ABSTRACT
Neither Babur nor Humayun (Chapter 5) ruled over North India long enough to influence the future shape of their fledgling kingdom. It was Humayun’s son Akbar (Plate 4.2) who, during his long reign of forty-nine years (1556–1605), established institutions and created conditions that enabled his son Jahangir, grandson Shah Jahan and great grandson Aurangzeb to rule effectively over an empire of great majesty and awe. For 133 years after Akbar’s accession, this empire remained a rock of stability for the vast majority of the peoples of South Asia, and Muslim power reached its apogee during those years. Aurangzeb reigned on until 1707, but after 1689 the empire lost its dynamism.
