The East India Company and the Decline of the Mughal Empire
The English East India Company's Arrival and Early Interactions with the Mughal Empire
Captain William Hawkins's Arrival (August 1608):
First commander of an East India Company (EIC) vessel (the Hector) to set foot on Indian soil, anchoring off Surat.
Context of India at the time:
Population: million (approximately one-fifth of the world's total).
Global Manufacturing: Producing about a quarter of global manufacturing, making it the world's industrial powerhouse and leader in manufactured textiles.
Textile Influence: Many English words related to weaving (e.g., chintz, calico, shawl, pyjamas, khaki, dungarees, cummerbund, taffetas) originated from India.
World Trade: Responsible for a much larger share of world trade than any comparable zone.
Economic Impact: Its economic power reached Mexico, causing a 'de-industrialisation' crisis in its textile manufacturing due to Indian cloth imports.
Comparison with England:
Population: England had only percent of India's population.
Manufactured Goods: England was producing just under percent of the world's manufactured goods.
Mughal Wealth and Power:
Profits from trade enriched the Mughal exchequer in Agra.
Mughal Emperor's Income: Around million (over today), making him the richest monarch globally.
Mughal Capitals: Described as megacities, 'second to none either in Asia or in Europe' in size, population, or wealth, crowded with merchants and excelling in various arts and crafts.
Silver Inflow: Between and , European silver flowed into the Mughal heartland at an astonishing rate of metric tons annually, as 'all nations bring coyne and carry away commodities for the same'.
Cultural Representation: Silk-clad, jewel-decked Mughals embodied wealth and power, influencing the word 'mogul'.
European Military Superiority & Mughal Resistance
European Expectation of Easy Victories:
By the early th century, Europeans were accustomed to swift military triumphs (e.g., Spanish conquest of Aztec Empire in s, Dutch actions in Moluccas: slaughtering islanders, burning cities, seizing ports, enslaving inhabitants of Lontor, torturing and executing chiefs).
Mughal Military Strength:
Captain Hawkins quickly realized that military conquest was impossible against the Great Mughals.
Mughal Army Size: The Mughals maintained a staggering million men under arms.
Example: Expulsion of the Portuguese (1632):
Emperor Shah Jahan discovered Portuguese constructing unauthorized fortifications and 'dwellings of the utmost splendour and strength' in Hughli, Bengal.
Portuguese also flouted Mughal rules through forced conversions to Christianity.
Shah Jahan commanded an attack; the city fell within days.
Mughal ingenuity: Escape attempts down the Ganges were thwarted by a boom across the river.
Consequences for Portuguese: prisoners, along with their 'idols,' were sent to Agra to beg for mercy. Those refusing were 'divided [as slaves] among the amirs', or held, tortured, and most perished.
Portuguese Viceroy of Goa was powerless to intervene.
Early English Diplomatic Missions to the Mughal Court
EIC's Realization: To trade successfully, the EIC needed 'partners and permissions', necessitating a relationship with the Mughal Emperor.
Hawkins's Mission (1608-1609):
Took a year to reach Agra, disguised as an Afghan nobleman.
Brieftly entertained by Emperor Jahangir, conversing in Turkish.
Jahangir lost interest in the 'semi-educated sea dog' and sent him home with an Armenian Christian wife.
Mission achieved little; an EIC fleet captained by Sir Henry Middleton was driven away from Surat anchorage (Suvali / 'Swally Hole') by local officials backed by Portuguese threats.
Sir Thomas Roe's Royal Embassy (1615-1618):
A 'new, more impressive mission' was called for, with King James sending royal envoy Sir Thomas Roe (a courtier, MP, diplomat, Amazon explorer, Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, and self-described 'man of quality').
Arrival: Arrived in Ajmer in with presents including 'hunting dogges' (English mastiffs, Irish greyhounds), an English state coach, Mannerist paintings, an English virginal, and red wine (Jahangir's reputed fondness).
Roe's Difficult Interviews with Jahangir:
Roe aimed to discuss trade and preferential customs duties.
Jahangir's Disinterest: The 'aesthete Emperor' was bored by such commercial discussions.
Jahangir's Character and Interests:
'Enormously sensitive, curious and intelligent man'.
Observant of the world, keen collector of curiosities (Venetian swords, globes, Safavid silks, jade pebbles, narwhal teeth).
