was one of his most beloved possessions that he always carried around with him, and books were one of

1728-475: A population of 70,674. 14,539 (20.57%) were under 10 years of age. Munshiganj had a sex ratio of 970 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 65.21%. Bengal Subah The Bengal Subah ( Bengali : সুবাহ বাংলা. Persian : صوبه بنگاله .), also referred to as Mughal Bengal , was the largest subdivision of Mughal India encompassing much of the Bengal region , which includes modern-day Bangladesh ,

1836-627: A powerful figure in Bengal. Khan gained control of imperial finances. Azim-us-Shan was transferred to Bihar. In 1717, the Mughal Court upgraded the prime minister's position to the hereditary Nawab of Bengal . Khan founded a new capital in Murshidabad . His descendants formed the Nasiri dynasty. Alivardi Khan founded a new dynasty in 1740. The Nawabs ruled over a territory which included Bengal proper, Bihar and Orissa . The Nawab of Bengal

1944-539: A third. Bengal was an affluent province with Bengali Muslim as the official religion and constituted a significant minority following a Bengali Hindu majority. There was a significant influx of migrants from the Safavid Empire into Bengal during the Mughal period. Persian administrators and military commanders were enlisted by the Mughal government in Bengal. An Armenian community settled in Dhaka and

2052-539: A wider space between us and the strong foeman." After his third loss of Samarkand, Babur gave full attention to the conquest of North India, launching a campaign; he reached the Chenab River , now in Pakistan , in 1519. Until 1524, his aim was to only expand his rule to Punjab , mainly to fulfill the legacy of his ancestor Timur, since it used to be part of his empire. At the time parts of North India were part of

2160-421: A year in 1500. Three years later, after Babur's first defeat at Fergana, Aisha left him and returned to her father's household. In 1504, Babur married Zaynab Sultan Begum, who died childless within two years. In the period 1506–08, Babur married four women, Maham Begum (in 1506), Masuma Sultan Begum , Gulrukh Begum and Dildar Begum. Babur had four children by Maham Begum, of whom only one survived infancy. This

2268-698: Is generally taken in reference to the Persian word babur ( ببر ), meaning "tiger" or "panther". The word repeatedly appears in Ferdowsi 's Shahnameh and was borrowed into the Turkic languages of Central Asia. Babur's memoirs form the main source for details of his life. They are known as the Baburnama and were written in Chagatai , his first language , though, according to Dale, "his Turkic prose

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2376-492: Is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology or word formation and vocabulary." Baburnama was translated into Persian during the rule of Babur's grandson Akbar. Babur was born on 14 February 1483 in the city of Andijan , Fergana Valley , contemporary Uzbekistan. He was the eldest son of Umar Shaikh Mirza II , ruler of the Fergana Valley, the son of Abū Saʿīd Mirza (and grandson of Miran Shah , who

2484-526: Is needed before drawing any conclusions. Bengal had many traders and bankers. Among them was the Jagat Seth Family , who were the wealthiest bankers in the region. The Mughals launched a vast economic development project in the Bengal delta which transformed its demographic makeup. The government cleared vast swathes of forest in the fertile Bhati region to expand farmland. It encouraged settlers, including farmers and jagirdars , to populate

2592-537: The chauth of Bengal and Bihar to the Marathas, and the Marathas agreed not to invade Bengal again. The expeditions, led by Raghuji Bhonsle of Nagpur , also established de facto Maratha control over Orissa , which was formally incorporated in the Maratha Empire in 1752. The Nawab of Bengal also paid Rs. 3.2 million to the Marathas, towards the arrears of chauth for the preceding years. The chauth

2700-506: The Bargis (Maratha warriors) including textile weavers, silk winders, and mulberry cultivators causing widespread economic devastation for the proto-industrializing textile-based economy of Bengal. Many Bengalis were mutilated and contemporary accounts describe the scene of mass gang-rape against women. Alivardi Khan the Nawab of Bengal fearing even worse devastation and destruction agreed to pay Rs. 1.2 million of tribute annually as

2808-717: The Battle of Buxar , and Bengal came under British influence. It was deindustrialized after being conquered by the British East India Company . In 1765, Emperor Shah Alam II granted the office of the Diwani of Bengal (second-highest office in a province, included revenue rights) to the Company and the office of the Nizamat of Bengal (highest office, administrative and judicial rights) in 1793. The Nawab of Bengal , who previously possessed both these offices,

2916-713: The Bengal Sultanate during the Battle of Ghaghra . Babur later annexed parts of Bengal. His son and successor Humayun occupied the Bengali capital Gaur , where he stayed for six months. Humayun was later forced to seek in refuge in Persia because of Sher Shah Suri 's conquests. Sher Shah Suri briefly interrupted the reigns of both the Mughals and the Bengal Sultans. The Mughal conquest of Bengal began with

