Asok Sinha: The Great Gurkhani War vol.I (Imperial Press, 1899)
The peace was one of the hardest to win. While the war had help grind the armies of all of its belligerents, each still possessed formidable forces; not to mention the continued local revolts that plagued the countryside directly threatening the Imperial coffers. In the end, things had come to a head where an absolute surrender simply could not be forced. All the while, the entire subcontinent had embraced a political quagmire, with each technically recognising different Emperors. As such the 'Three Kings Conference' held in Delhi helped to shape the fate of Hindustan, of Asia, and of the world.
The Conference itself certainly did not meet the standards of its nineteenth century counterpart, and in fact could be better represent as a rowdy group of would-be kings. The truth, however, is that those rowdy would-be kings held a vast amount of power, and included the elite of the Empire and beyond, as several people had held an interest in its results; there would have to be a formal treaty, and recognition of certain social and economic aspects that had come to being as a result of the war. For instance, the exact nature of the Emperor's spiritual power would have to be ascertained, given the developments in Lahore of the Khalsa; not to mention the new issues that arose with property and legal rights. Who would delegate power? How could the current revenue system be fixed? How could merchant monopolies be dwindled? How should 'Hindus' be treated? While the ensuing treaty would not answer any of those, it would play a big role in shaping the edicts that would follow.
Spirituality was very important throughout Hindustan's history from Antiquity to the present day; this could be seen in the upper echelons of society: the king and the caliph, hand in hand. Similarly, the lower echelons also enjoyed it, from groups of Sufi saints attracting cross-religious borders. Controlling inner spirituality was as much a key to controlling the land, as controlling temporal affairs, and while Akbar II may not have had a perfect understanding of this, Daniyal did. The strength of the Khalsa, divined through egalitarianism and religious autonomy held a lot of sway in Panjab, shifting the population away from the rigid structures that had prevailed before- large numbers of converts began to follow Guru Arjan Das, and by extension, Quwwatuddin. Most importantly, Khurasan began to truly enter the Imperial camp as Quwwatuddin was able to entice them in a way no previous Gurkani ruler had- to absolutely destroy the foundation of his new faith would have meant chaos in the northwestern reaches of the Empire. Furthermore, this absolute decree of religious autocracy also allowed the claimant a considerable degree of autonomy from the chafing restrictions of the orthodox ulema, of whom even Akbar-e-Azam felt enmity. And so, the question of faith entered everyone's minds as the proceedings began.
Din-e-Lahi, the Faith of the Divine, was written down as the official religion of every single subject of the Empire of Hindustan. Akbar II would be recognised as Caliph of the Faithful, and held final spiritual authority in matters of inner conscience- in this role, he was final arbiter on questions of justice; an important position that would merit further analysis in the section on the law. Under this facade, it was declared that all who follow any other creed would, as they stood on Hindustani soil, be under the Faith of the Divine, and subject to the authority of the Pir-e-Raushan, Akbar II, transferring all that authority from Quwwatuddin to himself. The document, curiously at the time, did not mention as to what exactly Din-e-Lahi was, simply that it was there. In essence, it meant that the entire subcontinent was under one faith, but underneath, it recognised all faiths under a single hierarchy; a Sikh or Hindu Guru, or a Muslim Imam were therefore within the authority of the Emperor as far as questions of education went, and this would be the biggest effect of this "change in religion".
The second quandary was to establish exactly what land the Empire occupied- in a noted compromise, it was established that all components of the treaty were applicable to the country of Hindustan, part of the Emperor's domains. This essentially meant that the Emperor was free to claim universal sovereignty as before, while also giving his actual empire guidelines through which to function. Of course, the treaty also did something else: it acted as something of a Constitution- this could be seen because of the necessity of establishing the powers of both the Emperor and the nobility in stone. Quwwatuddin, by successfully holding the loyalty of Khurasan and Panjab, held very valuable regions of the Empire; to remove him would not be so simple. In the end, a compromise was achieved which essentially transformed the Empire- the provinces of Kabul, Multan, Lahore, Kashmir, Ghazni and Kandahar were put under the administration of a nizam, as was Islamabad, Bengal, Bihar and the Twelve Tribes. The Nizamate of 'Afghanistan' was given to Quwwatuddin, while that of Bengal was given to Taj Khan Kharanni. To add to this, Dharmaraja was made Nizam of the Deccan, much to Daniyal's chagrin- this left the affairs of Ahmednagar, Bijapur and Golconda within Mysore's sphere. Akbar would wait until later to clarify exactly what this underlined.
