Theme 1Part A · The British conquest
The Mughal decline and the regional powers
1707 to 1761 · from the death of Aurangzeb to the Third Battle of Panipat
In 1707 one emperor ruled almost all of India. By 1761 a dozen powers held it between them, two foreign invaders had sacked Delhi, and none of the Indian powers was strong enough to hold the rest. This theme follows six events that made that map. Tap a row to jump to it.
Event 11707 to 1748
Aurangzeb dies and the empire hollows out
Aurangzeb died at Ahmednagar on 3 March 1707, aged 88, after 26 years of war in the Deccan. The empire he left was the largest the Mughals ever held, and within forty years its emperor ruled little beyond Delhi.
A throne that kept changing hands
1526 to 17076 emperors in 181 years
about 30 years each
1707 to 17598 emperors in 52 years
about 6 years each
Four of the eight emperors after Aurangzeb were killed or blinded by their own nobles (✕). The grey band is what later themes take up.
The reigns that matter for the exam
- Bahadur Shah I (1707 to 1712) wins the succession war at Jajau and follows a policy of conciliation towards the Rajputs and the Marathas.
- Jahandar Shah (1712 to 1713) abolishes the jizya, but is killed within a year.
- Farrukhsiyar (1713 to 1719) issues the farman of 1717: the English Company may trade in Bengal free of duty for ₹3,000 a year. Its misuse leads straight to Plassey.
- Muhammad Shah "Rangila" (1719 to 1748) reigns for 29 years while Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad slip away and Nadir Shah sacks Delhi.
The kingmakers
The Sayyid brothers, Abdullah Khan (wazir) and Husain Ali Khan (mir bakhshi), placed four emperors on the throne between 1713 and 1719 and deposed one of them.
- Farrukhsiyar1713, then blinded and killed 1719
- Rafi ud Darajat1719, three months
- Rafi ud Daula1719, three months
- Muhammad Shah1719, who turned on them
Muhammad Shah, helped by Nizam ul Mulk, had Husain Ali killed in 1720 and defeated Abdullah at Hasanpur. The lesson for every noble was plain: the emperor could be made and unmade.
Why the empire declined
Inside the empire
26 years of war against Bijapur, Golconda and the Marathas emptied the treasury and kept the emperor away from the north.
More mansabdars than land to give them (be jagiri). Jagirdars squeezed peasants, revenue was farmed out, and the nobles fought over the best jagirs.
Every death meant a war among princes, and the winner owed his throne to nobles who then ran him.
Turani, Irani and Hindustani groups pulled the court apart; governors looked after their provinces, not Delhi.
Aurangzeb reimposed the jizya (1679), ordered major temples destroyed, among them Kashi Vishwanath and Keshava Rai at Mathura (1669 to 1670), and had the ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur executed (1675). It cost him the loyalty of Rajputs, Sikhs, Jats and Marathas. Historians differ on motive: Jadunath Sarkar saw bigotry, Satish Chandra mainly political calculation.
The Jats (1669), Satnamis (1672), Rathor Rajputs after his attempt to annex Marwar (1679), the Sikhs and above all the Marathas fought for land, faith and autonomy.
From outside
Nadir Shah (1739) and Abdali (1748 to 1767) took the wealth and the prestige that held the nobles together.
The empire had no navy. European companies grew rich on the coasts, out of Delhi's reach.
Event 21738 to 1739
Nadir Shah sacks Delhi
A Turkman soldier who had made himself Shah of Persia marched on India for its wealth. Delhi's weakness was now visible to the whole world.
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
Nadir Shah, who had made himself Shah of Persia in 1736, takes Kandahar (March 1738) and then Kabul (June 1738), a Mughal province. Delhi sends no help: the governor of Kabul had not been paid for years.
He crosses the Khyber Pass, takes Peshawar and enters Lahore almost unopposed. Its governor, Zakariya Khan, pays and submits. The road to Delhi lies open.
At Karnal (24 February 1739) the Mughal army is routed in about three hours. Muhammad Shah submits, and Nadir enters Delhi on 20 March. After a riot kills some Persian soldiers he orders a massacre on 22 March: perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 people die in a day.
Nadir leaves with the Peacock Throne, the Koh i Noor and the treasury, and makes the emperor cede all territory west of the Indus. Kabul is lost for good, so the northwest frontier now lies open to the next invader, his own general Ahmad Shah Abdali.
What Delhi lost
- Nadir ShahShah of Persia from 1736
- Muhammad Shahemperor who submitted at Karnal
- Saadat KhanAwadh governor, taken prisoner at Karnal
- Nizam ul Mulknegotiated the ransom
Event 31717 to 1740
Governors become dynasties: the successor states
Three Mughal governors made their posts hereditary. They never declared independence; they simply stopped taking orders.
