Modern Indian History

Modern Indian History

Modern Indian History I want the readers of Modern Indian History to note that what made India weak and prey to foreign conquest, was the lack of unity among the people of this country. Everyone quarreled with everyone. Brothers fought against brothers.

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DECLINE AND DISINTEGRATION OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

The Mughal Empire which had earned the admiration of contemporaries for its extensive territories, military might, and cultural accomplishments disintegrated after the death of Aurangzeb. Within a short span of about 50 years, nine Mughal Emperors occupied the throne in quick succession and were not able to provide any effective government.

Taking advantage of their weakness, many adventurers carved out independent principalities of their own and freed themselves from central control. Aurangzeb had created more problems during his reign than he was able to solve. It is true that some of them he inherited, but many of them were his creations.

Those together shook the Mughal Empire to its very foundation. No wonder, the political and financial horizon at the time of his death betokened the dark prospects of decline, decay, and dissolution. The glory of the Mughal Empire was becoming past history and its tragic end was in the offing.

Stanley Lane-Poole writes. “Even before the end of his reign, Hindustan was in confusion and the signs of coming dissolution had appeared. As some imperial corpse, preserved for ages in its dread seclusion, crowned and armed and still majestic, yet falls into dust at the mere breath of heaven, so fell the Empire of the Mughals when the great name that guarded it was no more.

It was as though some splendid palace reared with infinite skill with the costliest stones and precious metals of the earth had attained its perfect beauty only to collapse in undistinguishable ruin when the insidious roots of the creeper sapped the foundation. Even if Aurangzeb had left a successor of his own mantle and moral stature, it may be doubted whether the process of disintegration could have stayed. The disease was too far advanced for even the heroic surgery”.

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