NCERT CLASS 7 HISTORY Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

NCERT CLASS 7 HISTORY Chapter 10 Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

  During the first half of the eighteenth century, the boundaries of the Mughal

Empire were reshaped by the emergence of a number of independent kingdoms.

  By 1765, notice how another power, the British, had successfully grabbed major
      chunks of territory in eastern India. The political conditions in eighteenth century
      India changed quite dramatically and within a relatively short span of time.

The Crisis of the Empire and the Later Mughals

  The Mughal Empire reached the height of its success and started facing a variety
      of crises towards the closing years of the seventeenth century. These were caused
      by a number of factors:

1.  Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his
      empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan.

2.  Under his successors, the efficiency of the imperial administration broke down.

3.  It became increasingly difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check
      on their powerful mansabdars.

4.  Nobles appointed as 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.

5.  As the governors consolidated their control over the provinces, the periodic
      remission of revenue to the capital declined.

6.  Peasant and zamindari rebellions in many parts of northern and western India
      added to these problems.These revolts were sometimes caused by the pressures
      of mounting taxes.

7.  At other times they were attempts by powerful chieftains to consolidate their
      own positions. These groups were now able to seize the economic resources of
      the region to consolidate their positions.

8.  In the midst of this economic and political crisis, the ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah,
      sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense
      amounts of wealth.

9.  This invasion was followed by a series of plundering raids by the Afghan ruler
      Ahmad Shah Abdali, who invaded north India five times between 1748 and
      1761.

10. The empire was further weakened by competition amongst different groups of
      nobles divided into two major groups or factions, the Iranis and Turanis
      (nobles of Turkish descent).

11. For a long time, the later Mughal emperors were puppets in the hands of either
      one or the other of these two powerful groups.

Emergence of New States

  With the decline in the authority of the Mughal emperors, the governors of large
      provinces, subadars, and the great zamindars consolidated their authority in
      different parts of the subcontinent.

  Through the eighteenth ncentury, the Mughal Empire gradually fragmented into a
      number of independent, regional states.

  Broadly speaking 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.

The Old Mughal Provinces

  Amongst the states that were carved out of the old Mughal provinces in the

eighteenth century, three stand out very prominently. These were Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.

  All three states were founded by members of the high Mughal nobility who had
      been governors of large provinces - Sa‘adat Khan (Awadh), Murshid Quli Khan
      (Bengal) and Asaf Jah (Hyderabad).

  All three had occupied high mansabdari positions and enjoyed the trust and

confidence of the emperors. Both Asaf Jah and Murshid Quli Khan held a zat rank of 7,000 each, while Sa’adat Khan’s zat was 6,000.

Hyderabad

  Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was one of the most
      powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.

  As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, Asaf Jah already had full
      control over its political and financial administration.

  Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Deccan and the competition amongst the
      court nobility, he gathered power in his hands and became the actual ruler of that
      region.

  Asaf Jah brought skilled soldiers and administrators from northern India who
      welcomed the new opportunities in the south. He appointed mansabdars and
      granted jagirs.

  Although he was still a servant of the Mughal emperor, he ruled quite
      independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any
      interference.

  The Mughal emperor merely confirmed the decisions already taken by the Nizam.

  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 ambitions of the Nizam to control the rich textile-producing areas of the
      Coromandel coast in the east were checked by the British who were becoming
      increasingly powerful in that region.

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.

   Awadh was a prosperous region, controlling the rich alluvial Ganga plain and the
      main trade route between north India and Bengal.

   Burhan-ul-Mulk also held the combined offices of subadari, diwani and faujdari.
      In other words, he was responsible for managing the political, financial and
      military affairs of the province of Awadh.

   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.

   The accounts of jagirdars were checked to prevent cheating and the revenues of
      all districts were reassessed by officials appointed by the Nawab’s court.

   He seized a number of Rajput zamindaris and the agriculturally fertile lands of the
      Afghans of Rohilkhand.

   The state depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans. 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.