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
Murshid Quli Khan, diwan since 1700, becomes nazim (governor) in 1717 and runs Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from Murshidabad. He keeps sending the tribute to Delhi but appoints, collects and fights on his own.
Saadat Khan Burhan ul Mulk is made governor of Awadh in 1722 and turns it into a family holding. His nephew Safdar Jang becomes the emperor's wazir, so Awadh rules from inside the court as well.
Nizam ul Mulk Chin Qilich Khan defeats the emperor's own governor, Mubariz Khan, at Shakar Kheda (1724) and takes the Deccan. The emperor accepts it and gives him the title Asaf Jah. The Nawab of the Carnatic at Arcot is nominally his deputy.
Three provinces are now dynasties. Each still issues coins and reads the khutba in the emperor's name, but the emperor rules only the country around Delhi and Agra.
| Bengal | Awadh | Hyderabad | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founder | Murshid Quli Khan | Saadat Khan Burhan ul Mulk | Nizam ul Mulk Asaf Jah |
| Became hereditary | 1717 | 1722 | 1724 |
| Capital | Murshidabad (moved from Dhaka) | Faizabad, later Lucknow | Aurangabad, later Hyderabad |
| Signature move | Revenue farming (ijaradari) and loans (taqavi) to peasants; jagirs turned into khalisa land | New revenue settlement; Safdar Jang made wazir, so the family ran Delhi too | Defeated the emperor's own man at Shakar Kheda; kept the Mughal forms of government |
| Later rulers | Alivardi Khan (1740, after Giria); Siraj ud Daula (1756) | Safdar Jang; Shuja ud Daula (1754) | Succession war after 1748 drew in the French and the English |
| Next theme | Plassey 1757, Buxar 1764 | Buxar 1764 | The Carnatic Wars |
Three kinds of eighteenth century state
Successor states
Mughal provinces whose governors became rulers
BengalAwadhHyderabad
Rebel states
Born out of revolt against Mughal rule
MarathasSikhsJatsRohillas
Independent kingdoms
Old or outlying states that simply stopped obeying
RajputsMysoreTravancore
Event 41707 to 1758
The Marathas under the Peshwas
Within fifty years the Marathas went from a kingdom fighting for survival in the Western Ghats to the largest power in India. The men who led that drive were not the Chhatrapatis but their chief ministers, the Peshwas.
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
Freed by the Mughals in 1707, Shahu beats his aunt Tarabai at Khed and is crowned at Satara. His Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath marches to Delhi with the Sayyid brothers (1719) and comes back with the right to collect chauth and sardeshmukhi from the six Mughal provinces of the Deccan.
Baji Rao I carries the war north of the Narmada: he defeats the Nizam at Palkhed (1728), takes Malwa, Gujarat and Bundelkhand, raids the outskirts of Delhi (1737) and beats the Mughals at Bhopal (1738). His brother Chimaji Appa takes Bassein from the Portuguese (1739).
Under Balaji Baji Rao (Nana Saheb), Raghuji Bhonsle of Nagpur raids Bengal year after year (the bargi raids) until Alivardi Khan cedes Orissa and pays chauth (1751). By the Ahmadiya treaty (1752) the Marathas promise to protect the emperor.
Raghunath Rao drives Abdali's men out of Delhi (1757), takes Sirhind and Lahore (April 1758) and reaches Attock on the Indus. The Maratha flag flies from the Indus to Bengal, but Punjab is held thinly and the Afghans will be back.
Glows show reach and tribute, not fixed borders. The five capitals marked from phase 2 are the seats of the Maratha confederacy.
Three Peshwas, three steps
- Balaji Vishwanath1713 to 1720Wins Shahu's civil war; the 1719 Delhi grant gives the Marathas legal rights over Mughal revenue in the Deccan.
- Baji Rao I1720 to 1740Never lost a battle. Takes the war north: Palkhed, Malwa, Gujarat, the Delhi raid, Bhopal.
- Balaji Baji Rao1740 to 1761After Shahu dies (1749) the Peshwa is the real ruler and Pune the real capital. Peak at Attock (1758), ruin at Panipat (1761).
How the Marathas collected
The confederacy
- PeshwaPune
- GaekwadBaroda
- HolkarIndore
- ScindiaUjjain, later Gwalior
- BhonsleNagpur
Each chief raised his own army and kept his own revenue. The system conquered fast but rarely acted as one.
Event 51710 to 1761
Rebels and old kingdoms go their own way
Away from the big three successor states, a dozen smaller powers carved out space. Most of them would fight the British later, so place them now.
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
Sent north by Guru Gobind Singh, Banda Bahadur raises the peasants of Punjab, kills the governor Wazir Khan at Chappar Chiri and takes Sirhind (1710). He rules from Lohgarh, strikes coins in the Gurus' name and gives land to those who till it. Besieged at Gurdas Nangal, he is taken (1715) and executed in Delhi (1716).
The Jat peasants round Mathura, in revolt since 1669, become a state under Churaman and Badan Singh. Suraj Mal builds the fortress palace of Deeg, rules from Bharatpur and takes Agra in 1761.
Afghan soldiers settle east of the Ganga: Ali Muhammad Khan founds Rohilkhand (Bareilly) and Muhammad Khan Bangash rules from Farrukhabad. Najib ud Daula of Najibabad becomes Abdali's ally.
After Banda the Sikhs regroup into the Dal Khalsa (1748) and twelve misls, collecting rakhi from villages they protect and fighting Abdali for Punjab. Ranjit Singh of the Sukerchakia misl will unite them at Lahore in 1799.
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
Older kingdoms simply stop obeying: the Rajput houses of Amber, Marwar and Mewar; Mysore, where Haidar Ali is master by 1761; and Travancore, which Martanda Varma builds into a strong state, beating the Dutch at Colachel (1741).
Sikhs
- Banda Bahadur takes Sirhind (1710), strikes coins and abolishes zamindari in the land he holds; captured at Gurdas Nangal and executed in Delhi (1716).
- From 1748 the Dal Khalsa and twelve misls share Punjab, collecting rakhi (protection money). Ranjit Singh of the Sukerchakia misl unites them (Lahore, 1799).
Jats
- Peasant revolts round Mathura since 1669 grow into a state under Churaman and Badan Singh.
- Suraj Mal of Bharatpur, called the Plato of the Jats, builds Deeg and takes Agra (1761).
Rohillas and Bangash
- Afghan settlers under Ali Muhammad Khan found Rohilkhand (Bareilly); Najib ud Daula becomes Abdali's man at Delhi.
- Muhammad Khan Bangash rules from Farrukhabad.
Rajputs
- Sawai Jai Singh of Amber founds Jaipur (1727) and builds five Jantar Mantar observatories: Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi.
- Feuds among the houses later let the Marathas in.
Mysore
- The Wodeyar kings lose real power to their ministers.
- Haidar Ali, a soldier who set up an arsenal at Dindigul with French help (1755), is master of Mysore by 1761.
Travancore
- Martanda Varma (1729 to 1758) beats the Dutch at Colachel (1741) and checks Dutch ambitions in Kerala.
- In 1750 he dedicates the kingdom to Padmanabha (Thrippadidanam) and rules as its servant.
Event 61748 to 1761
Abdali and the Third Battle of Panipat
Two outside powers, the Marathas from the south and the Afghans from the northwest, met in the Mughal heartland to decide who would inherit north India. Neither did.
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani), crowned at Kandahar in 1747, invades again and again. A Mughal army turns him back at Manupur (1748), but by 1752 Punjab is his. In 1757 he sacks Delhi and Mathura and leaves Najib ud Daula, a Rohilla, to guard his interests at Delhi.
After Raghunath Rao's push to Attock, Abdali returns. He kills Dattaji Scindia at Barari Ghat (January 1760) and camps at Anupshahr in the Doab, where Shuja ud Daula of Awadh joins him. Sadashivrao Bhau leaves Pune in March 1760, takes Delhi in August and storms Kunjpura in October.
Abdali's invasions
- 1748repulsed at Manupur
- 1749Punjab pays tribute
- 1752Punjab ceded
- 1756 to 1757Delhi, Mathura sacked
- 1759 to 1761Panipat
- 1764against the Sikhs
- 1767against the Sikhs
The Panipat campaign, close up
- 117 Oct 1760
From Delhi, Bhau marches north and storms Kunjpura, an Afghan post full of grain. It is the last Maratha success.
- 225 to 27 Oct 1760
Abdali crosses the Yamuna near Baghpat and marches north past Sonipat, putting himself between the Marathas and Delhi.
- 3Nov 1760 to Jan 1761
Bhau digs in at Panipat; Abdali camps to the south. Afghan and Rohilla horse cut every supply line and the crowded camp starves.
- 414 Jan 1761
The Marathas march out to break through. Winning by midday, they are broken after 2 pm when Abdali throws in his fresh reserve.
The battle, 14 January 1761
Schematic, not to scale. Around 2 pm Vishwasrao was shot; Bhau went in after him and was killed; Holkar and Scindia's wing gave way. Ibrahim Khan Gardi was captured and executed.
Why the Marathas lost
No allies. Rajputs, Jats and Sikhs had been squeezed for chauth; Suraj Mal left the camp after quarrelling with Bhau. Abdali had Najib and Shuja.
