LATER M U G H A LS

AN D
TH EIR D EC LIN E
1707-1857

P R ES EN TER S
Abdus Samad
Abdul Rehman
Khurrum Nadeem
Haseeb Tanveer
Faisal Abbas

Who were Mughals?

Mughals were descendants of two great
families. From their mother side they were
descendants of Genghis Khan (died 1227)
who ruled in Central Asia, China. From their
father side they were descendants of Taimur
(died 1404) who ruled Iran, Iraq and modern
Turkey. However, Mughals did not like to be
called as Mughals or Mongols as Genghis
Khans memory associated with them.

Later M ughals

Later M ughals (1707-1857)

Aurangzeb died in 1707

After the death of Aurangzeb, a war of

succession began amongst his three

surviving sons, Muazzam the governor
of Kabul, Azam-the governor of Gujarat,
and Kam Baksh-the governor of Deccan.

Muhammad Azam Shah

He was born on 28th June, 1653
His reign was March 1707 June 1707
Azam was anointed as theheir-apparent

(Shahi Ali Jah) to his father

He ascended to theMughalthrone

atAhmednagar upon the death of his father

on 14 March 1707.

C ontin...
Azam Shah and his three sons,Sultan

Bidar Bakht, Prince Jawan Bakht Bahadur

and Prince Sikandar Shan Bahadur were
later defeated and killed by Azam Shah's
elder step-brother, Prince Shah Alam
(later crownedBahadur shah l), during
the Battle of Jajau on 8 June 1707

C ontin...
On the other hand Kam Baksh also

declared himself the sovereign ruler

and conquered important places as
Gulbarga and Hyderabad. Muazzam
defeated Kam Baksh near Hyderabad in
1708.
Muazzam emerged victorious and
ascended the Mughal throne with the
title of Bahadur Shah I. He was also
known as Shah Alam I.

Bahadur Shah l
Bahadur Shah I (1707-12)

the last of the later Mughal rulers

to exercise real authority.
He was learned, dignified and tried to reverse

some of the narrow-minded policies and

measures adopted by Aurangzeb.
He followed a conciliatory policy towards the

Rajputs and Marathas but a strict policy towards

the Sikhs.

Bahadur Shah l:
Polices towards Rajputs:
Bahadur Shah replaced Jai singh by his
younger brother Vijay singh at Amber and
forced Ajit singh to submit to Mughal
authority.
But due to strong resistance , he recognized
his mistake and restored states to Raja Jai
singh and Ajit singh but their demand for high
mansabs and governship of important
provinces of Malwa and Gujrat was not
accepted

Bahadur Shah l:
Polices towards Marathas :
Marathas were granted Sardeshmukhi but not
chauth, thus it was half hearted conciliation
Shahu, son of Shambhaji who was in Mughal

captivity was released in 1707

He also did not recognize Shahu as the rightful

Maratha king thus keeping the fight for

supremacy going between Tara Bai and Shahu.
Marathas thus remained dissatisfied.

Bahadur Shah l:
Polices towards Sikhs:
Bahadur Shah made reconciliation with
Guru Gobind Singh and granted him
high mansab. But after the death of the
Guru, the Sikhs once again raised a
revolt under the leadership of Banda
Bahadur.
The Mughal authority defeated Banda

Bahadur at Lohgarh, a fort built by Guru

Bahadur Shah l:
Polices towards Sikhs:
Bahadur Shah made peace with Chatrasal,
the Bundela chief and the Jat chief
Churaman who joined him in the
campaign against Banda Bahadur. He
adopted a more tolerant attitude towards
the Hindus.
There was however a deterioration in the
field of administration in his reign because
he lavishly granted jagirs and promotions.

Jahandar Shah

In another war of accession following

Bahadur shahs death,his four sons

,Jahandar shah,Rafi-us-Shah,Azim-usshah and Jahan shah became involved.
Jahandar shah (1712-1713) was
successful in the war than the others.
But jahandar shah was a weak ruler and
came to the throne chiefly-with the help
of zulfikar khan,the powerful noble who

Jahandar Shah:
He was a clever man and advocated a

friendly policy towards the Rajputs,

Marathas and the Hindu chieftains not
only to strengthen his own position but to
ensure the survival of the empire.
He quickly abondoned the policies of

Aurangzeb and adopted a liberal attitude

towards the hindus.

Farrukhsiyar

Farrukhsiyar came to power with the help

of Sayyid brothers, Abdullah khan and

Hussain Ali Khan.
Farrukh was himself incapable of ruling
and was easily influenced by the others.
The sayyid brothers were convinced that
if the real authority were in their hands
the empire would be safeguarded from

Farrukhsiyar:
The struggle for power between the

emperor and the Sayyid brothers

increased and the efforts of the
emperor to overthrow the brothers
failed respectively.
Finally Farrukuh was deposed and killed

in 1719.

Ahm ed Shah:

The death of emperor Muhammad Shah in

1748 saw the beginning of bitter struggles

among the power hungry nobles of Turani
and Irani factions.
His successor Ahmed Shah born of Udham

bai, a public dancing girl, ascended the

throne but was unable to cope with the

Ahmed Shah:
The weak defences of the northwest

encouraged ahmed shah abdali,who

invaded india twice in1749 and 1752,when
he marched upto delhi.
The emperor,with a view to buy piece and
save delhi from devastation, ceded punjab
and multan to abdali,Imad-ul mulk ousted
the wazir safdar jang and became the wazir.
Ahmed shah was blinded and deposed by
this new wazir.

