Jodha Akbar Shah-i-Iran Track Historical Update - Old Rivalries...Ottomans, Safavids, Uzbeks and Mughals | Part-1

Hi all,

This post is related to the present track of Zee TV's show Jodha Akbar - which is about the ruler of Iran who has sent his messengers to the court of Akbar. It is shown that the Iranian ruler asks Akbar to strictly adhere to the tenets of Islam. He says - "Jodha is a Hindu Queen and hence her son can not be declared the heir to the throne of Mughal Sultanate. This won't be acceptable to the Islamic orthodoxy. The messagers suggest Akbar to get Jodha converted to Islam. In short, it looked as if the Shah of Iran was dictating terms to Akbar."

Credit for Pic : Bhavna

Now, in this backdrop, i am giving brief details about what this track SHOULD ultimately lead to..

The origin of this situation which Akbar faced with the Iranian ruler goes back to times of his ancestors.. This post is going to be hardcore history and please keep a world map open in another tab, because the beauty of these historical details can ONLY be understood when you have a complete grasp on the geography i am talking about. Before, i write about Akbar's era, i need to tell you about his ancestors' relations with Iran.

Let's start...
This is a at least 2 part post..This is part-1 of the same series..This post tells about the background of rivalry between the Mughals-Uzbeks-Safavids-Ottomans.


We know the Mughals of India were descendants of Timur. Hence, they were called Timurids. Mongol rulers had established a great empire in 13th century under the well known - Changez Khan. I have mentioned the timeline below. The empire flourished but IMPORTANT changes took place in Central and West Asia during the 15th century. Note that the names are succeeded by the word - "Khan". This does not means that they were Muslims. Mongols were not Muslims initially. They converted later to Islam. Khan was a military terminology.

Some Mongol Rulers...

 -      1206–1227     Genghis Khan
 -      1229–1241     Ogedei Khan
 -      1246–1248     Guyuk Khan
 -      1251–1259     Mongke Khan
 -      1260–1294     Kublai Khan
 -      1333–1370     Temur

After the disintegration of the Mongol empire in the 14th century, Timur united Iran and Turan(a part of Central Asia under 'Tur' tribe) under one rule once again. Timur's empire extended from the lower Volga* to the river Indus**; and included modern day Turkey, Iran, Central Asian region, Afghanistan and a part of present day Pakistani Punjab. Timur died in 1404, but his grandson, Shahrukh Mirza (died 1448), was able to keep intact a large part of his empire. He gave patronage to arts and letters, and in his time, Samarqand and Herat became the cultural centres of West Asia. The ruler of Samarqand had great prestige in the entire Islamic world.

*Volga - It is a river which drains into Caspian Sea. Had, Iran(later ruled by Safavids) to it's South, Uzbekistan(later ruled by Uzbeks) to it's East, Turkey(later ruled by Ottomans) to it's West..So, you see, initially all this region was under the control of Mongols, and later came under control of these dynasties.

**Indus - In present day Pakistan

But, soon the power of Timurids declined rapidly during the second half of the 15th century; largely due to the Timurid tradition of partitioning the empire. The various Timurid principalities which arose were always fighting and wrangling among themselves. There was no unity among them. This mutual disunity of Timurid princes provided an opportunity to 2 new elements to come to the forefront::
 
1. Uzbeks
From the north, a Mongol tribe, the Uzbeks; thrust into Central Asia. The Uzbeks had also converted to Islam, but were looked down upon by the Timurids who considered Uzbeks to be "uncultured barbarians". { Uzbeks were deadly enemies of Mughals. }

2. Safavids (Iran)
Further to the west, a new dynasty, the Safavid dynasty, began to dominate Iran. The Safavids descended from an order of saints who traced their ancestry to the Prophet. They supported the Shiite sect of Islam among the Muslims, and persecuted those who were not prepared to accept the Shiite tenets. In simple terms, they persecuted Sunnis. It was this religious intolerance, which Akbar disliked in Safavid rulers of Iran (we will see this later, in the post.)

The Uzbeks, on the other hand, were Sunnis. Thus, political conflict between these two elements - Uzbeks and Safavids, was embittered by sectarian conflict. There was a 3rd power which was under development - The Great Ottoman Empire.

3. To the west of Iran, the power of the Ottoman Turks was rising. They wanted to dominate eastern Europe as well as Iraq and Iran. But, Iran was the bastion of Safavids, hence Ottomans were bound to come in conflict with Safavids for sure. Ottoman Empire was ruled by Sunnis. Hence, Safavids were sandwiched between Ottomans in the West and Uzbeks in the North-East. Also, both Uzbeks and Ottomans were Sunnis and both had territorial ambitions in Safavid Empire of Iran. 

