Decline of Muslim Rule in India PDF

TOPIC: DECLINE OF MUSLIM RULE IN INDIA AND WAR OD INDEPENDENCE Subject Pakistan Studies CAUSES OF THE FALL OF MUGHAL EMPIRE 1. Death of Aurangzeb Alamgir 1707 2. Aurangzeb Alamgir’s religious policy 3. Weak successors of Mughals 4. The absence of any definite law of appointment. 5. Moral Dege...

TOPIC: DECLINE OF MUSLIM RULE IN INDIA AND WAR OD INDEPENDENCE Subject Pakistan Studies CAUSES OF THE FALL OF MUGHAL EMPIRE 1. Death of Aurangzeb Alamgir 1707 2. Aurangzeb Alamgir’s religious policy 3. Weak successors of Mughals 4. The absence of any definite law of appointment. 5. Moral Degeneration 6. Battle of Plassey 1757 7. Demoralization of the Army 8. Wrong policy of Akbar 9. Lack of scientific Education 10.Lack of Naval Force 11.Huge Empire 12.Arrival of British  DEATH OF AURANGZEB ALAMGIR ,1707 The death of Aurangzeb Alamgir in 1707 marked the beginning of the end of Mughal Empire. The Mughal Emperors ruled till 1857 but only in name. Most of the successors of Aurangzeb remained puppets in the hands to their powerful nobels or pensioners of the Marathas and later on of the British. The last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was deposed by the British after the revolt of 1857 and deported to Rangoon to die their as a prisoner.  THE NATURE AND POLICIES OF ALAMGIR Aurangzeb was partially responsibe for the downfall of the Mughal Empire. The suspicious nature of Aurangzeb did not permit either any of his sons and nobles to become capable. His religious bigotry which lost him the loyalty of the major of his subjects. And resulted in the revolts of the Jats,the Satnamis and he Sikhs. Rajput policy which resulted in fighting against the Marathas brought misfortune to the Mughal Empire.  WEAK SUCCESSORS The character of Mughal kings had deteriorated over a period of time. The successors after Aurangzeb Alamgir were weak and lacked the character, motivation and commitment to rule the Empire strongly. They had become ease loving and cowardly. They totally disregarded their state duties and were unable to detain the declining empire from its fall. THE ABSENCE OF ANY DEFINITE LAW OF APPOINTMENT The absence of any definite law of appointment was another important factor. The war of successions not only led to the bitterness, bloodshed and loss of money and prestige of the Empire over a period of time,but to its eventual fall.  MORAL DEGENERATION The collapse of the rulers had also led to the moral Degeneration of the nobles. The nobles who had once been talented men with integrity, honesty and loyalty, turned selfish and deceitful. Growth of hostile and rival clique in the court also undermined the strength of the government. Widespread corruption in the administration started and taking bribes became common.  BATTLE OF PLASSEY ,1757 Battle of Plassey was an important cause of the decline of the Mughals in the subcontinent. Victory for the British East India Company in the Battle of Plassey was the start of nearly two centuries of British Rule in India. The Battle of Plassey is said to be historically famous as it is cited as the main source of the British Rule in India.  DEMORALIZATION OF THE ARMY One of the most powerful cause of the fall of Mughal Empire was the decline and demoralization of the army. The military had not only become inefficient but also lacked in training, discipline and cohesion. The army was out dated in regard to equipment. LACK OF SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION When Europe was passing the journey of inventions,at that time, Mughals were busy in their luxurious life. They did not pay any attention on scientific Education.  LACK OF NAVAL FORCE When the fleet of ships of European were floating in the seas of world at that time,there was no Naval Force of Mughals that could stop the Europeans to come in. HUGE EMPIRE Mughal Dynasty was consist of 580 states. But the Later Mughals were the puppets in the hands of their lords. All Later Mughals were weak in decision making. All of them depended on their generals,in which mostly were Hindus. So its wideness of its a cause which created many other problems. ARRIVAL OF BRITISH All historians are sgree on this that the arrival of British was the main cause of the decline of Mughals.  INVASION OF NADIR SHAH Nadir Shah ‘s invasion was a great humiliation for the Mughal Empire. The capital of Dehli was ruined and depopulated. The Mughal Treasury was emptied. The Mughal government also lost two important sources of revenue. 1. Sind and 2. Much of the Punjab. FAILURE OF JAGIRDARI SYSTEM Failure of the jagirdari system resulted in economic bankruptcy of the Empire. The expenditures of Empire exceeded the income.  CONCLUSION The process of disintegration had begun just after the death of Bahadur Shah 1. However, the Empire,in name lingered on till 1857. After the revolt of 1857, the British wiped out its name as well and assumed the de jure as well as the de facto sovereignty of India. Thus the Mughal Empire passed away like a diseased person who met his doom gradually, painfully and miserably.  