UNIT 1 INDIAN POLITY, SOCIETY AND

ECONOMY IN MID 18TH CENTURY

Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 18th Century: A Dark Age?
1.3 Decline of the Mughal Empire
1.3.1 Internal Weaknesses: Struggle for Power
1.3.2 External Challenge
1.3.3 Continuity of Mughal Traditions
1.3.4 Continuity of Mughal Traditions
1.4 The Emergence of Regional Polities
1.4.1 Successor States
1.4.2 The New States
1.4.3 Independent Kingdoms
1.4.4 Weakness of Regional Polities
1.5 The Rise of British Power
1.5.1 From Trading Company to Political Power
1.5.2 Anglo-French Struggles in South India
1.5.3 Conquest of Bengal: Plassey to Buxar
1.5.4 Recorganisation of the Political System
1.6 Let Us Sum Up
1.7 Key Words
1.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

1.0 OBJECTIVES
The aim of this Unit is to introduce you to the main political developments in the
mid-18th century. Here we will present only an outline of the political map which
the following units will fill in. After reading this Unit you will become familiar
with the following themes:
 the decline of Mughal Empire,
 the emergence of Mughal provinces as regional power-Hyderabad,
Bengal and Awadh
 the rise of new states-Marathas, Jats Sikhs and Afghans,
 the history of Mysore, Rajput states and Kerala as independent
principalities, and
 the beginnings of a colonial empire.

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Our study begins around 1740 and ends in 1773. The first Carnatic war and Nadir
Shah’s invasion of India were the early landmarks. The last milestone was the
reorganisation of the political system during the tenure of the Warren Hastings.
 The decline of the Mughal Empire is the first theme. This was a long-drawn out
process to which many factors contributed. Nadir Shah’s invasion in 1739 and
the massacre of Delhi seriously weakened an already feeble Mughal Empire.
Other factors including economic crisis contributed to the empire’s decline. The
Mughal Empire did not survive but its institutions and traditions continued in the
regional states and British provinces. Mughal administrative practices, especially
in respect of land revenue, were adopted.
The second theme, the emergence of regional powers, was perhaps the most
significant. Three groups of states can be distinguished. The successor states,
Hyderabad, Awadh and Bengal were erstwhile provinces of the Mughal Empire
which broke away to become independent. The ‘new states’ were the creation of
the Marathas, Sikhs, Jats and Afghans; in this process in some of these states, an
important role was played by popular peasant movement against imperial
demands. A third category was that of the independent kingdoms of Mysore, the
Rajputs and Kerala which have sometimes been wrongly called ‘Hindu Polities’.
Why did all these regional powers fail to keep the British out? Some crucial areas
of weakness are indicated in this Unit.
The final theme taken up is the transition of the East India Company from a
trading enterprise to a political power. We shall trace this transition and resultant
conflicts in South India and Bengal.

1.2 18TH CENTURY: A DARK AGE?

Till recently the 18th century was described as a Dark Age when chaos and
anarchy ruled. The Mughal Empire collapsed, regional powers failed to establish
empires and stability returned only with the spread of British supremacy in the
late 18th Century. It suited the British writers of the Cambridge History of India,
and their Indian followers, to paint the 18th Century as black so that British rule
would show up as a blessing in comparison. Historian Jadunath Sarkar’s words in
the History of Bengal Vol. II, deserve to be quoted:
On 23rd June 1757 the Middle ages of India ended and her modern age
began in the twenty years from Plassey Warren Hastings all felt the
revivifying touch of the impetus from the west.
There are obvious problems with such a view. The Mughal Empire’s influence
was not as widespread or deep as was believed. Significant parts of India,
especially in the North East and South, remained outside it, as did many social
groups. Hence Mughal decline cannot serve as an adequate theme for discussing
changes taking place all over India. Scholars have recently argued that the
establishment of regional polities was perhaps the dominant feature of the
eighteenth century, rather than the fall and rise of all-India empires. The 18th
Century is presented by Satish Chandra, a leading historian of medieval India, as
a distinct chronological whole, rather than split into two have, pre-British and
British.
10
1.3 DECLINE OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
The first half of the eighteenth century witnessed the decline of the Mughal
Empire. By 1740, when the period of our study begins, Nadir Shah had laid waste
to Delhi. It was the Marathas, not the Mughals, who fought Abdali in 1761. By
1783 the Mughal emperor was a pensioner of the British.
1.3.1 Internal Weaknesses: Struggle for Power
Aurangzeb’s misguided policies had weakened the stable Mughal polity. But the
two main pillars on which the empire rested-the army and the administration-
were still upright in 1707. Wars of succession and weak rulers plagued Delhi
from 1707 to 1719. Muhammad Shah’s rule from 1719 to 1748 was long enough
for a revival of imperial fortunes but the complete incompetence of the emperor
ruled out this possibility.
It was in his reign that Nizam-ul-Mulk resigned as wazir and set up the
independent state of Hyderabad in 1724. Bengal, Awadh and Punjab followed the
same pattern and the empire was split up into successor states. Petty chiefs
interpreted this as a signal for rebellion and the Marathas began to make their bid
to inherit the imperial mantle.
1.3.2 External Challenge
The Persian monarch, Nadir Shah attacked India in 1738-39. Lahore was soon
conquered and the Mughal army was defeated at Karnal on 13th February 1739.
To complete the ignominy, the Mughal emperor Mohammed Shah was captured
and Delhi lay waste. The well known poets Mir and Sauda lamented the
devastation of Delhi. However, the impact of Nadir Shah’s invasion and Delhi
was not as big a setback as commonly believed. Abdali’s invasions left Delhi
worse off but by 1772 the city had revived. 70 crores of rupees were gathered
from the official treasury and the safes of the rich nobles. The Peacock Throne
and the Kohinoor diamond were the two most priced items of his loot. Nadir
Shah gained strategically crucial Mughal territory to the west of the river Indus
including Kabul. India was once more vulnerable to attacks from the North West.
Ahmad Shah Abdali gained prominence as Nadir Shah’s commander and
established his rule over Afghanistan after the death of Nadir Shah. He invaded
North India many times between 1748 and 1767. The most well known was his
victory over the Marathas in 1761 which is known as the third Battle of Panipat.
1.3.3 Decline: Some Interpretations
Our Understanding regarding the decline of the Mughal power has changed over
the decades. The traditional view, presented by Irving, Sarkar etc., highlighted
the personal failings of the emperors and the nobles, their immorality and
indulgence in luxury. Mughal rule was portrayed by Sarkar and others as Muslim
rule and Maratha, Sikh and Bundela uprisings were understood as a Hindu
reaction to Islamic onslaught.

