iranian nobility under akbar and jahangir

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CHAPTER - ONE
IRANIAN NOBILITY UNDER AKBAR AND JAHANGIR
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THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
1707
Empir• boundary
Suba
Shivoji's kingdom, 1680
Subo capital
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Mukron
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CHAPTEH ONE
IRAIUAN NOBILITY IDJDEH AKBAR AND JAIIANGIH
tvle may take the Mugbal nobility to signify the
class of persons who as high officers of the Empire consti-
tuted the higher rungs in the political hierarchy. Tbese
officers comprised both civil bureaucrats and military
commanders. Their personal status was officially fixed
by their ranks granted by the Emperor. By
(ma~~~bs)
Aurangzeb 1s time the term umar~' (plural of ami~, 1comm3nder,
noble') was applied to officers holding man~abs of 1000 ~at
1
and above.
The Mughal nobility was heterogenous in character
as it comprised certain well-recognized racial groups such
as Turanis (Central Asians), Iranis (Persians), Af'gha.ns,
Shaikhzadas (Indian l•luslims), Raj puts and the Dec canis (i.e.
a
Blj pur is, Jjaiderabadis and Nara tha s) Chandra Bhan
o
Brahman has given an account of this heterogenous character
of the Mughal governing class towards the close of
- 2
Shahjahan's reign. Among the foreign observers Bernier
1 M. At har Ali, The Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzcb,
Bombay, 1 966, p:-2(FlereiriaiTer --c"i tea---a.s-Mugl!_a:T ty ).
l~obili
2 Guldasta, MS. No. 666/44 Sir Sulaiman Collection,
l1aul:3naAzad Library Aligar11, ff. 4(b)-5(a).
also speaks of the presence of Uzbeks, Persians, (A rabs
1
and Turhs or ttJeir descendants in the Mughal court. He
adds tLat the "Omaras mostly consist of adventurers from
2
<liffercnt na. tions who entice one another to the court.
:r
Thus the Hughals had a multi-national, mul ti·-racial
and multi-religious ruling class. Commenting on the
rc;:.m$ab_d.}~-~?- listed in the Aln-i Akbari, Horeland noted that
just under 70 per cent of the nobles whose origin is known
vrere foreigners belonging 11to families which had eiLner
come to India with Humayilll or had arrived at the court after
3
tbe acce:;sion of Akbar. 11 Amongst foreigners the two elements
- Turanis and Iranis enjoyed a predominant position in
Akbar's nobility. By Turani.s we mean persons coming from
Central Asia, where the Turkish languages were spoken; and
U1e lr~rJs were largely the Persian speaking peoples from
Herat up to Baghdad i.e. the inhabitants of the whole of
the present-day Persia and the Persian-speaking parts of
4
Afchanis tan and (Iraq. We have, however, used the term
1 Francois Bernh~r, ·rravels In Tbe Mughal Empire
16~6-1668, tr. 1~. Constable,second·-ecfition, Dellli 1968,
p. 20'9.
2 Ibi~., p. 212.
3 l'I'. • H. lv1oreland, India at tbe Death of Akbar, Delhi
(Rep.), 1974, pp. 69.:.7l). -- -
4 lv:Iug~a..l_l~o__!)ili~:y_, op.cit., pp. 18, 19.
3
'Ir~ni nobility' in a precised sense viz. those Ir;nians
wbo !Jad served 1-.ri tb the rulers before their migra
~afavid
tion to India or the persons coming from the various parts
of the ~afavid empire, including the Kurds, the Circass:!ans
and the TurkmTins.
Since the ruling family was of Turani origin, U1e
Turani notles were initially larger in number. Thus, it
appears that the nobility bequeathed by Humay'Un viaS pre
dominantly Turani yet with a substantial number of I ranis
Hho had joined his service during his sojourn in Ir'Em and
tJ<3d accompanied him to India. A.bUl Fa~l has given a list of
these nobles, who were 57 in all. Out of these 27 vlere
Turani and 21 Irani; the remaining 9 of them were unidenti-
1
fie d. Among the I ranis Bairam Khan, Af~al Khan C:H~.r B~_bslil),
Asl1raf Kh"fm (Mlr Munshi), Jibwaj a Abdul Majid (Di·v/an), Khwaj a
-- -- -
(A t-aullJh (Diwa_n-i~ __ Y'u:7.:_uta_!), Mir Sbal1abuddin (Mir Sam~n),
h!lwaJa Abul Qasim and Mir J:Iasan were important nobles as
2
indica ted by the offices they held. During the regericy of
B:Jiram Knan Iranis as a group maintained tbeir position as
ue is found to lwve promo ted some of ;Jis low ranking: officers
1 Afzal Husain, "Growth of Irani Element in Akbar's
1\Jobility", P.I_._B.C., 36th Session, Aligarh 1975, JJ. 167.