Proud inheritor of Indo-Mughal aesthetics and knowledge.
Active interest in goat and cheetah breeding, medicine, astronomy, animal husbandry (like an Enlightenment landowner).
Emperor's focus: Aesthetics and knowledge, not mechanics of trade.
Conversations at Cross Purposes:
Roe attempted to steer talks to commerce, diplomacy, and firmans for an English 'factory' and 'secure Trade and residence'.
Jahangir countered with questions about England, its 'strange things', and art.
Roe's observation: Jahangir 'expects great presents and jewels and regards no trade but what feeds his insatiable appetite after stones, riches and rare pieces of art'.
Gift Exchange and Cultural Misunderstanding:
Jahangir asked about presents. Roe explained England sought 'rare here, and unseen' curiosities, not jewels already prevalent in India.
Jahangir's specific request: 'an English horse'.
Jahangir questioned Roe about daily drinking habits, English beer, and its making, which Roe 'satisfied his great demands of State'.
Roe's Dazzle and Mughal Splendor:
Roe, though sometimes critical ('religions infinite, laws none'), was 'thoroughly dazzled'.
Birthday Celebrations (1617 in Mandu): Described 'unimaginable splendour'.
'Very large and beautifull Garden', with a 'Pinacle' for royal weighing. Emperor weighed against jewels in 'scales … of masse gold'.
Emperor's attire: 'laden with Diamonds, Rubies, Pearles… so great, so glorious!', fettered with chains of diamonds, rubies 'as great as Walnuts', and pearls. Jahangir was 'the treasury of the world, buying all that comes, and heaping rich stones as if he would rather build [with them] than wear them'.
Mughal Perspective on the English:
Curious, but 'hardly overwhelmed'.
Jahangir admired an English miniature of one of Roe's girlfriends (possibly Lady Huntingdon).
Mughal artists: Demonstrated ability to copy the miniature so perfectly Roe couldn't distinguish original from copy.
English coach: Admired, but Jahangir immediately upgraded its 'tatty Tudor interior trim' with Mughal cloth of gold and had his kar-khana (workshop) perfectly copy the entire coach within a week for Empress Nur Jahan.
Roe's Humiliation and Limited Success:
Substandard Accommodation: Allotted only four caravanserai rooms 'no bigger than ovens'.
Outshone Gifts: Roe's 'shop-soiled presents' were outshone by a rival Portuguese embassy's 'jewels, Ballests [balas spinels] and Pearles'.
Outcome: After three years, Roe secured permission for a factory (trading station) in Surat, an agreement 'for our reception and continuation in his domynions', and 'a couple of imperial firmans, limited in scope and content'.
Jahangir deliberately avoided conceding any major trading privileges, possibly deeming it beneath his dignity.
Bichitr's Imperial Miniature (Illustrating Mughal Hierarchy):
Famous image by Jahangir’s master artist, Bichitr.
Conceit: Pious Jahangir preferred Sufis and saints over powerful princes.
Anecdote: Jahangir chatted for an hour with a 'poor silly old man, all asht, ragd and patcht' holy man, embracing him and calling him 'father', a display of humility 'not found easily among Kings'.
Painting Depiction:
Jahangir: Center frame, on a throne with a bright halo of Majesty, handing a Quran to a Sufi, spurning the Ottoman Sultan.
King James I: Relegated to the bottom left corner, beneath Jahangir's feet and above Bichitr's self-portrait, shown in a three-quarter profile (reserved for minor characters), with a 'vinegary sullenness' reflecting his low place in the Mughal hierarchy.
Mughal Indifference: Jahangir's voluminous diaries never mentioned Roe.
Significance: English traders would wait another century for Mughals to take real interest.
The EIC's Developing Strategy and Growth
Beginning of Mughal-Company Relationship: Roe’s mission, despite its clumsiness, was the start of a partnership.
Over years, the EIC learned to operate skillfully within the Mughal system:
Officials learned good Persian, correct court etiquette, the art of bribing, and outmaneuvering rivals (Portuguese, Dutch, French).
Success was facilitated by 'scrupulous regard for Mughal authority'.
Company's self-portrayal: 'not a corporate entity but instead an anthropomorphized one, an Indo-Persian creature called Kampani Bahadur'.
