Mughal Decline After Aurangzeb

It began with a war between Aurangzeb’s sons. Aurangzeb died in 1707. Soon his sons met in battle. The winner took the throne, but the empire never got back its old strength.

Did Aurangzeb name an heir?

He named no single heir, but he did leave a plan. The historian William Irvine records a will. It split the empire among his sons. Irvine thinks the will is real, because it matches what Aurangzeb did while alive.

• Agra side: one son would take Agra, the Deccan provinces, Malwa and Gujarat.
• Delhi side: another son would take Delhi, Kabul and the rest.
• Kam Bakhsh: the fifth son would keep Bijapur and Hyderabad.

Some books say he died with no named heir. That is not quite right. He left a plan to share the empire, and his sons ignored it.

Who won the war of succession?

Muhammad Muazzam won it. Three sons were left to claim the throne when their father died. Muazzam celebrated his accession in the Panjab. He took the name Bahadur Shah.

He then met his brother Azam Shah in battle at Jajau. Azam Shah was killed there. Later, Kam Bakhsh was also beaten and died.

• Date: June 1707. Irvine gives 18 June in one place.
• A small clash of dates: another passage says the 20th was picked as a lucky day to fight.

Why did this war matter?

It set a pattern for the years ahead. After Aurangzeb, no powerful Mughal ruler came again. The emperors still mattered as symbols. But governors, called subadars, and big landlords began to build their own kingdoms. Delhi could no longer work as a real centre.

They used their troops and high posts to pick who sat on the throne. For a few years, they were the real power in Delhi. The emperors were their puppets.

Who were the Sayyid brothers?

They were two nobles: Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan. They came from a family of Sayyids. At Jajau they fought for Bahadur Shah in the front line. A third brother was killed on that field.

How did they make Farrukhsiyar emperor?

They backed the prince Farrukhsiyar against Jahandar Shah. Jahandar Shah had been crowned after Bahadur Shah. Husain Ali joined Farrukhsiyar first. Abdullah then quarrelled with Jahandar and joined too.

Their army met Jahandar near Agra in January 1713. Jahandar was routed. Farrukhsiyar became emperor.

• Reward: Abdullah Khan became chief minister.
• Trap: the brothers raised Farrukhsiyar, not Jahandar Shah.

Why did they turn on Farrukhsiyar?

The brothers and the emperor could not share power. Husain Ali came to Delhi with a Maratha army in his train.

He had made a deal with the Maratha king Shahu. Shahu would get chauth, one-fourth of the Deccan’s revenue. Husain Ali also hired Maratha soldiers at one rupee a day each.

How did Farrukhsiyar fall?

The brothers deposed him in February 1719. He was dragged out of the harem. Then he was blinded and locked up. Later he was put to death. His body showed that he had been strangled.

The Maratha troops came as Husain Ali’s allies. They did not depose the emperor on their own. In fact, Mughals and townspeople in Delhi attacked those Maratha allies.

Who came next?

Puppet princes followed in quick turn. In September 1719, Roshan Akhtar was brought to the brothers’ camp. He took the name Muhammad Shah.

How did the brothers fall?

Their enemies struck back soon after. Husain Ali lost his life first. Then the emperor’s troops charged, and Abdullah Khan was captured.

They kept the emperor’s name but stopped taking his orders. The best example is the Nizam of the Deccan. Bengal and the Marathas show the same trend.

Who was the Nizam?

He was a noble named Chin Qilich Khan. He later held the title Nizam-ul-Mulk. Still later he was styled Asaf Jah. All three names point to one man.

What happened at Shakar Kheda?

The Nizam won a battle that freed him from Delhi’s control. He fought Mubariz Khan at Shakar Kheda on 11 October 1724.

Mubariz Khan died there, along with 33 of his chief men. Irvine dates the Nizam’s real independence from this battle. He also calls it the start of the Hyderabad state.

Did the Nizam crown himself?

No. He ruled like a king but kept a few signs of loyalty. He held back from three royal rights:

• Umbrella: he did not use the scarlet royal umbrella.
• Prayer: he did not have the Friday prayer read in his own name.
• Coins: he did not strike coins with his own name.

Yet he gave out posts, ranks and titles in the Deccan on his own. He once said, “May throne and umbrella bring good fortune to him who holds them!”

When did he become Asaf Jah?