11
 As opposed to this view point, the crisis in the Mughal economic system has been
rightly stressed by Satish Chandra and Irfan Habib. Satish Chandra has pointed to
the crisis in the Jagirdari system as the basic reason for the downfall, caused by a
shortage of jagirs and over abundance of jagirdars. Ifran Habib showed the
agrarians system becoming more exploitative as pressure on limited resources
grew. This sparked off peasant revolts which ruined imperial stability.
The New Cambridge History of India takes a completely opposite stand from
Habib. Mughal decline is seen as the result of the success of the Mughal system,
rather than its failure. It is argued, for example, that the zamindars whose
rebellions against the Mughals spelled the end of the empire, were rich not poor
farmers, backed by wealthy merchants. However, this view is yet to be
established with further evidence. The generally accepted view remains one of
economic crisis.
1.3.4 Continuity of Mughal Traditions
In sharp contrast to the rapid territorial disintegration of the Mughal empire was
the stubborn survival of the Mughal tradition of government. By 1761 the
Mughal Empire was an empire only in name; it could better be described as the
state of Delhi. But the prestige of the emperor, the king of kings, was so
considerable, that whether it was acquiring territory, a throne or an empire, the
sanction of the emperor was sought. Even rebel chiefs of the Marathas and Sikhs
sometimes recognised the emperor as the fount of authority. The Sikhs made
offerings to the Delhi court in 1783 (despite their gurus having been killed by the
Mughals) and the Maratha leader, Shahu, visited Aurangzeb’s tomb in 1714.
The British and the Maratha fought over possession of the person the emperor,
hoping to gain legitimacy for their claims to inherit the imperial mantle. Shah
Alam II was made a pensioner of the company after the battle of Buxar but he
preferred the protection of the Marathas at Delhi. British occupation of Delhi in
1803 brought him once again under British protection.
Mugahl administration practice was adopted by the regional powers. It was
natural for the success states of the Mughal Empire to continue with old Mughal
practice. Even the states, such as the Maratha, which began as popular reactions
against imperial rule, copied Mughal methods of administration. Many officers
schooled in Mughal practice found employment in numerous local kingdoms.
Continuity of Institutions Vs. Change in Structure
However, we should not deduce from the continuity of institutions that the
Mughal political system survived. The new polities were regional; none could
achieve an all- India scale. Some of the old institutions were reintegrated into
new political systems by the regional chiefs and later by the British. The old
Mughal institutions served very different functions under colonialism. Land
revenue practices might be the same as earlier, but the wealth gathered was
drained from India under colonialism. This distinction between form and function
is blurred by imperialist historians with the intention of emphasising continuity of
institutions to show that the British were no different from their predecessors.
12
Check Your Progress 1
1) What were the financial and territorial gains made by Nadir Shah? Write
in five lines.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
2) Read the following sentence and mark right or wrong.
i) Struggle for power between nobles at the centre was a major
internal weakness for the Mughal.
ii) The personal failings of the Mughal emperor were largely
responsible for the decline of the Mughal Empire.
iii) The ‘New Cambridge History of India’ completely inverts the
argument of economic crisis.
iv) Continuity of institutions from Mughal to British systems proves
that the British were no different from native rulers.

3) Did the Mughal traditions end with the decline of the Mughal Empire?
Explain in 50 words.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

1.4 THE EMERGENCE OF REGIONAL POLITIES

Along with the decline of the Mughal Empire, the second major them of
the 18th Century was the emergence of regional polities. Broadly there
were three kinds of states which came into prominence:
 the states which broke away from the Mughal empire,
 the new states set up by the rebels against the Mughal, and
 the independent states.

1.4.1 Successor States

Hyderabad, Bengal and Awadh were the three cases where provincial governors
under the Mughals set up independent states. The breakaway from Delhi
occurred in stages – the revolt of individuals followed by that of the social
groups, communities and finally regions. Zamindari revolts in the provinces
against imperial demands triggered off the breakaway. Governors did not get
support from the centre and tried to secure support of the local elites.

13
 However, links with the centre were maintained and Mughal tradition continued.
Awadh and Hyderabad came to the help of the Mughals when Nadir Shah
invaded Delhi. Through their links with factions of nobles, the provincial chiefs
were often strong enough to control the centre. Hence the changes in polity in
this period may more appropriately be characterised as transformation (to use
Muzaffar Alam’s term) rather than collapse. A new political order was
constructed within the Mughal institutional framework.
The collapse of the all India polity did not lead to generalised economic decline.
The regional picture was very varied. Punjab’s economy was disrupted by
foreign invasions but Awadh experienced economic growth. Safdar Jang, Nawab
of Awadh, on his accession paid Rs. 3 crores to Nadir Shah. A stable polity
developed in Awadh on the basis of economic prosperity while the states set up
in Punjab collapsed.
Hyderabad
The death of Nizam-ul-Mulk in 1748 marked the closing of a glorious first
chapter in the history of Hyderabad. It had started with the foundation of the state
in 1724 by Nizam-ul-Mulk, a prominent noble at the time the Saiyids controlled
the court at Delhi. He assisted Mohammed Shah in deposing the Saiyids and in
return was given the office of Subadar of the Deccan.
He reorganised the administration and streamlined the revenue system. After a
brief tenure as wazir at Delhi from 1722 to 1724, he returned to the Deccan to set
up a state which was independent in practice, though he continued to declare
allegiance to the Mughal emperor. The formation of regional elite gave stability
to this independence, as Karen Leonard has shown in her study of Hyderabad’s
political system. Reform of the revenue system, subduing of Zamindars, and
tolerance towards Hindus were among his wise policies.
But his death in 1748 exposed Hyderabad to the machinations of the Marathas
and later the foreign companies. The Marathas invaded the sate at will and
imposed Chauth upon the helpless inhabitants. Nizam-ul-Mulk’s son, Nasir Jang
and grandson, Muzaffar Jang, entered into a bloody war of succession. The
French under Dupleix used this opportunity to play off one group against the
other and supported Muzzaffar Jang, who gave them handsome monetary and
territorial rewards.
Bengal
Independence in practice and allegiance in name to the power at Delhi marked
the rule of the Nawabs of Bengal. Murshid Kuli Khan became Governor of
Bengal in 1717 under Mughal aegis but his link with Delhi was limited to
sending tribute. Shuja-un-din became Nawab in 1727 and ruled till 1739 when
Alivardi Khan assumed charge. In 1756 Siraj-ud-daula became the Nawab of
Bengal on the death of his grandfather Alivardi Khan.
The Bengal rulers did not discriminate on religious grounds in making public
appointments and Hindus reached high positions in the Civil Service and
14 obtained lucrative zamindaris. The Nawabs were fiercely independent and
maintained strict control over the foreign companies trading in their realm.
Fortifications were rightly not allowed in the French and English factories at
Chandernagar and Calcutta, nor did the Nawab concede to their special
privileges. The sovereignty of the ruler was upheld even in the face of the threats
of the British East india Company to use force to obtain its end.
Awadh
Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk gradually secured the independence of Awadh after
his appointment as Governor in 1722. The main problem in Awadh was posed by
the zamindars who not only refused to pay land revenue but behaved like
autonomous chiefs with their forts and armies. Saadat Khan subdued them and
introduced a new land settlemtn which provided protection to the peasants from
the zamindars. The Jagirdari system was reformed and jagirdaris granted to the
local gentry, who were also given positions in the administration and army. A
“regional ruling group” emerged, consisting of Shaikhzadas, Afghans and
sections of the Hindus.

1.4.2 The New States

The second groups of regional states were the ‘new states’ or insurgent states’ set
up by rebels against the Mughals-the Marathas, Sikhs, Jats and Afghans. The first
three began as popular movements of peasant insurgency. The leadership was not
with the nobility but with ‘new men’, often from lower orders, e.g., Hyder Ali,
Sindhias and Holkars.

Marathas
If the two main themes of the 18th century were decline of Mughal power and
foundation of colonial rule, then a third theme was the rise and fall of regional
states, the most significant among them being the Marathas. One all-India empire
declined, a second one took its place and a third empire failed to come into being.
Mughal decline spanned the first part of the century, British ascendency grew
rapidly in the second half, and most of the terrain of the middle of the century
was occupied by the swaying political fortunes of the Marathas.
The basic contours of the Maratha State system system dominated by the
Peshwas or chief ministers were evolved during the time of Balaji Vishwanath.
He was a loyal official of Shahu, Shivaji’s grandson, who was head of the
Marathas after his release from custody in 1707. The powers of the office of the
Peshwa rapidly increased during his tenure till it became the fountainhead of
authority of the entire Maratha Empire.
Balaji Vishwanath died in 1720 and his son Baji Rao in 1740, the period whence
our study commences. By then the Marathas were no longer a regional power but
had attained the status of an expansionist empire. They had acquired control over
far flung areas of the Mughal Empire. The main weakness, however, was that
these conquests were made at the initiative of the Maratha Chiefs who were
unwilling to accept regulation by the Peshwa. These chiefs had accepted the 15
 Peashw’s authority because of the military and financial benefit that accrued
from this association. Collection of Chauth and Sardeshmukhi of a certain area
was assigned to the chiefs and conquest permitted. These chiefs were only too
willing to go over to the other side if the Peshwa exercised control over their
activities. This was the situation in Balaji Vishwanath’s time.