3024-519: The Indian states of West Bengal . They are often referred to as the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The nawabs were based in Murshidabad which was centrally located within Bengal. The nawabs continued to issue coins in the name of the Mughal Emperor. But for all practical purposes, the nawabs governed as independent monarchs. Under the early nawabs, Bengal became the financial backbone of

3132-737: The Kantajew Temple (1704) and the temples of Bishnupur (1600–1729). An authentic Bengali art was reflected in the muslin fabric of Jamdani (meaning "flower" in Persian ). The making of Jamdani was pioneered by Persian weavers. The art passed to the hands of Bengali Muslim weavers known as juhulas . The artisan industry was historically based around the city of Dhaka. The city had over 80,000 weavers. Jamdanis traditionally employ geometric designs in floral shapes. Its motifs are often similar to those in Iranian textile art (buta motif) and Western textile art ( paisley ). Dhaka's jamdanis enjoyed

3240-851: The Khan Mohammad Mridha Mosque (1704). The city of Murshidabad also became a haven of Mughal architecture under the Nawabs of Bengal , with the Caravanserai Mosque (1723) being its most prominent monument. In rural hinterlands, the indigenous Bengali Islamic style continued to flourish, blended with Mughal elements. One of the finest examples of this style is the Atiya Mosque in Tangail (1609). Several masterpieces of terracotta Hindu temple architecture were also created during this period. Notable examples include

3348-621: The Khanate of Bukhara . In 1504, he conquered Kabul , which was under the putative rule of Abdur Razaq Mirza, the infant heir of Ulugh Beg II . Babur formed a partnership with the Safavid emperor Ismail I and reconquered parts of Turkestan , including Samarkand, only to again lose it and the other newly conquered lands to the Shaybanids . After losing Samarkand for the third time, Babur turned his attention to India and employed aid from

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3456-407: The ravine below the palace". During this time, two of his uncles from the neighbouring kingdoms, who were hostile to his father, and a group of nobles who wanted his younger brother Jahangir to be the ruler, threatened his succession to the throne. His uncles were relentless in their attempts to dislodge him from this position as well as from many of his other territorial possessions to come. Babur

3564-400: The "Paradise of Nations" and the "Golden Age of Bengal". It alone accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia. The eastern part of Bengal was globally prominent in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding , and it was a major exporter of silk and cotton textiles, steel, saltpeter , and agricultural and industrial produce in the world. The region was also the basis of

3672-425: The 1790s, Bengal's industries retained some comparative advantages. Ray states that "Bengali entrepreneurs continued in industries such as cotton and silk textiles where there were domestic market supports", and major deindustrialisation occurred as late as the 1830s to 1850s. Bengal was a centre of the worldwide muslin , jute and silk trades. During this era, the most important center of jute and cotton production

3780-605: The 17th century, Bengal was an affluent province that was, according to economic historian Indrajit Ray, globally prominent in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding . Bengal's capital city of Dhaka was the empire's financial capital, with a population exceeding a million people, and with an estimated 80,000 skilled textile weavers. It was an exporter of silk and cotton textiles, steel, saltpeter , and agricultural and industrial produce. Bengal's mining, metallurgy, and shipping in this era have been described as proto-industrialization . Many historians have built on

3888-707: The 18th century, which further added to the decline of the Nawabs of Bengal. The Bengal Subah was met by a series of face to face confrontations by the Maratha Empire including the First Battle of Katwa , the Second Battle of Katwa , the Battle of Burdwan and the Battle of Rani Sarai where Nawab Alivardi Khan defeated the Marathas and repelled their attacks. The Maratha raids lasted a decade from 1741 to early 1751. The Marathas committed many atrocities across Bengal causing many to flee from West Bengal to East Bengal. 400,000 civilian Bengalis were massacred by

3996-543: The Anglo-Bengal War. By the 18th century, Bengal emerged as a semi-independent state, under the rule of the Nawabs of Bengal, who acted on Mughal sovereignty. It started to undergo proto-industrialization , making significant contributions to the first Industrial Revolution , especially industrial textile manufacturing . In 1757 and 1764, the Company defeated the Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey and

4104-661: The Delhi Sultanate, ruled by Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, but the sultanate was crumbling and there were many defectors. Babur received invitations from Daulat Khan Lodi, Governor of Punjab and Ala-ud-Din, uncle of Ibrahim. He sent an ambassador to Ibrahim, claiming himself the rightful heir to the throne, but the ambassador was detained at Lahore , Punjab, and released months later. Babur started for Lahore in 1524 but found that Daulat Khan Lodi had been driven out by forces sent by Ibrahim Lodi. When Babur arrived at Lahore,