Later than many books say. Some books and quiz notes link the title to 1724. Irvine puts it at Delhi, after the Nizam arrived there in July 1737.

What about Bengal?

Bengal’s nawabs also grew strong after Aurangzeb died. Murshid Quli Khan was followed by Alivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah. Each was a strong ruler.

• Trade: they refused the Company many favours.
• Coins: they denied it any right to mint coins.
• Forts: they stopped it from building more forts.

Where did the Marathas fit in?

They grew stronger as Delhi grew weaker. Irvine says they pushed further into Hindustan year by year. By the end of the 1700s, they were masters of what was left of the empire, in all but name.

It showed the world how weak Delhi had become. Nadir Shah, the ruler of Persia, beat the Mughal army in a few hours. He then looted Delhi and took the lands west of the Indus.

Which side had the bigger army?

The Indian side was slow and divided. It also dragged a huge crowd of people who did not fight.

• Persians: one writer put Nadir’s army at Karnal at 55,000 horsemen. Nadir had left Persia with 80,000 troops.
• Indians: Irvine thinks the fighting force could not have been more than 75,000 men.

So be careful with any question that says one side had a much larger army.

What happened at Karnal?

The Mughal army lost in less than three hours. The battle was fought at Karnal on 24 February 1739. It began at the time of the midday prayer. It was over by the afternoon prayer.

• Indian dead: Irvine accepts a report of about 8,000 slain.
• A bigger claim: Nadir’s court historian gave 30,000 soldiers slain. Irvine calls this figure exaggerated.
• Persian dead: about 2,500, according to the traveller Hanway.

After the battle, Emperor Muhammad Shah was taken to Nadir’s tent. He became a captive there, with a guard placed over him.

What happened in Delhi in March 1739?

A rising against the Persians led to a terrible massacre. On 22 March 1739, Nadir rode to the Golden Mosque in the middle of Chandni Chowk. He ordered his men to attack.

The killing began at about 9 in the morning. It went on until about 2 in the afternoon. Then Muhammad Shah sent the Nizam and his wazir to beg Nadir to stop. Nadir agreed.

How many died? Reports differ a great deal. Irvine lists counts of 8,000, 20,000 and 30,000. He calls about 20,000 the most likely number. He treats the far bigger figures as bazaar rumours.

What did Nadir take away?

He took the emperor’s crown jewels and a large slice of land.

• Koh-i-Noor: the famous diamond.
• Peacock Throne: Shah Jahan’s throne, which had cost 2 crore rupees.
• Land: Muhammad Shah gave up the provinces west of the Indus, from Kashmir to Sindh. He added the province of Thatta.

These lands west of the Indus, and Afghanistan, were lost to Babur’s heirs for good.

Why do some books give other dates?

Irvine prints these dates in the old calendar. He gives 13 February for Karnal and 11 March for the massacre. In today’s calendar, they are 24 February and 22 March 1739.

Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan ruler, raided north India again and again. In 1761 he crushed the Marathas at Panipat. After that, Delhi was run by a strongman, not by its emperor.

How many times did Abdali invade?

Again and again, but books count the raids in different ways. Sarkar calls the January 1757 raid his fourth invasion. The raid that ended in March 1761 was his fifth. His last came at the start of 1767.

Books differ on the count. Do not lean on one number. Learn the big raids and their dates.

What happened at Panipat?

The Third Battle of Panipat was fought on 14 January 1761. Abdali won, and the Marathas suffered a disaster. Sarkar says no Maratha chief had been posted to guard the north-west border.

The Maratha losses were huge. Sarkar says the disaster cost them the Peshwa, Balaji Rao. It also took away his son Vishwas Rao and his minister Sadashiv Rao Bhau. Two weeks after the battle, on 29 January, Abdali entered Delhi.

Did Abdali refuse to accept Shah Alam II?

No. The truth is the opposite. Before he left, Abdali said Shah Alam II should be accepted as emperor. He also wanted Imad made wazir again and Najib made Mir Bakhshi.

Who ran Delhi without an emperor?

Najib Khan did. He became the real master of Delhi. He held that grip until his death on 31 October 1770.

Shah Alam II had been declared emperor in Delhi on 10 October 1760, by Sadashiv Rao Bhau. But Shah Alam did not ride into Delhi as ruler until 6 January 1772. For over eleven years, the capital had no emperor living in it.

