Eighteenth Century Political Formations - Class 7 History - Extra Questions

A emperor should have strong hold at all level of administration with good planning and execution ability.

Bahadur Shah I was not as staunch a Muslim as his father Aurangzeb. He tried many times to dethrone him and ultimately in the war of succession of the throne after Aurangzeb's death he acquired the throne. 

Marathas did not win wars in the Northern plains because of the contradictory policies of Holker and Shinde and the internal disputes in the family of Peshwas.

Peshwas was equivalent to modern Prime Minister of Maratha Empire.

 Chauth was a regular tax or tribute imposed, from early 18th century, by the Maratha Empire in India. It was an annual tax nominally levied at 25% on revenue or produce, hence the name.

Mysore was rising power in the south under Hyder Ali, who was a shrewd diplomat and a brilliant administrator.

Kachera, Kara, Kirpan, Kanga and Kesh, are the five articles of faith of a Khalsa Sikh 

1. Kesh: uncut hair.
2. Kangha: a wooden brush for the hair.
3. Kara: a metal bracelet.
4. Kachera a specific style of cotton undergarments.
5. Kirpan: a strapped straight sword, more so like a knife.

After the death of Hyder Ali his son Tipu Sultan continued war against British until 1799. Tipu Sultan was killed by Brithish army in the Battle of Seringapatnam during the  4th Anglo-Mysore war.

Rajputs being the strong and ardent believers of their valour and hence the traditions and practices bore strong feelings to follow them and pushing the members of the clan to follow them as a badge of honour. Some practices of them were equally unjustified and involved harsh treatments. One of the major social practices was that of Jauhar, in which married women will carry their children to pyre of fire and burn themselves, to save their honour from the enemy whilst their husbands get defeated in the war. Another practice is that of femlae infanticide widely popular among the entire Indian state but showing prominance in areas where valour and strength of a man was hugely revered. Rajputs being such a clan this was prevelant in their community. 

True. As the Mughal Empire declined, the governors of Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad remained loyal to the old Mughal Empire and hence these provinces fell as dependents of the later Mughal Emperors.

In early eighteenth century Mysore emerged as an independent state under a Hindu King Chikka Krishna Raj, But Hyder Ali an ordinary soldier,overthrew the king and captured the throne in 1761.

One of the most noteworthy battles of the 18th century, The Third Battle of Panipat, was fought  in the year 1761 between Marathas and the army of the Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Abdali. 

• After the death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, there was a sudden rise of Marathas. The Marathas had reversed all his territorial gains in the Deccan and had conquered a considerable part of India.
• Ahmad Shah Durrani planned to attack the Marathas when his son was driven out of Lahore.

Nadir Shah, the ruler of Persia attacked Punjab in 1739. To maraud wealth of India, and he took away renowned Kohinoor and Peacock Throne.

Crown of queen Elizabeth with Diamond Kohinoor.

Srirangapatna Fort on 4 May 1799.

Mir Bakshi - The head of military was called the Mir Bakshi, appointed from among the leading nobles of the court. The Mir Bakshi was in charge of intelligence gathering, and also made recommendations for military appointments and promotions.

Tipu Sultan ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore.

Nadir Shah took away Kohinoor from India then it was taken by Mahmud Shah, Who then surrendered it to Raja Ranjeet Singh of Punjab. After his death British East India Company captured it and presented it to there mother queen Elizabeth. 

After the decline of the Mughal empire, The political volume was filled by number of indipendent powers such as Marathas, Sikhs and Mysore of Tipu sultan. This all three reginal powers want their independence from British East India Company because of that British had to fought three different wars with these reginal powers.

It is said that Tipu Sultan was hunting in the forest with a French friend. He came face to face with a tiger. His gun did not work, and his dagger fell on the ground as the tiger jumped on him. He reached for the dagger, picked it up, and killed the tiger with it. That earned him the name "the Tiger of Mysore".