4212-493: The Indian state of West Bengal , and some parts of the present-day Indian states of Bihar , Jharkhand and Odisha between the 16th and 18th centuries. The state was established following the dissolution of the Bengal Sultanate , a major trading nation in the world, when the region was absorbed into the Mughal Empire. Bengal was the wealthiest region in the Indian subcontinent. Bengal Subah has been variously described

4320-574: The Industrial Revolution. In the revenue settlement by Todar Mal in 1582, Bengal Subah was divided into 24 sarkars (districts), which included 19 sarkar s of Bengal proper and 5 sarkar s of Orissa . In 1607, during the reign of Jahangir Orissa became a separate Subah . These 19 sarkar s were further divided into 682 parganas . In 1658, subsequent to the revenue settlement by Shah Shuja , 15 new sarkar s and 361 new pargana s were added. In 1722, Murshid Quli Khan divided

4428-518: The Lodi army marched out and his army was routed. In response, Babur burned Lahore for two days, then marched to Dibalpur, placing Alam Khan, another rebel uncle of Lodi, as governor. Alam Khan was quickly overthrown and fled to Kabul. In response, Babur supplied Alam Khan with troops who later joined up with Daulat Khan Lodi, and together with about 30,000 troops, they besieged Ibrahim Lodi at Delhi. The sultan easily defeated and drove off Alam's army, and Babur realised that he would not allow him to occupy

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4536-605: The Mughal Court to establish a hereditary principality in Bengal, with Khan being recognised in the official title of Nazim. He founded the Nasiri dynasty. In 1740, following the Battle of Giria , Alivardi Khan staged a coup and founded the short-lived Afsar dynasty. For all practical purposes, the Nazims acted as independent princes. European colonial powers referred to them as Nawabs or Nababs. Babur Babur ( Persian: [βɑː.βuɾ] ; 14 February 1483 – 26 December 1530; born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad )

4644-514: The Mughal Emperor in Bengal. He was eventually defeated by the armies of Aurangazeb. Shuja fled to the Kingdom of Arakan, where he and his family were killed on the orders of the King at Mrauk U . Shaista Khan was an influential viceroy during the reign of Aurangazeb. He consolidated Mughal control of eastern Bengal. Prince Muhammad Azam Shah , who served as one of Bengal's viceroys, was installed on

4752-528: The Mughal court, contributing more than half the funds that flowed into the imperial treasury in Delhi. The Rajas of Bengal, Nawabs of Bengal oversaw a period of proto-industrialization . The Bengal-Bihar-Orissa triangle was a major production center for cotton muslin cloth, silk cloth, shipbuilding, gunpowder, saltpetre, and metalworks. Factories were set up in Murshidabad, Dhaka, Patna, Sonargaon, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Cossimbazar, Balasore, Pipeli, and Hugli among other cities, towns, and ports. The region became

4860-664: The Mughal throne for four months in 1707. Viceroy Ibrahim Khan II gave permits to English and French traders for commercial activities in Bengal. The last viceroy Prince Azim-us-Shan gave permits for the establishment of the British East India Company 's Fort William in Calcutta, the French East India Company 's Fort Orleans in Chandernagore and the Dutch East India Company 's fort in Chinsura . During Azim-us-Shan's tenure, his prime minister Murshid Quli Khan emerged as

4968-643: The Nawab of Bengal as the subcontinent's wealthiest monarchy; but this was short-lived and ended with the Anglo-Mysore War . The British then turned their sights on defeating the Marathas and Sikhs . The Nawabs of Bengal entered into treaties with numerous European colonial powers, including joint-stock companies representing Britain , Austria , Denmark , France and the Netherlands . The resurgent Maratha Empire launched raids against Bengal in

5076-752: The Nawab's dominions, including Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It gained the right to collect taxes on behalf of the Mughal Court after the Battle of Buxar in 1765. Bengal, Bihar and Orissa were made part of the Bengal Presidency and annexed into the British colonial empire in 1793. The Indian mutiny of 1857 formally ended the authority of the British East India Company, when the British Raj replaced Company rule in India . Other European powers also carved out small colonies on

5184-688: The Punjab. In November 1525 Babur got news at Peshawar that Daulat Khan Lodi had switched sides, and Babur drove out Ala-ud-Din. Babur then marched onto Lahore to confront Daulat Khan Lodi, only to see Daulat's army melt away at their approach. Daulat surrendered and was pardoned. Thus within three weeks of crossing the Indus River Babur had become the master of Punjab. Babur marched on to Delhi via Sirhind . He reached Panipat on 20 April 1526 and there met Ibrahim Lodi's numerically superior army of about 100,000 soldiers and 100 elephants. In

5292-717: The Safavids to act as a suzerain over him and his followers. Thus, in 1513, after leaving his brother Nasir Mirza to rule Kabul, he managed to take Samarkand for the third time; he also took Bokhara but lost both again to the Uzbeks. Shah Ismail reunited Babur with his sister Khānzāda , who had been imprisoned by and forced to marry the recently deceased Shaybani. Babur returned to Kabul after three years in 1514. The following 11 years of his rule mainly involved dealing with relatively insignificant rebellions from Afghan tribes, his nobles and relatives, in addition to conducting raids across

