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Mughal Gold Necklace - SP.189
*CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE" The Mughal Empire (Persian: ????? ????? ??? , Urdu: ????? ?????), self-designation Gurk?n?, ??????? (which was also the self-designation of the Timurids in Central Asia and Khorasan) was an empire that at its greatest territorial extent ruled eastern parts of Khorasan (i.e. Afghanistan) and most of the Indian subcontinent, then known as Hindustan, i.e. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was established in 1504 by the Timurid prince Babur, when he took control of Kabul and eastern regions of Khorasan. In 1526, he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans, at the First Battle of Panipat. It enjoyed expansion and consolidation until about 1707 and survived, even if in drastically attenuated form, until 1857. Mughal is the Persian word for Mongol, and was generally used to refer to Central Asian nomads who claimed descent from the Mongol warriors of Genghis Khan. The Mughal rulers were adherents of Islam. The territory was largely conquered by the Pashtun Sher Shah Suri during the time of Humayun, the second Mughal ruler, but under Akbar the Great it grew considerably, and continued to grow until the end of Aurangzeb's rule. Jahangir, the son of Mughal Emperor Akbar and Rajput princess Mariam-uz-Zamani, ruled the empire from 1605–1627. In October 1627, Shah Jahan, the son of Mughal Emperor Jahangir and Rajput princess Manmati, succeeded to the throne, where he inherited a vast and rich empire in India; and at mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the world. Shah Jahan commissioned the famous Taj Mahal (between 1630–1653), in Agra as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. By 1700, the empire had reached its zenith with a territory spanning 4 million km² [1] and over 750 million acres. - (SP.189) |
