Indian States And Society In The 18th Century

A large number of independent and semi-independent powers arose from the ruins of the Mughal Empire and its political system, including Bengal, Awadh, Hyderabad, Mysore, and the Maratha Kingdom. These powers posed a threat to Britain's attempt to rule India in the second half of the 18th century. Some arose as a result of governors of Mughal provinces asserting autonomy, while others were the result of rebellion against Mughal authority.

 

•    These states' rulers established law and order, as well as economically and administratively viable states. They stifled, to varying degrees, the lower local officials, petty chiefs, and Zamindars who were constantly fighting with higher authorities for control of the peasant surplus produce, and who occasionally succeeded in establishing local centres of power and patronage. 

 

•    These states' politics were invariably no communal or secular, and their rulers' economic and political motivations were similar. These rulers did not discriminate on religious grounds in civil or military appointments, and rebels against their authority paid little attention to the rulers' religion.

 

•    However, none of these countries were able to stop the economic downturn. The zamindars and jagirdars, whose numbers were steadily increasing, continued to fight over dwindling agricultural incomes, while the peasantry's situation deteriorated. While these states avoided internal trade breakdowns and even attempted to promote foreign trade, they did nothing to modernise their states' basic industrial and commercial structures.

 

•    Nizam-ul-Mulk Asafjah established the state of Hyderabad in 1724. He was one of the most powerful nobility in the post-Aurangzeb period. He was rewarded with the viceroyalty of the Deccan for his role in the overthrow of the Saiyid brothers. He consolidated his viceroyalty over the Deccan from 1720 to 1722 by suppressing all opposition to his viceroyalty and organising the administration on efficient lines.

 

•    He was the empire's wazir from 1722 to 1724. But, after the Emperor Muhammad Shah thwarted all of his attempts to reform the administration, he became disillusioned with the position.

 

•    As a result, he chose to return to the Deccan, where he could safely maintain his dominance. He founded the Hyderabad State, which he ruled with a firm hand. 

 

•    He never declared openly his independence from the central government, but he ruled as an independent ruler in practise. Without consulting Delhi, he waged wars, made peace, conferred titles, and appointed jagirs and offices. 

 

•    He adopted a tolerant attitude toward Hindus. Puran Chand, a Hindu, was his Dewan, for example. He solidified his power by establishing an orderly administration in the Deccan based on the Mughal-style jagirdari system. He made the big, tumultuous zamindars respect his authority and kept the powerful Marathas out of his sphere of influence.

 

•    He also attempted to clean up the revenue system of corruption. However, after his death in 1748, Hyderabad succumbed to the same disruptive forces that had been at work in Delhi. 

 

•    The Carnatic was one of the Mughal Deccan's subahs, and as such, it was ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad. However, just as the Nizam had become independent of Delhi in practise, the Deputy Governor of the Carnatic, known as the Nawab of Carnatic, had freed himself from the Viceroy of the Deccan's control and made his position hereditary.

 

•    Thus, without the approval of his superior, the Nizam, Nawab Saadutullah Khan of Carnatic appointed his nephew Dost Ali as his successor. 

 

•    After 1740, the Carnatic's affairs deteriorated due to repeated struggles for the Nawabship, providing an opportunity for European trading companies to directly intervene in Indian politics. 

 

•    Kerala was divided among a large number of feudal chiefs and rajas at the start of the eighteenth century. Calicut, under the Zamorin, Chirakkal, Cochin, and Travancore were the four most important states.

 

•    Following the death of King Martanda Varma, one of the most powerful statesmen of the eighteenth century, Travancore rose to prominence. He was a rare combination of foresight, determination, courage, and daring.

 

•    He defeated the Dutch, conquered Quilon and Elayadam, and subdued the feudatories, putting an end to their political power in Kerala. With the help of European officers, he built a strong army on the Western model and equipped it with modern weapons. In addition, he built a modern arsenal.

 

•    Martanda Varma expanded northwards with his new army, and Travancore's borders soon extended from Kanyakumari to Cochin. He completed numerous irrigation projects, constructed roads and canals for communication, and actively promoted foreign trade.

 

•    By 1763, the three major states of Cochin, Travancore, and Calicut had absorbed or subordinated all of Kerala's petty principalities. Invasion of Kerala by Haidar Ali began in 1766, and he annexed northern Kerala up to Cochin, including the Zamorin of Calicut's territories.

 

•    Malayalam literature experienced a remarkable revival in the eighteenth century. This was thanks in part to Kerala's rajas and chiefs, who were avid readers and patrons of the arts. Trivandrum, the capital of Travancore, became a well-known centre of Sanskrit scholarship in the second half of the eighteenth century.

 

•    Rama Varma, Martanda Varma's successor, was a poet, scholar, musician, renowned actor, and a man of great culture in his own right. 

 

•    He spoke English fluently, was interested in European affairs, and read newspapers and journals published in London, Calcutta, and Madras on a regular basis.

 

•    The main Rajput states took advantage of the Mughal Empire's growing weakness to virtually free themselves from central control while increasing their influence throughout the empire. 

 

•    The rulers of Amber and Marwar were appointed governors of important Mughal provinces such as Agra, Gujarat, and Malwa during the reigns of Farrukh Siyar and Muhammad Shah.

 

•    The Rajputana states remained as divided as they had been. The stronger among them, Rajput and non-Rajput, expanded at the expense of their weaker neighbours. The majority of the larger Rajput states were constantly embroiled in minor feuds and civil wars. 

