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Module - II Military System of The Mughals

Military History of
problems. The country witnessed maintenance of the court costing more than the
Medieval India
revenue. Later in 1658, as a result of Shah Jahan's illness his eldest son, the liberal
Dara Shikoh assumed the role of administrator. But, Shah Jahan's younger son,
Aurangzeb took over power as the sixth Mughal emperor by executing Dara Shikoh.
Although Aurangzeb succeeded in expanding the empire to its greatest extent, his
political and religious intolerance proved fatal to the stability of Mughal society.
The last emperor, "Kaiser-i-Hind" Bahadur Shah II was exiled by the British, after his
Note
involvement with the Great Uprising of 1857.

Intext Questions 6.1

1. Who were the Mughal kings after Babur ? Name any three kings.

2. When was the first battle of Panipat fought?

3. What was the reason for weakening of Aurangzeb's empire?

6.2 The Mughal Military Structure

As the Mughals came from Central Asia they brought the Central Asian military tradition
along with them. A new style of combat was adopted due to the arrival of gunpowder
and with that a new kind of tactics was also employed. Earlier, this was not the case
since fighting predominantly revolved round the use of horses and elephants with
weapons like bows, arrows, swords and shields. But from now on a new phase of
military combat was adopted that focussed on the use of artillery and the use of muskets,
bombs, etc. This does not mean that the older weapons were completely replaced. In
fact, they were complemented with new ones particularly the artillery.
This contributed to the change in battlefield tactics about the deployment of the units in
the battle, the positions of the infantry, cavalry and artillery in battlefield and how they
had to be employed. And not only were there changes in the adoption of military
tactics but also corresponding changes in the manner in which these different military
units were to be maintained. New organisations were created with civilian administrative
institutions.
As far as the structure is concerned, the Mughal Army consisted of cavalry, infantry,
and artillery. Among these, artillery held a subordinate position compared to that of the
infantry and cavalry. Besides, elephants were also used. Under the Mughals, the
emphasis on the numbers and quality of the horse in an army. However, it was the
artillery that was used extensively to break through the enemy forces and defeat them.
Even during the first battle of Panipat, the artillery played an important role in defeating
Ibrahim Lodhi's forces.
a) Artillery: The general name given to this branch was Top-khanah. Babur's
artillery was of two kinds, the heavy and the light, or "as they call the latter, the
artillery of the stirrup. The heavy artillery was called the 'Kazan' or heavy canon

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MILITARY HISTORY