The Vales of Kashmir to the Malabar Coast- a Mughal Empire TL

[Sassanid Saxon]

Great updates, it will interesting to see if Sri Lanka is placed in the Mughal sphere of influence long time

[Badshah]

Originally Posted by Sassanid Saxon

Great updates, it will interesting to see if Sri Lanka is placed in the Mughal sphere of influence long time

Perhaps. Things are going to become quite different from OTL.

[Badshah]

Murad had become weary in 1666. He had replenished his forces, using those of Ceylon, but it would be a challenge to overcome the defenses placed by the Portuguese in the South of India. He had had to find a better starting point for his invasion, but more importantly, find allies who would be wanting his return. One such candidate would be the Nawab of Bengal, Amar Konda, a man of the people. He would have to send a diplomat to the area.

June of 1666, Murad's envoy, Hamza Shariff, a man of reputation in the Ottoman court, known for his silver tongue and his golden mask, was sent to Murshidabad. He had been experienced in dealing with the Europeans on behalf of the Ottoman Emperor, and it was assumed that negotiations with the Bengali Nawab would go through smoothly. On the contrary, things were quite difficult. Monarchist forces had managed to reach Murshidabad, defeating the populist forces along the way, and Konda was staying in a smaller, more fortified town nearby. By the time Shariff had reached the town, the artillery had destroyed large parts of its defenses, and the camp was half-packed to leave by dusk.

Before that, however, Shariff convinced Konda to meet with him and support the return of Prince Murad as the "rightful Emperor of Hindustan", but Konda was less than enthused. According to the official letters sent by Shariff to Murad, Konda would only agree to such a deal if Murad handed over half of his power to the people, through usage of voting; something used in Mauryan times: "To return to a land of absolute emperorship, where one man controls all the land would be a folly. We would be consigning ourselves once again to almost slavery, and that....is unacceptable. Share the power with the people, however, and the people will love you. Your Majesty is honourable, but what of your sons? Or their sons? It would be foolish of us to resign our fates to weak or cruel kings."

Murad would later call the Nawab a "pompous ass" in his own journals, but went with it anyways, seeing the reasoning behind the argument. Within two months, an ample force had been raised to reinforce the besieged Bengalis, and under the seal of 'neutral' Bengal, the Portuguese were powerless to stop them from crossing.

[Badshah]

The Battle for Bengal was ferocious. The reinforced Bengali troops had a restored morale, and Murad had personally led the charge through Murshidabad, recapturing it from the enemy. But for him, honourable warfare was not acceptable for the moment. The enemy outnumbered them by too much, and it was imperative that some sort of deterrent be made, in order to push them away from the centre of his stronghold. Initially adopting more methodical forms of defense, he had decided to use something the Ottomans had in their historical records: Greek fire. He equipped each of his fortresses with this in order to completely halt any sort of enemy siege, as he pursued his plans of conquest.

Initially, Murad was unable to make headway....the plains of Bengal were ideally suitable to the enemy, just as much as his own forces, and so he had had to improvise. This was warfare unlike any seen in India ever before. He continued to use artillery out in the open to attack the enemy, but the actual offensive force used the dense forest as its base, attacking in short, precise strikes, crippling the enemy from the unseen. Eventually, this approach led to the devastation of the enemy forces, and by 1669, he was able to push forward, to Delhi.

The Battle of Delhi

Delhi was the stronghold of the 'Emperor', Murad's cousin Hakim. It was built for defense, and Akbarabad was walled off completely, with each wall containing heavy cannonry and artillery. The Imperial soldiers each possessed very strong muskets, which made use of the better technology possessed by the Mughals. Murad knew that any chance of penetrating the walls would be equal parts skill and luck, and remembered the Conquest of Constantinople, two centuries before.

Initially, Murad sent his infantry to capture the outer areas of the city, which fell quite easily, but when they attempted to breach the walls of Akbarabad, the Emperor's guns killed the troops almost instantaneously, each one falling before the cavalry's own eyes. "It was truly suicidal, this attack, but it is also necessary to secure the future of Hindustan," wrote Nawab of Bihar, Malik al-Gamal. In response to this, Murad continued to siege the city, preventing food or supplies from going in, or coming out, rather than stage any sort of counterattack.

