Chapter 2: Reshaping India's Political Map (History)

Similarities:

• Both were founded by invaders of Turkic or Afghan (and Mongol) origin from beyond the Hindu Kush. Both relied heavily on military conquest, plunder and taxes on the peasantry.
• Both were ruled by an all-powerful sovereign (sultan or emperor), assisted by ministers.
• Both gave nobles land revenue in return for service: iqtas under the Sultanate, jagirs for mansabdars under the Mughals.
• Successions were often violent in both, and at times both destroyed temples and imposed the jizya on non-Muslims.

Differences:

Both were built on conquest, taxation of peasants and grants of land revenue to nobles (iqta and jagir). The Mughals, especially Akbar, added diplomacy, Rajput alliances, broader religious tolerance and a much more organised administration, and so were far more stable than the short-lived Sultanate dynasties.

Vijayanagara Empire:

• Geography: it was far to the south of Delhi. Its capital at Hampi was protected by rocky hills and the Tungabhadra river.
• Military: a strong army, with horses bought from Portuguese traders, and many forts. Krishnadevaraya won many wars and secured the Deccan.
• Social and economic: a very rich economy based on trade, agriculture and temples (Domingo Paes called it "the best provided city in the world"), which paid for its armies. Strong rulers patronised literature, art and temples, giving people a shared culture and loyalty.

Ahom kingdom:

• Geography: the Brahmaputra valley, with dense forests, hills and rivers, made the land hard for outside armies to cross.
• Military: guerrilla tactics and great skill with river boats. Under Lachit Borphukan, 10,000 Ahoms defeated 30,000 Mughals at the Battle of Saraighat (1671). The Mughal general Ram Singh praised their all-round skills.
• Social: the paik system, in which every able-bodied man served the state through labour or in the army in return for land rights. This gave the kingdom a large force without a permanent army. The Ahoms also blended into local culture and encouraged many faiths, so they had people's support.

Difficult terrain (Hampi's hills and river; Assam's forests, hills and the Brahmaputra), strong armies and tactics (Vijayanagara's forts and cavalry; Ahom guerrilla warfare and river boats), and strong economies and social organisation (Vijayanagara's wealth; the Ahom paik system and local support).

A sample letter (from the court of Krishnadevaraya):

Vijayanagara, in the reign of Krishnadevaraya
Dear Friend,
Greetings from this great city on the Tungabhadra! I have been here a year, and every day brings something new.
Politics: Our king is a mighty ruler. His armies have defeated the Gajapatis of Odisha and the Sultans of Bijapur and Golconda, and the whole Deccan respects him. Yet he is also a poet and thinks deeply about good government; in his Telugu poem Āmuktamālyada he even writes about how a king should rule.
Trade: The markets are crowded with oxen loaded with grain, cloth, spices and jewels. Portuguese traders bring fine horses, and the king treats them well so that they do not sell to his enemies. Merchants from Persia and Arabia come too.
Culture: Poets write in Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada, and the king rewards them. Grand temples rise everywhere. In the Vitthala temple the stone pillars give out musical notes when struck!
Society: People of many trades and communities live here: farmers, weavers, temple builders, merchants and soldiers. The city has gardens, lakes and water channels, and food is plentiful. The temples are not only places of worship but also centres of learning, markets and charity.
I wish you could see it with your own eyes.
Your friend

(A letter from Akbar's court could describe his conquests and Rajput alliances, his sulh-i-kul policy and debates with scholars of many faiths, Fatehpur Sikri and its "house of translation", the mansabdari system, Todar Mal's revenue survey, and the busy trade at Surat and Agra.)

The letter should describe the ruler's wars and policies, busy markets and foreign traders, patronage of literature, temples or translations, and everyday life in the capital (see the sample).

As a young ruler, Akbar followed his predecessors. At Chittor he ordered some 30,000 civilians massacred and boasted of destroying temples. Later he abolished the jizya, followed sulh-i-kul, held interfaith discussions, appointed Hindu officials, and had Sanskrit texts translated.

Possible reasons for the change:

• Political need: a huge empire with a mostly non-Muslim population could not be held by force alone. Alliances with Rajputs and the goodwill of his subjects made the empire stable. (He himself said a ruler had to keep conquering, or enemies would rise against him.)
• Growing knowledge: he became keenly interested in Persian and Indian texts and met scholars of many religions, including Jesuits. Abul Fazl records him saying he felt "overwhelmed with shame" at having forced conversions, and asking what loyalty could be expected from people converted by force.
• Experience and maturity: long years of rule taught him that tolerance brought loyalty and peace.
• Influences of his Rajput queens, nobles and advisers at court.

Political need (ruling a vast, diverse empire peacefully), his growing curiosity and learning through discussions with scholars of many faiths, maturity and experience, and the influence of Rajput allies and advisers, led him to tolerance and sulh-i-kul.

This calls for imagination, based on what we know. Possibilities:

• Political: Vijayanagara could have stayed a strong, united power in the south for much longer, instead of breaking up into small Nayaka kingdoms. The Deccan Sultanates might have been weakened. Later, the Mughals might have found it much harder to expand south.
• The city: Hampi would not have been sacked and ruined. It could have remained one of the world's great cities, "as large as Rome", as Paes said.
• Culture: temple-building, music, and literature in Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada would have continued under royal patronage on a grand scale. Its temples, palaces and records would have survived.
• Economy: its rich trade in horses, textiles and spices with the Portuguese and others would have continued, giving south India a strong economy and perhaps a stronger hand in dealing with European traders.

South India might have stayed united under a strong Vijayanagara for longer, Hampi would have survived as a great city, temple architecture and Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada literature would have kept flourishing, and the Mughals and later European powers might have found the south harder to control.

Seva (selfless service). Sikhism teaches serving others without expecting anything in return. Its best-known form is the langar, the free community kitchen at every gurudwara, where people of every religion, caste and status sit together and eat the same food.

Seva is highly relevant today:

• During floods, earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic, gurudwaras and volunteers fed and helped millions of people.
• In a society with poverty, loneliness and division, selfless service builds kindness, community and respect for all.
• Students can practise seva by helping at home, teaching younger children, cleaning their neighbourhood, or volunteering.

(Other choices: equality, as in Guru Nanak's teaching that all humans are equal, which is relevant against caste, gender and religious discrimination; justice, as in Guru Tegh Bahadur's sacrifice for the right of others to follow their faith, which is relevant to freedom of religion and standing up for the weak.)

E.g. seva: the langar and selfless service still feed and help millions (as during disasters and the pandemic) and build a caring, equal society.

A sample description, from Surat:

"The harbour is full of ships of every size: Indian vessels built in our own shipyards, Arab dhows, and tall European ships with many sails. Porters load bales of cotton cloth, indigo, spices, sugar, and saltpetre, while others unload horses, silk, metals, and luxury goods from Persia and Arabia.

In the bazaar I meet merchants from Arabia, Persia and Central Asia, some of whom have settled here, and lately Portuguese, Dutch and English traders too. Marwari and Gujarati bankers sit with their account books. Instead of carrying sacks of coins, we write hundis, notes of payment that a banker in Agra or Calicut will honour. The government officials collect customs duty. Pilgrims for Mecca also set sail from here. We sell far more than we buy, and silver flows in to pay for our goods. The city is noisy, crowded and rich."

Describe busy harbours with Indian, Arab and European ships; exports of cotton cloth, indigo, spices and sugar; imports of horses, silk and metals; merchants from many lands; and payment by hundis.