Recently, I read an article in swarajya which mentioned that It took 186 years for the Mughals to be finished after the battle of Saraighat 1671. Ideological assertions aside it is important to correct a few points.
The Mughal Empire enforced a period of stability across large parts of India. Prior to that, wars were frequent. But, trade flowered under the Mughal rule. The downfall was mainly due to Aurangzeb who brought to zilch all the efforts of his predecessors, by disturbing a lot of practices which were brought by Akbar. Religious taxes like jiziya were enforced. He kept on fighting wars which further weakened the economy. The Treasury nearly became empty. He actually died in Burhanpur and not in his capital Delhi.
The new King Bahadur Shah 1 had a reign of 5 years. He was busy trying to control his brothers and the subedars some of whom were Rajputs too. He was 63 years old when he became king. Now, with emperors who all ruled 20 years at least before him. 5 years was such a low down. But, this was a record of sorts for the next decade.
After Bahadur Shah, his son Jahandar Shah became emperor. By now, the significance of the word emperor had reduced to little more than just a title. The Marathas in the south, the Rajputs in the West and the Sikhs in the North were breathing on him. This person was a hopeless debauch, who was either drinking or killing his brothers. It was a surprise that he lasted for a full year. Under him, the Mughal Empire lost its control over the Carnatic region.
Carnatic is the modern Northern Tamil Nadu. Jahandar Shah lost a battle and was imprisoned in January 1713. He was executed in February, obviously, under the orders of the new King Farukh Siyar.
The Sayyid Brothers : 4 Kings and Power Behind the Throne
Farukh-Siyar defeated the previous king with the help of a group of Nobles Known as Sayyid Brothers. He took the throne at the young age of 27. During his reign, Sayyid Brothers became the real power wielders. Things came to a standstill ,when The Sayyid Brothers took help Maratha Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath to come back to Delhi. They negotiated a treaty with Hussain Ali Khan, which gave Marathas right to collect Chauth[25%] of revenues of Mughal provinces of Deccan. To this Balaji Vishwanath added the rich provinces of Gujarat and Khandesh, and the restoration of Chattrapati Shivaji's conquests in Karnataka, in return for which Balaji promised that The Marathas would provide a force of 15,000 armed horsemen to the Mughal Empire. To these egregious demands, Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan readily agreed, with a hope to use the Maratha soldiers to their advantage in their struggle with the Emperor Farukh-Siyar was executed on 28th February 1719.
The new emperor was Rafi-ud-Darajat . He was about 20 years Old. He ruled for 3 months and was deposed. Some say he had lung cancer, Others say, he was murdered.
He was replaced by his elder brother Rafi-ud-daulah. Information about him is unavailable. Apparently, he too did not last long, as the next king, Muhammed Shah Rangeela ascended to the throne in 1719. It was during his time, that Sayyid Brothers were defeated by Other chiefs.
Muhammed Shah ruled lasted long in comparison to his predecessors for nearly 30 years. But, his rule was when Deccan was lost.
Let us not forget, that when Sayyid Brothers took Maratha help to come to power. The terms were really strict. Marathas could collect revenue from lots of places. It might be fair to say, by 1720, The Mughal emperor was essentially a ruler of a glorified Municipality who commanded respect because, of his position on a throne. But, practical control over the country was dead.
Five years, Four kings many deaths and the Mughal empire was just a signatory authority in the interim. So, 1857 was nothing. The British never fought a war per se against the Mughals. They did defeat them in Buxar in 1760's. But, it was never a campaign which defeated Mughals. The Mughals lost the loyalty of the Rajputs in Aurangzeb's time. This ensured that many power centres came up, which destroyed Mughal empire.
1857, so to speak was the last nail in the coffin. The Coffin that was created in 1719.
The Marathas had a new Peshwa Baji Rao 1. He never lost a battle in his life.
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