Eighteenth-Century Political Formations

As the mighty Mughal Empire crumbled in the eighteenth century, the political map of India was redrawn. Into the gap left by Mughal decline stepped a host of new powers: the rising Marathas, the breakaway successor states, and a string of independent kingdoms. Understanding these formations explains the India that the British would soon conquer.

By the early eighteenth century the Mughal Empire was breaking apart. The causes had built up over time:

• A series of weak emperors after Aurangzeb, unable to control the nobles.
• Costly wars, especially Aurangzeb's long campaigns in the Deccan, which drained the treasury.
• Ambitious governors and nobles who stopped sending revenue and made themselves independent.
• Invasions by Nadir Shah (who sacked Delhi in 1739) and Ahmad Shah Abdali. These raids exposed Mughal weakness for all to see.

The emperor's authority shrank until it barely reached beyond Delhi.

The depth of the decline shows in the reign of Shah Alam II, who became emperor in 1759. He spent the initial years of his reign away from Delhi, in the east around Allahabad. The reason was not the threat from the north-west, even though the danger of an Abdali invasion from that direction was real. He stayed away because his own wazir was hostile to him and made the capital unsafe, and because the conflicts between the Marathas and the British made the journey back risky. An emperor kept out of his own capital by court intrigue: nothing captured Mughal weakness better.

The most powerful of the new states were the Marathas. Their kingdom had been founded in the seventeenth century by Shivaji (1630–1680), who built a strong state in the western Deccan and pioneered guerrilla warfare against the Mughals. From his base in the Western Ghats he carved an independent kingdom out of sultanate territory, in defiance of both Bijapur and the Mughals. He was crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad in 1674.

Shivaji governed with the help of the Ashta Pradhana, a council of eight ministers. Each minister held a defined charge:

• Peshwa: the prime minister, head of general administration.
• Amatya: finance and accounts.
• Sachiv: royal correspondence and records.
• Mantri: the king's daily affairs and intelligence.
• Senapati: commander of the army.
• Sumant: foreign affairs and diplomacy. He was also called the Dabir.
• Nyayadhish: justice.
• Pandit Rao: religious affairs and charities.

The Sumant is the most tested name: he was the minister who looked after foreign affairs. Except the Nyayadhish and the Pandit Rao, the ministers also held military commands. The council advised the king but did not bind him: final authority stayed with Shivaji. Remember the attribution: the Ashta Pradhana belongs to the Maratha administration, not to the Gupta, Chola or Vijayanagara systems.

The Maratha challenge outlasted Aurangzeb's long Deccan wars. In the eighteenth century, real power passed to the Marathas' chief ministers, the Peshwas. Under the Peshwas, the Maratha confederacy expanded across much of India and even raided the north. For a time they were the strongest Indian power.

The northern push brought the Marathas into collision with Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan ruler. Adina Beg Khan, a Punjab official, had invited the Marathas into the province. His invitation drew them north, but it was only a contributing factor. The immediate trigger came in 1758, when the Marathas captured Lahore and expelled Timur Shah, Abdali's son and his viceroy in Punjab. Abdali invaded India to avenge this expulsion. The clash culminated in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, where the Marathas suffered a heavy defeat that checked their advance. Even so, they remained a major force until the British defeated them.

A second group of new powers were the successor states, provinces of the Mughal Empire whose governors became independent rulers while still formally acknowledging the emperor. The main ones were:

• Bengal, made independent by Murshid Quli Khan.
• Awadh, founded by Saadat Khan.
• Hyderabad, founded by Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah.

These were wealthy, well-run states, and their rivalries would later be exploited by the East India Company.

A third group were entirely new independent kingdoms that rose against Mughal rule:

• The Sikhs, who built a powerful state in Punjab, later united under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
• The Jats, who established a kingdom around Bharatpur.
• The Rajputs, who reasserted their independence in the west.

Together with the Marathas and successor states, these powers made eighteenth-century India a land of many rival rulers. This fragmentation gave the British their opportunity.