Internal Indian

Reasons for the

Decline of Mughal
Empire
 Impact of Aurangzeb’s Policies on
the Stability of the Mughal Empire
• Aurangzeb established himself as the emperor after taking place of his father
Shah Jahan
•The empire was now bigger and more peaceful, but this was not long lasting;
Aurangzeb spent most his time and money in conflictual fighting
• War against Rajputs (1679-1681), rebellions by Sikhs, Satnamis in Mewar and Jats in Gokal
• Extending towards the North got him to fight with the Pathan tribes in the North-West
Frontier
• Most costly war was with the Marathas from the Deccan (Shivaji was defeated in 1665 and
brought as a prisoner to Agra; went back to Deccan to lead revolt against Aurangzeb) and
even though he had problems in extending the empire, at the time of his death in 1707 the
empire was stretching from Kashmir to Karnatak and Ghazni to Chittagong
 Impact of Aurangzeb’s Policies on
the Stability of the Mughal Empire
Reforms
• Mixed views about Aurangzeb being a successful emperor; criticism over his
strict policies (censors of public morals, banning alcohol consumption and
singing and dancing at court, determining the maximum length of beards)
while some thought of them as wise and needy measures that helped in
ensuring lives being lived in the right way
•Aurangzeb became popular with traders and abolished local taxes (generally
high taxation in his reign)
•Other than military costs, there were expenditures over the building of
luxurious palaces (Pearl mosque in Delhi for his personal prayers)
 Impact of Aurangzeb’s Policies on
the Stability of the Mughal Empire
Outcome

•The taxes that were spent heavily resulted in the unpopularity of Aurangzeb

by the time of his death in 1707 even though he ruled for about 50 years and

was 89 years of age at the time of death; his achieving much could not

prevent the decay that that started to spread throughout the Mughal Empire
 Effectiveness of his Successors as
Rulers
•As Aurangzeb became the emperor after defeating his brothers in battle; he
aimed at avoiding this at the time of his death, so he divided the empire
amongst his three sons
•This was not treated as a successful plan as there was a series of fighting that
broke out amongst them, and Prince Muazzam established himself as the
Emperor for a few years until his four sons fought over the throne
•Jahandar Shah won and became the Emperor for only a year as he also got
murdered
 Effectiveness of his Successors as
Rulers
•In ten years after the death of Aurangzeb, twelve different people had come
forward with the claim of being the Emperor, at one time

•The stability of the Mughal Empire was thus not seen and now could be
noticed to be weak and divided

•Muhammad Shah became the last Mughal Emperor in 1719 who could claim
so, since he managed to rule even though he faced immense opposition
 Problems of Controlling the Empire
Administration and Weak Control
•The Empire was very huge to administer, and decisions were communicated to
distances of thousands of miles; keeping in view that the Emperor did not know
what was happening at every part of the empire
•Aurangzeb even encouraged the use of mansabdars, but the issue remained as
when a rebellion broke out, it was months before the Emperor could take an
action on it
•With the increase in wealth of the nobilities of the Mughal Empire, it was
difficult for the Emperors to control them (Alamgir II was killed by such)
•The central having weak control, mansabdari system not properly supervised
and declining administrative efficiency; there was discontentment and tax
revenue collection also declined
 Problems of Controlling the Empire
Military costs and declining military expertise
•The Mughal Empire was huge and had different people following different
religions; this made the emperors continually fight rebellions against the
separatist elements
•Cost of fighting wars against foreign invaders like Nadir Shah from Persia was
also too much to bear
•The Mughal army was let to decline until it was no longer effective to fight
any invasion
•When discontented groups were certain about the weak military, they
formed a quick reaction such as Shivaji’s rebellion in the Deccan was a tough
fight for Aurangzeb
 Rise of the Maratha and Sikh
Empires
The Marathas
•Marathas were a Hindu Empire in South India and were a source of difficulty
for the Mughals
•Aurangzeb spent over 25 years trying to defeat these forces and as soon as
he died, they continued to take land from the Mughals
•In 1737, the Marathas defeated the Mughal army and entered Delhi
•During the mid of eighteenth century, Marathas became the most powerful
force in India (replacing the status of Mughals as the powerful most)
 Rise of the Maratha and Sikh
Empires
The Sikhs
•The foundations of the Sikh Empire started with the downfall of the Mughals
•With the Mughals significantly weakened, the Sikh army expeditions against
them and the Afghans in the west
•This led to a growth of the army which split into different component armies
that controlled different areas and cities
•From 1762 to 1799, Sikh commanders appeared to be as independent
•Ranjit Singh rose to power in a very short period, from a leader to the
Maharaja of Punjab
 4 – mark questions
1. Who was Aurangzeb Alamgir?
2. How did Aurangzeb become the Mughal Emperor?
3. What kind of a ruler was Aurangzeb?
4. What was Jizya?
5. What was the Mughal Empire’s weakness?
6. How was the vastness of the Mughal Empire responsible for its fall?
 7 – mark questions
1. Why was Aurangzeb unpopular among his people?
 10 – mark questions
1. What were the weaknesses of the Mughal Empire that led to its decline?