Roe's Strategic Advice upon Return to London:
Against Force: 'A warre and traffick are incompatible.' Force of arms was not an option.
Against Fortified Settlements: Advised against them, citing Portuguese trade 'beggaring' with insupportable costs.
Recommendation: 'Lett this be received as a rule, that if you will seek profit, seek it at sea and in a quiett trade.'
EIC's Adoption of Roe's Advice:
Early officials prided themselves on negotiating commercial privileges rather than attacking strategic ports.
This strategy 'paid handsome dividends'.
Expansion of Trading Posts:
Masulipatnam: Captain Hippon established a second factory on the Coromandel coast to open textile trade with the diamond-rich Sultanate of Golconda.
Patna: A third factory opened for saltpetre (active ingredient in gunpowder) trade.
Financial Success and Impact:
Trade in jewels, pepper, textiles, and saltpetre yielded better returns than Dutch spice trade.
By the s: EIC imported of pepper annually from India, exporting it to Italy and the Middle East (via the Levant Company), a reversal of centuries of trade patterns.
Thirty years later: Importing pieces of cloth (nearly half from Coromandel).
Losses: Between and , out of ships sent eastwards, only returned.
Profitability: Balance sheets grew, attracting investors across Europe.
First Joint Stock (1613): Raised (nearly million today).
Second Joint Stock (1617): Raised million (a massive million today), turning EIC into a 'financial colossus'.
Stimulated London's Economy: Boosted docks and the nascent London stock exchange.
Political Influence: By mid-century, half of the elite Court of Aldermen of the City of London were Levant Company traders or EIC directors, or both.
Economic Significance: Thomas Mun called the Company's trade 'the very touchstone of the Kingdom's prosperity'.
Establishment of Fortified Settlements and Growing Presence
Armagon (1625):
EIC's first fortified Indian base, north of Pulicat on the central Coromandel coast.
Quickly and shoddily constructed, found militarily indefensible.
Abandoned six years later in with little regret, as 'better lost than found'.
Madraspatnam / Fort St George (1639):
Francis Day (head of Armagon factory) negotiated with the local governor of the waning Vijayanagara empire.
Choice of site: Not purely commercial or military.
Legend: Day's liaison with a Tamil lady whose village was inland from Madraspatnam; his desire for 'frequent and uninterrupted' interviews led to selecting a site adjacent to her home village.
Concessions: The Naik (governor) granted rights to build 'a fort and castle', trade customs-free, and 'perpetually Injoy the priviledges of minatag[e]'. These were major concessions, far greater than Mughals would yield for another century.
Growth: Initially 'only the French padres and about six fishermen'. Proclamation of years of no custom duties attracted weavers, artificers, and traders.
Security: Fort walls provided security, crucial in 'tymes are turned upp syde downe'.
Madras became the first English colonial town in India with its own civil administration, municipality status, and a population of .
Coinage (1680s): Minted its own gold 'pagoda' coins, featuring a temple image and Hanuman, borrowed from old Vijayanagara coinage.
Bombay (1661):
Acquired by the Company via the Crown as part of the dowry for Charles II's marriage to Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza.
Initial Confusion: Map went missing; Lord High Chancellor believed 'Bumbye' was 'somewhere near Brazil'.
Delayed Transfer: Portuguese governor refused to hand it over without instructions.
High Mortality: Sir Abraham Shipman arrived in September with men; his mission was blocked. He and all but one officer died of fever and heatstroke waiting on a barren island.
Actual Control: British took over three years later (1665); only one ensign, two gunners, and subalterns remained alive.
Strategic Importance:
Best natural harbour in South Asia.
Became EIC's major naval base in Asia, with the only dry dock for monsoon ship repairs.
Eclipsed Surat as the main EIC operations center on the west coast.
Decline of English Reputation in Surat:
'Private whorings, drunkenesse and such like ryotts… breaking open whorehouses and rackehouses' hardened inhabitants' hearts.
English were reviled with 'Ban-chude' (sister-fucker) and 'Betty-chude' (daughter-fucker) in Surat streets.
Growth and Governance in Bombay:
Within years, colonial population of .
Network of factories, law courts, Anglican church, large white residential houses.
Included a scaffold for execution of 'witches'.
Garrison: English soldiers, Topazes, native militia, Bhandaris (club-wielding toddy-tappers).