5400-610: The Shah of Persia. They became "recognized ladies of the royal household." During his rule in Kabul, when there was a time of relative peace, Babur pursued his interests in literature, art, music and gardening. Previously, he never drank alcohol and avoided it when he was in Herat. In Kabul, he first tasted it at the age of thirty. He then began to drink regularly, host wine parties and consume preparations made from opium . Though religion had

5508-753: The appointed place for the receipt of revenue, as the division of grain between the government and the husbandman is not here customary. The harvests are always abundant, measurement is not insisted upon, and the revenue demands are determined by estimate of the crop. In contrast, the Baharistan says there were two collections per year, following the spring and autumn harvests. It also says that, at least in some areas, revenue demands were based on survey and land measurement. Bengali peasants were quick to adapt to profitable new crops between 1600 and 1650. Bengali peasants rapidly learned techniques of mulberry cultivation and sericulture , establishing Bengal Subah as

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5616-652: The author Gulbadan Begum . Babur died in 1530 in Agra and Humayun succeeded him. Babur was first buried in Agra but, as per his wishes, his remains were moved to Kabul and reburied. He ranks as a national hero in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan . Many of his poems have become popular folk songs. He wrote the Baburnama in Chaghatai Turkic ; it was translated into Persian during the reign (1556–1605) of his grandson,

5724-418: The battle that began on the following day, Babur used the tactic of Tulugma , encircling Ibrahim Lodi's army and forcing it to face artillery fire directly, as well as frightening its war elephants. Ibrahim Lodi died during the battle, thus ending the Lodi dynasty. Babur wrote in his memoirs about his victory: By the grace of the Almighty God, this difficult task was made easy to me and that mighty army, in

5832-511: The battle there also and, escaping with a small band of followers, he wandered the mountains of central Asia and took refuge with hill tribes. By 1502, he had resigned all hopes of recovering Fergana; he was left with nothing and was forced to try his luck elsewhere. He finally went to Tashkent , which was ruled by his maternal uncle, but he found himself less than welcome there. Babur wrote, "During my stay in Tashkent, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No country, or hope of one!" Thus, during

5940-412: The capital to Dhaka. In 1703, Murshid Quli Khan, then diwan (prime minister in charge of finance) of Bengal shifted his office from Dhaka to Maqsudabad and later renamed it Murshidabad . In 1656, Shah Shuja reorganised the sarkars and added Orissa to the Bengal Subah. The sarkars (districts) and the parganas/mahallahs ( tehsils ) of Bengal Subah were: Sarkars of Orissa: The state government

6048-503: The ceremonies of fealty?" However, Babur acquired several more wives and concubines over the years, and as required for a prince, he was able to ensure the continuity of his line. Babur's first wife, Aisha Sultan Begum, was his paternal cousin, the daughter of Sultan Ahmad Mirza, his father's brother. She was an infant when betrothed to Babur, who was himself five years old. They married eleven years later, c.  1498–99 . The couple had one daughter, Fakhr-un-Nissa , who died within

6156-437: The city briefly, but he was in turn besieged by his most formidable rival, Muhammad Shaybani , Khan of the Uzbeks. The situation became such that Babar was compelled to give his sister, Khanzada, to Shaybani in marriage as part of the peace settlement. Only after this were Babur and his troops allowed to depart the city in safety. Samarkand, his lifelong obsession, was thus lost again. He then tried to reclaim Fergana, but lost

6264-448: The city, capturing Kabul again and regaining the allegiance of the rebels. Meanwhile, Shaybani was defeated and killed by Ismail I , Shah of Shia Safavid Persia, in 1510. Babur and the remaining Timurids used this opportunity to reconquer their ancestral territories. Over the following few years, Babur and Shah Ismail formed a partnership in an attempt to take over parts of Central Asia. In return for Ismail's assistance, Babur permitted

6372-430: The commercial capital of the empire. Chittagong was the largest seaport, with maritime trade routes connecting it to Arakan , Ayuthya , Aceh , Melaka , Johore , Bantam , Makassar , Ceylon , Bandar Abbas , Mocha and the Maldives . Parthasarathi estimates that grain wages for weaving and spinning in Bengal and Britain were comparable in the mid 18th century. However, due to the scarcity of data, more research

6480-527: The delta. It assigned Sufis as the chieftains of villages. Emperor Akbar re-adapted the modern Bengali calendar to improve harvests and tax collection. The region became the largest grain producer in the subcontinent. There are sparse accounts of the Bengal revenue administration in Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari and some in Mirza Nathan's Baharistan-i-Ghaibi . According to the former, The demands of each year are paid by instalments in eight months, they (the ryots) themselves bringing mohurs and rupees to

