Harking back: Why Akbar made Lahore capital of Mughal India

Many wonder just what made the Mughal emperor Akbar decide to shift his capital to Lahore. What were the circumstances and the forces at work that made this city the ideal place for him to rule the entire sub-continent effectively?

The last of the six Suri rulers of India was Sikander Shah Suri, who was trying to recapture Lahore by defeating Akbar’s army. The city had some fascination for the Suri clan with their first ruler Sher Shah building a small mosque outside the walls, portions of which are now located inside Delhi Gate. Sikander Shah with his fierce 80,000 horse cavalry of Pathans overwhelmed the Mughal forces under the Mughal general Khizr-Khawaja Khan just outside Lahore. The city had already been captured in February 1555 by Humayun.

The Mughal general decided to retreat to the city and defend it while assistance from an already besieged Akbar was sought from outside Delhi, where the emperor was fighting Hemu, originally a saltpetre shopkeeper, who current Indian historians style as ‘Hemchandra Vikramaditya’, a Suri general who had captured Delhi and Agra and declared himself the ruler of India. Hemu’s belief was that the capture of Lahore was critical for a greater Indian empire. This complex situation had the Mughals fighting on many fronts, including chasing the last of the Suri rulers, as well as Hemu, a genius breakaway Hindu general of the Suri ruler with ambitions of his own. Then there were Akbar’s ambitious cousins in Kabul descending towards Lahore.

Bairam Khan led a force to capture Hemu and even though Akbar held his hand from killing him, the aggressive Turk man seeing the reluctance of the emperor quickly beheaded Hemu, the last Hindu ruler under Muslim rule. In the same manner, he dealt with the last of the Suri rulers, who he wanted to also behead, but the sensitive Akbar allowed him to leave for Bengal where he died.

In Lahore, so the‘Akbar-Nama’states, Bairam Khan was seen as a man who was exceeding the limits of the liberty that the Mughal emperor considered ‘permissible’. The deliberate beheading of the Governor of Delhi, Tardi Beg Khan, was the point where Akbar decided to strip Bairam of most of his powers. Also the beheading of innocent elephant drivers on the smallest whims shows the emperor that Bairam Khan was getting out of hand. He also moved to replace Mullah Pir Muhammad, the ‘mullah’ from whom Bairam sought religious sanction. In anger Bairam collected a force on the pretext of fighting the Afghans of Bengal, but only to change track and move towards Lahore.

But why Lahore? If we are to believe Abu’l Fazl’s account, then it seems that Bairam Khan had established excellent contacts among Lahore’s business community, which it seems had been influential in the affairs of Lahore’s politics. As the Mughals were preparing to tackle troubles to the west, Lahore was seen as the place to plan it from. Intelligence reports reaching Akbar showed Bairam Khan had other intentions. So the 18-year old emperor sent a message to Bairam informing him that he was now his own master and that it was best that Bairam Khan, the proud Turkman, proceed to Mecca and spend his life in prayers. He set aside Rs5,000 a month as a lifetime pension for him.

In Lahore we see a number of merchants known for their affiliation to the Turkman being arrested. Bairam Khan proceeded to Mecca but before he could reach the coast to catch a ship he was attacked by an Afghan who stabbed him through the heart. So it was that Akbar became his own full master at the age of 18. All the religious scholars who exerted influence at court were removed and Akbar married the daughter of the Hindu Raja Puran Mal in 1561. But the influence of Bairam Khan, who had earlier without doubt contributed considerably to Mughal fortunes, lingered on. A slave of one of his followers shot an arrow at Akbar. He was wounded and the shooter was put to death.

So it was that the need for Akbar to finally make Lahore his capital was clear for all to see. No sooner had Bairam Khan been eliminated as also his Lahore traders, the emperor’s own half-brother Hakim Mirza, marched from Kabul to capture Lahore. Some of the ablest ‘Kabuli’ commanders were with him. Akbar immediately headed towards Lahore and his huge army surrounded the entire city and the far-flung areas. This was enough for the Kabul army to see better sense and they panicked and headed home.

Peace returned to Lahore and in the conspiracy-cleansed city was born on the 6th of September, 1569, his son Saleem, who was to go one to become Emperor Shah Jahan. A happy Akbar immediately rushed to the shrine of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer to pay his respects.

But constant trouble from Kabul kept the court at Lahore busy. Conspiracy followed conspiracy. In the end Akbar collected a force at Lahore and headed towards Kabul. On the 11th of March, 1579, Akbar entered Kabul and appointed a Hindu Rajput as its governor. On his way back to Lahore he made several other expeditions, all the time expanding his empire. In these expeditions he lost some of his ablest advisers, including Raja Todar Mal, Raja Bhagwan Das and Raja Birbal. Once Kashmir was overwhelmed the Mughals acquired the ‘zafraan’ trade revenues. Smaller rebellions along the way were tackled, and so ultimately the Mughals managed to be the sole revenue collectors.

Given all these troubles that flowed from Kabul and the areas to its east, ultimately the decision to move the Indian capital to Lahore was taken in 1582. In Abu’l Fazl’s account we learn of Akbar met in Fatehpur Sikri three Portuguese Jesuit priests. As the capital was being shifted to Lahore, they also decided to move there with the emperor’s procession.

“So it was that Akbar the Great moved his capital from Fatehpur Sikri to Lahore with the procession having 5,000 elephants to the rear and the same amount in the front and on the sides, with each elephant with iron plates to protect against arrows or gunfire. The elephant tusks had huge sharp daggers mounted on them”. The Portuguese priests described Lahore as the most ‘Delightful City’ in the world. The first residence prepared for Akbar was “on an island in the River Ravi”.

To the disappointment of the Jesuit priests from Portugal, the emperor listened to their gospel and their pleadings to convert, but then politely thanked them. In the end they just gave up and left. The Portuguese resided at what is today Tehsil Bazaar. The wooden church they built at Chowk Taxali was later burnt down by Emperor Shah Jahan. At that place today stands a small church just opposite the ‘Phajja’ original shop.

In those days the old walled city and parts of the fort had mud walls. No sooner had the emperor settled down that tragedy struck. The entire countryside was hit by a massive three-year famine. Akbar decided to use the hungry people out in search of food to build bricks and the walls of the new fort and the new walled city. In exchange they were given free meals twice a day.

One way of describing the outcome of that famine could be that a new era in the history of Lahore started, with the emperor holding public audiences for the poor and the influential inside the new rebuilt fort at the Diwan-e-Aam and the Diwan-e-Khaas. At Lahore the Mughal Empire under Akbar and Shah Jahan was to reach its zenith.