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Medieval India: 18th Century Political Formations (NCERT)

868During the first half of the eighteenth century, the boundaries of the Mughal Empire
were
2 reshaped by the emergence of a number of independentkingdoms. In this post, we will
read about the emergence of new political groups in the subcontinent during the first
half of the eighteenth century roughly from 1707, when Aurangzeb died, till the third
battle of Panipat in 1761.

The Mughal Crisis

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Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his empire
by fighting a long war in the Deccan.
Nobles who were appointed as governors (subadars) controlled the offices of
revenue and military administration (diwani and faujdari) which gave them
extraordinary political, economic and military powers over vast regions of the
Mughal Empire.

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Peasant and zamindari rebellions in many parts of northern and western India
added to these problems.
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Emergence of New States

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Through the 18th century, the Mughal Empire gradually fragmented into a number
of independent, regional states.
2
It 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. States under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Jats. They all had
seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle.

Hyderabad

Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, the founder of Hyderabad state, was appointed by Mughal
Emperor Farrukh Siyar.
He was entrusted first with the governorship of Awadh, and later given charge of the
Deccan.
He ruled quite independently without seeking any direction from Delhi or facing any
interference.
The state of Hyderabad was constantly engaged in a struggle against the Marathas to
the west and with independent Telugu warrior chiefs (nayakas)

Also read: Hindu Temple Architecture : Chalukyas

Awadh

Burhan-ul-Mulk Saadat Khan was appointed subadar of Awadh in 1722.

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

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Burhan-ul-Mulk held the combined offices of subadari, diwani and faujdari.

Burhan-ul-Mulk tried to decrease Mughal influence in the Awadh region by reducing
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The state depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans.
868 It sold the right to collect the tax to the highest bidders. These revenue farmers
(ijaradars) agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money. So they were also given
2 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 states 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 and he was
neither a formal subadar .
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.
This shows that all 3 States Hyderabad, Awadh, Bengal 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, were
permitted to enjoy considerable autonomy in their watan jagirs.
In the 18th century, these rulers now attempted to extend their control over
adjacent regions.
So 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.

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Also read: Arts of Indus Valley Civilization (Indian Culture Series NCERT)
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Seizing Independence

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The Sikhs

2 The organisation of the Sikhs into a political community during the seventeenth
century helped in regional state-building in the Punjab.
Guru Gobind Singh fought against the Rajaput and Mughal rulers, after this death, it
was under Banda Bahadurs the fight continued.
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.
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 in 1765. The coin
was same as that of Band Bahadurs time.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh reunited the groups and established his capital at Lahore in
1799.

The Marathas

Another powerful regional kingdom to arise out of a sustained opposition to the

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.
Poona became the capital of the Maratha kingdom.
After Shivaji, Peshwas[principal minister s] developed a very successful military
organisation by raiding cities and by engaging Mughal armies in areas where their
supply lines and reinforcements could be easily disturbed.
By the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan
peninsula. He possessed the right to levy chauth[25 per cent of the land revenue

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claimed by zamindars]. and sardeshmukhi[9-10 per cent of the land revenue paid to
the head revenue collector in the Deccan] in the entire region.
870
Shares The frontiers of Maratha domination expanded, after raiding Delhi in 1737, but these
areas were not formally included in the Maratha empire but were made to pay
tribute as a way of accepting Maratha sovereignty.
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These military campaigns made other rulers hostile towards the Marathas. As a
result, they were not inclined to support the Marathas during the third battle of
2
Panipat in 1761.
By all accounts cities[Malwa, Ujjain etc] were large and prosperous and functioned
as important ant commercial and cultural centers show the effective administration
capacities of Marathas.

Also read: Arts of the Mauryan Period (Indian Culture Series NCERT)

The Jats

Jats too consolidated their power during the late 17th and 18th-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 Jats were prosperous agriculturists, and towns like Panipat and Ballabhgarh
became important trading centers in the areas dominated by them.
When Nadir Shah (Shah of Iran) sacked Delhi in 1739, many of the citys notables
took refuge there.
His son Jawahir Shah had troops and assembled some another from Maratha and
Sikh to fight Mughal.

Emergence of British as a Supreme Power

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By 1765, the British had successfully grabbed major chunks of territory in eastern India.
We shall learn about the emergence of British and the resistance from Indians to British
in the coming posts.

Article by: Vibin Lakshmanan

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