6588-400: The early Mughal period of religious violence contributed to introspection and then the transformation in Sikhism from pacifism to militancy for self-defense. According to Babur's autobiography, Baburnama , his campaign in northwest India targeted Hindus and Sikhs as well as apostates (non-Sunni sects of Islam), and an immense number were killed, with Muslim camps building "towers of skulls of

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6696-430: The eastern mountains. Babur began to modernise and train his army despite it being, for him, relatively peaceful times. Determined to conquer the Uzbeks and recapture his ancestral homeland, Babur was wary of their allies the Ottomans , and made no attempt to establish formal diplomatic relations with them. He did, however, employ the matchlock commander Mustafa Rumi and several other Ottomans. From them, he adopted

6804-473: The emperor Akbar . Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn is Arabic for "Defender of the Faith" (of Islam ), and Muhammad honours the Islamic prophet . The name was chosen for Babur by the Sufi saint Khwaja Ahrar , who was the spiritual master of his father. The difficulty of pronouncing the name for his Central Asian Turco-Mongol army may have been responsible for the greater popularity of his nickname Babur, also variously spelled Baber , Babar , and Bābor . The name

6912-399: The first time after Prithviraj Chauhan and advanced on Babur with a grand coalition of 80,000-100,000 Rajputs, engaging Babur in the Battle of Khanwa . Babur arrived at Khanwa with 40,000-50,000 soldiers. Nonetheless, Sanga suffered a major defeat due to Babur's skillful troop positioning and use of gunpowder , specifically matchlocks and small cannons . The Battle of Khanwa was one of

7020-445: The highest bidders, who in turn sub-leased them, leading to significant disorder in the revenue system. The Provincial Council operated from 1776 to 1781 to address these issues. In 1947, Munshiganj was established as a sub-division under Dhaka district. Munshiganj was declared a district in 1984, prior to which administrative matters were managed from Dhaka. At the time of the 2011 census, Munshiganj Paurashava had 15,133 households and

7128-645: The infidels" on hillocks. There are no descriptions about Babur's physical appearance, except from the paintings in the translation of the Baburnama prepared during the reign of Akbar . In his autobiography, Babur claimed to be strong and physically fit, and that he had swum across every major river he encountered, including twice across the Ganges River in North India . Babur did not initially know Old Hindi ; however, his Turkic poetry indicates that he picked up some of its vocabulary later in life. Unlike his father, he had ascetic tendencies and did not have any great interest in women. In his first marriage, he

7236-432: The language, which he is credited with founding, may have influenced Babur in his decision to use it for his memoirs. He spent two months there before being forced to leave because of diminishing resources; it later was overrun by Shaybani and the Mirzas fled. Babur became the only reigning ruler of the Timurid dynasty after the loss of Herat, and many princes sought refuge with him at Kabul because of Shaybani's invasion in

7344-419: The local Turkic and Iranian people of Central Asia, and his army was diverse in its ethnic makeup. It included Sarts , Tajiks , ethnic Afghans , Arabs , as well as Barlas and Chaghatayid Turko-Mongols from Central Asia. In 1494, eleven-year-old Babur became the ruler of Fergana, in present-day Uzbekistan, after Umar Sheikh Mirza died "while tending pigeons in an ill-constructed dovecote that toppled into

7452-458: The most decisive battles in Indian history, more so than the First Battle of Panipat, as the defeat of Rana Sanga was a watershed event in the Mughal conquest of North India. Religiously, Babur started his life as a staunch Sunni Muslim , but he underwent significant evolution. Babur became more tolerant as he conquered new territories and grew older, allowing other religions to peacefully coexist in his empire and at his court. He also displayed

7560-458: The neighbouring Safavid and Ottoman empires. He defeated Ibrahim Lodi , the Sultan of Delhi , at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 and founded the Mughal Empire. Before the defeat of Lodi at Delhi, the Sultanate of Delhi had been a spent force, long in a state of decline. The rival adjacent Kingdom of Mewar under the rule of Rana Sanga had become the most powerful native power in North India . Sanga unified several Rajput clans for

7668-421: The oath and regret that." Babur was opposed to the blind obedience towards the Chinggisid laws and customs that were influential in Turco-Mongol society: "Previously our ancestors had shown unusual respect for the Chingizid code ( törah ). They did not violate this code sitting and rising at councils and court, at feasts and dinners. [However] Chingez Khan's code is not a nass qati (categorical text) that

7776-700: The perspective of R. C. Dutt who wrote, "The plunder of Bengal directly contributed to the Industrial Revolution in Britain." This analysis states that the capital amassed from Bengal was used to invest in British industries such as textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution and greatly increase British wealth, while at the same time leading to deindustrialization in Bengal. According to Indrajit Ray, domestic industries expanded for decades even after Plassey. Although colonial-based price manipulation and state discrimination initiated from

