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Factors for Decline of the Mughal Empire [^2]

Factors for Decline of the Mughal Empire 1

Section titled “Factors for Decline of the Mughal Empire 1”

2020-04-26 19:32 :30

Empire Centric Approaches for Decline

Section titled “Empire Centric Approaches for Decline”
  • William Irvine and Jadunath Sarkar : decline of character of Emperors, nobles
  • Sarkar called A religious fanatic and successors as mere shadow’s of predecessors

Jagirdari Crisis

Section titled “Jagirdari Crisis”
  • It had both adm and social basis. Its success depended on the ability of the holder to exact sufficient resources from it and maintianing a sufficient quota for service.
  • Nobles should have had a vested interest in collecting revenue, his ability to work with the faujdar and compel zamindars and sometimes owner cultivators on a caste basis to pay.
  • Many zamindars were converted into paying kharaj (land revenue) collecting agents who had a fixed share in the exaction called a Nankar.
  • Due to the rapid expansion of no of mansabdars their salaries also increased -> mismatch b/w available resources and demands of salaries. Which was met by reducing salaries and no of troops and horses mansabdar that was required to maintain.
  • A trial to expand this to Deccan where the situation was entirely different was the real crisi of the Jagirdari system.

Re-examination of J Crisis

Section titled “Re-examination of J Crisis”

Agrarian Crisis

Section titled “Agrarian Crisis”

Irfan Habib’s ‘Agrarian System of Mughal India

  • Revenue system inherently flawed, kept at the highest possible rate for maintaining greatest military strength
  • Jagirdars frequently transferred - lack of farsightedness, loyalty to an area
  • No surplus left with peasantry to advance agri tech
  • dissent, revolts, migration

Region Centric Approach for Decline

Section titled “Region Centric Approach for Decline”

M Alam : conflict b/w communities could not mobilise beyond narrow bounds, flawed political integration,

  • zamindars madad I mash owners jagirdars colluded to resist transfers encroachment,
  • Awadh Punjab had economic growth led to rise of these classes - emergence of indep regional units
  • Chetan Singh - #todo

More Reasons for Decline 2

Section titled “More Reasons for Decline 2”
  • Religious policies alienated Hindus
  • Mil campaign against Bijapur, Golconda, Marathas
  • Mughal admn
  • Recurrent wars of succession - weakened mil,
  • JN Sarkar - crisis was of weak emperors countered by Percival spear
  • No later conquests shrank resources, created crisis b/w emperor and aristocracy
  • Incorporation of nobles from deccan, golconda, bijapur created rift - Jagirdari crisis 445 nobles controlled 61% jagirs
  • Price rise, personal insecurity
  • Recurring peasant revolt for political assertion and communitarian identities
  • Zamindars turned against the state, loyalty shifted, defied authority
  • Local power groups emerged

PYQs

Section titled “PYQs”

Factors for the decline of the Mughal Empire

  1. In which respects did the policies of Aurangzeb contribute to the disintegration of the Mughal Empire? [1979, 60m]
  1. Explain with illustrative detail the part played by the following factors in the disintegration of the Mughal Empire: [1981, 60m] (a) Aurangzeb’s alleged departure from the policies of his predecessors, [1981, 20m] (b) Inherent defects of the Mansab and Jagir system. [1981, 20m] (c) Growth of new political forces in the provinces. [1981, 20m]
  1. “The expansion of Mughal Empire in Deccan brought about its decline.” Discuss. [1988, 60m]
  1. Do you think that the agrarian crisis of the 17th century led to the disintegration of the Mughal empire? Discuss. [2016, 20 Marks]
  1. “The Afghan invasions in the Eighteenth Century not only signified the military irrelevance of the Mughal Empire but also hastened its decline”. Explain. [2018, 15 Marks]
  1. How would you like to characterize the eighteenth century in Indian history? [2005, 60m]
  1. What are the distinguishing components of the debate on “The Eighteenth Century”? [2008, 60m]

Footnotes

Section titled “Footnotes”

  1. < https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/20287/1/Unit-35.pdf> #important ↩

  2. Sekhar Bandyopadhyay ↩