The Empire's 'split' into autonomous regions within the treaty was not reflected in reality. While the Nizams held considerable power, and indeed were made responsible for the upkeep of soldiers and public works- the Emperor kept the power of delegating zamindaris, giving Fatehabad the full weight of the Imperial treasury. But this would also not come without its complications. The Nizams, in order to keep them under control, were to be present at the Divan at the Emperor's pleasure, and in their absence they were to always send a representative. Upon hearing of this, lesser nobles then asked why they were not allowed this perpetual counsel with the Shadow of God, to the Emperor's consternation. Ultimately, Salim drove a bargain in which the Emperor was to keep most of his powers, but be held responsible for his faults by the Divan- of course the choice of who would be named Grand Vizir did remain at the Sovereign's discretion. What Quwwatuddin possibly negotiated in was the creation of the Divan-e-Lahi, 'Court of the Divine', for the Emperor's closest advisers and vassals to function. Of course the tradeoff was that within unanimous consent, the Divan-e-Lahi could possibly stall the Emperor's ambitions.
Arguably, the two most important provision of the entire peace treaty were the future Fatwa-e-Akbari and the Firman-e-Hindiya- two very important documents that would set into stone the future of Hindustan.
The peace had not pleased everyone, but it had created provisions for change; a marked difference from the treaties of the past, and likely driven by the multilateral nature of the Great Gurkhani War. There was a need to insure the realm and its subjects- to unite its peoples through certain bounds and continue to centralise the administration. Arguably by splitting it into several sub-entities, the Empire was free to integrate core areas into Fatehabad's ambitions; allowing the troublesome fringes a certain kind of freedom. The system was not ideal, but it had helped to give potential breakaways in the stake of the Empire.
Emperor Akbar II had the unforgivable task of trying to govern a weakened state- not only were the soldiers considerably tired, but in many places, so was Imperial rule. Rampant corruption remained a problem, and villages mere kos away from the capital were not paying their taxes. Each village had different spiritual beliefs; each village had different governments; each village had different laws. According to Fatehabad, therein lay the problem; while in theory, allowing communities the chance to govern themselves was easier than attempting to bring everyone under the Emperor's umbrella, it fostered injustice; the lack of a formal hierarchy to help carry out the justice, and chiefly order, created the circumstances around which war simply resulted in chaos. As such, in concert with his chief advisers, the Emperor set out to codify the law, bringing in scholars from throughout both the Muslim world and Hindustan itself- some would later call this the Devil's Compromise, given that several laws would contradict Islamic jurisprudence and bring about something of a syncretic legal system to act as a parallel of an officially syncretic faith. By 1615, Hindustani agents were being sent out to gather judges, teachers and other men of merit; indeed even a man from the East India Company would be brought in- Francis Bacon.
The idea behind the Fatwa was to settle the question of legal power, not only by the Emperor, but by his subordinates: Akbar was in no demeanor where he would simply surrender all of his executive authority. However, wishing to circumvent the chaos of the war, he wished to create channels from where that power would emanate. As such, the previous system where the Emperor himself would directly hear any complaints was to be replaced with the Divan-e-Lahi formally advising the Emperor.
In other jurisdictions, such as a village, the Fatwa created a situation where panchayats and jirgas were recognised as valid tools of the law- but they had to be supplemented with judges educated within the bounds of Hindustan, replacing village elders. The system had already been in place on a limited scale in Mysore; now it was hoped that slowly knowledge would be disseminated throughout the realm. In a manner, it had done exactly that- by keeping the head judge mobile, many communities began to experience a sense of unity in guidelines.
