Mirza Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah Zafar or Bahadur Shah II (24 October 1775-7 November 1862) was the last Mughal emperor. He was the second son of and became the successor to his father, Akbar II, upon his death on 28 September 1837. He was a nominal Emperor, as the Mughal Empire existed in name only and his authority was limited only to the city of Delhi (Shahjahanbad). Following his involvement in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British exiled him to Rangoon in British-controlled Burma, after convicting him on conspiracy charges.

Shah Jahan was known for his patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture, which led to greater conspicuous consumption among the Mughal elite.

Babur, a warrior chieftain from Uzbekistan, is considered to have founded the Mughal Empire in 1526.

Aurangzeb was named as "Zinda Pir" or "Living Saint".

Aurangzeb was born on 3 November 1618, in Dahod, Gujarat. He was the third son and sixth child of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. In June 1626, after an unsuccessful rebellion by his father, Aurangzeb and his brother Dara Shukoh were kept as hostages under their grandparents' (Nur Jahan and Jahangir) Lahore court. On 26 February 1628, Shah Jahan has officially declared the Mughal Emperor, and Aurangzeb returned to live with his parents at Agra Fort, where Aurangzeb received his formal education in Arabic and Persian. His daily allowance was fixed at Rs. 500, which he spent on religious education and the study of history.

On 28 May 1633, Aurangzeb escaped death when a powerful war elephant stampeded through the Mughal Imperial encampment. He rode against the elephant and struck its trunk with a lance,[19] and successfully defended himself from being crushed. Aurangzeb's valour was appreciated by his father who conferred him the title of Bahadur (Brave) and had him weighed in gold and presented gifts worth Rs. 200,000. This event was celebrated in Persian and Urdu verses, and Aurangzeb said: If the (elephant) fight had ended fatally for me, it would not have been a matter of shame. Death drops the curtain even on Emperors; it is no dishonor. The shame lay in what my brothers did!

As emperor, Aurangzeb banned the drinking of alcohol, gambling,[53] castration, servitude, eunuchs, music, nautch and narcotics in the Mughal Empire.

Paternally, Babur belonged to the Turkicized Barlas tribe of Mongol origin.

The Mysorean rockets were the basis for the Congreve rockets used by Britain in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.

Agricultural taxes instituted by Akbar formed the base of the Mughal Empire's collective wealth.

The Din-i Ilahi (lit. "Religion of God") was a syncretic religion propounded by the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great in 1582 AD, intending to merge the best elements of the religions of his empire, and thereby reconcile the differences that divided his subjects. The elements were primarily drawn from Islam and Hinduism, but some others were also taken from Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.

Akbar promoted tolerance of other faiths. In fact, not only did he tolerate them, he encouraged debate on philosophical and religious issues. This led to the creation of the Ibadat Khana ("House of Worship") at Fatehpur Sikri in 1575. He had already repealed the jizya (tax on non-Muslims) in 1568. A religious experience while hunting in 1578 further increased his interest in the religious traditions of his empire

From the discussions held at the Ibadat Khana, Akbar concluded that no single religion could claim the monopoly of truth. This inspired him to create the Din-i Ilahi in 1582. Various pious Muslims, among them the Qadi of Bengal and the seminal Sufi personality Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, responded by declaring this to be blasphemy to Islam. According to a renowned historian Mubarak Ali, Din-i Ilahi is a name not present in Akbar's period. At that time it was called Tawhid-i-Ilahi ("divine monotheism"), as it is written by Abu Al Fazal, a court historian during the reign of Akbar. So it can be said that it was not a religion in proper sense or in comparison with the mainstream religions. As there was no compulsion in its acceptance, no reward, no punishment and no establishment of religious institutions. Furthermore, it can be said that it was a political system to bring unity in plurality rather than a religion.

Man Bai (died 16 May 1605) was the first wife of Shahzada Nur-ud-din Mohammad Salim, future Mughal emperor Jahangir and the mother of Prince Khusrau Mirza. She received the title of Shah Begum after giving birth to her son.

Man Bai was the daughter of Raja Bhagwant Das of Amber and married her first-cousin, Salim, when he was 15 years-old in 1585. She was a bad choice as a wife for Salim as both she and her father were mentally unstable. While Bhagwant Das had once attempted suicide, Man Bai died by her own hand.

She was a neurotic woman, quick to take offence over imagined insults, for which there was plenty of scope for the Rajput princess in Jahangir's polygamous and predominantly Muslim household. "The lady [Man Bai] was ever ambitious of an ascendancy over the other inmates of the harem, and grew violent at the slightest opposition of her will" said Inayatullah. "From time to time her mind wandered, and her father and brothers all agreed in telling me she was insane," writes Jahangir.

Man Bai committed suicide on 16 May 1605 by an overdose of drugs (opium) due to her unhappiness over her son's surliness towards her husband. But Muhibb Ali gives a different reason for her suicide: "As Prince Salim always behaved improperly to her, her mind became jealous and she killed herself by taking opium." Her tomb is in Khusrau Bagh in Allahabad.

Explanation

The Mughal Empire's collective wealth was based on agricultural taxes, which were instituted by Akbar, the third Mughal emperor. These taxes were paid in silver currency and amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator.