Decline of the Mugal Empire

Decline of the Mugal Empire

Aurangzeb

At Aurangzeb’s death February 20, 1707 in the Deccan, the Mugal Empire was at the height of its glory. In 1707 the Mugal Empire consisted of twenty – one province Kabul in Afghanistan fourteen in North India and six in the south Aurangbad, Berar, Bidar, Telengana, Bijapur, Hydrabad and Khandesh.

            From Akbar to Aurangzeb, four great Mugals ruled for 151 years (1507 – 1707) but their feeble successors form Bahadur Shah I to Shah Alam II, numbering eleven, were dismissed in most disgraceful manner within a century (1707 – 1806). Thus the average tenure of the Later Mugal rulers was hardly ten years.

After the death of Aurangzeb the war of succession take place between his three son Muazzam, Azam and Kam bakhsh.

A battle took place near Hyderabad on January 13, 1709; Kam Bakhsh and his son were mortally wounded, thus the war of succession ended in the death of Aurangzeb’s son and three of his grandsons. This was the last war of succession in which the initiative lay in the hands of the royal contestants who themselves decided the issue. After this, the issue of succession was decided by the powerful nobles or ministers of the empire, who shuffled the card and coaxed their trump pieces to forefront.

Later Mugals

Bahadur Shah I (1707 – 12)

Bahadur Shah

Mauzzam emerged victorious in the war of succession and ascended the throne with the name of Bahadur Shah. He was the first and the last of the later Mugal to have exercised the real authority. By nature he was not stern, but he had full grasp of the political situation. He pursued a conciliatory policy towards the Rajputs and the Marathas.

            Sahu, son of Sambhaji who had been in Mugal captivity since the fall of Raigarh, was released, the Jizya imposed by Aurangzeb was withdrawn and independence of Mewar and Marwar was acknowledged. But Bahadur Shah had to face considerable trouble in the Punjab.

Bahadur Shah died in 1712. After Bahadur Shah’s death the usual war of succession again broke out among his four sons. The dead body of the emperor lay in state for about ten weeks before it was buried at Delhi, after the war terminated in favour of his eldest son Jahandar Shah.

Jahandar Shah (1712 – 13 )

Jahandar Shah

 Jahandar Shah real name was Mirza Muhammad Muizz – ud – din Jahandar Shah. In the war of succession Jahandar Shah’s three brothers, namely Azim – ush – Shah, Rafi – ush – shah, and Jahan Shah lost their lives. Jahandar Shah’s success was due to the effort of Zulfiqar Khan, son of Asad Khan, who, as the new emperor’s minister, became supreme in the state.

            Jahandar Shah was dominated by his Mistress Lal Kunwar. She “imitated the style of Nur Jahan”. Jahandar Shah was strangulated to death as a result of conspiracy hatched by Sayyid brother who now placed Farrukhsiyar of the throne.

Farrukhsiyar (1713 – 19)

Farrukhsiyar

 His real name was Shahid – I – mazlum. He had succeeded to the throne with the help of the Sayyid Brother. To repay that obligation the emperor appointed Sayyid Abdullah Khan as Wazir and his younger brother Hussain Ali Khan as Mir Bakshi or the commander – in – Chief. Farruksiyar who was a young man of 31, “had no will of his own. He was young in experienced and in attentive to the business of the state”.

            Farrukhsiyar who was dragged down from his throne, bareheaded and barefooted and subjected every movement to blows and vilest abuse; then he was starved, blinded, poisoned and finally stragled to death.

After Farrukhsiyar death (April 1719) the Sayyid brother placed on the throne Raushan Akhtar  (the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I). He was placed on the throne, under the title of Muhammad Shah, in September 1719.

Muhammad Shah (1719 -38)

Muhammad Shah

His real name was Nasir – ud – din Muhammad Shah. For more than years after his accession, Muhammad Shah remained a prisoner, like his predecessors, in the hands of Siyad brothers. After the fall of the Siyad Brothers, floodgates of court intrigue were opened and the rapid decline of the Mugal empire commenced. He was the most pleasure loving ruler of loose morals, and is therefore, called Muhammad Shah ‘Rangila’ or ‘Rangile’.

            Mugal court was sharply divided into four prominent parties of the Turanis, the Iranis, the Afgans and the Hindustanis. Nadir Shah’s invasion (1738 -39) (also called the Napoleon of Iran) Nadir Shah remained in Delhi for fifty – seven days, and collected as much booty as he could. The famous Peacock Throne and the Koh – I – nor diamond were all grabbled by Nadir Shah.

            Ahmad Sha Abdali who ravaged India five times between 1748 – 1767, the culmination point beings the battle of Panipat.

It was second invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali, that the emperor Muhammad Shah died.

Ahmad Shah (1748 – 54)

Ahmad Shah

Ahmad Shah was also known as Mirza Ahmad Shah. Muhammad Shah was succeeded by his only son Ahmad Shah born to the emperor through a dancing girl whom the emperor had married.

            During Ahmad Shah’s reign Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India Twice in 1749 and 1752. When Ahmed Shah bahadur came to power, the Mugal Empire was collapsing.

            Ahmed Shah Bahadur inherited a much weakened Mugal state. He was emperor in title for six years, but lift affairs of state to rivaling factions. He was disposed by the Wazir Feroze Jung III and later blinded along with his mother. He spent the remaining years of his life in prison and died of natural cause in January 1775.

Alamgir II (1754 – 59)

Alamgir II

After the dethronement of Ahmad Shah. Azizud –din – a grandson of Jahandar Shah was placed on the throne as Alamgir II on 3 June 1754.

            Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India the fourth time in 1755 and departed from Delhi in 1757. Shortly after this, the Marathas were invited to Delhi and the Punjab by Imad. On November 1759 the emperor Alamgir II was murdered by a Wazir and his naked corpse was thrown down the river bank.

Shah Alam II (1759 – 1806)

Shah Alam II 

He was son of Alamgir II and his actual name was Ali Gauhar. At the time of his father’s murder, he was in Bihar, where he proclaimed himself emperor under the title of Shah Alam II (December 22, 1759). The entire life of Shah Alam II was full of many ups and downs; he was blinded in 1788. Delhi was captured by the English in 1803 and Shah Alam II and his two immediate successors or the last Mugals, Akbar II 

Akbar_II

(1806 -37) and Bahadur Shah II (1837 – 57) became the pensioners of the East India company.

Bahadur Shah II

            The Mugal Empire had already broken into numerous independent principalities shortly before and after Nadir Shah’s invasion and it was only the name ‘Mugal’ that survived till the close of the eighteenth Century.