Alamgir ll
After the dethronement of Ahmed

Shah,Imad-ul-mulk raised Azizuddin,

Jahandar Shahs son on the throne who
styled himself after Aurangzeb as Alamgir
ll.
The relation between Alamgir ll and wazir

Imad-ul-Mulk were not satisfactory and

Shah Jahan lll

Muhi-ul-Milat, the grandson of Kam Baksh

was placed on the throne as Shah Jahan III

by Imad-ul-Mulk .
He was deposed by the Marathas who
captured Delhi in 1760.

Muhammad Shah
As successor Sayyid brothers quickly raised

two young princes ,Rafi-ud-Darajat and Rafiud-daula who died within the months .
Finally Roshan Akhtar,the son of Jahan shah
was placed on the throne title of Muhammad
Shah.
Muhammad Shah was not a good ruler. His first
wazir after the fall of the Sayyid brothers was
Muhammad Amin khan.

Muhammad Shah
He gave his office in 1724 and proceeded to

the south and found the state of Hyderabad.

He was the most pleasure-loving rules of loose
morals and is therefore called Muhammad
Shah Rangila.
Emperor Muhammad shah was taken prisoner
and Nadir shah marched on to Delhi.
Ahmed Shah Abdali was defeated at Manpur by
ahmed shah,the mughal heir-apparent and Mir
mannu,the son of the deceased wazir
Qamruddin.

Shah Alam II am II
In august 1759, the afghan monarch Ahmad Shah Abdali
entered India. It took him almost two years to deal a fatal
blow to Marathas in the third battle of Panipat, fought on
june 14, 1761. Consequently, the power of the Marathas was
crushed .
After the battle of Panipat,Ahmed Shah Abdalileft the
throne of Delhi to Shah Alam withNajib-ud-daulaas his
wazir.
From 1761 to 1771, the capital was without a king. Shah
Alam, after his unsuccessful effort to defeat the British in the
battle of Buxar in 1764, was taken in as the prisoner and did
not return to Delhi till 1772.

Shah Alam II
Emperor Akbar Shah II presided over an empire

titular large but in effect limited to the Red Fort in

Delhi alone. His attitude with the British was
honorable to him but it angered the British.
They reduced even his titular authority to Delhi in
1835.The British no more called itself the
lieutenant of Mughal Empire as they did so from
1803 to 1835.
Emperor Akbar Shah II had four sons, one of which
Bahadur Shah Zafar eventually succeeded him at
age 60. Before Bahadur Shah, one of his other
sons, Mirza Nali was given the title of Crown Prince
of the Mughal, but the title went on to his brother

Bahadur Shah Zafar

Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Muhammad Bahadur Shah

Zafar also known as Bahadur Shah or Bahadur

Shah II (24 October 1775 7 November 1862)
was the last of the Mughal emperors in India, as
well as the last ruler of the Timurid Dynasty.
Bahadur Shah Zafar was a noted Urdu poet. He
wrote a large number of Urdu ghazals.
He was the last Mughal Emperor who was
deposed by the British and later exiled to Burma
(now Myanmar) after the Indian Uprising of 1857.

C auses for the decline

of M ughal Em pire

Aurangzebs Religious Intolerance

Oppressive Laws
Imposition of Jiziya
Total Ban on the celebration of Hindu festivals.
Execution of Sikh Gurus

Aurangzebs Religious Intolerance

No room for Shia-Muslims

He was against singing, dancing and

drinking which were common habits of the

Muslim nobles.

Weak Successors
The successors were weak and

incompetent
Lavish life style
No rules for Succession
Bloodshed for throne

Moral Degradation of Army

An excess of wealth and luxury made the

Mughal army lazy, corrupt and inefficient.

The army was out-dated in regard to

equipment.

Economical Downfall
Economy grew weak because of constant

wars.
Emperors were less concerned with

economic growth.
They spent public resources on having fun

and putting up monuments.

Rise of New Powers

Rise of Sikhs and Marathas
Establishment of their own independent

states.
The invasion of Nadir Shah
Attack on Delhiin March 1739.
Battle ofKarnal

Pleasure Seeking
Emperors were lazy
Moved away from the principles of Islam
Involved in immoral activities

Lack of Scientific Education

Europe was passing the

journey of inventions
Mughals were busy

in their luxurious life

No attention to

scientific education

British Invasion
Purpose of Trade
Establishment of

The East India Company

British Invasion
The British understood

the weaknesses of Indians

Gradually set up a

British empire in India

That lasted for 200 years

Administrative Issues
The Mughals possessed the largest

territory in the history ofIndia.

The descendants of Aurangzeb could not

control such a vast Empire.

No Law and Order
No Tax income

Battle ofPlassey
June 1757
East India Company Vs Nawab of Bengal

Robert Clive
Siraj ud Daulah

B ATTLE O F P LA SS EY
Siraj ud Daulah was defeated
Bengal was conquered by EIC
Mir Jafar was appointed Nawab of Bengal

Conclusion
Weak successors
Luxurious lives
British Invasion
Poor Administration
Destroyed Economy
Lack of Modern Education

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