Twice, the guards attempted to stage an attack against the Bengali forces, and twice they failed. The first, an audacious attack by the Emperor's chief general, Hussein bin Yazid, an Afghan, consisting of lightly armed cavalry, failed after their bombardment. Yazid was promptly executed, hurting the Hakim greatly. The second, was mounted by Hakim himself, attacking Murad's forces in an attempted raid. This, too, failed, but Hakim was able to escape, along with one hundred of his men. Murad was impressed with the courage of his cousin, remarking in his journal, "that one can say Hakim is not brave, is truly false. Against the doom consigned to him, he continues to fight me with tirelessness, constantly harassing mine own forces. If I were not so pleased, I would be enraged!" Either way, on August 30th, 1671, the starving people of Abarabad surrendered, and Hakim presented himself to Murad, ,reportedly stating, "I have shamed mine own family. Please, execute me." He was indeed most pleased with the courage his cousin displayed, and had decided to spare him, rewarding him the position of Nawab of Thatta, as he finally took over the throne that was rightfully his.

[Badshah]

I should be able to put through another installment within the week. Perhaps more than one.

[Ganesha]

Originally Posted by trollhole

I should be able to put through another installment within the week. Perhaps more than one.

Cool, looking forward to it!

[Badshah]

Originally Posted by Ganesha

Cool, looking forward to it!

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

[XanXar]

Originally Posted by trollhole

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

how are the safavids doing?

[Badshah]

Originally Posted by XanXar

how are the safavids doing?

Well, they got quite a bit of land for helping Dawar. I am going to mention them in the next few posts.

[XanXar]

Originally Posted by trollhole

Well, they got quite a bit of land for helping Dawar. I am going to mention them in the next few posts.

thats good
one question though, is sri lanka now mughal or ottaman territory ?

[Badshah]

Originally Posted by XanXar

thats good
one question though, is sri lanka now mughal or ottaman territory ?

Sri Lanka was captured officially as Ottoman territory, so the wrap up for that will happen later.

[Badshah]

In control of the empire, Murad had finally secured his place on the throne, free from fighting for the first time in his life. It had been a time for jubilation, and the restoration of the rightful ruler of Hindustan resulted in celebrations in Delhi, held by thousands of loyalists. Unfortunately, the massive matter of Persia still remained. The Safavids had captured significant portions of the Empire, and posed an immediate threat to the largely unstable nation. Any such war would need funds, something the country was running severely low on, and as such, Murad had had to relocate his resources to propping up the economy. The palace budget was downgraded, and taxes were raised, while spending on financial institutions increased. More money was placed into the hands of banks and moneylenders, while the government nationalized the banks, establishing total control over trade and the money flowing through the empire. Within five years, this process had started to push the economy forward, and resulted in the increase of merchants bringing goods to the country. This created stimulation in general commerce.With that, the road to a strong economy began. Not to mention the authorized raids on the Portuguese colonies, including Daman, Surat and Goa, which added much to the treasury itself. Within the decade, Portugal would be responsible for twenty-five percent of the Indian treasury, and while it was satisfactory during that time, the Emperor's son, Suleyman, was not so happy with the arrangement. In 1687, he arranged for the outright invasion of the colonies, without his father's approval. While this in itself, was an act of treason, the attack was a strategic success, as each of the cities was in Mughal control within weeks, as the Portuguese were still suffering the effects of the Ottoman attacks years ago. This opened up several new markets for the Indians, and eventually Murad dispatched several merchants around Asia, Africa and Europe to procure the goods directly, creating an extensive network throughout the globe. This, as we know now, led to the beginning of a new era in the Mughal policies of expansion, but that is a subject to delve into later.

[Badshah]

In 17th of July, 1678, at the celebrations of the Emperor's thirty-eighth birthday, several Europeans arrived at the court, including Frenchmen, Englishmen, Spaniards and the Dutch. Each spoke their share, wishing to take a piece of land to trade with, and hoped to obtain a firman. None of them had gotten one. The Emperor, wary of the effect of the Portuguese, whose lands were still under Ottoman occupation, did not want any other power supplanting it on the subcontinent. But he was quite interested in the possibilities of increasing the mercantile influence Hindustan possessed on the world scale, and sought to increase it exponentially. In 1679, the Mercantile Tax Law lowered taxes on those willing to establish outposts in faraway lands, and indeed gave them the official sponsorship of the government. By the following year, Hindustani outposts were recorded for the first time in Zanzibar, where the Sultan of Muscat had reluctantly allowed it, wishing to escape from the Ottoman death grip. The year following that, a Hindustani outpost was built in Aceh, and efforts to expand into Malacca resulted in a de facto trade war with Portugal.

