Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

Here is the class notes from Class NCERT History- Chapter 10: “Eighteenth- Century Political Formation”

The Crisis of the Empire and the Later Mughals

These were caused by a number of factors.
- Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan.
- It became increasingly difficult for the later Mughal emperors to keep a check on their powerful mansabdars.
- Peasant and zamindari rebellions in many parts of northern and western India.
- The ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah, sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts of wealth.
- 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.
- 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).
  - 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 State

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.
the Mughal Empire gradually fragmented 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.

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
1. Awadh was founded by Sa’adat Khan
2. Bengal was founded by Murshid Quli Khan
3. Hyderabad was founded by Asaf Jah
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 (1724-1748), was one of the most powerful members at the court of the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the Deccan.
As the Mughal governor of the Deccan provinces, during 1720-22 Asaf Jah had already gained control over its political and financial administration.
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-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah.
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-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah 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.
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.
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.
During his reign the banking house of Jagat Seth became extremely prosperous.

Common features amongst these states

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.
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.
Their emerging relationship with rich bankers and merchants.

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.
Ajit Singh, the ruler of Jodhpur, was also involved in the factional politics at the Mughal court.
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.
These offices were renewed by Emperor Jahandar Shah in 1713. 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.
Sawai Jai Singh, the ruler of Amber constructed five astronomical observatories, one each in Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi.
Commonly known as Jantar Mantar, these observatories had various instruments to study heavenly bodies

Seizing Independence

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.
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.
They 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.
Alongside endless military campaigns, the Marathas developed an effective administrative system as well.
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.
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.
The power of the Jats reached its zenith under Suraj Mal who consolidated the Jat state at Bharatpur (in present day Rajasthan) during 1756-1763.
The areas under the political control of Suraj Mal broadly included parts of modern eastern Rajasthan, southern Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Suraj Mal built a number of forts and palaces and the famous Lohagarh fort in Bharatpur is regarded as one of the strongest forts built in this region.
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.
His son Jawahir Shah had 30,000 troops of his own and hired another 20,000 Maratha and 15,000 Sikh troops to fight the Mughals.
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.

The French Revolution (1789-1794)

The American (1776-1781) and French Revolutions challenged the social and political privileges enjoyed by the aristocrats.
During the French Revolution, the middle classes, peasants and artisans fought against the special rights enjoyed by the clergy and the nobility.
They believed that no group in society should have privileges based on birth.
Rather, people’s social position must depend on merit.
The ideas of citizenship, nation-state and democratic rights took root in India from the late nineteenth century.