Mughal Traditions of Succession:
(i) The Mughals did not believe in the rule of primogeniture (inheritance).
(ii) Instead, they followed the Mughal and Timurid custom of coparcenary inheritance. It is a division of the inheritance amongst all the sons.
(iii) Mughal princess rebelled against their fathers, overthrew them and captured power.

(i) Contrary to their predecessors, the Mughals created an empire and ruled over it for a long period of time.
(ii) From the later half of the sixteenth century, they expanded their kingdom from Agra and Delhi up to the seventeenth century.
(iii) They controlled nearly the entire subcontinent.
(iv) They imposed structure of administration and idea of governance.
(v) They outlasted their rule, leaving a political legacy that succeeding rulers of the subcontinent could not ignore.

Shivaji went to Agra to accept the Mughal authority. But after being insulted by Auranqzeb, Shivaji resumed his campaigns against the Mughals. Prince Akbar rebelled against Aurangzeb and received support from the Marathas and the Deccan Sultanate. He finally fled to Safavid, Iran. From 1698, Aurangzeb personally managed campaigns in the Deccan against the Marathas who started Guerrilla warfare which was difficult to suppress.

The Mughal rulers constantly campaigned against rulers who were not ready to accept their authority. Gradually, when the Mughals became powerful, many other rulers joined them willingly.
Many Rajputs offered their daughters into Mughal families in order to gain high positions or offices. The Sisodiya Rajputs refused to accept Mughal authority for a long time. Mughals never humiliated their opponents, even though they got defeated by them. This quality enabled them to extend their influence.

Agriculture plays a vital role in Indian economy. Peasants are important today as they were during the Mughal Empire. They pay land revenue to the government which is used in various policies, grants, subsidies, projects. During the Mughal rule, all were virtually agriculturists. No other source of income was different from that of agriculture. So, the income gap between rich and poor was not so much as is today. Now, people find more income based jobs other than agriculture. Still, peasants are important today as more than 55 percent of the population of our country is agriculturists. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries accounted for 13.7 percent of the GDP.

Akbar Nama and Ain-i Akbari
(i) Akbar ordered one of his close friends and courtiers, Abul Fazl, to write a history of his reign.
(ii) Abul Fazl wrote a three-volume history of Akbar's reign titled 'Akbar Nama'.
(a) The first volume depicted Akbar's ancestors.
(b) The second volume recorded the events of Akbar's reign.
(c) The third volume is the 'Ain-i Akbari'.
• It deals with Akbar's administration, household, army, the revenues and geography of his empire.
• It also gives details about the traditions and culture of the people living in India.
• The most interesting aspect about the Ain-i Akbari is its rich statistical details about things like crops, yields, prices, wages, and revenues.

Abul Fazl, in his book Akbar Nama, specially in the third volume named Ain-i-Akbari gave a detailed description of Akbar's administration.
In the book, Abul Fazl explained that the empire was divided into provinces known as Subas, governed by a Subedar. The Subedar carried out both political and military functions.
Each provinces also had a financial officer or Diwan. For the maintenance of peace and order in the province, the Subedar was supported by several officers, like Military Paymaster (Bakhshi) Minister-in-charge of Religious and Charitable Patronage (Sadr). Military Commanders (Faujdars) and the town Police Commander (Kotwal). Akbar's nobles commanded huge armies and had access to large amounts of revenue.
Akbar did not want to discriminate people of different religions, so he gave utmost importance to the idea of tolerance. He accepted the concept of universal peace or Sulh-i-Kul.