2 Ab-ul Faf:l, Al\:bilr N-ama, ed. Maulav-i rA bdur Ral)-im, Bib.
Ind., 3 vols;-calcutta, 1873-87, vol. I, pQ 342 (here
ina ft. r c i. ted as A. N. ) •
___
to very high positions. The author of the ZaUJ.irCJt--u-l--
---.;: .
.t.bm;ai?Jn mentions that some twenty-five persons of lmver
1
:,ooo
ranlcs were raised to the man~abs of by B3iram Lhan.
Akbar himself st::1tes in a farman that Bairam Khan raised
several of his menial servants to the status of li_ban~:; and
2
SuJ. tans.
After the dismissal of Bairam Khan a crisis
developed at the court which led to the rebellion by most
of the Turani nobles. Akbar introduced two new elemer. ts -
Sl1aikhz8das (Indian Ivluslims) and Raj puts - as counter poise
to UJe pressure of Turani nobility. He also promoted Irani
nobles to l1igller ranks as a reward for their loyalty during
")
_)
L.e crisis. It a !Joears t11a t the Iranian nobili t;y inlleri ted
by Akbar had already formed its nucleus in the court during
tl1e period of Humaylin1s stay in Iran and his restoration of
t.r1e Indian empire. In addition to this nucleus of Irani
nobles a large number of Persians migrated to India during
Akbar's reign in search of employment and were admitted to
s.
1 Shaikh Farid Bhakkari, Zakbirat-ul Yhawanin, ed.
Moinul Haq, 3 vols., KaracHi, 1961-l.Sr'?l+, vol. I,p. 17
(hereafter see ZoKh. ).
----
2 A._l~, Vol. II, pp. 106-107.
3 Iqtidar Alam Khan, 'The Nobility Under Akbar and the
J.E.A.s.,
Development of his Religious Policy 1650-801
,
Part 3-4, 1969, pp. 29-36 and his monograph, The
Political Biograprq of a Mughal Noble Nunim Khan l\ban-i
[.ba'):1an149 '/-1~'/),_A_l i ga rh , -;,-9 73; ·p-p-. XVI-XVI I.
5
the nobility. Several factors were responsible for tlJeir
migration from Ir~n. Apparently, the presence already of
un Irani element in higher positions and in subst::111tiul
nu.rubers. Togetber witl1 Akbar's conscious effort at dj_versi-
fying the ruling class, and his patronage of Persian nobles
an<i culture were obviously the principal factors
H~1iCrJ
1
might have them to come to India.
encour~ged
To this was added the persecution of Sunnis in the
$afavid empire during the sixteenth century when the choice·
left to several was either to accept Sbi•is~ or to forsake
2
tLe country. During Akbar's reign M-ir rA bdul Lat,-.if of
Qazwin came to India because of religious persecution in
Iran. Jle belonr;ed to the Saifi Saiyids of QaZ\vin \·Hjo Here
J\li
Stu111is by faith. On the testimony of Ghya~uddi.n :As;af
KLan, Badalini states tlla t Saifi Saiyids 1.vere all bigoted
Stmnis and Shah f.'ahmasp deprived them of tneir estates, thus
3 _ _
- r
compelling Mir Abdul Latif to come to India.. Sharif ,1muli,
1 See Afzal Husain's article op.cit. ,p. 168.
2 The people of Khawaf were former~y bigoted Suruiis but
later they emerged as staunch Shi"as under the
compu~sion
during Shah ~bLas 1 s reign. See Zo!\11., Volo I, P5J. 195-
96; see also Chapter 6 Section IIIo---
r - -- -- -
3 Abdul ,QaQ.ir Bada Gni, Jviuntakb<:tb-ut Tawarihl;, ed. Haulavi
A)1m:1d Ali, Bjh. Ind. ,5\TOis., Calcutta, 1868-69, Vol.
III, pp. 97~Y9. .
6
a leader of Nuqtavi sect, is also said to have migrated
1
to Indi3 from Astarabad under similar circumstances. India
under Hkbar with its liberal (environment, provided a congenial
atmospliere to such fugitives. Eulogizing the reign of his
fa tl1c"'' Ja!1angir .has rightly observed that unlike other
countri::s, in the realm of his father peoples of different
sects and creeds Lad occupied a place. '1-/bile Sunni.s bad
no pl3ce in Ir~n and Shi~s in Tfir§n, but in his father's
realm Shi~s and Sunnis together prayed in a single mosque
2
just :Js "Cl1risti3ns and Jews" prayed together in one church.