Cut off. With Abdali between them and Delhi, the camp starved for two months.
A camp full of non fighters. Families and tens of thousands of pilgrims slowed every move.
Tactics. Bhau mixed Gardi's drilled infantry with the old light cavalry; Abdali kept a fresh reserve and used camel guns (zamburak).
What followed
- 1761 Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao dies within months of the news.
- 1761 to 1772 Madhavrao I rebuilds Maratha power.
- 1771 to 1772 Mahadji Scindia escorts Shah Alam II back to Delhi.
- 1764 but meanwhile the English win at Buxar, with no Maratha army in the north to stop them.
Where we stand1761
India after Panipat
Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.
The map after Panipat: no single power can claim India. The Marathas are wounded but still the largest; the successor states are rich but defenceless; and three small European settlements on the coast are about to matter more than all of them.
Who's who22 people
People
Bahadur Shah I
1707 to 1712
Last emperor with real authority; conciliated Marathas and Rajputs.
Farrukhsiyar
1713 to 1719
Farman of 1717 to the English Company.
Sayyid brothers
kingmakers
Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan, who made and unmade emperors.
Muhammad Shah
1719 to 1748
Rangila; reigned while the provinces broke away; submitted to Nadir Shah.
Murshid Quli Khan
Bengal
Moved the capital to Murshidabad; ijaradari and taqavi.
Alivardi Khan
Bengal
Seized Bengal at Giria (1740); bought peace from the Marathas (1751).
Saadat Khan
Awadh
Founded the Awadh line (1722); captured at Karnal.
Nizam ul Mulk
Hyderabad
Asaf Jah; Shakar Kheda (1724); defeated by Baji Rao at Palkhed.
Shahu
Chhatrapati
Released in 1707; ruled from Satara through his Peshwas.
Balaji Vishwanath
Peshwa
The 1719 grant of chauth and sardeshmukhi.
Baji Rao I
Peshwa
Palkhed, Malwa, the Delhi raid, Bhopal.
Balaji Baji Rao
Peshwa
Nana Saheb; Ahmadiya treaty, Attock, Panipat.
Sadashivrao Bhau
commander
Led the Marathas at Panipat and died there.
Ibrahim Khan Gardi
artillery
French trained gunner on the Maratha left at Panipat.
Nadir Shah
Persia
Karnal 1739; took the Peacock Throne and the Koh i Noor.
Ahmad Shah Abdali
Afghanistan
Durrani founder; at least seven invasions; won Panipat.
Najib ud Daula
Rohilla
Abdali's ally and agent at Delhi.
Banda Bahadur
Sikh
Took Sirhind (1710); executed 1716.
Suraj Mal
Jat
Bharatpur; took Agra in 1761.
Sawai Jai Singh
Amber
Founded Jaipur; built the Jantar Mantars.
Martanda Varma
Travancore
Beat the Dutch at Colachel (1741).
Haidar Ali
Mysore
Master of Mysore by 1761.
Key terms12
Terms
- Chauth
- One fourth of the land revenue, paid to the Marathas to avoid their raids.
- Sardeshmukhi
- A further tenth, claimed by the Maratha king as hereditary head deshmukh.
- Be jagiri
- Being a mansabdar without a jagir to pay you: the heart of the jagirdari crisis.
- Ijaradari
- Revenue farming: the right to collect revenue sold to the highest bidder.
- Farman of 1717
- Farrukhsiyar's order letting the English trade duty free in Bengal for ₹3,000 a year.
- Bargi
- The Bengali name for Maratha raiders, from bargir, a horseman given his mount by the state.
- Misl
- One of the twelve Sikh confederacies of the eighteenth century.
- Rakhi
- Protection money a misl collected from villages, about a fifth of the produce.
- Gardi
- Infantry trained and armed in the European way; Ibrahim Khan led them at Panipat.
- Zamburak
- A light swivel gun mounted on a camel, Abdali's answer to Maratha cavalry.
- Takht i Taus
- The Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan, carried off by Nadir Shah.
- Ahmadiya treaty
- The 1752 pact by which the Marathas undertook to protect the Mughal emperor.
Mains angleHistoriography
Was the eighteenth century a dark age?
A dark age
The older view, strongest in Jadunath Sarkar: a century of political collapse, plunder, insecure roads and cultural decay between the great Mughals and British order.
A century of regions
Later historians such as Muzaffar Alam, C. A. Bayly and P. J. Marshall show the centre weakening while regions prospered: Bengal, Awadh, Hyderabad and the Maratha lands kept Mughal methods, trade grew, and new courts patronised art and learning.
For the answer: the empire declined, but India did not. Power moved from Delhi to regional capitals; what those regions lacked was not wealth but military and political unity, and that is the gap the Company used.