Grand Vizier of Hindustan | |
---|---|
Appointer | Mughal emperor |
Formation | 21 April 1526 |
First holder | Amir Nizamu-d din Khalifa |
Final holder | Asaf-ud-Daula |
Abolished | 21 September 1797 |
The Grand Vizier of Hindustan (Hindustani: Vazir-ul-Mamlikat-i-Hindustan) [1] [2] was the highest ranking minister in the Mughal Empire and the chief adviser to the emperor himself. The position acted as the de facto head of government of the Mughal Empire and had responsibility for leading the ministers of the Empire. This is the list of grand viziers (vazīr-e azam) of the Mughal Empire.
The seniormost official under the Mughals, or the Prime Minister, held different titles such as Vakil, Vakil-us-Sultanat, Wazir, Diwan, Diwan-i-Ala and Diwan Wazir under different Mughal emperors. [3] Under Babur and Humayun, the institution of the wazirat was not fully developed owing to a lack of an entrenched nobility and political upheaval. Nonetheless, individuals under both rulers did rise to positions equivalent to the position of prime minister and under Humayun reforms were first attempted to clarify the roles of Vakil and Wazir. [3]
In the early years of Akbar's reign, the position of prime minister was first officially held by Bairam Khan as Vakil-us-Sultanat, and he exercised considerable influence over the emperor. Over time the power of the Vakil gradually declined, and during the reign of his successor Jahangir the role of Wazir replaced the Vakil as the most important officer in government. [3] Mughal wazirs were specifically appointed from the ahl-i-qalam(men of the pen) as distinct from the ahl-i-saif(men of the sword). [4] With the abolishment of the post of Wakil, the post was divided into the two offices of Wazir and Mir Bakhshi, where the chief Wazir was the head of the finance department, while the Mir Bakhshi was the head of the military department. [5] These two offices were made jointly responsible for the administration by a system of signatures and counter-signatures. [6] Until the death of Aurangzeb, the post of Wazir was never a threat to the monarchy as the Wazir could not act too independently. However, after the death of Aurangzeb, the pre-mughal tradition in India of the Wazir being the premier noble at the court and leading counsellor of the king apart from being the head of the financial administration had been re-established. [7]
Portrait | Name | Term of office | Notable events | Emperor | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amir Nizamuddin Khalifa | 21 April 1526 | 17 May 1540 | 1st Battle of Panipat | Babur (1526 –1530) & Humayun (1530 –1540) | |
Qaracha Khan | 1540 | ? | He was a governor of Qandahar and Humayun appoint him as Grand-Vizier of the Mughal State. | Humayun (1530 –1556) | |
Bairam Khan [3] | 1556 | March/April 1560 | Akbar-i-Azam اکبر اعظم (1556-1605) | ||
Munim Khan | 1560 | 1561 | |||
Ataga Khan [8] | November 1561 | 16 May 1562 | He was assassinated by Adham Khan | ||
Muzaffar Khan Turbati [9] | 1575 | 1579 | No Vakil was appointed after his appointment to governorship in Bengal from 1579 until 1589 | ||
Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak [10] | 1579 | 22 August 1602 | |||
Sharif Khan [3] | 1605 | 1611 | Jahangir جہانگیر (1605-1627) | ||
Mirza Ghias Beg [3] | 1611 | 1622 | |||
Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan [3] | 1622 | 1630 | |||
Afzal Khan Shirazi [3] | 1630 | 1639 | Shah Jahan شاہ جہان (1628-1658) | ||
Islam Khan Mashadi [3] | 1639 | 1640 | |||
Shaikh Ilam-ud-Din Ansari [11] | 1640 | 1642 | |||
Sadullah Khan [12] | 1642 | 1656 |
| ||
Mir Jumla [13] | 1656 | 1657 | Alamgir I عالمگیر (1658-1707) | ||
Jafar Khan [14] | 1657 | 1658 | |||
Fazil Khan [14] | 1658 | 1663 | |||
Jafar Khan [13] | 1663 | 1670 [15] | |||
Asad Khan [16] | 1675 | 1707 | |||
Mun'im Khan Khan-i-Khanan [17] | 1707 | 1711 | Bahadur Shah I بہادر شاہ (1707-1712) | ||
Hidayatullah Khan Kashmiri [18] | 1711 | 1713 | Jahandar Shah جہاندار شاہ (1712-1713) | ||
Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung [19] | 1712 | 1713 | |||
Mir Rustam Ali Khan [3] | 1710 | 1737 | Farrukhsiyar فرخ سیر (1713–1719) | ||
Qutb-ul-Mulk Abdullah Khan Barha [20] | 1713 | 1720 |