To help complement these efforts, Akbar sponsored the creation of the 'maqtab-e-daulat', state schools that would impart a basic practical and theoretical education; these were intended to impart legal knowledge that transcended the Qur'an on its own and give equal voice to those of the faith and those who were not of it. A similar system already in place in Mysore served a precedent for Akbar's goal, and the new schools religiously stuck to the Fatwa-e-Akbari.
While most of the traditional ulema marked Akbar II as an apostate, in many ways it was Quwwatuddin who led these changes. With the Khalsa, he had created a new religious bond between indigenous faiths and Islam; being subsumed into the Din-e-Lahi did not do much to change that. In fact, the nature of schooling in the Sikh faith allowed the 'Din' maqtabs to gain popularity much quicker in Panjab, and Akbar officially tied together the title of pir-e-raushan with education throughout the Empire. Given the more or less multireligious nature of Hindustan and the lack of any clear orthodox candidates to challenge Akbar's rule, it had become a fait accompli that the Din-e-Lahi had essentially subsumed Islam on a formal level.
During the process of constructing the Fatwa, several advisers had their own input on the basic nature of the new legal system. What Francis Bacon brought to the table however, was to introduce advocacy. Whereas before, the defendant was responsible in conducting his own defence, now the task should be transferred to an educated professional. While seemingly an outsider's perspective, this was a necessity- the Fatwa created new laws, underlined those that were not so clear before, while also disregarding established practice; it simply would not have been possible for any Imperial subject to defend themselves adequately without help. The rise of the advocates would not only help protect the common subject, but also give rise to their voice on a grander scale; as much as the zamindar was the enforcer of this new rule of law, the advocate had enough power to seriously challenge that: it created a check and balance that would help remove corruption over time.
The addition of advocates would eventually create a new class of intellectuals who also had the ability to challenge established jurisprudence and even help suggest new laws; in fact the knowledge of the law would end up propelling many of them into the seat of the judge, and eventually over the years, into the Divan-e-Lahi. It also created a class of commenters and dissenters who would and did attack the Empire not only in an aggressive scheme to grab power, but to question the day-to-day realities of overtaxation, social issues, civil relationships, etiquette and corruption. In many ways, now the Emperor had created a check and balance to his very own rule. Though the full scale of this would only appear well after Akbar's death, it was quite revolutionary. In fact, many would argue that it remains so.
The Firman-e-Hindiya (1618) could be seen as a constitution and framework for the powers of the Emperor with regards to his vassals- in many ways it expanded on that and established a 'New Empire' that differed immensely from the one before.
The Treaty of Fatehabad had concluded the war and established several realities for the Empire of Hindustan, but it was the Firman that truly entrenched the new state of affairs; the nobles were keen on preserving a state of affairs where they were able to dominate the Empire and counter the Emperor's power, all the while preserving a nexus around the Sovereign as a uniting figure. In this, they would largely succeed, and perhaps even exceed their hopes; the Emperor would never be as powerful temporally as Akbar-e-Azam. However, spiritually and legally, Akbar II had bound the emperor to the state.
The Firman formally established the role of Din-e-Lahi, which would be the creed of every single subject living within the Empire of Hindustan, no matter their beliefs; this meant that all Imperial subjects were subject to the same laws with regards to the state. It also established the Divan-e-Lahi as the legal lever of the Din-e-Lahi, consisting of the Nizams, and any other nobles named by the Emperor. In short, it directly tied the affairs of justice to the affairs of faith, and unified the Emperor as the final arbiter on all such decisions.