Perhaps learning from this, Baji Rao himself led military campaigns and acquired
the prosperous area of Malwa and Gujarat among others. Unfortunately he got
embroiled in conflict with the other great power in the Deccan, Nizam-ul-Mulk.
An alliance against the Mughals, and later the British, would have benefited both,
but they chose to go in for alliances with even Mughal functionaries against each
other.
The Nizam was decisively beaten twice by Baji Rao’s forces but the struggle for
mastery between the two continued. When the British entered the fray the contest
became a triangular one, which proved to be of great advantage to the British,
who could play off one against the other.
Balaji Rao, better known as Nana Saheb, was Peshwo from 1740 to 1761.
Maratha power achieved its climax during his rule. Expansion was now no longer
limited to areas over which the Mughals has an uncertain hold. No part of India
was spared the depredations of Maratha conquest. The South proved relatively
easier to subdue. Hyderabad surrendered a large chunk of territory after its defeat
in 1760 and Mysore and other states paid tribute. In the east, repeated conquests
of Bengal gained them Orissa in 1751. In Central India, Malwa, Gujarat and
Bundelkhand, which had been conquered by Baji Rao, were better integrated
with the rest to the Maratha Empire.
Struggle between Mughals, Marathas and Afghans
Mastery over North India proved more difficult to maintain after the initial easy
conquest. The Mughals at Delhi came under Maratha influence but the Afghans
under Abdali threw back the Marathas.
The Third Battle of Panipat, 1761
The third battle of Panipat commenced on 14th January 1761. But the conflict and
its outcome were brewing since 1752 when Maratha forces overran North India
and established their influence at the Delhi court. Imad-ul-Mulk was proclaimed
the Wazir of the Kingdom but for all practical purposes the Marathas were the
rulers. The Marathas were not content with their acquisitions and looked greedily
towards the Punjab, which was ruled by a tributary of Abdali. This was a grave
mistake. Abdali had retreated from India after carrying away what he could. He
left behind trusted followers in charge of certain areas, but decided to return to
challenge the ambitious Maratha Powers.
The conflict inevitably became a multifaceted one as the major and minor north
Indian powers got drawn in. Here the Afghans were at an advantage as the
Marathas had acquired many enemies in the process of conquering and
16
administering this core area of the empire. The Mughal nobles, apart from Imad-
ul-Mulk, had been defeated by them in the power game. The Jat and Rajput
chiefs were completely alienated by their conquests which were followed by
imposition of heavy fines. The Sikhs, already frustrated in their attempt to
consolidate their power by the foreign invasions, were obviously in no mood to
help the Marathas to include Punjab in their empire.
The Rohilkhand chief and the Awadh Nawabs, whose area had been overrun by
the Marathas, even went to the extent of joining hands with Abdali. The Maratha
armies marched alone to the battlefield of Panipat to confront Abdali.
The Maratha army was no match for the Afghans though it boasted of troops
trained along Western lines. 28,000 Marathas died on the battlefield, along with
the commanders of the army, the Peshwa, minor son Vishwas Rao and the latter’s
cousin, Sadashiv Rao Bhau. The Peshwa, Balaji Baji Rao did not survive for
long, after hearing the tragic news of the defeat.
Aftermath of the Third Battle of Panipat
The third battle of Panipat proved significant in the struggle for mastery over
India. The Marathas’ ambition of replacing the Mughals as the imperial power
was checked at a strategic point by this defeat. The beneficiaries were the British
rather than the Afghas. The British got a tremendous opportunity to expand their
influence in Bengal and India. Once they had got these footholds there was no
looking back. For a brief while after the debacle of 1761 it seemed as if the
fortunes of the Marathas were reviving. Madhav Rao, who became Peshwa in
1761, was successful in subduing once again the old enemies, the Rohilas, the
Rajput and Jat Chiefs in the north and Mysore and Hyderabad in the south. But
the early demise of the Peshwa in 1722, at the age of 28, finally ended the dream.
Factional struggle for power ensued, exposing the Maratha power to defeat at the
hands of the British in the first Anglo-Maratha war.
Nature of the Maratha State and Movement
The rise of the Marathas was both a regional against Mughal centralisation as
well as a manifestation of the upward mobility of certain classes and castes. The
petty rural gentry and the hereditary cultivators (mirasdars) formed the social
base. Peasant castes wanted to achieve kashatriya status while official sought to
concentrate power in their hands.
Levy was institutionalised as chauth and made a legitimate part of the Maratha
state system. Money was raised through chauth to supplement the income from
the poor, underdeveloped home areas of the Marathas. But reliance on plunder
was an inadequacy of the Maratha system and they did not impose direct rule
even when the rich areas of Carnatic, Coromandel and the Gangetic Valley came
under their control.
The Marathas adopted some parts of the Mughal administrative system, but they
concentrated attention on techniques of extracting surplus. The absence of a
proper administrative hierarchy or a well-defined provincial authority prevented
17
 them from consolidating their influence at the rapid pace necessary before the
Afghans and British could defeat them.
These administrative and financial weaknesses were compounded by their
technological backwardness, especially in the military sphere. The new
development of the time, artillery, small arms, especially the flint guns and
improved firearms were not adopted.
Sikhs
The strategically located province of Punjab had witnessed the spread of a
democratic, new religion, Sikhism, at the end of the 15th century. It was confined
to the personal sphere for two centuries, but by the time of Guru Gobind Singh,
the tenth Guru, political ambitions and military had transformed the adherents of
this faith into a well-knit community. Guru Gobind Singh’s conflict with
Aurangzeb is well known, as is Banda Bahadur’s rebellion against Aurangzeb’s
successor.
For a quarter century after the suppression of Banda Bahadur’s rebellion in 1715,
the Sikhs were quiescent. But adversity for the Mughal Empire proved to be a
beneficial opportunity for the Sikhs. The invasion of Nadir Shah and Abdali
exposed north India and what they could not plunder and take away, was looted
by the Sikhs. On the basis of this booty and taking advantage of the breakdown
of imperial control of Punjab, the Sikhs rapidly established their control once
Abdali and his followers returned home.
There followed a period when 12 Misls or confederacies constituted the province.
Recent scholarship has debunked the view that the Sikh political system was
theocratic and placed it alongside secular polities elsewhere in the country.
Punjabi’s rise to prominence had to wait till the end of the century for Ranjit
Singh.
Jats
The Jats were an agriculturist Caste inhabiting the Delhi-Agra belt. In the latter
half of the 17th century their revolts against Mughal domination shook the
stability of the core area of the Mughal Empire. As Mughal power declined, Jat
power grew and a peasant revolt was transformed into into an uprising that
proved destructive of all other groups in the region, including the Rajput
Zamindars. Despite originating as a peasant rebellion, the Jat state remained
feudal, with Zamindars holding both administrative and revenue powers and
revenue demands under Suraj Mal were higher than under the Mughal.
Churaman and Badan Singh founded the Jat State at Bharatpur but it was Suraj
Mal who consolidated Jat power during his rule from 1756 to 1763. Expansion of
the state brought its boundaries to the Ganga in the east, the Chambal in the
south, Delhi in the north and Agra in the west. In addition he possessed great
administrative ability, especially in the fields of revenue and civil affairs.
However, his rule was short lived and his death in 1763 also marked the demise
of the Jat state.
18
Farukhabad and Rohilkhand
The states of Rohilkhand and the kingdom of the Bangash Pathans were al fall-
out of the Afghan migration from the 17th century. Large scale immigration of
Afghans into India took place in mid-18th century because of political and
economic disruption in Afghanistan. Ali Muhammad Khan took advantage of the
collapse of authority in north India following Nadir Shah’s invasion, to set up a
petty kingdom, Rohilkhand. This was the area of the Himalayan foothills located
between Kumaon in the north and the Ganga in the south. The Rohias, as the
inhabitants of Rohilkhand were known, suffered heavily at the hands of the other
powers in the area, the Jats and the Awadh rulers and later the Marathas and the
British. Mohammad Khan Bangash, an Afghan, had set up an independent
kingdom to the east of Delhi in the area around Farrukhabad.
The Afghani use of artillery, especially the flint gun, ended the domination of
cavalry since the early medieval ages discovered the stirrup.
Politically the role of the Afghans was negative. Not only did they accentuate the
decline of the Mughals but they helped Abdali to subdue Awadh, which could
have checked British expansion.

