Mughal Dynasty

Mughal dynasty, Mughal also spelled Mogul, Arabic Mongol, Development of the Mughal Empire.

[Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]Muslim dynasty of Turkic-Mongol origin that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century, after which it continued to exist as a considerably reduced and increasingly powerless entity until the mid-19th century. The Mughal dynasty was notable for its more than two centuries of effective rule over much of India, for the ability of its rulers, who through seven generations maintained a record of unusual talent, and for its administrative organization. A further distinction was the attempt of the Mughals, who were Muslims, to integrate Hindus and Muslims into a united Indian state.

The dynasty was founded by a Chagatai Turkic prince named Bābur (reigned 1526–30), who was descended from the Turkic conqueror Timur on his father’s side and from Chagatai, second son of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, on his mother’s side. Ousted from his ancestral domain in Central Asia, Bābur turned to India to satisfy his appetite for conquest. From his base in Kabul he was able to secure control of the Punjab, and in 1526 he routed the forces of the Delhi sultan Ibrāhīm Lodī at the First Battle of Panipat. The following year he overwhelmed the Rajput confederacy under Rana Sanga of Mewar, and in 1529 he defeated the Afghans of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. At his death in 1530 he controlled all of northern India from the Indus River on the west to Bihar on the east and from the Himalayas south to Gwalio