To help mitigate such an extraordinary amount of power, the nobles were able to extract certain conditions from the Emperor. Daniyal had explicitly included the clause that allowed the nobles to disobey the Emperor should he exceed the Firman, and also where the Divan-e-Lahi could unanimously reject the Emperor's chosen heir. It was hoped to also establish formal rules of succession, and while the Treaty of Fatehabad did state a few lines on the matter, the Firman clearly established that the heir must be nominated by the Emperor. In such a case where the Emperor did not name an heir prior to his passing, the Divan-e-Lahi retained the power to nominate the new Emperor within Timurid line.
With regards to the affairs of Empire, the Firman included a recognition of various issues concerning Hindustan, ranging from the conduct of the Imperial army, the new navy, and the use of mercenaries. It created guidelines for caste which essentially confirmed its existence, while also denying it certain privileges, and also the rule of law that was established by the Fatwa-e-Akbari. However, the Firman-e-Hindiya also changed the division of the provinces that occurred in the Treaty of Fatehabad. For one, it removed Golconda, Bijapur and Ahmednagar, and gave the Sultan of Golconda the title of Nizam of the Deccan, while making Dharmaraja Nizam of Mysore.
Furthermore, it divided the role of zamindar into the 'zamindar' and the 'taluqdar'. Under the new system, the taluqdar would become tax collector, with no holdings or lands issued in his name, while the zamindars would become landholders and essentially district officers, in charge of local infrastructure, education and most importantly, training the army; the hope was that the zamindar and taluqdar would work together in collecting and using taxes to help the Empire flourish from the ground up. Notably, it was hoped that the taluqdar, beholden to the Grand Vizir, while the zamindar was to the Nizam, could act as a check in case of corruption, while the latter could help protect local interests.
In many ways the new dynamic was to create a system of spies and recorders, designed to note down every little change in each district and notify the Vizir. However, it also led to a system where people arguably did receive just rule, replacing the insatiable leviathan that had preceded it. Far from being a mechanism to receive taxes, new districts were now treated as legitimate parts of a whole; in the end, it would lead to prosperity, as overall productivity would increase. Eventually, this would lead to small steps moving the Empire's administration back towards stability and overall centralisation.
Another huge stride taken towards prosperity was the initiation of mobility rights within the Firman-e-Hindiya, protecting travellers from being bribed or having their goods confiscated within the Empire. Because of the size of the Empire, it was necessary to encourage crosscontinental trade in order to keep subjects entwined and synchronised; in the end, it was to encourage unity. In fact, one might say it did, by mandating not only travel through better infrastructure (the Imperial Road, North Road and South Road), but also by encouraging private investment to help complement the state's work. For example, the private serais that began to pop up in the 1620s and 1630s, which would eventually lead to small towns producing themselves as pit stops on the major roads. In addition to this, the state was keen on increasing the importance of hundi, transferring debt from person to person throughout the Empire, but it was hoped to also help bring the system to par with hawala, thereby allowing Hindustani traders to compete much more efficiently against foreigners, and perhaps even achieve dominance throughout the Indian Ocean. Of course, another aspect of increasing opportunity was in allowing subjects operating outside of imperial borders greater freedom; for instance, any private trader operating in territories like Aceh would be allowed to hire mercenaries and conduct trade in that country without impediment, subject only to taxation upon return to Hindustani ports. Furthermore, the Firman also allowed for merchants to band together and experience favourable taxation, at least within the core territories of the Empire, along with the Nizamate of Bengal; this in effect would lead to the rise of the Lords of Islamabad (the 'Mogul Company') challenging the dominance of the Karavali Network in the transoceanic trade.
The Firman's role was in essence to rebuild the Empire and cast it in a new image designed to rule the entire Indian continent, and help to (paradoxically) centralise it, by allowing the Nizams to consolidate their own 'realms', and then for the Emperor to consolidate those into the Imperial fold. It was structure, branding the intricate military structure over the entire state, giving it a sense of efficiency, and manoeuvrability. By doing this, the Great Gurkhani War transformed the Gurkhani Empire into the Empire of Hindustan, giving considerable power to the nobles of the Empire to keep the Sovereign in check; in short, it took the Great Gurkhani War to build the Great Gurkhani Peace.
