Mughals on the move - I

The Mughals certainly travelled in style. The imperial caravan was like a wayfaring city hopping from one stop to the next at a leisurely pace. The total number of persons included in an imperial procession could be somewhere in the vicinity of 200,000. Contemporary sources describe in detail the composition and character of this moving city.

Travel in the pre-steam-engine era was a slow, laborious, ponderous and perilous affair. Not many people travelled – and they didn’t have to. Not so, of course, for Mughal rulers, especially the Emperors. They had no option but to travel within their vast realm between various centres of the empire. They also travelled for leisure with their harem.

Akbar frequently travelled between Lahore, Agra and Kashmir, in addition to his sojourns to Jaipur and Ajmer. Jahangir describes, in his Tuzk-i-Jahangiri, his journey from Lahore to Kabul. He frequently travelled to Kashmir too. These trips were painstakingly planned for months in advance and were timed to avoid the oppressive heat and humidity of the Indian plains. Manucci, in his Storia-do-Mogor, volume 2, has written in fine detail about the preparations for Aurangzeb’s departure to Kashmir from Delhi. Unfortunately, Abu’l Fadl, in his Akbarnama, has not mentioned the composition and progress of Akbar’s royal procession, though his writings are very eloquent and detailed on most other issues.

I will describe here a planned imperial journey undertaken as a leisure trip to a resort town. The first part will cover the composition and the second will focus the movement of the imperial caravan.

Before the Emperor could leave the seat of Empire, he had to ensure that no rebellion would occur in his absence and that if it did, there would be a capable acting governor to tackle it with a strong hand. This governor had to be of proven loyalty – because the mode of communications was limited to that of messenger-carriers. Even the best of riders could do no more than 50 kilometres per day, provided a fresh change of horses was possible along the route to Imperial camps. From Akbar to Aurangzeb, emperors didn’t have any living brothers; these either having died early deaths or killed in sibling rivalries for the throne. All of them faced rebellions by their sons during their reigns. They, therefore, preferred appointing non-royals as custodians of the centre of the empire in their absence.

Aurangzeb took with his procession some 1,000 labourers with axes, mattocks, spades, and pick-axes to clear any difficult passage

Then there were some very sensitive issues to be tackled. A sizeable force under a dependable commander was deputed to help the governor defend the capital in the event of an incursion. In addition, emperors were always sending out expeditions or delegations to provinces and other countries. The emperor made sure that this task was taken care of before his departure on the journey. Jahangir made a number of such decisions before leaving for Kabul. Care was taken to appoint governors and commanders of proven loyalty in the areas of intended travel. A monarch or a noble on a relaxed march could be an easy target and steps had to be taken to ensure his safety. Jahangir himself had arranged the murder of Abu’l Fadl, his father’s trusted aide, when the latter was travelling.

The acting governors had to be trustworthy as they had an additional onerous responsibility; to guard the royal treasury. In those pre-modern times, there were, of course, no banks where one could store their wealth securely. The coins struck were made of gold or silver and needed physical storage. In addition, there were large loads of diamonds, rubies and other precious stones. Tax collections from the provinces arrived regularly and had to be stowed away. There were also large quantities of jewellery. And there were diamond- and ruby-studded decorative items – daggers, swords, vases, belts etc. There were more jewels in the Mughal coffers than the heist currently stored in the Tower of London. All these items were catalogued and the acting governors could lose them only at great personal peril.

The choice of a reliable governor was therefore of utmost importance.

Emperors needed enormous amounts of wealth at hand to manage the affairs of the state even when the court was on the move. Aurangzeb once carried two hundred camels loaded with money, each camel carrying 480 pounds in weight of silver, and one hundred camels each carrying the same weight in gold coins. He also carried fifty camels carrying 100 cases packed with sarapa (robes of honour) and thirty elephants loaded with special arms and jewels to be distributed among the nobility. These arms included swords, shields, daggers; all adorned with precious stones, enamel and gold. There were also things to give to ladies: jewels to wear on the breast and other varieties, and armlets of gold, mounted with pearls and diamonds. This wealth travelling with Aurangzeb was typical of all Mughal emperors and, to a lesser degree, of high princes. Writing about his stop over at Attock fort in his Tuzuk, Jahangir mentions the following: “… I ordered ‘Abdu-r-Razzaq Ma‘muri, who was in Attock, to take 2,000,000 rupees under the charge of Mohan Das, son of Raja Bikramajit, with him, and divide it among the auxiliaries of the aforesaid army.” The fact that he could dispense 2 million rupees on one occasion indicates the enormous amount of cash being carried in the imperial cavalcade.

There were always some important prisoners who could pose a threat to the Empire if freed. Most such prisoners were kept at high security forts like Gwalior or Ranthambore but there were some prisoners who had to be kept at the capital or in close proximity to the Emperor. Special arrangements had to be devised for them. When Aurangzeb was leaving for Kashmir in 1662, he waited for some time, hoping that his ailing prisoner and father, Emperor Shah Jahan, would expire before his departure. When it didn’t happen, he had to make sure that his father on his deathbed was guarded properly.