By 1687, however, the situation was not satisfactory. Whilst Hindustani weapons were still considered superior, the organization of the soldiers and the sailors was considered inferior to the Europeans, and this was something Murad had vowed to change. This resulted in the restoration of European, or rather French, influence to the court. France, seeing an opportunity to lock out its rivals from Asia itself, sent major diplomats and dignitaries to Hindustan, like André Félibien, personal court historian to French King Louis XIV, and Pierre Beauchamp, who proved to be remarkably influential on the Hindustani culture. More importantly, however, was the stay of various generals and military advisers, who had become fond of the country, and had decided to aid the Emperor. The military had been upgraded, as the styles shifted more towards the French method, and military officers had had to know French. By 1700, the language had become the lingua franca of the court, replacing the Persian of the hated invader, who had taken away so much land. All this, had proven to be beneficial after all, as the aging Murad was able to make his son, Suleyman, all the more interested in the cultures and militaries of the world.

[Badshah]

Thanks to Roger II

Within the Mughal territories, the arts generally continued the trend of synthesizing Western and Persian styles as seen in the reign of Akbar. However, the exact relationship between the modes varied depended on the region. In the areas dominated by the Safavids, there was a strong influence from17th century Safavid painters from greater exposure to the work of contemporary Safavid masters, including Mu’in Musavvir, who resided there for a time. Mu’in found the historical bent in Safavid manuscripts exceedingly to his taste and he worked extensively on at least one significant manuscript, that of the so-called Mehmet Hamzanama(named for the Ottoman sultan who purchased it in 1867) now in the Istanbul University Library. His hand is also known from albums leaves recorded in Indian collections. This influence trickled into the Mughal empire itsefl, whose Europeanized style took on a certain elegance. Mu’in’s album leaves also popularized contemporary subject-matter in paintings. However, far too few manuscripts have been properly studied to tell how widespread this trend is. Certainly the Great Akbar II Album(now in shows something of this trend, with the admixture of subtle, if bright colors and careful shading characteristic of the best work of Jahangir’s reign and unnaturally elegant figures that resemble nothing so much as the Italian Mannerists. This should not, however, distract us from the close relationship it has to paintings of Akbar I and Jahangir’s reign. Murad’s conquest of the empire probably spread this style to Istanbul, although it never quite penetrated the Royal Workshops(which in any case were more or less constantly going downhill) and was overall more influential on the private album-leaf painters there.

[Ganesha]

Very interesting updates. I like the idea of a trade battle, and enlisting French aid seems very realistic, but would French really take over as the Lingua Franca that fast?

The cultural update was great, you don't see any of those in most timelines.

[Badshah]

Originally Posted by Ganesha

Very interesting updates. I like the idea of a trade battle, and enlisting French aid seems very realistic, but would French really take over as the Lingua Franca that fast?

The cultural update was great, you don't see any of those in most timelines.

Lingua franca of the court. Not in daily life. And I don't think its too much to say that it is by 1700. Also, the Mughals are fairly pissed off at the Safavids, and Persian is sort of demonized. Also, Roger II did the entire post describing the art of the Mughals, so thanks to him the TL has been somewhat really changing things in the country.

[Badshah]

By March of 1710, Murad had passed away and his son Suleyman ascended to the Peacock Throne. Indeed, his ascendance was marked by the increased threat the Safavid forces posed to Hindustan. The conquest of Hindustani lands was not yet free from the memory of the Emperor, and steps were taken to see to it that the land would be returned. In 1712, the Emperor organized a meeting with the Persians in Kabul, to discus the terms of cession, demanding the former land back. Persian diplomats, like Tariq Kizilbash, had outright refused, stating that the land was lawfully ceded by the former emperor, and that Suleyman had no right to demand anything. This action escalated Hindo-Persian relations. The following year, another attempt was tried at Kandahar. But the same outcome occurred, prompting the young Emperor to waste no time in mobilizing the army.

By June of 1712, 75 000 Hindustani troops crossed the Persian border, capturing key cities Quetta and Kandahar. By July, the troops had managed to move into Herat, increasing the morale of the soldiers, but by August, the troops were stopped in the plains near Zahedan, by the Persian Army, 90 000 men strong.

The Battle of Dasht-i-Lut
The 6th of December, 1712, 90 000 Persian soldiers, a force containing several contingents of mercenaries, infantry, cavalry and artillery met the Hindustani Army in Dasht-i-Lut. The battle was the turning point of the Persian Empire as a whole, and led to the chain of events resulting in the disestablishment of the Safavid regime. The Hindustani forces primarily consisted of cavalry, but possessed large amounts of artillery.

Suleyman had efficiently organized the army into several divisions, just as his ancestor Babur did, while the attack was first started with the volleying of arrows onto the Safavids. Following this, the cavalry was ordered to attack, engaging the Persians with their swords. Indeed by the time the infantry were allowed in to the battle, much of the Persian forces were decimated, unable to muster enough force to actually pose a threat. The majority of the mercenaries willingly surrendered, declaring their loyalty to Suleyman, while the rest fleed.