1.4.3 Independent Kingdoms

There was a third type of state which was neither the result of a breakaway from
or rebellion against Delhi. Mysore the Rajput states and Kerala fall in this
category.
Mysore
The mid-18th century witnessed the emergence of Mysore as a significant power
in South India. Haidar Ali laid the foundations of Mysore’s power, which were
consolidated by his able son, Tipu Sultan. Though Haidar Ali was only a junior
officer, of common parentage, in the Mysore army, he gradually rose to be a
brilliant commander. His most remarkable achievement was his realisation that
only a modern army could be the basis of a powerful state. Consequently he
inducted French experts to set up an arsenal and train the troops along western
lines. Soon after he was able to overthrow the real power behind the Mysore
throne, the minister Nunjaraj in 1761.
The boundaries of the Mysore states extended to include the rich coastal areas of
Canara and Malabar. An expansionist at heart, Haidar naturally clashed with
other powers in the region, the Marathas, Hyderabad and the new entrants in the
game, the British. In 1769 he inflicted a heavy defeat on British forces very close
to Madras. With his death in 1782, his son Tipu became Sultan and extended his
father’s policies further. However, Tipu’s rule falls outside the scope of this Unit.
Rajputs
The Rajput rulers did not lag behind in consolidating their position by taking
advantage of the disintegration of the Mughal Empire. None were large enough
to contend with the Marathas or the British or the British for the position of
19
 paramount power. Their method was to slowly loosen their ties with Delhi and
function as independent states in practice. They participated in the struggle for
power at the court of Delhi and gained lucrative and influential governorships
from the Mughal emperors.
Rajput policy continued to be fractured in the post Mughal period. All the states
followed a policy of constant expansion absorbing weak neighbours whenever
possible. This took place within the State too, with one faction ousting the other
in a continuously played game of one-up-manship at the court of the Mughals.
The most-known Rajput ruler, Jai Sing of Amber, ruled Jaipur from 1699 to
1743.
Kerala
The three states of Cochin, Travancore and Calicut together comprised the
present Travancore had gained incorporated into these states by 1763. But the
expansion of Mysore proved destructive for the stability of Kerala. Haidar Ali
invaded Kerala in 1766 and annexed Malabar and Calicut.
Travancore, the southern most state and by far the most prominent one, was
spared Travancore had gained in importance after 1729 when its King, Martanda
Verma, expanded his dominions with the help of a strong and modern army
trained in Western lines and well equipped with modern weapons. The Dutch
were ousted from Kerala and the feudal chiefs suppressed. His vision extended
beyond expansion to development of his state and provision was made for
irrigation and transport and communication. His successor Rama Verma, a man
of great creativity and learning, including Western knowledge, was responsible
for making Trivandrum, the capital, a centre of scholarship and art.

1.4.4 Weaknesses of Regional Polities

These states were strong enough to destroy Mughal power but none was able to
replace it by a stable polity at an all-India level. According to one view, this was
because of some inherent weaknesses in these regional polities. Though some of
them tried to modernise, notably Mysore, on the whole they were backward in
science and technology. These states could not reverse the general economic
stagnation which had plagued the Mughal economy. The Jagirdari crisis
intensified as income from agriculture declined and the number of contenders for
a share of the surplus multiplied. Trade, internal and foreign, continued without
disruption and even prospered but the rest of the economy stagnated.
The above analysis of weaknesses has been questioned by historians recently.
Some representative examples will illustrate different trend. Satish Chandra
argues that it is wrong to talk of generalised economic decline and social
stagnation. The resilience of the economy was in sharp contrast to the ease with
which the polity collapsed. For example, Bengal withstood the ravages of early
colonial rule very well. Bengal’s economy stabilised after the 1770s and export
of cotton piece goods went up to 2 million in the 1790s from 400,000 in the
1750s.
20
The social structure did not stagnate, it changed and low castes moved upwards
and “new men” pushing forward was a common feature all over India.
Muzaffar Alam presents a regionally varied picture, with some areas (Awadh)
experiencing economic prosperity and other areas stagnation (Punjab). Polities
remained regional because there emerged not state system indigenously with
enough surpluses for an all-India system comparable to the Mughal Empire.
Check Your Progress 2
1) What were the stages in the breakaway of Mughal Provinces from the
centre? Answer it in about 50 words.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

2) List the major territories acquired by the Marathas from 1740 to 1761.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

3) What were the major states set up by rebels against the Mughals?
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

4) Write ten lines on the weakness of regional polities.

……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

1.5 THE RISE OF BRITISH POWER

The third and the most crucial feature of the 18th century polity was the rise and
expansion of the British power in India. It opened a new phase in the history of
21
 India. In this section you will become familiar with how the British came to India
and subsequently expanded their influence.

