India in the Eighteenth Century
ICSE Class 8 · History & Civics · Chapter 4
What this chapter covers
- The end of an age: India after Aurangzeb
- The later Mughals
- Decline of the Mughal Empire: the major causes
- The rise of regional kingdoms
- Hyderabad, Awadh and Bengal
- The Rajputs and the Sikhs
- Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan
- The Marathas and the rise of the Peshwas
Key points
- The death of Aurangzeb in 1707 began the decline of the Mughal Empire; the later Mughals were weak and often controlled by their nobles.
- The major causes of decline were Aurangzeb's Deccan wars and religious policy, the lack of a law of succession, weak successors, quarrels among the nobles, the jagir crisis and peasant revolts, a weak army, the vast size of the empire, and foreign invasions.
- Nadir Shah plundered Delhi in 1739, and Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India several times and defeated the Marathas at Panipat in 1761.
- Regional kingdoms rose as Mughal power weakened; most still respected the emperor in name but ruled on their own.
- Hyderabad, Awadh and Bengal were founded by Mughal governors: Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, Saadat Khan and Murshid Quli Khan.
- The Rajput states won back their freedom; Sawai Jai Singh founded Jaipur and built observatories.
- The Sikhs, organised in the Khalsa and later in misls, took control of the Punjab; Ranjit Singh captured Lahore in 1799.
- In Mysore, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan built a modern army and fought the English East India Company; Tipu died at Srirangapatna in 1799.
- Under the Peshwas, the Marathas became the strongest power in India, collecting chauth and sardeshmukhi, until their defeat at the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761.
Questions answered
In which year did Aurangzeb die, and why is that year important?
Aurangzeb died in 1707. Historians treat his death as the start of the decline of the Mughal Empire, because the later Mughals could not hold the empire together.
Who were the later Mughals? Name two of them.
The later Mughals were the Mughal emperors who ruled after Aurangzeb. Two of them were Bahadur Shah I and Muhammad Shah (also Farrukhsiyar or Shah Alam II).
Why did the lack of a law of succession weaken the Mughal Empire?
Every prince believed he had a right to the throne, so each emperor's death led to a war among his sons. These wars wasted money, killed soldiers and divided the nobles.
Give two ways in which the jagir system added to the decline of the empire.
There was not enough land to give jagirs to all the nobles, which caused quarrels. Jagirdars also squeezed the peasants for revenue, which led to peasant flight and revolts.
What did Nadir Shah take from Delhi in 1739?
He took a vast amount of wealth, including the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
Name the three regional kingdoms founded by Mughal governors, and the founder of each.
Hyderabad was founded by Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, Awadh by Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk, and Bengal by Murshid Quli Khan.
What was a misl?
A misl was a band of Sikh fighters under its own chief, which controlled a particular area of the Punjab.
State three achievements of Tipu Sultan.
He built a modern army that used rockets, introduced a new calendar, coins and weights and measures, and encouraged the silk industry and foreign trade.