Babur established Mughal empire in c. 1526 after defeating Ibrahim Lodhi at the Battle of Panipat. After that number of changes were brought by Mughals in state system in India. Babur lived for short-period of time after establishing empire and Humayun was struggled for empire for so many years and finally conquered Sur empire in c. 1555 but he died very next year and hence, both Babur and Humayun got little time for brought changes in state system.
It was Akbar who consolidated the empire and brought number of changes in state system. With the coming of Mughals to India number of new technology and other elements introduced to peoples of country. The technological advancement took a major step during Mughal empire.
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Technological Progress During Mughal Period
For the first time screw was made in India during this period. The invention of screw gave a big boost to ship-building industry in India. Earlier rivets were used to fix the planks which become loose in no time. And hence the invention of screw helped in tightening the wooden planks to provide strength to ships, so that they can survive for many years. Another important tool was Gear which was also invented during Mughal empire.
The Gear mechanism enabled the conversion of circular horizontal motion into vertical motion. The integration of gear mechanism with Sakiya led to emergence of Rehat which gave a boost to agriculture. It also gave rise to Kolhu which eventually gave boost to sugar and oil industry. Another major invention was the technique of metal plating, during this period.
According to Abul Fazal, utensils in royal kitchen were plated once in every 15 days. The industry of weapon also witnessed a push during Mughal period. The canons made during this period can easily dismantled and assembled and they were easy to transport. The measurement system was also upgraded by Akbar as two new yards were invented during the reign of Akbar.
Ilahi Gaj was invented for the measurement of land and Akbar Shahi Gaj was invented for the measurement of clothes. The most significant progress was in civil engineering as number of remarkable monuments were built during Mughal reign. For example, Taj Mahal, Red Fort of Delhi, Jama Masjid etc. were built during Mughal period. Art and crafts technology also witnessed remarkable progress.
The Karkhanas of Mughal experimented number of new technologies in art and crafts, and once they succeeded, the technology was passed to artisans for further development. Akbar pay significant focus on Astronomy as Fateh-Ullah-Shirazi was a prominent astronomer in his court. Faizi translated the book, Leelavati of Bhaskaracharya (a book of Mathematics) into Persian. The water-cooling system was developed during the Mughal period. In this system, water was made to flow between the two layers of walls to keep the temperature locked inside the building.
Hence, over the years of their rule in India Mughals helped making significant development in the field of technology as some new technologies were invented and some technologies made remarkable progress.