1.5.1 From Trading Company to Political Power

The mid-18th century saw the transformation of the English East India Company
from a trading enterprise to a political power. From its establishment on 31
December 1600 to 1744, the English East India Company slowly expanded its
trade and influence in India. The Portuguese and Dutch were eased out by a
strategy combining war and manoeuvres at eh Mughal court. By the 18th century
the main foreign power remaining in the fray was the French East India
Company, a comparatively late entrant in the race.
The beginning of the empire is usually traced to 1757 when the British defecated
the Bengal Nawab at Plassey. The ground for the victory of 1757 was laid in
South India where British military might and diplomatic strategy were
successfully tested out in the conflict with the French Company. This conflict,
popularly known as the Carnatic Wars, spanned a quarter century from 1744 to
1763. Unit 9 will take this up in detail.
The English East India Company had remained a commercial body for one and a
half centuries. Why did it acquire its political ambitions at this time?
The expansion of European production and trade and the emergence of
aggressive nation states in Europe lay behind the expansion of the European
companies in India from the 1730s. In India, the decline of Mughal authority
obviously provided a great opportunity for expansion of influence.
The company’s need for more revenue from taxation inclined it towards
establishing an empire. The company needed money to maintain its trade and pay
its troops and so acquisition of territory seemed the best method of meeting this
requirement. The company’s interest in conquering Bengal was two-fold-
protection of its trade and control over Bengal’s revenue. The intention was to
remit the surplus revenue of Bengal as tribute through the channel of investment
in Bengal goods. The value of Bengal goods exported rose from 4,00,000 in 1765
to one million towards the end of the 1770’s.

1.5.2 Anglo-French Struggle in South India

Hyderabad had become independent of central authority under Nizam-ul-Mulk

but after his death in 1748 it entered into a period of grave instability, as did the
Carnatic. Disputes over succession offered the foreign companies a chance for
intervention.
First Carnatic War
The First Carnatic War was provoked by the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in
1742 between the two countries. By 1745 the war spread to India where French
and English East India Companies were rivals in trade and political influence.
The English attack of French ships near Pondicherry was duly matched by the
22
French occupation of Madras. At this juncture the Nawab of Carnatic responded
to an English appeal to protect Madras and his armies were defeated by the small
French army at St. Thomas near Madras. With the end of the war in Europe, the
hostilities in India ceased, but only temporarily. The issue of supremacy had not
been decisively settled and from 1748 onwards s situation of conflict once again
emerged.
The second Carnatic War
The second war was the outcome of the diplomatic efforts of Dupleix, the French
Governor-General in India. Disputes over claims to the throne arose both in
Hyderabad and in the Carnatic. Dupleix was quick to extend support to Chandra
Sahib in the Carnatic and Muzaffar Jang in Hyderabad, with the intention of
obtaining handsome rewards from them. This early preparation was useful as the
French and their allies defeated their opponents in 1749. The French gained
territorially and monetarily. Significant gains were the Northrns Sarkars,
Masulipatnam and some villages around Pondicherry. Political influence was
secured at the Nizam’s court by the appointment of an agent at the court.
The English avenged their defeat in 1750. Robert Clive master minded the
occupation of Arcot with only 200 English and 300 Indian solider. Chandra Sahib
had no option but to rush to the defence of his capital, lifting the siege of
Trichonopoly and releasing Muhammad Ali in consequence. This was what Clive
had hoped would happen.
The French effort to strike back was frustrated by the lack of support given by the
French government. They had incurred heavy losses in America and India and
preferred a humiliating peace to an expensive conflict. Thus the vey nature of the
company, it’s beginning almost a department of the state, proved disastrous for it.
The French state was not only corrupt and decadent; it failed to keep in line with
current development and visions into the future. Dupleix was recalled after
negotiations with the English company in 1754. The French influence in India.
Peace like war, was once again linked with Europe. The Treaty of Paris in 1763
reduced the French company to a pure trading body without any political
privileges.
The conflict between the English and French companies was a crucial stage in the
consolidation of British power in India. At the end of 20 years the superiority of
the British over the French was clearly proved. The lessons learnt in the Carnatic
were well applied in other parts of the country.

1.5.3 Conquest of Bengal: Plassey to Buxar

Bengal was the first province where the British castablished political control. The
Nawab, Siraj-ud-daula, was defeated at the battle of Plassey in 1757. The grant of
the Zamindari of 24 Parganas by Mir Jafar in 1757 and then of the Burdwan,
Midanpore and Chittagon in 1760 by Mir Kasim gave the Company’s servants
the of opportunity to oppress the officials of the Nawab and the peasants. Trading
privileges were similarly misused. Mir Kasim followed Siraj-ud-daula’s example 23
 and refused to accept these attacks on his sovereignity. He joined battle with the
British at Buxar in 1764 along with the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal
emperor. The company won an easy victory. Here our concern is with the
changes in the political system.
Dual Government
The treaty of Bengal in 1765 inaugurated the Dual Government of Bengal. Clive
became Governor of Bengal and Company the virtual ruler. The Nawab was the
ruler merely in name as his army had been disbanded. The administration was
handed over to a Deputy Subadar, who would function on behalf of the Nawab,
but would be nominated through the Deputy diwan. As the offices of diwan and
subedar were held by the same person, the company’s control was total.
Moreover, the great advantage was that responsibility continued to be with the
Nawab. The blame for the extortions and oppression by the company’s servants
fell on the Nawab. It is estimated that 5.7 million were taken away from Bengal
in the years 1766 to 1768 alone. Senior British officials including Clive admitted
that Company’s rule was unjust and corrupt and meant untold misery for the
people of Bengal.

