history
The Crisis of the Empire and the
Later Mughals
Mughal Empire started facing a variety of crises towards the
closing years of the seventeenth century. These were caused by a number of
factors.
Emperor Aurangzeb had
depleted the military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long
war in the Deccan .
His successors were
weak and could not take control over administration.
It became difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a
check on their powerful mansabdars.
Governors (subadars) often controlled the offices of revenue
and military administration (diwani and faujdari) as well. This gave them
extraordinary political, economic and military powers over vast regions of the
Mughal Empire.
Peasant and zamindari rebellions in many parts of northern
and western India
Attacked by Nadir shah and Afgan invader Ahmad shah Abdali
also weekend the empire.
The empire was further weakened by competition amongst
different groups of nobles. They were divided into two major groups or
factions, the Iranis and Turanis (nobles of Turkish descent). For a long time,
the later Mughal emperors were puppets in the hands of either one or the other
of these two powerful groups.
Nadir Shah attacks Delhi
the ruler of Iran ,
Nadir Shah, sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts
of wealth.
After him a Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded
north India
five times between 1748 and 1761.
Two Mughal emperors, Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719) and Alamgir
II (1754-1759) were assassinated, and two others Ahmad Shah (1748-1754) and
Shah Alam II (1759-1816) were blinded by their nobles.
Emergence of New States
The governors of large provinces, subadars, and the great
zamindars consolidated their authority in different parts of the subcontinent.
the states of the eighteenth century can be divided into
three overlapping groups:
(1) States that were
old Mughal provinces like Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad . Although extremely powerful and
quite independent, the rulers of these states did not break their formal ties
with the Mughal emperor.
(2) States that had enjoyed considerable independence under
the Mughals as watan jagirs. These included several Rajput principalities.
(3) The last group included states under the control of
Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Jats. These were of differing sizes and had
seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle.
Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state.
he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler
of that region.
He appointed mansabdars and granted jagirs.
The state of Hyderabad
was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to the west and with
independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas) of the plateau.
The Nizam’s army
The Nizam has a swaree (sawari) of 400 elephants, several
thousand of horsemen near his person who receive upwards 100 R(upees)s nominal
pay (and) are extremely well mounted and richly caparisoned.
Awadh
Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa‘adat Khan was appointed subadar of Awadh
in 1722 and founded a state which was one of the most important to emerge out
of the break-up of the Mughal Empire.
Burhan-ul-Mulk also held the combined offices of subadari,
diwani and faujdari.
Burhan-ul-Mulk tried to decrease Mughal influence in the
Awadh region by reducing the number of office holders (jagirdars) appointed by
the Mughals.
He also reduced the size of jagirs, and appointed his own
loyal servants to vacant positions.
It sold the right to collect tax to the highest bidders.
These “revenue farmers” (ijaradars) agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of
money.
He transferred all Mughal jagirdars to Orissa and ordered a
major reassessment of the revenues of Bengal .
Revenue was collected in cash with great strictness from all zamindars.
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