HPAS/ N.T. Allied Mains 2022-23 Answer Writing Challenge: Model Answer

Question: Although Mughals ruled in India with tulip in one hand & the sword in the other & the rule extended for more than 300 years but what were the reasons of decline of Mughal power in India?

Answer: 

Reasons of decline of Mughals in India

• Weak Successors
• Degeneration of the Mughal Nobility
• Economic Bankruptcy
• Invasions
• Size of the Empire and Challenge from Regional Powers
• Aurangzeb’s Deccan Policy
• Aurangzeb’s Rajput policy & intolerance towards religions other than islam
• Rise of Marathas & later Domination by British
• The Jagirdari Crisis

POPULAR THEORIES OF MUGHAL DECLINE

Satish Chandra, Jagirdari Crisis

The first and foremost among them is the thesis put forward by Satish Chandra in his Parties and Politics of the Mughal Court (1959) a Jagirdari Crisis

According to him, the crisis was He builds up the hypothes is of

(a)Contracting hasil from the mahāls;

(b)An increase in the number of total mansabdars; and

(c)A general tendency to allot increasingly high mansabs.

J.F.Richards, Bejagiri:

Further improvements were made in the theories of Mughal decline by J.F. Richards who pointed out that the state of bejāgīrī was caused by a deliberate policy of increasing the share of the khalisa revenues, the lack of Paibaki land was due to a deliberate decisions on Aurangzeb’s part to keep the most lucrative jagirs under Khalisa in order to provide for a continued campaigning in the Karnataka and against the Maratha. Thi s resulted in a further clamour for jagirs by the nobles and the concentration of more funds with the government from 1687 onwards

Irfan Habib, Agrarian Crisis:

The basic features of this ‘Agrarian Crisis’ as propounded by Irfan Habib are:

(a)High rate of demand built in the zabt system (more than half of the actual produce);

(b)Increasing gap between the actual hasil and the expected jama;

(c)Rotation of jagirs, pressurizing the peasants and ruination of agriculture;

(d)Ruination and flight of peasantry from the jagirs, which affected the zamindars also as they were closely linked to the Village Community; and

(e) Breakout of agrarian revolts which were manifestations of peasant discontent. So according to Habib these Peasant were the Fabric of the Empire