7884-561: The resistance of ambitious and local chiefs. By a royal decree in November 1586, Akbar introduced uniform subah administration throughout the empire. However, in historian Tapan Raychaudhuri 's view, "the consolidation of Mughal power in Bengal and the pacification of the province really began in 1594". Many of the chiefs subjugated by the Mughals, some of the Baro-Bhuyans in particular, were upstarts who grabbed territories during

7992-425: The snowy Hindu Kush mountains and capture Kabul from the remaining Arghunids, who were forced to retreat to Kandahar . With this move, he gained a new kingdom, re-established his fortunes and would remain its ruler until 1526. In 1505, because of the low revenue generated by his new mountain kingdom, Babur began his first expedition to India; in his memoirs, he wrote, "My desire for Hindustan had been constant. It

8100-449: The space of a half a day was laid in dust. After the battle, Babur occupied Delhi and Agra, took the throne of Lodi, and laid the foundation for the eventual rise of Mughal rule in India. However, before he became North India's ruler, he had to fend off challengers, such as Rana Sanga. Many of Babur's men allegedly wanted to leave India due to its warm climate, but Babur motivated them to stay and expand his empire. The Battle of Khanwa

8208-431: The tactic of using matchlocks and cannons in the field (rather than only in sieges ), which gave him an important advantage in India. Babur still wanted to escape from the Uzbeks, and he chose India as a refuge instead of Badakhshan , which was to the north of Kabul. He wrote, "In the presence of such power and potency, we had to think of some place for ourselves and, at this crisis and in the crack of time there was, put

8316-462: The ten years since becoming the ruler of Fergana, Babur suffered many short-lived victories and was without shelter and in exile, aided by friends and peasants. Kabul was ruled by Babur's paternal uncle Ulugh Beg II , who died leaving only an infant as heir. The city was then claimed by Mukin Begh, who was considered to be a usurper and was opposed by the local populace. In 1504, Babur was able to cross

8424-782: The territory of Bengal, including the Dutch East India Company's Dutch Bengal settlements, the French colonial settlement in Chandernagore , the Danish colonial settlement in Serampore and the Habsburg monarchy Ostend Company settlement in Bankipur . According to João de Barros , Bengal enjoyed military supremacy over Arakan and Tripura due to good artillery . Its forces possessed notable large cannons . It

8532-583: The title of Jagirdar . The Qadi title was reserved for the chief judge. Mansabdars were leaders of the Mughal Army, while faujdars were generals. The Mughals were credited for secular pluralism during the reign of Akbar , who promoted the religious doctrine of Din-i Ilahi . Later rulers promoted more conservative Islam. In 1717, the Mughal government replaced Viceroy Azim-us-Shan due to conflicts with his influential deputy viceroy and prime minister Murshid Quli Khan . Growing regional autonomy caused

8640-538: The transition from Afghan to Mughal rule, but others, such as the Rajas of Chandradwip, Malla, and Shushang, were older families who had ruled independently from time immemorial. By the 17th century, the Mughals subdued opposition from the Baro-Bhuyans landlords, notably Isa Khan . Bengal was integrated into a powerful and prosperous empire; and shaped by imperial policies of pluralistic government. The Mughals built

8748-500: The treasures he searched for in new conquered lands. In his memoirs, when he listed sovereigns and nobles of a conquered land, he also mentioned poets, musicians and other educated people. During his 47-year life, Babur left a rich literary and scientific heritage. He authored his famous memoir the Bāburnāma , as well as beautiful lyrical works or ghazals , treatises on Muslim jurisprudence (Mubayyin), poetics (Aruz risolasi), music, and

8856-483: The two Mirza brothers. It was then the cultural capital of the eastern Muslim world. Though he was disgusted by the vices and luxuries of the city, he marvelled at the intellectual abundance there, which he stated was "filled with learned and matched men". He became acquainted with the work of the Chagatai poet Mir Ali Shir Nava'i , who encouraged the use of Chagatai as a literary language . Nava'i's proficiency with

8964-451: The victory of Akbar's army over Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani , the independent ruler of the province, at the Battle of Tukaroi on 3 March 1575. After the final defeat of Daud Karrani at the Battle of Rajmahal the following year, Mughal Emperor Akbar announced the creation of Bengal as one of the original twelve Subahs (top-level provinces), bordering Bihar Subah and Orissa subah, as well as Burma . It took many years to overcome

9072-488: The west. He thus assumed the title of Padshah (emperor) among the Timurids—though this title was insignificant since most of his ancestral lands were taken, Kabul itself was in danger and Shaybani continued to be a threat. Babur prevailed during a potential rebellion in Kabul, but two years later a revolt among some of his leading generals drove him out of Kabul. Escaping with very few companions, Babur soon returned to