| ||
Muhammad Amin Khan Turani [20] | 1720 | 1721 | Muhammad Shah محمد شاہ (1719-1748) | ||
Mir Qamar-ud-Din Khan Asaf Jah I [22] | 1721 | 1723 | |||
Roshan-ud-Daulah Zafar Khan [23] [24] | 1724 | 1733 | |||
Mir Fazil Qamar-ud-Din Khan | 1733 | 1748 | |||
Safdar Jang [22] | 1748 | 1753 | Ahmad Shah Bahadur احمد شاہ بہادر (1748-1754) | ||
Intizam-ud-Daulah [25] | 1753 | 1754 | |||
Imad-ul-Mulk Feroze Jung [25] | 1754 | 1760 | Alamgir II عالمگیر دوم (1754-1759) | ||
(de-facto wazir-i-azam (Original shahjada-wazir-i-azam | 1760 1760 | 1775 1784 | Shah Alam II شاہ عالم دوم (1760-1806) | ||
Najaf Quli Khan [27] | 1772 | 1791 |
Muhi al-Din Muhammad, commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, and also by his regnal name Alamgir I, was the sixth Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707. Under his emperorship, Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent with territory spanning nearly the entirety of the Indian subcontinent.
Mirza Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram, commonly called Shah Jahan I, also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the zenith of Mughal architectural and cultural achievements.
Farrukhsiyar, also spelled as Farrukh Siyar, was the tenth Mughal Emperor from 1713 to 1719. He rose to the throne after deposing his uncle Jahandar Shah. He was an emperor only in name, with all effective power in the hands of the courtier Sayyid brothers. He was born during the reign of his great-grandfather Aurangzeb, as the son of Azim-ush-Shan and Sahiba Niswan. Reportedly a handsome man who was easily swayed by his advisers, he was said to lack the ability, knowledge and character to rule independently. He was executed by Maharaja Ajit Singh of Marwar.
Mughal architecture is the type of Indo-Islamic architecture developed by the Mughals in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries throughout the ever-changing extent of their empire in the Indian subcontinent. It developed from the architectural styles of earlier Muslim dynasties in India and from Iranian and Central Asian architectural traditions, particularly Timurid architecture. It also further incorporated and syncretized influences from wider Indian architecture, especially during the reign of Akbar. Mughal buildings have a uniform pattern of structure and character, including large bulbous domes, slender minarets at the corners, massive halls, large vaulted gateways, and delicate ornamentation; examples of the style can be found in modern-day Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
Wazir-ul-Mamalik-e-Hindustan Asaf Jah Jamat-ul-Mulk Shuja-ud-Daula Nawab Abul Mansur Khan Bahadur Safdar Jang Sipah Salar, better known as Safdar Jang, was the second Nawab of Kingdom of Awadh succeeding Saadat Ali Khan I in the year 1739. All future Nawabs of Awadh were patriarchal descendants of Safdar Jang. He was a major political figure at the imperial Mughal court during the declining years of the Mughal Empire.
Mirza Muhammad Nikusiyar or Nekusiyar or Neku Siyar, also known as Timur II, was a claimant to the Mughal throne.
Raja Jaswant Singh I was the Rathore Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Marwar in the western part of Rajputana modern day Rajasthan. He was a distinguished man of letters and author of noted literary works like Siddhant-Bodh, Anand Vilas and Bhasha-Bhushan.
The Sayyid brothers were Syed Hassan Ali Khan Barha and Syed Hussain Ali Khan, two powerful Mughal nobles during the decline of the empire.
Muhammad Ismail, known by his title Zulfiqar Khan, was a leading noble and military general of the Mughal Empire. His father was Asad Khan, wazir to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. During Aurangzeb's reign, Zulfiqar Khan led several military campaigns in pursuit of the emperor's ambitions in the Deccan and South India, notable of which is the Siege of Jinji. He held the post of mir bakhshi, appointed towards the later part of Aurangzeb's reign, and was made governor of the Deccan by emperor Bahadur Shah I. These positions helped make Zulfiqar Khan the most powerful noble in the empire by the early 1700s.