It won two battles and then took the right to Bengal’s revenue. The emperor kept his title. The East India Company took the money.

What happened at Plassey?

The Company won Bengal through a betrayal at Plassey. Sirajuddaulah became nawab of Bengal in 1756, when Alivardi Khan died. In 1757, Robert Clive led the Company’s army against him at Plassey.

• The traitor: Mir Jafar, one of the nawab’s commanders, never fought.
• The deal: Clive had promised to make Mir Jafar nawab.
• The result: Sirajuddaulah was killed, and Mir Jafar became nawab.

What happened at Buxar?

The Company beat the combined army at Buxar in October 1764. Sarkar gives the day as 23 October.

• Mir Qasim: a nawab of Bengal whom the English had removed.
• Shah Alam II: Mir Qasim paid him 10 lakhs for his support in February 1764.
• Shuja-ud-daula: the emperor’s wazir, who ruled Awadh. He got 17 lakhs.

After the battle, Shuja left the emperor on his own. Shah Alam II took shelter with the English. They lodged him in Allahabad fort.

What did the Treaty of Allahabad say?

It was signed on 16 August 1765. It shared out land and money like this:

• Awadh: given back to Shuja-ud-daula, except Chunar.
• Payment: Shuja agreed to pay the English fifty lakh rupees.
• The emperor: got Kora and Allahabad, worth about 28 lakhs a year.
• Tribute: he was also promised 26 lakhs a year from Bengal.
• Benares: with Ghazipur, it stayed with Raja Balwant Singh’s family.

What was the Diwani?

The Diwani let the Company use Bengal’s vast revenue. The emperor granted it by a royal order on 12 August 1765. It covered Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Here, Orissa meant only the Midnapur district.

Before this, the Company bought Indian goods with gold and silver from Britain. After Plassey that flow slowed. After the Diwani it stopped. Clive put it simply: “We must indeed become nawabs ourselves.”

How did the story end?

The empire shrank to a name, and then even the name ended. In 1856, Governor-General Canning decided that Bahadur Shah Zafar would be the last Mughal king.

In 1857, rebel soldiers forced their way into his palace. They made him their leader. The British took Delhi back in September 1857.

• Trial: he was tried and given life in prison.
• Exile: in October 1858, he and his wife, Begum Zinat Mahal, were sent to Rangoon.
• Death: he died in the Rangoon jail in November 1862.

Why did the empire fall apart?

No single cause explains it. Each blow made the next one easier.

1. Sons at war: the 1707 war split the court.
2. Kingmakers: the Sayyids made emperors into puppets.
3. Governors: the Nizam and Bengal’s nawabs ruled on their own.
4. Marathas: they took chauth and pushed north.
5. Invaders: Nadir Shah and Abdali drained Delhi.
6. The Company: it took Bengal’s revenue with the Diwani.

Exams test the people, the deals and the treaties. Here are six real past questions, newest first.

The answer is (d), Chin Qilich Khan. He ruled the Deccan on his own after Shakar Kheda in 1724. Irvine dates the title Asaf Jah to 1737. The stem joins both titles, so learn them as one man.

The site’s key gives (c). This is the deal Husain Ali made with Shahu. Shahu got chauth, a quarter of the Deccan’s revenue. Maratha troops then came north with Husain Ali.

The site’s key gives (c), Ghulam Husain. Link the book’s name to its author, and Plassey to 1757.

The site’s key gives (d), Saadat Khan. Watch the near-twin option, Saadat Ali Khan. Shuja-ud-daula is the Awadh ruler who fought at Buxar.

The answer is (d). Benares stayed with Raja Balwant Singh’s family. Only Kora and Allahabad went to Shah Alam II. The other three statements match the sources.

The answer is (a). The Sayyids backed Farrukhsiyar against Jahandar Shah. They also held real power and made a deal with Shahu.

Where do the sources disagree?

What traps should you watch for?

1. One man, three names. Chin Qilich Khan, Nizam-ul-Mulk and Asaf Jah are the same person.
2. Wrong prince. The Sayyids raised Farrukhsiyar, not Jahandar Shah.
3. Benares. It did not go to the emperor in 1765.
4. Karnal. The Indian army was slow and divided.
5. Abdali. He asked that Shah Alam II be accepted as emperor.