1.5.4 Reorganisation of the Political System

The administrative abuses were so great that the company ended the dual
government in 1772. The company was essentially a trading corporation, ill
equipped to administer territory. Changes were necessary in the constitution to
enable it to wield political power and for the British Government to regulate the
functioning of the company. This was affected by the Regulating Act of 1733. .
Introduction of Western Institutions
The significance of the Regulating Act for our discussion lies in its introduction
of the British mode of governance. British style institutions were introduced. The
Governor-General and his Madras. The Supreme Court of justice was set up at
Calcutta to administer justice according to British percepts. The nucleus of an
administrative apparatus already existed within the company, as it had an army,
collected taxes and imparted justice. Initially the old system was only extended,
but by the turn of the century, British principles had permeated deep.
One such principle was the separation of the judiciary from the executive. Civil
courts set up and presided over by judges, proved popular, 200,000 cases per year
being the average in the early nineteenth century. The police system took shape
under Carnwallis.
Reliance on Indians to man the services continued, but on different terms. Both
the Nawab and his subordinates lost power as the company became the supreme
authority. The powerful state apparatus created was intended to enforce
obedience of the subjects. Continuities with earlier practice existed but the
change in the way people were ruled was fundamental.

24
Change was immediately visible. Revenue collection procedures were derived
from varied traditional and Mughal practices. But the establishment of control of
the British Government over the Company’s administration and policies marked
the replacement of the indigenous political system by an imperial system
subservient to the interests of Britain.
Check Your Progress 3
1) Why did the East India Company adopt an expansionist policy after the
1720’s? Write your answer in 50 words.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

2) Write five lines as the Dual Government and its advantages for the
British.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

1.6 LET US SUM UP

The 18th century is no longer accepted as a classic dark age when anarchy ruled.
Mughal decline was not the predominant feature of the century. The growth of
regional powers was an equally significant development of the mid-18th century.
The rise of British power, which began in the mid-18th century, was the third
major development.
Continuity of traditions from Mughal to regional and British polities was
remarkable. But the differences between these three polities were equally
striking. The same institutions performed very different functions when
integrated into a new political system. The regional powers that emerged were of
three trypes-the successor states, the new states and the independent kingdom.
The first group proved to be stable polities. The Marathas, the main contender for
the status of anal-Indian Empire came from the second group of ‘new states’. But
a combination of unfortunately time’s external challenges and internal weakness
dashed their dreams. The states set up by the Sikhs, Jats and Afghans were fairly
short-lived.
The regional powers were not able to take the place of the Mughals. Thought
some states were very prosperous, and some achieved considerable military
powers, none could achieve resources and power to maintain an all-India polity.
25
 Modernisation attempts were limited. Backward regional states easily succumbed
to the superior British system.
The struggle with the French for supremacy marked the first phase of the rise of
the British power. The conquest of Bengal was the second and decisive step. The
British initially ruled through indigenous institutions but introduced
constitutional changes economy, though the colonial institutions were a mixture
of Mughal and British modes. British power in India was integrated into Britain’s
world-wise imperial system.

1.7 KEY WORDS

Chauth: A levy consisting of one fourth of land revenue, collected by Maratha
chiefs from the areas assigned to them by the Peshwa. In return the chiefs were
expected to protect these areas from external aggression.
Jagirdari System: A system of giving land to Mughal Mansabdar or officer in
lieu of cash payment. The grantees were expected to collect the land revenue of
these areas to pay their armed retainers and themselves. They also commanded
administrative authority over the areas called jagirs.

1.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1
1) See Sub-sec. 1.3.2.
2) i) ii) iii) iv)
3) See. 13.4
4) Sub-sec. 1.3.4
Check Your Progress 2
1) See Sub-sec. 1.4.1
2) See Sub-sec. 1.4.2
3) See Sub-sec. 1.4.3
4) In your answer you should briefly refer to factors like backward social
structure continuity of Jagirdari crisis, inferior economic system and a
failure to evolve a stable alternative all-India Polity. You should also
discuss the various view points expressed See Sub-sec. 1.4.4
Check Your Progress 3
1) Your answer should include the need for more revenue by the British,
along with other increasing economic requirements of the British State.
See Sub-sec. 1.5.1
2) See Sub-sec. 1.5.3

26