Page 90 - SST Class 07
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Independent States in



                                                               Eighteenth Century                       12










             q   Causes of decline of the Mughal empire             q   Later Mughals
             q   New political formations

            Introduction                                            Muhammad Shah spelt doom. He plundered India
                                                                    and took away a large booty from here, including
            The Mughals ruled a large part of the territory of
                                                                    the Kohinoor   and the Peacock Throne      in 1739.
            India during the medieval period. The power of the
                                                                    These invasions continued which drained the
            Mughals declined due to incapable later Mughal          wealth and strength of India. Nadir Shah’s
            rulers and other reasons. Aurangzeb made many
                                                                    invasions were succeeded by those of Ahmad
            political blunders which led to the disintegration
                                                                    Shah Abdali. He was defeated by the Mughals, but
            and untimely decline of the Mughal empire. After        he continued to raid India and occupy some
            the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal empire
                                                                    provinces.   The   Afghan    forces  defeated    the
            declined. After his death, many independent
                                                                    Marathas in the third battle of Panipat    in 1761.
            political formations began to rise in the eighteenth    However, the Afghans could not occupy Lahore
            century.
                                                                    from the Sikhs.
            Besides the central Mughal rule, many other
            happenings were taking place here which were
            shaping the course of history of India. We shall
            study these happenings very briefly.


                CAUSES OF DECLINE OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
            The glorious rule of the Mughals witnessed a
            downfall due to wrong policies of Aurangzeb. He
                                                                             Aurangzeb              Peacock Throne
            prejudiced against the Hindus in many ways. He
                                                                          Info Bits
            destroyed their temples, forced them to convert to            Info Bits
            Islam, taxed them heavily with Jaziya (or poll tax)
            and put severe restrictions on their trade and           The Kohinoor is a diamond which is now in the
            agriculture. There was no clear law of succession;       possession of the British. The Peacock Throne was
            so, whenever a ruler died, the war of succession         a fine throne, studded with precious gems, on
            took place in which many worthy princes were             which Jahangir sat in his court.
            killed. This trend started after the death of
            Jahangir, and this trend strengthened under the                           LATER MUGHALS
            later Mughals, due to which the Mughal empire           After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, a war of
            declined.                                               succession began in which his eldest son came to

            Invasions from the north-west also proved an            throne by the name of Bahadur Shah. He ruled
            important cause for the decline of the Mughals.         only for four years and was succeeded by
            Nadir   Shah’s   invasion   during   the   rule   of    Jahandar Shah, who ruled only for one year. He
                                                                    was followed by Farrukhsiyar and then by
                     Contemporary Social Science-7
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