The battle was an undisputed success, and Hindustani diplomats marched into Isfahan full of pride, knowing exactly who were in charge. At the negotiation table, a list of terms were written to demonstrate exactly how much the Persians were to cede. Included in this, was the port city of Bandar Abbas. The humiliated Safavids had no choice but to agree, seeing as to the majority of their army without any morale, leading to great gains for Hindustani, ultimately increasing their control over the seas, and fomenting their first entrance into the Arabian market.

The Deccan Annexation
In 1714, Suleyman's sister Ashadieya married the Sultan of Deccan. The marriage procession was grand, with a full regiment of war elephants marching along Bijapur. Unfortunately the Sultan died the following year in a hunting accident, and Ashadieya had not yet borne any children, thus leaving the fate of the country in Mughal hands. In the 1st of June, 1715, the Bijapur Sultanate was formally annexed by Suleyman, who quickly divided the area into governates.

By year's end, the Empire of Hindustan stretched from Bandar Abbas to Padmanabaphurram, and yet, things needed to change beyond what they were, and the French had more influence in it than ever.

[Badshah]

In 1716, the Ottoman Empire was under the reign of Ahmed III, and indeed, the friendliness with Hindustan had vanished of times past. Ahmed was intent on continuing to administer the Portuguese ports of India, as well as Ceylon, and refused to relinquish control. In March of that year, several Ottoman officials had set up shop in the area, administering it as an Ottoman governate, and while in name, the Ottomans and Portuguese were still at war, they were getting quite cozy.

In April 7th, Ahmed had sent several ambassadors to Lisbon, hoping to sign a treaty recognizing Ottoman control over the ports. Led by Maliq Fawadh Pasha, a skilled diplomat of recognition. Maliq had been a veteran of the wars, and a member of the fleet which confronted the Portuguese, as well as a prisoner trapped in Malacca for quite a while. [1] He had indeed exaggerated the treat that Hindustan posed to the Portuguese Empire, and that the only way to truly protect their security was to leave them in Ottoman hands: a gesture with which, while clearly seen as hyperbole, was taken quite seriously by the Portuguese. so much so that within the week, the Treaty of Lisbon was signed, recognizing the suzerainty of the Caliph over Portuguese India.

By June, Ottoman flags flew over Goa, Bom Baia, Daman, Diu, and the other colonies once possessed by Portugal, with none other than Pasha becoming Director-General of the Constituencies of India[2]. The capital of the Constituencies was established in Bom Baia[3], and several divisions of soldiers were deployed to protect it. The India Command was established in the city, and a network of naval trade was built up in the city, connecting with the Ottoman port in Kuwait.

In July, the reinvented colony was visited by Ahmed, in a way to practically taunt Suleyman. He had been part of a procession, and purposefully engineered it so as to detract attention away from the magnificence of Ashadieya's wedding to his own glory. Indeed, he had authorized the use of war elephants in his procession, buying them from the collapsed Safavids, and allowed the use of rockets as a celebratory tool, making the firecrackers appear in the night over Hindustani Surat.

However, the following year, it was obvious who was truly ruling the Constituencies. Maliq Fawadh Pasha had created a new flag, and personally picked each of high post members of his civil service. Indeed India Comand pledged allegiance not only to the Caliph-Sultan, but also to Pasha himself, adding the lines to the oath of service. His grip on the place was so well-known, that he was known as the King of Goa by several other nations, including England, Portugal and Morocco[4].

The personal influence of Pasha angered Suleyman, as he had hoped to promote hate within Ottoman India, in order to create social disorder requiring him to intervene, and be perceived as a saving grace, but the carefully organized hierarchy set up by the Director-General had destroyed any dissent sensed in the populace. Indeed the main statement preached by the Constituencies was that the ownership of the land was obtained legally through discourse with Portugal, as well as by Imperial decree in Delhi, from decades past. This solidified Pasha's hold, and nothing would be able to remove his power...easily at least.

[1] This caused him to achieve significant hatred for Murad, and once he was returned to Istanbul, that hatred changed to action.

[2] Complete Title: His Excellency, the Honourable Director-General of the United Constituencies of Ottoman India.

[3] Soon renamed Koyu Umut: 'Bay of Hope' in Turkish

[4] The title, while largely informal, was recorded in official diplomatic records of those countries, and he was greeted as such. Indeed, his closest collaborators had also spoke of him in such terms.

[Badshah]

The Flag of the United Constituencies of Ottoman India

[Badshah]

With the quality of the works being chosen for the Turtledoves, I'm going to try my best and aim for that next year!