 

•    Internal politics in these states were frequently marked by the same corruption, intrigue, and treachery that characterised Mughal court politics. Ajit Singh of Marwar was thus assassinated by his own son.

 

•    Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber was the most notable Rajput ruler of the eighteenth century (1681- 1743). He was a notable statesman, legislator, and reformer. But, above all, he shone as a scientist in an era when Indians were oblivious to scientific advancement.

 

•    He founded Jaipur and turned it into a great centre of science and art. Jaipur was constructed using only scientific principles and following a strict schedule. It has wide streets that cross at right angles.

 

•    Above all, Jai Singh was a brilliant astronomer. At Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Varanasi, and Mathura, he built observatories with precise and advanced instruments, some of which he invented himself. His astronomical predictions were astonishingly accurate. 

 

•    He created Zij Muhammadshahi, a set of tables that allowed people to make astronomical observations. He had Euclid's "Elements of Geometry," as well as several works on trigonometry and Napier's work on the construction and use of logarithms, translated into Sanskrit.

 

•    Jai Singh was a social reformer as well. He attempted to enact legislation to limit the lavish expenditures that the Rajputs were required to make on their daughters' weddings. This spawned the heinous practise of female infanticide. From 1699 to 1743, this remarkable prince ruled Jaipur for nearly 44 years.

 

•    The Jats, an agrarian caste, lived in the areas surrounding Delhi, Agra, and Mathura. The Jat peasants in the Mathura area revolted in response to Mughal officials' oppression. 

 

•    In 1669 and 1688, they revolted under the leadership of their Jat zamindars. These uprisings were put down, but the area remained tumultuous. Following Aurangzeb's death, they caused riots throughout Delhi. The Jat revolt, led by zamindars, began as a peasant uprising but quickly turned predatory. 

 

•    They pillaged everyone, the wealthy and the poor, the jagirdars and peasants, Hindus and Muslims alike. They were active participants in the court intrigues in Delhi, frequently switching sides to suit their own interests. 

 

•    Churaman established the Jat state of Bharatpur. Suraj Mal, who ruled from 1756 to 1763 and was an extremely capable administrator, soldier, and wise statesman, brought the Jat power to its pinnacle. From the Ganga in the east to Chambal in the south, from the Subah of Agra in the west to the Subah of Delhi in the north, he exercised his authority over a vast territory. 

 

•    Agra, Mathura, Meerut, and Aligarh were all part of his state. Following his death in 1763, the Jat stale fell into disarray and was divided among petty zamindars, the majority of whom lived off plunder.

 

•    During the reigns of Farrukh Siyar and Muhammad Shah, an Afghan adventurer named Muhammad Khan Bangash established control over the territory around Farukhabad, between what is now Aligarh and Kanpur. 

 

•    Ali Muhammad Khan carved out a separate principality, known as Rohilkhand, at the foothills of the Himalayas between the Ganga in the south and the Kumaon hills in the north, with its capital at Bareilly and later at Rampur, during the breakdown of administration following Nadir Shah's invasion. Avadh, Delhi, and the Jats were constantly at odds with the Rohelas.

 

 

•    Ranjit Singh, the chief of the Sukerchakia Misls, rose to prominence at the end of the eighteenth century. He was a natural leader of men, a strong and courageous soldier, an efficient administrator, and a skilled diplomat. In 1799, he took Lahore, and in 1802, he took Amritsar. 

 

•    He quickly conquered all Sikh chiefs west of the Sutlej and established his own kingdom in Punjab. He went on to conquer Kashmir, Peshawar, and Multan later.

 

•    The old Sikh chiefs were renamed zamindars and jagirdars, respectively. He did not make any changes to the Mughal system of land revenue collection. The amount of land revenue was calculated using 50% of the gross produce as the basis.

 

•    With the help of European instructors, Ranjit Singh built a powerful, disciplined, and well-equipped army along European lines. His new army wasn't just made up of Sikhs. He also enlisted the help of Gurkhas, Biharis, Oriyas, Pathans, Dogras, and Muslims from Punjab. He established modern foundries in Lahore to produce cannon and hired Muslim gunners to man them. He is said to have had Asia's second best army, the first being the English East India Company's army.

 

•    Ranjit Singh was an excellent picker of ministers and officials. His court was brimming with illustrious men. In terms of religion, he was tolerant and liberal. He was a patron of Sikh, Muslim, and Hindu holy men alike. Several of his most powerful ministers and commanders were Muslims and Hindus.

 

•    Fakir Azizuddin was his most prominent and trusted minister, while Dewan Dina Nath was his finance minister. His was a state founded on the principle of equal opportunity for all. Political power was not used solely for the benefit of Sikhs.

 

•     The Sikh peasant, on the other hand, was just as oppressed by Sikh chiefs as the Hindu or Muslim peasant. In fact, the structure of the Punjab as a state under Ranjit Singh was similar to that of other eighteenth-century Indian states.

 

•     When the British forbade Ranjit Singh from crossing the Sutlej in 1809 and took control of the Sikh states east of the river, he remained silent because he realised his strength was no match for the British. As a result of his diplomatic realism and military might, he was able to save his kingdom from English encroachment for a time.

 

•    He did not, however, eliminate the foreign threat; instead, he simply passed it on to his successors. As a result, after his death, when his kingdom was torn apart by a fierce internal power struggle, the English invaded and conquered it.