Chapter 10, New political formations in the eighteenth century

I. Tick the correct option.

1.c. weak rulers
2.b. 1739
3. c. Nadir Shah
4. a. Sawai Raja Jai Singh
5. b. Military brotherhood
6.c. Guru Gobind Singh
7. b. Saadat Khan
8. b. Farrukhsiyar and Muhammad Shah
9. c. Hyderabad
10.a. guerrilla warfare

II. Answer in one sentence.

1. Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad were the old provinces of the Mughals who became
independent, but maintained a connection with them in name.

2. *The Rajput ruler Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded Jaipur, one of the finest planned
cities of India and the capital of the present-day state of Rajasthan.
* He also built observatories with highly sophisticated instruments in Jaipur,
Delhi,Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi. These were commonly known as Jantar Mantar.

3. Yes, Bengal had an efficient administrative system.

The nawabs of Bengal took a number of steps for efficient administration of Bengal in
terms of restructuring the administration, effectively tackling corrupt and inefficient
officials, encouraging the growth of agriculture, trade and industry, and regularising the
collection of revenue.

4. Maharaja Ranjit Singh established one of the strongest kingdoms of the period by
seizing Lahore in 1799 ce and Amritsar in 1802 ce,

III. 1. Administrative steps taken by the nawabs of Bengal:

• restructuring of the administration
• tackling corrupt and inefficient officials
• encouraging the growth of agriculture, trade and industry
• regularising the collection of revenue

2. *Shivaji was born in 1627 ce, to an official at the court of Bijapur, Shahji Bhonsle.
*He learnt the art of administration and guerrilla warfare under the guardianship of
Dadaji Kondadeva.
*Shivaji successfully dealt with the Mughals by bypassing their main forts and attacking
their cities and supply lines.
*He assumed the title of Chhatrapati (sovereign king) in 1674 ce in a ceremony at
Raigad.

3.* Land revenue was the main source of income for the Maratha state.
*The assessment of land was done regularly and land revenue was fixed after a proper
survey.
*It was contingent on the quality of land and its yield.

4.* The Mughal nobles became very powerful during the rule of the later Mughals.They
sought to control the administration and in some cases also declared themselves
independent.
*Aurangzeb’s rigid religious policy led to serious revolts by the Rajputs, the Sikhs, the
Jats and the Satnamis. He spent the last years of his reign in the south fighting the
Marathas at the cost of the northern part of his empire.
.
IV. 1. Reasons for the decline of the Mughal Empire:
• Weak successors of Aurangzeb- Successors of Aurangzeb were all weak and
incompetent, and could not manage the huge empire.
• Vastness of the empire-The cost of administering such a vast empire was huge and
the weak successors could not manage it.
• Policies of Aurangzeb-Aurangzeb’s rigid religious policy led to serious revolts by the
Rajputs, the Sikhs, the Jats, the Satnamis and the Marathas.
• Powerful nobility- The powerful nobles sought to control the administration, and in
some cases also declared themselves independent.
• Nadir Shah's invasion-In 1739, Nadir Shah’s raid of Delhi rang the death knell of the
Mughal empire.

2. Establishment of the Sikhs as a regional power:

• Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708 ce), the tenth Sikh Guru organised the Sikhs
into a Khalsa or military brotherhood and fought against the Mughals and the
neighbouring hill states.
• During the reign of Bahadur Shah I, the Sikhs emerged as a powerful group under
the leadership of Banda Bahadur who fought the Mughals for eight years.
• After his death, the Sikhs organised themselves into 12 misls or groups, which were
later organised into a single force by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
• Seizing Lahore in 1799 ce and Amritsar in 1802 ce, Ranjit Singh established one of
the strongest kingdoms of the period.

3. Establishment of the state of Hyderabad:

• Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah was a powerful Mughal noble in the court of Farrukhsiyar
and Muhammad Shah.
• Initially, he was entrusted with the governorship of Awadh and later given charge of
the Deccan.
• As a Mughal subedar, all financial and military powers were concentrated in his
hands.
• With the decline of Mughal authority, AsafJah established the independent state of
Hyderabad in 1724 ce.
• He founded the Asaf Jahi dynasty and his successors were known as the Nizams.

4. The Maratha land was divided into two categories:Swarajya (under Maratha control)
and Mughlai (not directly under the control of the Marathas but under their authority).
• Two kinds of taxes were levied on the Mughlai lands: chauth and sardeshmukhi.
• Chauth was one-fourth of the yield of the territory
• Sardeshmukhi was one-tenth of the yield.
• In the swarajya lands, each farmer paid two-fifths of his produce to the state as tax,
either in cash or kind.
• During a famine or a bad harvest, grains and money were advanced to the farmers,
and they could repay the same in easy installments.

V. 1. It is the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

2. After the death of Banda Bahadur, the Sikhs organised themselves into 12 misls or
groups, which were later organised into a single force by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Seizing
Lahore in 1799 ce and Amritsar in 1802 ce, Ranjit Singh established one of the
strongest kingdoms of the period.

MAP WORK- Complete the map given on page 92 on the physical map of India and
paste it in the notebook.