Safdarjung's tomb is a sandstone and marble mausoleum in Delhi, India. It was built in 1754 in the late Mughal Empire style for Nawab Safdarjung. The monument has an ambience of spaciousness and an imposing presence with its domed and arched red, brown and white coloured structures. Safdarjung, Nawab of Oudh, was made prime minister of the Mughal Empire when Ahmed Shah Bahadur ascended the throne in 1748.
The Mughal–Safavid war of 1649–1653 was fought between the Mughal and Safavid empires in the territory of modern Afghanistan. While the Mughals were at war with the Janid Uzbeks, the Safavid army captured the fortress city of Kandahar and other strategic cities that controlled the region. The Mughals attempted to regain the city, but their efforts were proven unsuccessful.
Mian Muhammad Amin Khan Turani , was a Mughal noble of Central Asian origin. He served as sadr-us-sudur during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and briefly occupied the post of wazir during the reign of Muhammad Shah. He was the uncle of Chin Qilich Khan, the first Nizam of Hyderabad.
Persian people were one of the major ethnic groups, who accompanied the ethnic Turco-Mongol ruling elite of the Mughal Empire after its invasion of the Indian subcontinent. Throughout the Mughal Empire, a number of ethnic Persian technocrats, bureaucrats, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, poets, artists, theologians and Sufis migrated and settled in different parts of the Indian Subcontinent.
The Vakil-i-Mutlaq, variously translated as the Lieutenant Plenipotentiary, the Regent Plenipotentiary, the Vicegerent or the Imperial Regent, was an important office in the Government of the Mughal Empire, first in ministerial hierarchy and only next to Mughal Emperor. Vekil is an Arabic word which means "representative". The Vakil was considered as the Emperor's lieutenant in all matters connected with the realm and household. From the reign of Emperor Babur to Emperor Shah Jahan, the title of grand vizier was also given to the Vakil. But afterwards it remained only as dignitary post.
The Subah of Lahore was one of the three subahs (provinces) of the Mughal Empire in the Punjab region, alongside Multan and Delhi subahs, encompassing the northern, central and eastern Punjab. It was created as one of the original 12 Subahs of the Mughal Empire under the administrative reforms carried by Akbar in 1580. The province ceased to exist after the death of its last viceroy, Adina Beg in 1758, with large parts being incorporated into Durrani Empire. Collectively, Lahore and Multan subahs, and parts of Delhi subah, comprised Mughal Punjab.
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Sa'adullah Khan, also spelled Sadullah Khan was the Grand Vizier and Vakil-I-Mutlaq of the Mughal Empire during the reign of Shah Jahan I.
Asad Khan, born Muhammad Ibrahim, was a high-ranking noble of the Mughal Empire during the reigns of Aurangzeb and Bahadur Shah. He is known for his tenure as the wazir of emperor Aurangzeb in the period 1676–1707, and was an important player in Mughal court politics.
Munim Khan II was the Grand Vizier of the Mughal Empire during the reign of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah I.
The Bakhshi in the Mughal Empire denoted a number of hierarchical government officials, typically involved with military administration and intelligence. The offices were introduced during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar. Bakhshis were found in both the central and provincial administration; the most notable kind of bakhshi was the mir bakhshi, one of the empire's four ministers, broadly in charge of administering the mansabdari system. The mir bakhshi was the second-highest official in the Mughal Empire, after the imperial wazir.
Safdarjung was appointed the Chief Minister of the Mughal Empire. He was given the title of 'Wazir ul-Mamalik-i-Hindustan', though, by then the empire had considerably shrunk to just northern India. His fame and power were, unfortunately, short lived as court politics overtook him and he was dismissed by the new emperor.
Wazir ul-Mamalik-i-Hindustan, Asaf Jah, Jamat ul-Mulk, Shuja ud-Daula, Nawab Abu'l Mansur Khan Bahadur, Safdar Jang, popularly known as Safdarjung was the second Nawab of the Awadh dynasty.
Abul Fazl(1551-1602), the emperor's chief advisor and confidant from 1579 until Abul Fazl's assassination at the instigation of Prince Salim, the future Emperor Jahangir(r. 1605-1627)