By the s, briefly eclipsed Madras as the 'seat of power and trade of the English in the East Indies'.
EIC's Growing Power and Corporate Misconduct
Corporate Lobbying Scandal (1688):
Company directors in London realized their growing power.
Used shares to buy favors of parliamentarians.
Annual bribes: a year to prominent MPs and ministers (equivalent to million today).
High-level corruption: to the Solicitor General (equivalent to today), to the Attorney General (equivalent to today).
Parliamentary Investigation: EIC found guilty of bribery and insider trading.
Consequences: Impeachment of the Lord President of the Council, imprisonment of the Company’s Governor.
The Catastrophic Child's War (1686-1690)
Sir Josiah Child's Aggression (1681):
Only once in the th century did the Company try to use force against the Mughals.
Directorship taken over by Sir Josiah Child, described as 'an overgrown and suddenly monied man… most sordidly avaricious'.
Complaints from Bengal factors: Streynsham Master wrote that 'every petty Officer makes a pray of us, abusing us at pleasure to Screw what they can out of us', feeling 'despised and trampled upon'.
Nawab of Bengal, Shaista Khan, disliked the Company, calling them 'base, quarrelling people and foul dealers'.
Child's Decision to Use Force:
Ignorant of Mughal power, Child decided to 'teach the Mughals a lesson'.
Declaration: 'We have no remedy left… but either to desert our trade, or we must draw the sword his Majesty has Intrusted us with, to vindicate the Rights and Honor of the English Nation in India.'
Military Expedition (1686):
A 'considerable Fleet' sailed from London to Bengal with warships, cannons, and soldiers.
Child's intent: 'It will… become us to Seize what we cann & draw the English sword.'
Mughal Response and EIC Defeat:
Worst Timing: Mughals had just conquered Bijapur and Golconda, and seemingly driven Marathas back, emerging as an unrivaled regional power.
Mughal military easily swept away English landing parties.
Consequences for EIC: Factories at Hughli, Patna, Kasimbazar, Masulipatnam, and Vizagapatam were seized and plundered. English expelled from Bengal. Surat factory closed, Bombay blockaded.
EIC forced to sue for peace, beg for return of factories and trading privileges, and release of captured factors (paraded in chains, fettered, in 'insufferable and tattered conditions… like thiefs and murders').
Aurangzeb's Forgiveness (1690): After EIC 'repented of their irregular proceedings' and submitted, Aurangzeb 'graciously agreed to forgive them'.
The Founding of Calcutta (1690)
Job Charnock's Initiative: In the aftermath of the Anglo-Mughal War fiasco, Charnock decided to found a new British base in Bengal.
Location: August , , Charnock began settlement on swampy ground between Kalikata and Sutanuti villages, near Armenian and Portuguese trading stations.
Criticism of the Site: Scottish writer Alexander Hamilton criticized Charnock's choice of 'a large shady tree' as 'he could not have found a more unhealthful Place on all the River'.
Job Charnock's Personal Story (Hamilton's New Account of the East Indies):
Charnock 'reigned more absolute than a Rajah'.
Witnessed a Sati: Was 'smitten with the Widow’s Beauty', sent guards to rescue her, and lived with her for many years, having several children.
Conversion: Instead of converting her to Christianity, she made him a 'Proselyte to Paganism'.
Ritual: After her death in Calcutta, he buried her decently and built a tomb, where he 'kept the anniversary Day of her Death by sacrificing a Cock on her Tomb, after the Pagan Manner'.
High Mortality:
Within a year, people in the settlement, but Hamilton counted names in the burial book.
Saying: 'live like Englishmen and die like rotten sheep'.
Bengal's Importance:
'Finest and most fruitful country in the world' (François Bernier).
'Richest most populous and best cultivated countries' (Alexander Dow).
Miriad weavers (e.g., in Dhaka alone), unrivalled luxury textile production.
By late th century, Europe's most important supplier of goods in Asia and wealthiest Mughal region – a place where fortunes were easily made.
Annual Cargo (early th century): Dutch and English EIC shipped cargoes worth around annually into Bengal (equivalent to million today), percent of which was silver.
Conclusion: EIC viewed Bengal as the best place to make money.
The Decline of the Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb's Death (1707): Signified a turning point for the Company.