War of Independence Background During the 1850s, the British became confident about their hold on the sub-continent. The British did not realize but many issues and dismays of the Indians were building up anger in them including the behavior of British towards them and unbiased policies. The Events of 1857 worked as a final nail and made the Indians highly dissatisfied and threatened by the British rule. As a result, the British were challenged by an uprising in 1857. The uprising didn’t succeed due to a number of reasons, but it became a driving motivation for many generations to come. Many changes happened as a consequence of the  War of Independence 1857 Indian Mutiny, also called Sepoy Mutiny or First War of Independence, widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India in 1857–59. Begun in Meerut by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company, it spread to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow. The main causes of the War were political, social, economical, military and religious. It was the first time Muslims and Hindus fought against British. The main event which became the immediate cause of the war was the refusal of the Sepoys to use the grease covered cartridges (greased with fat of pig  How War of Independence started? Mangal Pandey was an Indian sepoy killed two British officers at Barrackpore, when he was forced to use greased cartridges. He was arrested and hanged to death on April 8, 1857. The War of Independence is an important landmark in the history of Sub-Continent. This War was fought in 1857 by Indians against the British in order to get rid of their domination. This war was not spread throughout India but it was limited to few areas mainly Meerut, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow etc.  Causes of Revolt Some causes of the war of independence (1857) are in the following: Dissatisfaction of Indians Introduction of Enfield Rifle The Indian were not satisfied with the British policies towards them. The administration of the British was not suitable for the local citizens and the troopers. The British succeeded to control major parts of the India after the death of Tipu Sultan. British tried to destroy Muslims from all the fields of life. They concentrated on two things; first, the extensions of their territories and second, crushing the Muslims. The Mughals were squeezed and the Indians were exploited by  Political cause The policies of Lord Dalhousie were against the local rulers and he extended his territories. He introduced the “Doctrine of Lapse” in 1852. This was the British policy in which Dalhousie abolished the rule of successor in case of unavailability of real son of a ruler in India. They British implemented higher taxes on the lands and the land holders had to pay them. Eighty Thousands military servants from Awadh were terminated by the British and they became unemployed in response of this action. Due to this invasion and charges on farmers, the soldiers of the Company had an extreme anger towards the company and the British because their families had the  Religious cause The British were highly interested in Christianity and this was the dangerous alarm not only for Muslims and Hindus but for the other natives also. The Christian missionaries came to India with the British officers for their spiritual training but they started interruption within the religious matters of the Indians. The natives smell fear that their young generation would be destroyed by the Christians because the missionaries were performing their activities in the educational institutions. The missionaries were preaching their teachings not only the churches and school but in prisons, hospitals and working places also. It was considered an Intervention into the Hindu Religion  Military Cause The British followed a variety of discriminatory rules in the army as the Indian soldiers got very less pay than the others. The highest or maximum payment obtained by a senior foot-soldier was less than the lowest pay of a European yard bird. There were rare chances of self-regard and promotion for the Indian soldiers as they were not trusted by the British. All the higher posts were reserved for the Europeans. Indian soldiers were awarded higher punishment and serious insult in response of their minor disciplinary violation in the army but, there was a rare or minimal  Enfield Rifle The government introduced a new type of Enfield rifle which was too effective during the battles. The soldiers had to nibble or open the greased cartridge of the riffle within their teeth before loading it into the gun to fire; some grease was certain to stick the teeth and tongue. This grease was made out of fat of cow and pigs. This was against the religious dogma of the Hindus and Muslim Soldiers as well. Some of them including the Muslims and Hindus were court martialed after an official inquiry.  