9180-513: The whole Subah into 13 chakalah s, which were further divided into 1660 pargana s. Initially the capital of the Subah was Tanda . On 9 November 1595, the foundations of a new capital were laid at Rajmahal by Man Singh I who renamed it Akbarnagar. In 1610 the capital was shifted from Rajmahal to Dhaka and it was renamed Jahangirnagar. In 1639, Shah Shuja again shifted the capital to Rajmahal. In 1660, Muazzam Khan (Mir Jumla) again shifted

9288-488: Was "bashful" towards Aisha Sultan Begum , later losing his affection for her. Babur showed similar shyness in his interactions with Baburi , a boy in his camp with whom he had an infatuation around this time, recounting that: "Occasionally Baburi came to me, but I was so bashful that I could not look him in the face, much less converse freely with him. In my excitement and agitation I could not thank him for coming, much less complain of his leaving. Who could bear to demand

9396-478: Was Bengal, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka, leading to muslin being called "daka" in distant markets such as Central Asia. Domestically, much of India depended on Bengali products such as rice, silks and cotton textiles. Overseas, Europeans depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles, silks and opium; Bengal accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia, for example, including more than 50% of textiles and around 80% of silks. From Bengal, saltpetre

9504-438: Was able to secure his throne mainly because of help from his maternal grandmother, Aisan Daulat Begum , although there was also some luck involved. Most territories around his kingdom were ruled by his relatives, who were descendants of either Timur or Genghis Khan, and were constantly in conflict. At that time, rival princes were fighting over the city of Samarkand to the west, which was ruled by his paternal cousin. Babur had

9612-451: Was also a major exporter of gunpowder and saltpeter to Europe. The Mughal Army built fortifications across the region, including Idrakpur Fort , Sonakanda Fort , Hajiganj Fort , Lalbagh Fort and Jangalbari Fort . The Mughals expelled Arakanese and Portuguese pirates from the northeastern coastline of the Bay of Bengal . Throughout the late medieval and early modern periods, Bengal

9720-779: Was also shipped to Europe, opium was sold in Indonesia , raw silk was exported to Japan and the Netherlands, and cotton and silk textiles were exported to Europe, Indonesia and Japan. The jute trade was also a significant factor. Bengal had a large shipbuilding industry. Indrajit Ray estimates shipbuilding output of Bengal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries at 223,250 tons annually, compared with 23,061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771. He also assesses ship repairing as very advanced in Bengal. An important innovation in shipbuilding

9828-621: Was an elaborately designed complex of gardens, fountains , a mosque, a tomb, an audience hall (Diwan-i-Khas) and a walled enclosure with gates. The Great Caravanserai and Shaista Khan Caravanserai in Dhaka were centres of commercial activities. Other monuments in the city include the Dhanmondi Shahi Eidgah (1640), the Sat Gambuj Mosque ( c.  1664 –76), the Shahbaz Khan Mosque (1679) and

9936-606: Was equally fluent in Classical Persian , the lingua franca of the Timurid elite. Some of Babur's relatives, such as his uncles Mahmud Khan (Moghul Khan) and Ahmad Khan, continued to identify as Mongols, and allowed him to use their Mongol troops to help recover his fortunes in the turbulent years that followed. Hence, Babur, though nominally a Mongol (or Moghul in Persian language), drew much of his support from

10044-542: Was fought between Babur and the Rajput ruler of Mewar , Rana Sanga on 16 March 1527. Rana Sanga wanted to overthrow Babur, whom he considered to be a foreigner ruling in India, and also to extend the Rajput territories by annexing Delhi and Agra . He was supported by Afghan chiefs who felt Babur had been deceptive by refusing to fulfil promises made to them. Upon receiving news of Rana Sangha's advance towards Agra, Babur took

10152-599: Was headed by a Viceroy ( Subedar Nizam ) appointed by the Mughal Emperor between 1576 and 1717. The Viceroy exercised tremendous authority, with his own cabinet and four prime ministers ( Diwan ). The three deputy viceroys for Bengal proper, Bihar and Orissa were known as the Naib Nazims . An extensive landed aristocracy was established by the Mughals in Bengal. The aristocracy was responsible for taxation and revenue collection. Land holders were bestowed with

10260-634: Was himself son of Timur ) and his wife Qutlugh Nigar Khanum , daughter of Yunus Khan , the ruler of Moghulistan (a descendant of Genghis Khan ). Babur hailed from the Barlas tribe, which was of Mongol origin and had embraced the Turco-Persian tradition They had also converted to Islam centuries earlier and resided in Turkestan and Khorasan . Aside from the Chaghatai language, Babur

