afghan sultanates, 1260–1732of the Suri clan of the Kakar tribe, who had been a high-ranking officer
under the Lodhis, ousted Babur’s son and successor Humayun from Delhi,
and adopted the regnal title of Sher Shah Suri. He ruled Delhi and much
of northern India for fifteen years, though Humayun’s brothers continued
to govern Kandahar, Ghazni, Kabul and Peshawar. Humayun himself fled
to Persia but after fifteen years in exile he finally regained the throne of
Delhi and restored the Mughal supremacy.
Sher Shah Suri’s rebellion hardened Mughal attitudes towards the Afghan
tribes. Humayun’s son and heir, Akbar the Great (r. 1556–1605), confiscated
their jagirs and banned them from governorships and high military rank.
Racial prejudice too ran deep, with Mughal historians regularly referring to
Afghans as ‘black-faced’, ‘brainless’, vagabond’ and ‘wicked’. 13 The suppres-
sions, confiscations and general prejudice caused deep resentment, for many
Afghans continued to serve the Mughal empire faithfully.
One response to this disenfranchisement was the rise of a militant
millenarian movement known as the Roshaniyya (Illuminated), which
posed a serious threat to Mughal rule in northwestern India for almost half
A Timurid miniature
from Herat, early 16th
century, depicting a
battle scene.