   Local bankers guaranteed the payment of this contracted amount to the state. In
      turn, the revenue-farmers were given considerable freedom in the assessment and
      collection of taxes.

   These developments allowed new social groups, like moneylenders and bankers,
      to influence the management of the state’s revenue system, something which had
      not occurred in the past.

Bengal

   Bengal gradually broke away from Mughal control under Murshid Quli Khan who
      was appointed as the naib, deputy to the governor of the province.

   Although never a formal subadar, Murshid Quli Khan very quickly seized all the
      power that went with that office.

   Like the rulers of Hyderabad and Awadh he also commanded the revenue
      administration of the state.

   In an effort to reduce Mughal influence in Bengal 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. As a
      result, many zamindars had to borrow money from bankers and moneylenders.
      Those unable to pay were forced to sell their lands to larger zamindars.

   The formation of a regional state in eighteenth century Bengal therefore led to
      considerable change amongst the zamindars.

   The close connection between the state and bankers - noticeable in Hyderabad and
      Awadh as well - was evident in Bengal under the rule of Alivardi Khan (r. 1740-
      1756).

   During his reign the banking house of Jagat Seth became extremely prosperous.

  If we take a bird’s eye view, we can detect three common features amongst these
      states:

1.  Though many of the larger states were established by erstwhile Mughal nobles
      they were highly suspicious of some of the administrative systems that they
      had inherited, in particular the jagirdari system.

2.  Their method of tax collection differed. Rather than relying upon the officers
      of the state, all three regimes contracted with revenue-farmers for the
      collection of revenue. The practice of ijaradari, thoroughly disapproved of by
      the Mughals, spread all over India in the eighteenth century. Their impact on
      the countryside differed considerably.

3.   Their emerging relationship with rich bankers and merchants. These people
      lent money to revenue farmers, received land as security and collected taxes
      from these lands through their own agents. Throughout India the richest
      merchants and bankers were gaining a stake in the new political order.

The Watan Jagirs of the Rajputs

  Many Rajput kings, particularly those belonging to Amber and Jodhpur, had

served under the Mughals with distinction. In exchange, they were permitted to enjoy considerable autonomy in their watan jagirs.

  In the eighteenth century, these rulers now attempted to extend their control over
      adjacent regions.

  These influential Rajput families claimed the subadari of the rich provinces of
      Gujarat and Malwa. Raja Ajit Singh of Jodhpur held the governorship of Gujarat
      and Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber was governor of Malwa.

  They also tried to extend their territories by seizing portions of imperial territories
      neighbouring their watans.

  Nagaur was conquered and annexed to the house of Jodhpur, while Amber seized
      large portions of Bundi. Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur
      and was given the subadari of Agra in 1722.

  Maratha campaigns into Rajasthan from the 1740s put severe pressure on these
      principalities and checked their further expansion.

Seizing Independence

The Sikhs

  The organisation of the Sikhs into a political community during the seventeenth
      century helped in regional state-building in the Punjab.

  Several battles were fought by Guru Gobind Singh against the Rajput and Mughal
      rulers, both before and after the institution of the Khalsa in 1699.

  After his death in 1708, the Khalsa rose in revolt against the Mughal authority

under Banda Bahadur’s leadership, declared their sovereign rule by striking coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh, and established their own administration between the Sutlej and the Jamuna. Banda Bahadur was captured in 1715 and executed in 1716.

  Under a number of able leaders in the eighteenth century, the Sikhs organized
      themselves into a number of bands called jathas, and later on misls.

  Their combined forces were known as the grand army (dal khalsa). The entire

body used to meet at Amritsar at the time of Baisakhi and Diwali to take collective decisions known as “resolutions of the Guru (gurmatas)”.

  A system called rakhi was introduced, offering protection to cultivators on the
      payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.

  Guru Gobind Singh had inspired the Khalsa with the belief that their destiny was
      to rule (raj karega khalsa).

  Their well-knit organization enabled them to put up a successful resistance to the
      Mughal governors first and then to Ahmad Shah Abdali who had seized the rich
      province of the Punjab and the Sarkar of Sirhind from the Mughals.