Tipu Sultan was killed at the battlefield of Srirangapatna in the fourth Mysore War.

1- Ineffective governance leading to fragmentation of power and loss of revenue.

Prithviraj III (1168-1192) was a Chahamanas, later known as Chauhan ruler. He ruled over the regions around Delhi and Ajmer. He defeated Sultan Muhammad Ghori, an Afghan conqueror in 1191. But only one year after it in 1192 he was defeated by Ghori. It was the end of his rule and life both.

Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.

For self-attempt.

This system was introduced to give protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20% of the produce.

The Nawabs of Awadh and Bengal tried to do away with the jagirdari system in order to reduce the influence of the Mughals in their states.

The Marathas wanted to expand beyond the Deccan in order to decrease the Mughal infulence. By the 1720s, they seized Malwa and Gujarat from the Mughals and by the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula.

Awadh was a prosperous region, controlling the rich alluvial Ganga plain and the main trade route between north India and Bengal.

For self-attempt.

The state of Awadh depended on local bankers and mahajans for loans. It sold the right to collect tax to the highest bidders. These revenue farmers known as Ijaradars agreed to pay the state a fixed sum of money. Local bankers guaranteed the payment of this contracted amount to the state. In turn the revenue farmers were given considerable freedom in the assessment and collection of taxes. These developments made the positions of moneylenders and bankers influential. They began to influence the management of the state's revenue system.

The efficiency of the imperial administration broke down under the later Mughal emperors. It became increasingly difficult for them to keep a check on their powerful Nobles appointed as governors often controlled the offices of revenue and military administration as well. This gave them extraordinary political, economic and military powers over vast regions of the Mughal empire. As the governors consolidated their control over the provinces, the periodic remission of revenue to the capital declined.

The common features shared by these states were:

• Though many of the larger states were established by erestwhile Mughal nobles and they were highly suspicious of some of the administrative systems that they had inherited, in particular, the jagirdari system.
• Rather than relying upon the officers of the state, all the three regimes contracted with revenue-farmers for the collection of revenue.
• The third common feature in these three states was their emerging relationship with rich bankers and merchants. These people lent money to revenue farmers, received land as security and collected taxes from these lands through their own agents.

Burhan-ul-Mulk tried to reduce Mughal influence in the Awadh region by taking the following steps:

• He first of all reduced the number of office holders (jagirdars) appointed by the Mughals.
• He also reduced the size of jagirs, and appointed his own loyal servants to vacant positions.
• The accounts of jagirdars were checked to prevent cheating and the revenues of all districts were re-assessed by officials appointed by the Nawab's court.

There were a number of factors that led to the decline of the Mughal Empire.

• Emperor Aurangzeb fought a long war in the Deccan. As a result, the military and financial resources of his empire got depleted.
• The successors of Aurangzeb were not at all efficient. The efficiency of the imperial administration broke down. It became increasingly difficult for later Mughal emperors to keep a check on their powerful Nobles appointed as governors often controlled the offices of revenue and military administration as well. this gave them extraordinary political, economic and military powers over vast regions of the Mughal Empire.
• Under the later Mughals, peasant and zamindar rebellions increased in many parts of northern and western India. These revolts were sometimes caused by the pressures of mounting taxes. The local chieftains were also becoming powerful by seizing the economic resources of the region.
• In the midst of economic and political crisis, the ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah, sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts of wealth. Again, Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded north India five times between 1748 and 1761. These invasions further weakened the Mughal Empire.
• The competitions amongst different groups of nobles also proved unfortunate for the Mughal Empire. The later Mughals were puppets in the hands of either Iranis or Turanis, the two major groups of nobles.

Manji system was established by the Guru Amardas. He divided his spiritual realm into 22 parts. Every part is called "Manji". Guru Amardas appointed an influential Sikh for every Manji whose task was to preach the sermons of Guru Sahib in his area.