It is said that the Mughal empire crumbled after Aurangzeb on
account of his policy of intolerance. However, much more than that, it crumbled
because the successors of Aurangzeb were men of lower abilities and no match
for their predecessor Mughal emperors.
Aurangzeb died in 1707. Under his tenure entire India was
conquered except for the few pockets of Maratha resistance under Shivaji. India
at that time was the richest country in the world and accounted for 25% of the
World’s GDP. Due to the strength of character of successive Mughal kings after
Babar until Aurangzeb the Mughal empire gave a central administration to India
under rulers of high ability. However, such strength cannot last forever.
After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 there was a war of succession
between the 3 sons of Aurangzeb and 65 year old Bahadur Shah emerged victorious. Despite
not being as capable as his predecessors, he was learned, dignified and able. He
reversed some narrow minded policies of Aurangzeb and abolished the Jaziya and
the Pilgrim tax levied on the Hindus. He also showed a more tolerant attitude
towards Hindu chiefs and Rajas. He
mollified both the Rajputs and the Marathas but not fully. The Rajputs have
been the mainstay of the Mughal Empire and the houses of Amber and Marwar
(Jodhpur) have played key roles in the Mughal army since the time of Akbar.
The Sikhs were rebelling against the Mughal authority even
under Auarngzeb but were ruthlessly held in control by him. Bahadur Shah
initially reconciled with the Sikhs but when they again rose up under Banda
Bahadur and slowly started acquiring more and more territory. The Emperor
himself marched against them and captured a fort named Lohgarh as well as other
Sikh forts but could not crush their power. Soon they recovered back their
forts.
Bahadur Shah conciliated Chatrasal the Bundela Chief and
Churaman the Jat chieftain who joined
him in the campaign against the Sikhs. His administration was not up to the
mark and the state finances rapidly deteriorated. The royal treasury which held
Rs 13 crores by the death of Aurangzeb was fully exhausted. Perhaps with time
Bahadaur Shah could have done something to correct the situation; however he
died in 1712 just 5 years after he became the Emperor. At that juncture his
death threw the empire into a civil war on account of succession.
With the weakening of the empire the nobles too became
ambitious and started using Princes as pawns to further their own ambitions.
After Bahadur Shah one of his less able sons, Jahandar Shah became the Emperor
on account of the support extended to him by Zulfiqar Khan, the most powerful
noble at that time.
Jahandar Shah was a weak and degenerate prince who over
indulged in pleasure. The administration during his reign was under Zulfiqar
Khan who became the Wazir of the empire. Zulfiqar Khan was able. He reversed
all the religious policies of Aurangzeb. He gave the title of Mirza Raja Sawai
to the Raja of Amber Jai Singh and appointed him as the governor of Malwa. Ajit
Singh of Marwar was appointed the governor of Gujarat. He conciliated the
Marathas, Bundela raja Chatrasal and Jat king Churaman. He was aggressive only
against the Sikhs under Banda Bahadur.
Zulfiqar Khan tried to improve the finances of the empire by
various measures but in the process he encouraged revenue farming which means
appointing a middleman between the peasant and the Moghul adminstration for
receiving taxation. The taxation from the farmer was not fixed but the amount
payable to the royal treasury was fixed with the middleman. So the middleman
can recover any amount from the farmer (unlike that under Raja Todarmal when
the farmer has to pay a fixed amount) and retain the rest with him after the
fixed amount is paid to the Moghul treasury. This is known as Ijara or Revenue
Farming. This led to the severe exploitation of the peasants by the middlemen.
Other nobles from the court became jealous of Zulfiqar Khan
and convinced the king that he wanted to usurp the throne itself. Jahandar Shah
did not have the guts to dismiss Zulfiqar Khan but intrigued against him. Such
intrigue led to further deterioration of administration. Ultimately Jahandar
Shah was defeated by his nephew Farukh Siyar in 1713 just after reigning for 1
year s emperor.
Farukh Siyar again owed his victory to the Saiyid brothers
Abdullah Khan and Hussain Ali Khan Baraha who became the Wazir & Mir Bakshi
of the empire. Farukh Siyar was cruel, cowardly, undependable and faithless and
was influenced by all worthless flatterers. Despite his weaknesses Farukh Siyar
wanted to wield power while the Sayid brothers wanted it and expected the
emperor to let them administer the empire. Farukh Siyar did not dare to oppose
them but intrigued against them and finally in 1917, 4 years after his
coronation Farukh Siyar was deposed and killed by the Saiyid brothers. After
him the Saiyid brothers raised 2 young princes on to the throne in quick succession
who both died of consumption. They then made Mohammed Shah Emperor in 1719.
After the death of Aurangzeb, except for Bahadur Shah who
lived for a short time all others are men of poor ability and character,
therefore little wonder the Mughal Empire declined rapidly.