  The Khalsa declared their sovereign rule by striking their own coin again in 1765.
      Significantly, this coin bore the same inscription as the one on the orders issued by
      the Khalsa in the time of Banda Bahadur.

  The Sikh territories in the late eighteenth century extended from the Indus to the

Jamuna but they were divided under different rulers. One of them, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, reunited these groups and established his capital at Lahore in 1799.

The Marathas

  The Maratha kingdom was another powerful regional kingdom to arise out of a
      sustained opposition to Mughal rule.

  Shivaji (1627-1680) carved out a stable kingdom with the support of powerful
      warrior families (deshmukhs).

  Groups of highly mobile, peasant pastoralists (kunbis) provided the backbone of
      the Maratha army. Shivaji used these forces to challenge the Mughals in the
      peninsula.

  After Shivaji’s death, effective power in the Maratha state was wielded by a

family of Chitpavan Brahmanas who served Shivaji’s successors as Peshwa (or principal minister).

  Poona became the capital of the Maratha kingdom. Under the Peshwas, the
      Marathas developed a very successful military organisation.

  Their success lay in bypassing the fortified areas of the Mughals, by raiding cities
      and by engaging Mughal armies in areas where their supply lines and
      reinforcements could be easily disturbed.

  Between 1720 and 1761, the Maratha empire expanded. It gradually chipped away
      at the authority of the Mughal Empire. Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the
      Mughals by the 1720s.

  By the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire

Deccan peninsula. He possessed the right to levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region.

  After raiding Delhi in 1737 the frontiers of Maratha domination expanded rapidly:
      into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the north; into Bengal and Orissa in the east; and
      into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the south. These were not
      formally included in the Maratha empire, but were made to pay tribute as a way of
      accepting Maratha sovereignty.

  Expansion brought enormous resources, but it came at a price. These military

campaigns also made other rulers hostile towards the Marathas. As a result, they
were not inclined to support the Marathas during the third battle of Panipat in
1761.

  Alongside endless military campaigns, the Marathas developed an effective
      administrative system as well.

  Once conquest had been completed and Maratha rule was secure, revenue
      demands were gradually introduced taking local conditions into account.
      Agriculture was encouraged and trade revived.

  This allowed Maratha chiefs (sardars) like Sindhia of Gwalior, Gaekwad of
      Baroda and Bhonsle of Nagpur the resources to raise powerful armies.

  Maratha campaigns into Malwa in the 1720s did not challenge the growth and
      prosperity of the cities in the region. Ujjain expanded under Sindhia’s patronage
      and Indore under Holkar’s.

  By all accounts these cities were large and prosperous and functioned as important
      commercial and cultural centres. New trade routes emerged within the areas
      controlled by the Marathas.

  The silk produced in the Chanderi region now found a new outlet in Poona, the
      Maratha capital.

  Burhanpur which had earlier participated in the trade between Agra and Surat now
      expanded its hinterland to include Poona and Nagpur in the south and Lucknow
      and Allahabad in the east.

The Jats

  Like the other states the Jats consolidated their power during the late seventeenth
      and eighteenth-centuries.

  Under their leader, Churaman, they acquired control over territories situated to the
      west of the city of Delhi, and by the 1680s they had begun dominating the region
      between the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra. For a while they became the
      virtual custodians of the city of Agra.

  The Jats were prosperous agriculturists, and towns like Panipat and Ballabhgarh
      became important trading centres in the areas dominated by them.

  Under Suraj Mal the kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state. When Nadir
      Shah sacked Delhi in 1739, many of the city’s notables took refuge there.

   While the Bharatpur fort was built in a fairly traditional style, at Dig the Jats built
            an elaborate garden palace combining styles seen at Amber and Agra. Its buildings
            were modelled on architectural forms first associated with royalty under Shah
            Jahan.

Important questions.
1. How were the Sikhs organised in the eighteenth century?
2. Why did the Marathas want to expand beyond the Deccan?