The decline of Mughals

 The decline of Mughals

• Role of Aurangzeb - Continues warfare- Mughal empire reached its territorial peak, however, seeds of decline were also sown, during Aurangzeb's reign.
• Aurangzeb engaged in continuous warfare for roughly 40 years, which drained resources for the Mughal empire due to the high cost of war.
• These wars also hurt overland trade due to a decline in production and law and order instability.
• These wars also increased the economic burden on Mansabdars, who were required to maintain an army for the emperor, therefore wars contributed to the economic decline of the Mughals.
• Aurangzeb wanted to capture the whole of Deccan and annexed Golconda in 1687 and Bijapur in 1685(The two autonomous Muslim kingdoms).
• However he failed to defeat the Marathas convincingly, and by 1705 Marathas began winning after 1707, they reversed most territorial gains of Aurangzeb in 1st half of the 18th century.
• Therefore in the end these wars proved futile.
• Therefore Marathas became reasons for the military and territorial decline of the Mughals.
• The religiously decisive policy of Aurangzeb:
• They alienated the mass, for example, the application of Jizya on non-muslim(an additional tax) and not preparing temples, and reducing the allocation of land to temples.
• He also demolished some important Hindu temples.
• Aurangzeb executed important leaders which contributed to the alienation of the masses.
• For example, the 9th Guru Tegbahadur for Sikhs was executed in 1675, and Sambhaji(elder son of Shivaji) was executed after 3 weeks of torture in 1689.
• Both also refused conversion to Islam.
• Institutional failure/governance failure:
• Impersonal loyalty could not develop in the Mansabdari system, which was the core of the Mughal system.
• Therefore what existed was personal loyalty to the king which is a Parton(Mughal emperor)-client(Mansabdars) relationship, that is a give-and-take relationship.
• Where Patron gave Mansabs and Jagirs and in return, clients gave loyalty and an army.
• Post-Aurangzeb, weak Mughal emperors failed to maintain the balance of power in the Mughal court among Mansabdars.
• Therefore failed to keep Mandabdars under control.
• If the king was unable to satisfy Mansabdars with desired Jagirs and Mansabs, then disloyalty among Mansabdars took root.