Mughal dynasty

House of Babur
House of Babur
	Imperial seal of the Mughal dynasty
Parent house	Timurid dynasty
Country	Mughal India
Place of origin	Timurid Empire
Founded	21 April 1526
Founder	Babur
Final ruler	Bahadur Shah II
Titles	List Badshah of Hindustan; Khan of Khans; Sultan of Sultans; Shah of Shahs; Mughal Caliph Sardar; Khan; Baig; Mirza; Shah; Sultan; Shahzade; Shahzadi; Hazrat Ishaan (Title), special title for a distinguished branch of Princes, descending from Jahangir and Aurangzeb, leading the Naqshbandi Sufi order; ;
Connected families	Safavid dynasty; Durrani dynasty; Kachhwaha;
Traditions	Sunni Islam (1526–1857); Din-i Ilahi (1582–1605);
Dissolution	1857
Deposition	21 September 1857

The Mughal dynasty (Persian: دودمان مغل; Dudmân-e Mughal) comprised the members of the imperial House of Babur (Persian: خاندانِ آلِ بابُر; Khāndān-e-Āl-e-Bābur), also known as the Gurkanis (Persian: گورکانیان; Gūrkāniyān),^[1] who ruled the Mughal Empire from c. 1526 to 1857.

The Mughals originated as a Central Asian branch of the Timurid dynasty, supplemented with extra Borjigin (the clan which ruled the Mongol Empire and its successor states) bloodlines. The dynasty's founder, Babur (born 1483), was a direct descendant of the Asian conqueror Timur (1336–1405) on his father's side and of Mongol emperor Genghis Khan (died 1227) on his mother's side, and Babur's ancestors had other affiliations with Genghisids through marriage and common ancestry.^[2] The term "Mughal" is itself a derivative form of "Mongol" in the Arabic and Persian languages: it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Mughal dynasty.^[3] Many of the later Mughal emperors had significant Indian Rajput and Persian ancestry through marriage alliances as emperors were born to Rajput and Persian princesses.^[4]^[5] Akbar, for instance, was half-Persian (his mother was of Persian origin), Jahangir was half-Rajput and quarter-Persian, and Shah Jahan was three-quarters Rajput.^[6]

During much of the Empire's history, the emperor functioned as the absolute head of state, head of government and head of the military, while during its declining era much of the power shifted to the office of the Grand Vizier and the empire became divided into many regional kingdoms and princely states.^[7] However, even in the declining era, the Mughal Emperor continued to be the highest manifestation of sovereignty on the Indian subcontinent. Not only the Muslim gentry, but the Maratha, Rajput, and Sikh leaders took part in ceremonial acknowledgements of the Emperor as the sovereign of India.^[8] The British East India Company deposed the imperial family and abolished the empire on 21 September 1857 during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The UK declared the establishment of the British Raj the following year.

The British tried and convicted the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837–1857), and exiled him (1858) to Rangoon in British-controlled Burma (present-day Myanmar).^[9]

^ Zahir ud-Din Mohammad (10 September 2002). Thackston, Wheeler M. (ed.). The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. New York: Modern Library. p. xlvi. ISBN 978-0-375-76137-9. In India the dynasty always called itself Gurkani, after Temür's title Gurkân, the Persianized form of the Mongolian kürägän, 'son-in-law,' a title Temür assumed after his marriage to a Genghisid princess.
^ Berndl, Klaus (2005). National Geographic Visual History of the World. National Geographic Society. pp. 318–320. ISBN 978-0-7922-3695-5.
^ Dodgson, Marshall G.S. (2009). The Venture of Islam. Vol. 3: The Gunpowder Empires and Modern Times. University of Chicago Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-226-34688-5.
^ Jeroen Duindam (2015), Dynasties: A Global History of Power, 1300–1800, page 105 Archived 6 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge University Press
^ Mohammada, Malika (1 January 2007). The Foundations of the Composite Culture in India. Akkar Books. p. 300. ISBN 978-8-189-83318-3.
^ Dirk Collier (2016). The Great Mughals and their India. Hay House. p. 15. ISBN 9789384544980.
^ Sharma, S. R. (1999). Mughal Empire in India: A Systematic Study Including Source Material. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-7156-817-8.
^ Bose, Sugata; Jalal, Ayesha (2004). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-203-71253-5.
^ Bhatia, H.S. Justice System and Mutinies in British India. p. 204.

[Thackston2-1] Zahir ud-Din Mohammad (10 September 2002). Thackston, Wheeler M. (ed.). The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. New York: Modern Library. p. xlvi. ISBN 978-0-375-76137-9. In India the dynasty always called itself Gurkani, after Temür's title Gurkân, the Persianized form of the Mongolian kürägän, 'son-in-law,' a title Temür assumed after his marriage to a Genghisid princess.

[Berndl-2] Berndl, Klaus (2005). National Geographic Visual History of the World. National Geographic Society. pp. 318–320. ISBN 978-0-7922-3695-5.

[Hodgson-3] Dodgson, Marshall G.S. (2009). The Venture of Islam. Vol. 3: The Gunpowder Empires and Modern Times. University of Chicago Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-226-34688-5.

[4] Jeroen Duindam (2015), Dynasties: A Global History of Power, 1300–1800, page 105 Archived 6 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge University Press

[5] Mohammada, Malika (1 January 2007). The Foundations of the Composite Culture in India. Akkar Books. p. 300. ISBN 978-8-189-83318-3.

[6] Dirk Collier (2016). The Great Mughals and their India. Hay House. p. 15. ISBN 9789384544980.

[7] Sharma, S. R. (1999). Mughal Empire in India: A Systematic Study Including Source Material. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-7156-817-8.

[MSA2-8] Bose, Sugata; Jalal, Ayesha (2004). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-203-71253-5.

[Last_Mughal-9] Bhatia, H.S. Justice System and Mutinies in British India. p. 204.

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