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ClearIAS » Indian History Notes » Medieval India: 18th Century

Political Formations (NCERT)

Medieval India: 18th

Century Political
Formations (NCERT)
LAST UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 6, 2017 BY CLEARIAS
TEAM

During the Frst half of the eighteenth century, the

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

The Mughal Crisis

Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and

Fnancial resources of his empire by Fghting a long
war in the Deccan.
Nobles who were appointed as governors
(subadars) controlled the oSces of revenue and
military administration (diwani and faujdari) which
gave them extraordinary political, economic and
military powers over vast regions of the Mughal
Empire.
Peasant and zamindari rebellions in many parts of
northern and western India added to these
problems.

Emergence of New States

Through the 18th century, the Mughal Empire
gradually fragmented into a number of
independent, regional states.
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 Frst 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)

Awadh
Burhan-ul-Mulk Sa‘adat 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.
Burhan-ul-Mulk held the combined oSces of
subadari, diwani and faujdari.
Burhan-ul-Mulk tried to decrease Mughal in_uence
in the Awadh region by reducing the number of
oSce holders (jagirdars) appointed by the
Mughals.
The state depended on local bankers and
mahajans for loans.
It sold the right to collect the tax to the highest
bidders. These “revenue farmers” (ijaradars)
agreed to pay the state a Fxed sum of money. So
they were also given considerable freedom in the
assessment and collection of taxes.
These developments allowed new social groups,
like moneylenders and bankers, to in_uence 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
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 in_uence 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.

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.
Guru Gobind Singh fought against the Rajaput and
Mughal rulers, after this death, it was under Banda
Bahadur’s the Fght 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 Frst 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 Bahadur’s 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 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.
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.
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 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.

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 city’s notables took refuge
there.
His son Jawahir Shah had troops and assembled
some another from Maratha and Sikh to Fght
Mughal.

Emergence of British as a
Supreme Power

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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