An exploration of the decline of the Mughal Empire, examining Aurangzeb's role and the rise of the Marathas under Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

• The Mughal empire declined rapidly after the death of Aurangzeb. The Mughal court became the scene for faction fighting among the nobles, and soon ambitious provincial governors began to behave in an independent manner.
• The Maratha depredations extended from the Deccan to the heartland of the empire, the Gangetic plains.
• The weakness of the empire was proclaimed to the world when Nadir Shah imprisoned the Mughal emperor and looted Delhi in 1739.

Policies and Governance

• It has been said that Aurangzeb offered the kingdom to Shahu on condition of his turning a Muslim. Contemporary records do not support this. If Aurangzeb had wanted to convert Shahu to Islam, he could have done so while he was his captive during the preceding 13 years. Normally, a converted Hindu prince lost the right to his kingdom.
• There has been a good deal of discussion among historians about the extent to which the downfall of the Mughal empire was due to developments after the death of Aurangzeb and to what extent it was due to his mistaken policies. Recent trends view his reign in the context of the economic, social, administrative, and intellectual situation prevailing in the country, as well as the developing international trends before and during his reign.

Economic and Social Forces

• The working of economic and social forces in medieval India has yet to be fully understood. Trade and commerce were expanding in India during the seventeenth century, and handicraft production was keeping pace with the growing demand. This expansion could only have been made possible if the production of raw materials such as cotton and indigo expanded simultaneously.
• The area under zabti, where the system of measurement was followed, expanded according to official Mughal statistics. There is some evidence that the total area under cultivation expanded. This was due to population growth, the working of economic forces, and the administrative policies pursued by the Mughals. Every noble, even a religious grantee, was expected to take personal interest in the expansion and improvement of cultivation, and careful records of such growth were maintained.
• Despite this, there is reason to believe that trade and manufacture, as well as agricultural production, were not expanding as rapidly as the situation required. No new methods of cultivation were available to counter the trend of declining production as the soil became exhausted. The land revenue was heavy, and from Akbar’s time, it was more or less half of the produce if we include the share due to the zamindars and other local elements.
• The basic reasons for the limited expansion were social and partly administrative. Since the population of the country during the period is estimated to be about 125 million, there was plenty of surplus cultivable land available. However, landless labourers in many villages were often untouchables or Dalits. The cultivating communities and the zamindars had little desire or incentive to enable Dalits to settle new villages and acquire proprietary rights in land.
• The rural landless and poor had neither the necessary capital nor the organization needed for settling new villages or breaking uncultivated lands on their own. The state sometimes took the initiative in settling new lands but had to depend on the local zamindars and the village headmen (muqaddams) in the enterprises, who had their own vested interests.

Administrative and Nobility Issues

• The number of mansabdars rose from 2,069 at the time of Jahangir’s accession in 1605, to 8,000 in 1637 during Shah Jahan’s reign, and to 11,456 during the latter half of Aurangzeb's reign. While the number of nobles rose five times, the revenue resources of the empire increased only slowly.
• The zamindars, who as a class had become more powerful and influential in the process, were in no mood to submit to the illegal exactions of the nobles. Nor was it easy to increase the exactions on the peasantry further, especially when there was plenty of surplus cultivable land and the zamindars and the village headmen vied with each other to attract new cultivators to their lands.
• The crisis of the jagirdari system put the nobility under pressure. The nobles were unable to get from their jagirs the income indicated on paper. In consequence, many of them were unable to maintain their stipulated quota of troops. The position in the Deccan was particularly bad. Due to the disturbed conditions and the lack of a proper contingent on the part of the nobles, many of the mansabdars entered into private agreements with the Maratha sardars to pay chauth.

Political and Military Failures

• In the political field, Aurangzeb committed several serious mistakes. He failed to understand the true nature of the Maratha movement and disregarded Jai Singh’s advice to befriend Shivaji. The execution of Sambhaji deprived Aurangzeb of a recognized Maratha head to negotiate with.
• Aurangzeb failed to solve the Maratha problem and thus left an open sore. He did give mansabs to many Maratha sardars, but they were never given offices of trust and responsibility. Unlike the Rajputs, they could not be integrated into the Mughal political system.
• Aurangzeb has been criticized for failing to unite with the Deccani states against the Marathas or for conquering them, thereby making the empire so large that it collapsed under its own weight. The attempt to extend Mughal administration over Golconda, Bijapur, and Karnataka stretched the Mughal administration to a breaking point and laid Mughal lines of communications open to Maratha attacks.

Conclusion

• Aurangzeb’s reign, characterized by his inability to effectively manage the empire’s internal and external challenges, his failure to adapt to changing socio-economic conditions, and his alienation of key political groups, significantly contributed to the rapid decline of the Mughal Empire.