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1 results

  • 12 - Imperial decline and collapse, 1707–1720

  • John F. Richards, Duke University, North Carolina
  • Book:
    The Mughal Empire
    Published online:
    28 March 2012
    Print publication:
    18 March 1993, pp 253-281

  • Summary

    Failure to assign fully productive jagirs strained the loyalties and reduced the effectiveness of members of the nobility and the corps of mansabda. These strains in the imperial fabric found expression in the most important political crises to occupy Bahadur Shah: disaffection of the Rajputs, growing militancy among the Sikhs and Jats in the north, and continuing Maratha insurgency in the south. The tenth Sikh Guru, Govind Singh, who had supported Bahadur Shah in the war of succession, joined the royal entourage as the emperor marched to confront Kam Bakhsh in the Deccan. By mid-1718 the enmity between emperor and minister, barely concealed beneath rigid Mughal norms of court civility and decorum, erupted as the balance of power began tilting toward the Sayyids. For over a decade, instability and weakness caused by the bitter conflicts over the throne wrenched at imperial authority and efficiency.