The raw materials for a fierce struggle were being collected together and the scene was set for the conflict of three mighty empires in Asia during the sixteenth century , which was to be faced by Emperor Akbar of Hindustan. Now, keeping in mind the above background of Uzbeks-Safavids-Ottoman Turks, let us come back to Mongols(Mughals).

In 1494, at the young age, Akbar's grandfather, Babur succeeded to Farghana ( in present day eastern Uzbekistan). Oblivious of the Uzbek danger, the Timurid princes were busy fighting one another, as mentioned above. This disunity was going to cost them their native land. Babur, too, made a bid to conquer Samarqand from his uncle. He won the city twice(1494 & 1497) but lost it in no time on both the occasions. The second time the Uzbek chief, Shaibani Khan, was called in to help oust Babur from Samarqand. {Babur was a man who was said to have spent his life on a horseback. This man fought continuous wars throughout his life.}

Shaibani defeated Babur and conquered Samarqand. Soon, Shaibani Khan Uzbek also overran the rest of the Timurid kingdoms in the area. This forced Babur to move southwards towards Kabul which he conquered in 1504. For the next 14 years, Babur kept biding his time for the reconquest of his homeland from the Uzbeks. He tried to enlist the help of his uncle, the ruler of Herat, in the enterprise but to no avail. Ultimately, Herat, too, was overrun by the Uzbek ruler Shaibani Khan. Since, the Timurid territory between the Uzbeks and Safavids was captured by Uzbeks, this now led to a direct conflict between the Uzbeks and the Safavids since the latter also laid claim to Herat and the surrounding area which is called Khorasan.

In a famous battle in 1510, Shah Ismail, the Shah of Iran, defeated and killed Shaibani Khan Uzbek. With Uzbek danger of East, now put to rest for sometime, Babur now made another attempt to recover Samarqand, this time he took the help of the Iranian forces. Babur was duly installed at Samarqand, but chafed under the control of the Iranian generals who wanted to treat Babur as the governor of an Iranian province rather than as an "independent prince". This was a MAJOR issue for Mughal rulers because the Safavids of Iran, in return of the help given to Mughals, treated them as NOT independents but as vassals. Meanwhile, the Uzbeks recovered rapidly from their defeat of 1510. Once again Babur was ousted from Samarqand by the Uzbeks, and had to return southwards back to Kabul again. Finally, Shah Ismail of Iran himself was defeated in a famous battle by the Ottoman Sultan from the West, thus leaving the Uzbeks as masters of Central Asia. These developments like the weakening of Safavid power at the hands of Ottomans and rise of Uzbeks, finally forced Babur to look towards India.

Conclusion:

So, did you notice....Uzbeks clashed with both Mughals of Hindustan and Safavids of Iran. Hence, Mughals and Safavids had a common enemy in Uzbek rulers. Safavids had helped Babur as we saw above, and also later helped Humayun in recovering his lost empire from Sher Shah Suri's successors. But, Safavids considered Mughals as NOT independent rulers but as vassals. Hence, despite having a common ground for friendship against Uzbeks, the high-handed treatment of Safavids was not liked by Mughals.

Political relations between the Mughals, Safavids and Uzbeks were complicated by several factors. From the mid of 15th century A.D. the Mughals, Uzbeks and Ottomans made occasional overtures to each other to unite against the Safavids, under the banner of Sunnism. Note that, though, there was a possibility of unification due the similarity of same sectarian sect, but the Mughals were not religious fanatics. They had Sufi leanings, in comparison to others.

However, this seemingly natural alliance was negated by several factors::

1. Mughals claimed to be the legitimate rulers of the Central Asian lands which was their homeland, which they considered the Uzbeks to have usurped. Each of the first six Mughal rulers had articulated plans to re-conquer the dynasty’s ancestral lands in Central Asia. We saw in the starting that Mongols had a big empire in the 13-14th centuries.

2. Another was the fact that both Babur and Humayun had at various points accepted the status of Safavid vassals in lieu of Safavid help. This also negated the possibility of an alliance because an alliance is done with another king NOT with a 'subordinate' vassal.

 Till now was a historical post. Now, i am trying to tell what the makers of Jodha Akbar are trying to show....

The present track of Jodha Akbar show, is related to the same point number-2. It is shown to us the Shah of Iran dictates terms to Akbar on a religious issue, which is NOT liked by Akbar. Now, Akbar will take a remarkable step to finally dispose off this tag of superiority of the Safavids.  

Now is the time, he will denounce the Safavids' authority....What step he will take and what challenges he would face, lets read that in Part-2, which has been posted...This post was a background....

Here is the Link of Part-2 post..:
Jodha Akbar Shah-i-Iran Track Historical Update - The "Infallible" Daring Diplomatic MasterStroke of Akbar & Sheikh Mubarak | Part-2


This article has been posted under the Mughals section of history_geek's blog.