The Mughals: court and agrarian revenue

Babur defeated the Lodi army at Panipat in 1526 and established Mughal rule in northern South Asia. Successors expanded through warfare, succession struggles and regional cooperation, shifting court locations when needed. Offices and incomes connected royal members, soldiers and local elites of varied backgrounds. Farming, towns and roads supplied the resources required by armies, buildings and the services sustaining the court.

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Mansab ranks organized status and military obligations, while jagir revenues supported service holders. Officials assessed land, crops and collections through local leaders and intermediaries. Farmers sustained public income but faced taxation, war and environmental pressures. Records and market relationships connected the fiscal system, and urban workers supplied textiles, weapons and other goods. Court consumption repeatedly drew on rural production through deliveries and payments.

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Painting, architecture, calligraphy and literature developed through court and regional patronage. Merchants carried South Asian textiles and other goods to Indian Ocean and European markets, relying on credit, transport and security. Late seventeenth-century Deccan wars and succession conflicts strained military and fiscal arrangements. After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, regional power changed, while cities, production and administrative practices continued under new political relationships.

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