Saturday, January 17, 2009

UCLES - O LEVEL - PAKISTAN STUDIES PAPER - I (SECTION I)

DECLINE OF MUSLIM RULE IN INDIA

 

Aurangzeb died in 1707 A.D. leaving behind an empire that was unstable and threatened by various elements that were striving hard to overthrow Mughals. Aurangzeb’s death helped their cause and there was nobody as strong, capable, and determined as Aurangzeb had been. The Mughal downfall set in as soon as Aurangzeb was laid to rest. He was blamed for being strict and harsh with Hindus for demolishing their temples and throwing them out of the government. The re-imposition of Jizya is also said to have turned Hindus and other non-Muslim communities against the Mughal rule.

 

The Mughal Empire, area wise, had reached its peak under Aurangzeb. There was no proper communication system available to hold such a vast empire together. There was rebellion in the south if the court was in the north and vice versa. Both Bijapur and Golkanda, two big states in the south, had surrendered to the Mughal emperor by 1687. The last 26 years of Aurangzeb’s rule were devoted to his haughty wars in the Deccan. The Deccan campaign, both physically and materially, had cost the Mughal Empire very heavily. It had given the empire nothing but a stalemate situation where victories overlapped defeats. Aurangzeb spent this time in the Deccan together with his court, which he moved there. The Marathas continued to fight against Aurangzeb for some time even after he had realized the futility of such a campaign.

 

Another blunder that he had committed was by keeping his sons away from the royal court. None of his sons was trained in the art of government; a fact that was to prove death knell for the Mughals. The eldest living son, Muazzam, was 63 when Aurangzeb died. He proclaimed himself emperor but so did his brothers, Azam and Kam Baksh. Thus Muazzam, who had ascended the throne as Bahadur Shah, was to be kept busy for the first three years of his brief five-year rule in fighting off his brothers. He did his best to keep peace with the Hindus but proved unsuccessful. The Sikhs, who had risen as a potent military force during Aurangzeb’s rule, continued to make trouble for the Mughals. Banda Bahadur very successfully detached Punjab from the crumbling Mughal Empire. Bahadur Shah’s death in 1712 ensued bloody and bitter wars of succession in the absence of a proper law of succession.

 

The royal court had become a hotbed of intrigues by the time of Muhammad Shah Rangila who was known for his devotion to just music and dancing. The condition of the empire went from bad to worse. Usurpers and rebels increased, adventurers rose to gain momentary control and disappeared having made their temporary marks. South India soon emerged independent of Mughal power. The Nawabs ruling far-flung areas of the empire started detaching themselves from the Mughal rule to establish their independent dynasties. They would soon turn rebellious and defy Mughal authority over them. The Mughal emperor sitting at Delhi, thousands of miles away, always found it impossible to keep a check on these Nawabs and to send his army incase of a rebellion.

 

A powerful Persian general, Nadir Shah, ascended the Persian throne in 1736. He asked Muhammad Shah to join him in crushing Afghanistan. Muhammad Shah had to deal with Marathas who were now attacking the limits of the Mughal capital. They had emerged as the most threatening of the rising non-Muslim communities in India. Nadir Shah after conquering Kabul and Kandhar did not wait long to invade India. He reached Delhi unchecked in 1739. He literally sacked Delhi slaughtering more than 30,000 people. The Mughals were not only defeated but also deprived of all their wealth. Ahmad Shah Abdali who soon set his eyes on the remaining riches of the Mughal Empire succeeded Nadir Shah. In his third attempt, he managed reaching the mainland of India and fought against Marathas at the historic battlefield of Panipat in 1761. With the crushing defeat of Marathas at the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdali, Muslims at last got a timely sigh of relief.

 

The Europeans, who had come to India in the guise of traders, were a strong military force. They kept increasing their areas of influence by engaging themselves in warfare. They were apparently trying to secure trading rights for themselves but in reality their commercial ventures had assumed a political character. They very successfully won the battles at Plassey and at Buxar. These successes were key to British conquest of India. They took not just political control of India but economic as well. Military efficiency, which had always been a remarkable feature of the Mughals, became a remote memory. There was degeneration in discipline, want of cohesion, luxurious habits, inactivity, poor training and outdated equipment. There was no patriotism in the army, the soldiers and officers identifying with different ethnic regions, Persian, Central Asian, Afghan, rather than Indian. The financial position of the Mughal Empire was poor; the repeated wars of succession, rebellions and luxurious style of living had depleted the once overflowing treasury. Revenue collection was forced, taxes were raised to such an extent that the farmers had to give up their lands to escape taxation.

 

Page 2

The empire had reached such vastness that it had become impossible for one emperor to control the whole area. It extended from Assam to Afghanistan and from Kashmir to Mysore. Rebellions could only be tackled with by the personal campaigns of the emperor and would breakout whenever the emperor was busy quelling another. Many important provinces of the empire such as the Deccan, Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa declared independence.

 

The Mughals had no navy worth mentioning. The small ships that patrolled the coasts were not part of a regular naval force and were no match to the well-equipped ships of the foreign invaders. The Dutch, the Portuguese, the British, and the French took advantage of this deficiency of the Mughals and established themselves through their naval presence. The Dutch and the Portuguese did not really pose a threat to the Mughal Empire, being satisfied with their smallholdings. On the other hand, the French and the British who had come to trade in India realized the possibilities and used their naval power to great advantage. Much had already been lost by the time Mughals realized the need to maintain a navy.

 

No one can deny the development of art, music, culture and architecture under the Mughals. But the intellectual stagnation that marred the empire is a reality in its own. Indians failed to keep pace with the changing times as far as development of sciences and technology is concerned. There was no interaction with other nations of the world and as a result Indians were found wanting as far as science and technology are concerned. No industrialization took place. India continued with its agricultural outlook sticking to centuries old methods and techniques even in this field.

 

Absence of a law of succession appears to be the most lethal of the causes for the decline of Mughal rule in India when one closely examines all the causes. There was never a law of succession and the throne would pass to the strongest claimant. It caused bitterness, bloodshed, heavy burden on royal treasury and loss of prestige. It gave rise to rivalries and disunity among the courtiers and nobility.

 

Another very important reason was the rise of non-Muslim communities in different parts of India. This development went ahead unchecked as the nobility and the Mughal officers had gone lazy and extravagant. They were often found seeking pleasure with the ladies of their palaces in the gardens instead of taking care of their official duties. They had started losing interest in sitting on horseback for hours and showing their mettle in the battlefields. The death of one of their pets or betrayal by any of their beloveds was more dejecting to them than a defeat on a frontier.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                    (Shamsul Arifin)

                                                                                                                                      0300 5555-338

 

Was the in fighting between Aurangzeb’s successors the most important reason for the collapse of the Mughal Empire? Explain your answer.                                                                                                                                                                            (14)

                                                                                                                                                                                 (October/November 2001)

 

Briefly explain THREE reasons for the decline of the Mughal Empire.                                                                               (7)

                                                                                                                                                                                                  (May/June 2002)

 

“Aurangzeb’s successors failed to live up to his courageous and determined personality.” Was this the most important reason for the decline of the Mughal Empire? Give reasons for your answer.                                                            (14)

                                                                                                                                                                                 (October/November 2003)

 

Were the weak and greedy characteristics of Aurangzeb’s successors the most important reason for the collapse of the Mughal Empire? Explain your answer.                                                                                                                                                    (14)

                                                                                                                                                                              (October/ November 2005)

 

Explain why the Mughal Empire declined following the reign of Aurangzeb.                                                                                     (7)

                                                                                                                                                                                                 (May/ June 2006)

 

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment