MUGHAL EMPIRE AFTER AURANGZEB.

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 3^rd 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.