Question

What do you think were Jahangir's and Shah Jahan's contributions to the society of their times?​

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

JAHANGIR (ruled 1605-1629)

• Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627, ruled 1605-1629), Akbar's son, is known mainly for his hunting skills and patronage of the arts. He spent much of the Mughal’s treasury to build grand building and commission works of art. Jahangir means "World Seizer."
• Jahangir was born 23 miles from Agra in Sikri, a small village near where Akbar sought the blessing of a famous holyman named Shaik Sali, after having trouble siring a son. Jahangir had to wait a long time to rule. His two brothers, Murad and Danital, died from drinking before Akbar died. At one point Jahangir became so impatient to rule he marched towards the capital but in the end waited and was presented the royal robed by Akbar as he lay on his deathbed.
• Jahangir was given a powerful and well-organized empire by his father that practically ran itself. There were few lands worth conquering; there was relatively little internal strife; and little for Jahangir to do except enjoy life although he did lead a few campaigns into the Deccan Plateau in southern India.
• Mughal rule under Jahangir his successor Shah Jahan (1628-58) was noted for political stability, brisk economic activity, beautiful paintings, and monumental buildings. Jahangir married the Persian princess whom he renamed Nur Jahan (Light of the World), who emerged as the most powerful individual in the court besides the emperor. As a result, Persian poets, artists, scholars, and officers--including her own family members--lured by the Mughal court's brilliance and luxury, found asylum in India. [Source: Library of Congress *]
• The number of unproductive, time-serving officers mushroomed, as did corruption, while the excessive Persian representation upset the delicate balance of impartiality at the court. Jahangir liked Hindu festivals but promoted mass conversion to Islam; he persecuted the followers of Jainism and even executed Guru Arjun Das, the fifth saint-teacher of the Sikhs. Nur Jahan's abortive schemes to secure the throne for the prince of her choice led Shah Jahan to rebel in 1622. In that same year, the Persians took over Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, an event that struck a serious blow to Mughal prestige.

SHAH JAHAN (ruled 1629-1658)

• Shah Jahan (1592-1666, ruled 1629-1658) is known mostly as the Mughal ruler who built the Taj Mahal. Born Khurram, he was Jahangir's youngest son. He received the title Shah Jahan, which means “Sovereign of the World,” after putting down a rebellion in the Deccan region.
• Shah Jahan waited for his father to die before making his grab for power. He made sure that his position was secure by ordering the deaths of five rivals: his remaining brother Shahriyar, whose eyes were repeatedly stabbed, his uncle's children and both of Khusraw's sons. Nur Jhan, in the meantime, devoted her attention to building tombs for her and her husband.
• Between 1636 and 1646, Shah Jahan sent Mughal armies to conquer the Deccan and the northwest beyond the Khyber Pass. Even though they demonstrated Mughal military strength, these campaigns consumed the imperial treasury. As the state became a huge military machine, whose nobles and their contingents multiplied almost fourfold, so did its demands for more revenue from the peasantry. Political unification and maintenance of law and order over wide areas encouraged the emergence of large centers of commerce and crafts--such as Lahore, Delhi, Agra, and Ahmadabad--linked by roads and waterways to distant places and ports. [Source: Library of Congress *]
• The world-famous Taj Mahal was built in Agra during Shah Jahan's reign as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It symbolizes both Mughal artistic achievement and excessive financial expenditures when resources were shrinking. The economic position of peasants and artisans did not improve because the administration failed to produce any lasting change in the existing social structure. There was no incentive for the revenue officials, whose concerns primarily were personal or familial gain, to generate resources independent of dominant Hindu zamindars and village leaders, whose self-interest and local dominance prevented them from handing over the full amount of revenue to the imperial treasury. In their ever-greater dependence on land revenue, the Mughals unwittingly nurtured forces that eventually led to the break-up of their empire.