Mughal Frontiers and Fortifications

From the Mughal victory at Panipat in 1526 to the dynasty’s fall in 1857, the empire’s frontiers shifted with war, negotiation and local allegiance. Forts secured crossings and roads, while the northwestern routes toward Afghanistan, the Satpura passes into the Deccan and the fortified towns of the imperial core posed different military problems.

On this page4 sections

Indus crossings and the road to Kandahar

Attock stands beside the Indus in present-day Pakistan, where traffic between Punjab and the approaches to Kabul met a major river crossing. Akbar ordered Attock Fort built from 1581 to 1583 under Khwaja Shamsuddin Khawafi to protect the crossing. Its 1,600-metre perimeter wall and four gates, named Delhi, Lahori, Kabuli and Mori, enclosed the hillside beside the river. Marathas held it briefly in 1758, Ahmad Shah Durrani retook it in 1761, and Sikh forces captured it in the early nineteenth century before the British took control in 1849.

Kandahar, in present-day Afghanistan, guarded the overland route between the Iranian plateau and Mughal India, which carried Indian textiles and imported horses as well as armies. Its fortress changed hands between the Mughals and Safavids: the Safavid Shah Abbas I took it in 1622, Shah Jahan regained it in 1638 after the local governor Ali Mardan Khan defected, and Shah Abbas II retook it in 1649. Mughal campaigns in 1651, 1652 and 1653 failed to recover it; the last relied on artillery that could not sustain an effective siege.

Asirgarh and the Deccan approaches

Asirgarh crowns a hill in the Satpura Range about 20 kilometres north of Burhanpur in present-day Madhya Pradesh. The Faruqi rulers of Khandesh controlled the region before Mughal annexation. Raja Ali Khan accepted Akbar’s overlordship in 1577, but his successor Bahadur Khan rejected Mughal authority. Akbar occupied Burhanpur in 1600; after a prolonged siege, Asirgarh fell in 1601 and Khandesh became a Mughal province. The mosque built within the fort by Raja Ali Khan in 1588 belongs to the pre-conquest phase, while other parts of the complex reflect later Mughal and British use.

The Deccan plateau of southern India has many hill forts, a challenge during Aurangzeb’s long campaigns. Between 1700 and 1704, his armies took forts including Satara, Panhala, Sinhgad and Torna. A Maharashtra historical gazetteer reports that most surrendered for payment, while Torna was taken by assault. After Mughal garrisons weakened, Maratha forces recovered some strongholds and the sieges began again.

Local power on the agrarian frontier

Imperial authority also advanced through local grants and service. A 1574 order from Mughal Malwa granted Jayanti Das and Narhar Das 200 bighas, a regional land measure, of fallow ground in the Dhar district tax-free, on condition that they cultivate it and continue helping to settle and regulate the area. The grant made their claim depend on bringing land into production and keeping the countryside under control. Zamindars, or local holders of land and revenue rights, could therefore help extend Mughal rule, while their own armed followings gave them power that imperial officials had to negotiate with.

Palace forts and the last Mughal court

Not every fort served as a frontier garrison. Shah Jahan began building the Red Fort in 1639 as the palace-fort of Shahjahanabad, his new capital in present-day Delhi; construction was completed in 1648. Its massive sandstone enclosure held the emperor’s residence and courts, linked within the palace by a water channel. After the 1857 uprising, British forces occupied it and converted parts of the complex to military use.