Between the years 1713 and 1720 the administration of the
empire was in the hands of the Saiyid brothers. They believed in a policy of
religious tolerance and thought India could only be ruled with the association
of the Hindu chiefs and nobles. They conciliated the Rajputs, Marathas and
Jats. They reached an agreement with Shahu by granting him the Chauth and
Sardeshmukhi of the 6 provinces of the Deccan. In return Shahu agreed support
them i the Deccan with 15000 horsemen.
However, conditions in the provinces deteriorated.
We should know a little more about the Maratha taxation of
Chouth and Sardesmukhi. At that time the peasant had to pay 40% of the produce
as taxation to the Moghul empire. Now Chauth means one fourth of the tax
payable to the Moghul empire (which means 10%), and Sardesmukhi means one tenth
of the tax payable (which means 4%). Thus together the total taxation works out
to 54% of the produce. We can only imagine the plight of the poor peasant under
such high level of taxation. The Marathas had the habit of not annexing the
lands they conquered and simply levied their taxation on the people of that
area over and above the existing taxation.
The Saiyid brothers tried to conciliate all sections
including the nobles in the court. However, one section of the nobles under
Nizam Ul Mulk began to conspire against them. Many nobles of Aurangzebs time
disliked the Saiyid brothers because of their tolerance towards the Hindus.
They tried to arouse the fanatical sections of the nobility against the
brothers. Emperor Muhammed Shah himself supported these nobles as he wanted to
free himself from the Saiyid brothers. In 1720 they succeeded in treacherously
killing the younger of the brothers Hussain Ali Khan. The elder brother was
later defeated at Agra and killed.
Muhammed Shah got a long reign of nearly 30 years from 1719
to 1748. When he came to the throne the Mughals were still a stable force. The Marathas were
confined to the South and the Rajputs gave full allegiance to the empire. Another
person would have improved the lot of the empire but Muhammed Shah was weak
minded and frivolous and loved a life of luxury. He was just not capable enough
and intrigued against his own ministers like the Wazir Nizam Ul Mulk. He even
took a share from the bribes received by his courtiers.
Nizam Ul Mulk became the Wazir in 1922 but later in 1924 he
got disgusted with the court intrigues and just walked out. He marched to the
Deccan and founded the state of Hyderabad as Asaf Jah Nizam Ul Mulk. His
departure symbolized the flight of loyalty and virtue from the empire and its
disintegration began.
Nobles from the far flung areas of the empire who owed nominal allegiance to the emperor rebelled and
became virtually independent. Jamindars rebelled and Muhammed Shah was just no
good for stopping the dissidence. The Marathas also began their northern
expansion and overran Malwa, Gujarat and Bundelkhand.
Then finally to deal a deathblow in 1738-39 Nadir Shah of
Persia descended on the empire and it just lay there helpless to protect
itself. Nadir Shah was attracted to India because of its fabulous riches.
Persia was almost bankrupt with the wars fought and the mercenary army of his
has to be paid. The weak powers in India also attracted him as it looked to be
easy pickings.
Nadir Shah easily occupied Lahore when hurried preparations
started for defending Delhi. The internecine quarrels are so rife that even in
the threat of a formidable enemy like Nadir Shah the nobles did not unite and
could not decide regarding a plan of defence nor the commander of the forces to
oppose him. In such chaotic conditions,
the Mughal army met the army of Nadir Shah at Karnal and received a crushing
defeat. Emperor Mohammed Shah was taken prisoner and Nadir Shah marched on to
Delhi. When Nadir Shahs commander was killed in his presence by a cannonball
while taking Delhi, the Shah was enraged and ordered a massacre of the citizens
which was carried out. They then plundered Delhi unopposed. The loot from Delhi
then amounted to Rs 70 crores which enabled Nadir Shah to exempt his empire
from taxation for a period of 3 years. He carried away the Kohinoor diamond and
the Peacock throne of Shah Jahan.
Nadir Shahs invasion exposed the weakness of the Mughal
empire and made it an easy prey to the Marathas and the English. The nobles
were busy fighting with each other. After Nadir Shah came his general Ahmad
Shah Abdali who plundered North India from 1748 to 1767. In 1761 in the 3rd
battle of Panipat he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Marathas and dealt a
big blow to their ambition of controlling the Mughal emperor.
By these invasions and the quarrel of the nobility, the
Mughal empire ceased to exist by 1761 and their kingdom shrank to only Delhi
and its surrounding areas.
In 1764, in the battle of Buxar, the English defeated the
alliance of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam, Shuja Uddaulah of Awadh and Mir Qasim
of Bengal and forced him to give them the Diwani(the authority to collect
revenue) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. With this battle the Mughal emperor became
a pensioner of the English.
The emperor left the protection of the British in 1772 and
returned to Delhi uder the protection of the Marathas. The British occupied
Delhi in 1803 and with that the emperor merely became a titular head.