Jahangir, on the other hand, took his rebellious son Khusrau, now blinded, with him to Kabul instead of leaving him incarcerated at Lahore.

Sickness was a common affair for the nobles and the ladies on the march. To maintain the health of people, a number of physicians accompanied the caravan. These included royal hakeems and tabibs and those for the troops and officials. Separate hospital carts were arranged to carry medicines, medical utensils and blood-letting tools – it being a common procedure for many ailments.

There was an elaborate arrangement for creating a tent city each night for the royals and the nobles. In the case of Aurangzeb, his procession included some 1,000 labourers with axes, mattocks, spades, and pick-axes to clear any difficult passage. Their commanders rode on horseback carrying in their hands their badges of office, which were either an axe or a mattock in silver. On arriving at the place appointed for the imperial halt, they put up the tents and placed in position the heavy artillery. The king and many of the nobles marched with two sets of tents, so that while the one set was in use the other could be sent on for the next day. To carry the royal tents there were set aside two hundred camels and fifty elephants. There were eight mules carrying small tents, which were used on the march when the king desired to rest, or to eat, or for any other necessity.

The imperial kitchen on the march consisted of fifty camels loaded with supplies and fifty well-fed cows to give milk. Each cook was in charge of the preparation of only one dish

Among the special royal tents there were some where the king gave audience. These were supported by small ornamented masts, upon which were gilt knobs. No one but persons of the royal blood could make use of these knobs. On the top of a very high mast was a lighted lantern, which served as a guide to those who arrived late. The tents of the rajahs and nobles, although high, were not to be as high as those of the King; else they would run the risk of having their tents knocked down.

A large handsome boat was also carried along for the emperor and other royals to cross the rivers when the occasion arose. When crossing the River Jhelum in high flood, Jahangir writes that he, with the inmates of the harem, crossed the river in such a boat.

The royals travelled on palanquins, horses or elephants that accompanied the Emperor in great numbers, and those will be described in detail in part 2 of this article.

The imperial kitchen on the march consisted of fifty camels loaded with supplies, and fifty well-fed cows to give milk. Each cook was in charge of the preparation of only one dish. An official of high rank sent the dishes sealed up in bags of Malacca velvet. There were two hundred porters (qulis), each one with his basket of chinaware and other articles. In addition there were fifty camels carrying water, each camel bearing two full metal vessels for the royal use.

There were mules carrying clothes, and some loaded with essences of various flowers. In addition, there were musicians, trumpeters and drummers, to play music on designated junctures.

There was a sizeable contingent of troops guarding the emperor in the field. Writing about the troops guarding Aurangzeb Alamgir on the move, Manucci mentions that at the head came a contingent of 8,000 cavaliers. The right and left wings each consisted of 8,000 horsemen. Rajah Jai Singh followed with 8,000, serving as rearguard. Each of these divisions had six highly-adorned elephants, with rich trappings, displaying on brilliant flags the coat-of-arms of its commander. This amounted to a cavalry of 32,000. In addition, there was light and heavy artillery. Jahangir had such a large body of troops with him at Attock that he could spare and despatch a small force to punish the Bangash uprising in Kohat.

Each division of 8,000 had their own attendants in the shape of tent pitchers, cook houses, kitchen utensils and provisions, dry rations and meat on hoofs, washer-men, animal feed and a host of other items. Supply logistics of such a large force even in modern times poses great challenges. It is phenomenal for the Mughal administrators that they could accomplish it efficiently in those times.

A mention here must be made of the camp followers who are always a necessary unofficial compliment of an army on the march. They included friends and family members of Rajas, commanders, soldiers and other officials. Soldiers have always been known to be good spenders. They need items of their everyday needs: food including sweets, fruits, milk, etc. that is not part of the official ration.

In addition, there were goldsmiths, shoemakers, weavers, embroiderers and money-changers. Merriment was provided by a travelling red light area, which followed in their own bullock carts with their musicians and households. The number of camp followers, according to Manucci, was at least four times that of the troops, which would be strength of about 150,000.

Jahangir also carried court painters with him to record in image whatever appealed to his fancy. He wrote during his stay at Kabul that, “At this place they brought to show me a spotted animal, like the flying mouse, which in the Hindi tongue they call galahri (squirrel), … As I had never seen one before, I ordered my painters to draw a likeness of it. It is larger than a mongoose.”

The business of the empire was an ever ongoing operation and could not be stopped or kept pending when the emperor was travelling. The office of record travelled with the emperor carrying the original records. This required eighty camels, thirty elephants and twenty carts, loaded with the imperial registers and ledgers. Qualified staff travelled along to keep the records in good order and updated.

An imperial travelling procession was a mammoth undertaking to organise. When on the move, it was a marvel to behold. For those pre-modern times, it was as big as the biggest town in the Indian subcontinent – and as plentifully stocked!

Parvez Mahmood retired as a Group Captain from PAF and is now a software engineer. He lives n Islamabad and can be reached at parvezmahmood53@gmail.com