The harsh policy of the towards
~afavids ~,eir
nobility was perlJUps anott1er major factor of tl:1e migration.
-
(-
After tne dee:1th of Sr1ab Ism::J.il ~afavi (1524 A.D.) family
feuds among princes and factional rivalries among nobles led
to uns tabili ty and anarchy in the empire which folmd it3
culmination in the establishment of a tradition of blood-
3
tl1irs tiness in Persia. Observing this state of affairs
Lahori remarks, "In administering matters pertaining to
punishment, (His 1'1ajesty) does not make any distinction
_ r_ _ r -
1 rs~andar Beg Turkman, Tari.l;W-i Alam Ara-i Abbasi TehranJ
._.LO A.H.,Vol. II, p.470tl'ierelnaf''Ger c1ted as "A.7A .A.).
2 Tuz~~~i Jahangiri, ed. Syed Ahmad, Gbazi.pur anci. Ali£arh_,
18"b3-64, p. 16 CFiereinafter see TuzU!!_).
3 A. A. A., I, pp. Lt-~-46.
between the nobles and the common people. If per chance
the cruelty of t11e Turkish Sul ~ans, Qizilba.shes and Uzbeks,
and U1eir impudence in awarding punishments are mentioned
in His Majesty's preseree, His soul is so grieved that the
1
signs.of resentment are apparent from His lwninous forehead."
Ace or ding to Jvl. A tha r Ali durint; the 31 years Shah Abba.s I
executed no less than 48 prominent officers either on
suspicions or on religious grounds. In the Mugl1al empire,
as he r2rnarl{s, l,,,t alone such executions, even dismj_ssals,
wer2 very rare, and confiscation of nobles' property as
2
ptmislJinent was practically unknovm.
1 rA bdul !J~Hri- rl L-ah-ori, Badshabnama, ed. Maulav-is Kab-irudd-in
J..i.JJu:,u: and Abdur Raplffi;"-:Bib---:-Tnd., 2 vols, Calcuttg ~
186.7-68, Vol. I(a) pp. 139-4u[hereafter see L3boriJ.
'I' his passage has also been translated by 1"!. A tlmr Ali in
his article "ToHards an Interpretation of the Hug11al
Empire" in J.R.A.S. of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1,
1978, Po 43-.- ··---
- - r_
2 J.R.A.S., ££.cit., p. 44. The author of Tarikh-i Alrun-
Ara-i ~bbasi, gives a detailed account of political crisis
after Shah'Tahmasp's de8th and before the accession of
Shah Isma'll .. II dealing Hi th the execution of leading nobles
and assassin:,tion of Princes. See A.A. A., Vol. I, pp.
1 92-212. Ab ill Fa?l also writes tha "E during his reign of
one and a half years Sha.h Ismail II killed his brothers,
otlJer relatives and a large number of important nobles
(A.Na, Vol. III, pp. 590-92). See also P.M. Sykes, A
HIStOry of Persia, London, 191 5, Vol. II, p. 254, \J:here
he · ives eight princes of the royal blood and seventeen
leadinf nobles were put to death or bJ.inded by Shall
Ism;{i.l II after his accession to the throne.
8
In o:.r-der to avoid punis.1ments and persecutions at the
1 onds of the court, a large number of leading nobles of the
empire micrated to Indiaa Some of them were intra-
~afovid
duced in the hu.glla 1 court by their own relations who. 1rrere
already in service. Jillwaja (lllya§udd-in rA l-i Qazw- in-i, bis
-
_,
nep11ew Ja 'afar Beg, son of Badiuzzaman, and the 1rrell kno-vm
Ei:r·za Q_bya§ Beg I' timad-ud Daula were prominent 9afavid
officjals wbo came to India during Akbar's reign under such
1
circwTistances. Kh5nlar ~u~fiqar Khan Qaramanlu also escaped
his life having re<3ched India tm.rards the close of Jal'""Janglr' s
2
reign.
Some of the Iranis carne to India under the groHing
of Uzbek invasions on the border provinces and the
pres~;ur·e
subjugation of l'lereditary chiefs under wl1om they were
~ufavid
serving in important positions a $adiq lv1ul)ammad tJ:lan of
Ler8 t bE: longed to such a family. His fa thE:r !vlul'_1ammad Baqir
was the wazir of Qa ra Kba.n 'I'urkman, tl""Je ruler of Khur'5 san
VJhen Qara g1an rebeLLed against Shal1 ~'abmasp and was expelled,
Baqir tJ:an fled from Herat and joined the service of Bairam
1 For details see Afzal Husain's article QE_.cit.,
pp. 170-71.
2 Lahori, I (a), p. 73.