Major Events of 1857 - 1858 January 1857: The British announced the introduction of new rifles whose cartridge has to be ripped open using teeth to load it. A rumor spread that the cartridge of the new rifles was greased using the fat of pig and cow. It enraged both Muslims and Hindus as the Hindus considered cows sacred and the pig was forbidden in Islam. March 1857: Mangal Pandey openly resisted his British officer and got execute  May 1857 In Meerut, the sepoys refused to touch the new rifles and were court-martialed and imprisoned. The imprisoned sepoys were rescued by their fellows and marched to Delhi and captured it. At that time, Bahadur Shah II became a uniting force between Hindu and Muslims. Bahadur Shah II received support from both Muslims and Hindus for the uprising. War spread and the British lost their control over Allahabad, Lucknow, Jhansi, and Kanpur.  September 1857 The British proved to be powerful and immediately regained their control over Lucknow and Delhi. Bahadur Shah II was forced to surrender. As a lesson, the British killed Bahadur Shah II’s sons brutally. June 1858: Lakshmibhai, Rani of Jhansi was killed in battle. Tatya Topee, Indian general was caught and executed. August 1858: The War was declared over officially.  Reasons of Failure 1. The war of independence started due to some immediate reasons and without a proper planning. The sudden start of the war was itself confused as a large number of sepoys were not prepared for this action. 2. There was a lack of communication, the freedom fighters were spread all over the India and they have no more connection among them. They were unable to know the situation of each other at the right time. The English troops were fully equipped with the communication tools at that time. 3. The war was fought within different period of times in different places. The freedom fighters fought and were crushed by the British armed forces as the sepoys were not united. 4. The sepoys fought with patriotism but they neither had more arms nor modern rifles as compared to the British. The English troops were fully prepared as they had modern arms, great generals and various types of cavalries.  Reasons of Failure 5. The mutiny was started by the soldiers and there was no genuine leader or commander to guide them. The soldiers declared their leader on the base of their hopefulness and faith; however, they had neglected facts and realities. They chose Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader who was the nominal emperor of their kingdom. Zafar was unable to fight; he could not offer them the arms and weapons but his poetic ideas. They forgot the reality for some time that no one could win the war on the basis of poetic ideas. 6. The Indian soldiers were in the worst economic conditions. Bahadur Shah Zafar, the emperor of the Indians; was on the mercy of the British and looked for the stipend.  British Strength The British were much more powerful than the rebellious group. Since they have conquered Punjab and Sindh already, the rebellion did not receive any support from Sindhis and Punjabis in the war of 1857. Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah II, who was leading the rebellion showed incompetence during the war. The British weaponry was much more advanced and superior giving them an edge over the rebellion group. The British Leaders, Edwards and Neil were much more confident and experienced than the rebel leaders and fought with complete loyalty towards the Queen.  Disunity The rebels did not have a common purpose and lacked unity. Many refused to fight unless they are harmed directly. Nana Sahib only wanted the Doctrine Lapse to be reversed and was ready to come to terms with British if it is done. Many state rulers supported British to avoid losing their power. The ruler of Kashmir presented his 2000 army men to help the British. The British Governor-General, Lord Canning presented a conciliatory policy that if any rebel gave up, he will be forgiven.  Impacts of War of Independence The Indian Muslims had tried their best to push out their enemies, the British; and expressed their wish to restore the position of the Mughals as their rules but badly failed in aims. The war was fought by the Hindus and Muslims against the Imperialism but after the war the Muslims were greatly considered as being responsible for the war. Socio-political and socio-economic life of the Muslims suffered as the result. 1. The British were very angry; they took revenge not only from the freedom fighters but from the Indian Muslims; as well thousands of innocent Muslims were slaughtered by the British. 2. The English writers also expressed in their writings  Impacts of War of Independence 3. Those Muslims who played their role as the leaders anywhere during the movement were the main target of revenge after the war, as they were alarm of danger for the British. 4. Without any justification of their involvement in the movement, countless natives were executed by the British especially in Agra, Allahabad, Barely, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow and Meerut and many other places. 5. The Muslims were disgraced and their educational, cultural and religious institutions were destroyed soon. 6. Muslims were put out from the public sector jobs and were exploited. Their ownerships were eliminated from the properties and lands.