10368-510: Was his eldest son and heir, Humayun . Masuma Sultan Begum died during childbirth; the year of her death is disputed (either 1508 or 1519). Gulrukh bore Babur two sons, Kamran and Askari , and Dildar Begum was the mother of Babur's youngest son, Hindal . Babur later married Mubaraka Yusufzai , a Pashtun woman of the Yusufzai tribe. Gulnar Aghacha and Nargul Aghacha were two Circassian slaves given to Babur as gifts by Tahmasp Shah Safavi,

10476-715: Was in the month of Shaban, the Sun being in Aquarius, that we rode out of Kabul for Hindustan". It was a brief raid across the Khyber Pass . In the same year, Babur united with Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqarah of Herat , a fellow Timurid and distant relative, against their common enemy, the Uzbek Shaybani. However, this venture did not take place because Husayn Mirza died in 1506 and his two sons were reluctant to go to war. Babur instead stayed at Herat after being invited by

10584-429: Was involved in the city's textile trade, paying a 3.5% tax. The Bengal Subah had the largest regional economy in that period. It was described as the paradise of nations . The region exported grains, fine cotton muslin and silk, liquors and wines, salt, ornaments, fruits, and metals. European companies set up numerous trading posts in Bengal during the 17th and 18th centuries. Dhaka was the largest city in Bengal and

10692-544: Was made a tributary state of Mughal Bengal and a treaty was signed with the Chakma Circle in 1713. Between 1576 and 1717, Bengal was ruled by a Mughal Subahdar (imperial governor). Members of the imperial family were often appointed to the position. Viceroy Prince Shah Shuja was the son of Emperor Shah Jahan . During the struggle for succession with his brothers Prince Aurangazeb , Prince Dara Shikoh and Prince Murad Baksh , Prince Shuja proclaimed himself as

10800-505: Was marching to recover it, he lost Samarkand to a rival prince, leaving him with neither. He had held Samarkand for 100 days, and he considered this defeat as his biggest loss, obsessing over it even later in his life after his conquests in India. For three years, Babur concentrated on building a strong army, recruiting widely amongst the Tajiks of Badakhshan in particular. In 1500–1501, he again laid siege to Samarkand , and indeed he took

10908-563: Was notable for its navy and shipbuilding . The following table covers a list of notable military engagements by Mughal Bengal: Battle of Giria Mughal architecture proliferated Bengal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, with the earliest example being the Kherua Mosque in Bogra (1582). They replaced the earlier sultanate-style of architecture. It was in Dhaka that the imperial style was most lavishly indulged in. Its Lalbagh Fort

11016-476: Was now formally powerless and became a titular monarch. Bengal's physical features gave it such a fertile soil, and a favourable climate that it became a terminus of a continent-wide process of Turko-Mongol conquest and migration, informs Prof. Richard Eaton. The Mughal absorption of Bengal began during the reign of the first Mughal emperor Babur . In 1529, Babur defeated Sultan Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah of

11124-533: Was paid annually by the Nawab of Bengal to the Marathas up to 1758, until the British occupation of Bengal . By the late-18th century, the British East India Company emerged as the foremost military power in the region, defeating the French-allied Siraj-ud-Daulah at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, that was largely brought about by the betrayal of the Nawab's once trusted general Mir Jafar . The company gained administrative control over

11232-514: Was succeeded by his son Humayun whose reign was temporarily usurped by the Suri dynasty . During their 30-year rule, religious violence continued in India. Records of the violence and trauma, from Sikh-Muslim perspective, include those recorded in Sikh literature of the 16th century. The violence of Babur in the 1520s was witnessed by Guru Nanak , who commented upon it in four hymns. Historians suggest

11340-662: Was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent . He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also given the posthumous name of Firdaws Makani ('Dwelling in Paradise'). Born in Andijan in the Fergana Valley (now in Uzbekistan ), Babur was the eldest son of Umar Shaikh Mirza II (1456–1494, governor of Fergana from 1469 to 1494) and

11448-552: Was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India . The Nawab of a princely state or autonomous province is comparable to the European title of Grand Duke . In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the de facto independent ruler of some part of Bengal and other parts were ruled by Bengal Rajas such as Bardhaman Raj , Cooch Behar State which constitute the modern-day sovereign country of Bangladesh and

11556-446: Was the introduction of a flushed deck design in Bengal rice ships, resulting in hulls that were stronger and less prone to leak than the structurally weak hulls of traditional European ships built with a stepped deck design. The British East India Company later duplicated the flushed deck and hull designs of Bengal rice ships in the 1760s, leading to significant improvements in seaworthiness and navigation for European ships during

11664-452: Was the ruler of Malwa. Upon reaching Chanderi, on 20 January 1528, Babur offered Shamsabad to Medini Rao in exchange for Chanderi as a peace overture, but the offer was rejected. The outer fortress of Chanderi was taken by Babur's army at night, and the next morning the upper fort was captured. Babur himself expressed surprise that the upper fort had fallen within an hour of the final assault. Seeing no hope of victory, Medini Rai organized

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