Emperor Aurangzeb's Character and Policies:
'Unloved by his father', grew into a 'bitter and bigoted Islamic puritan', intolerant and dogmatic.
Talented general and calculating strategist, but lacked the 'winning charm' of predecessors.
Rule: Increasingly harsh, repressive, and unpopular with age.
Break with Predecessors: Abandoned liberal, inclusive policies towards the Hindu majority pioneered by Akbar.
Religious Strictures: Allowed ulama to impose stricter interpretations of Sharia law.
Banned: Wine and hashish.
Ended: Personal patronage of musicians, Hindu customs (e.g., jharoka palace window appearances).
Hindu Persecution:
About a dozen Hindu temples destroyed across the country.
order: Recalled all endowed land given to Hindus, reserved future land grants for Muslims.
: Reimposed jizya tax on all non-Muslims (abolished by Akbar).
Executed: Teg Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs.
Consequences of Aurangzeb's Policies:
Religious Divisions: Opened 'religious wounds' that 'never entirely healed', tearing the country in two.
Internal Instability: Unable to trust anyone, Aurangzeb marched throughout the Empire, viciously suppressing rebellions.
Weakened Military: The Empire's foundation of 'pragmatic tolerance' and alliance with Hindus (especially Rajput warriors) was pressured, shattering the Mughal state and losing the 'backbone of their army' after Aurangzeb's death.
Overextension: Reckless expansion into the Deccan (against Shia Muslim states of Bijapur and Golconda) exhausted resources.
The Rise of the Maratha Confederacy
A New Enemy: Aurangzeb's Deccan expansion unleashed the formidable Marathas.
Origins: Maratha peasants and landholders who served in Bijapur and Golconda armies.
Emergence (1670s): After Mughal conquest of Bijapur and Golconda, Maratha guerrilla raiders under Shivaji Bhonsle began attacks.
Composition: 'Most of the men in the Maratha army are unendowed with illustrious birth, and husbandmen, carpenters and shopkeepers abound among their soldiery'. Largely armed peasants, but knew the country and how to fight.
Shivaji Bhonsle's Leadership:
Led a 'prolonged and increasingly widespread peasant rebellion' from the western Deccan.
Tactics: Light cavalry, armed with spears, remarkable for mobility ( miles a day), carrying no baggage or provisions, living 'off the country'.
Maxim: 'no plunder, no pay'.
Description (Dr John Fryer of EIC): 'Naked, Starved Rascals' with 'only lances and long swords two inches wide', unskilled in 'a pitched Field' but supremely skilled at 'Surprising and Ransacking'.
Strategy: Avoided pitched battles, ravaged Mughal power centers until the economy collapsed.
Maratha Raids:
: Shivaji led a night raid on Mughal headquarters in Pune, murdered the family of Governor Shaista Khan, and cut off the Governor's finger.
: Shivaji's peasant army raided Mughal port of Surat, sacking warehouses and extorting money from bankers.
: Second raid on Surat.
: Third raid on Surat met no resistance.
Shivaji's Coronations:
Vedic Consecration (June , ): At Raigad, by Varanasi pandit Gagabhatta. Awarded status of Chhatrapati (Lord of the Umbrella) and legitimate Hindu Emperor (Samrajyapada).
Tantric Coronation: Followed shortly, believed to grant access to powers of three Konkan goddesses.
Ritual: Shivaji entered throne room with a sword, made blood sacrifices to lokapalas (world-guarding divinities). Mantras installed on his body, then mounted lion throne 'hailed by cries of Victory'. Empowered throne with mantras of ten Vidyas. Saktis held lamps, lustrated the king, who 'shone like Brahma'.
Shivaji's Legacy:
Dismissed as a 'desert rat' by Aurangzeb.
By his death in , he became Aurangzeb's nemesis, a symbol of Hindu resistance and revival after years of Islamic rule.
Within a generation, Maratha writers deified him (e.g., Sivabharata by Kaviraja Paramananda depicted him as Vishnu-incarnate, sent to destroy Muslims who were 'demons incarnate').
Mughal Attempts to Quell Marathas and Worsening Crisis
Mughal Counter-Offensive:
Initially, Mughal army fought back steadily, taking hillforts.
: Aurangzeb's armies captured Sambhaji (Shivaji's son and successor).
Brutal Execution: Humiliated, tortured for a week (eyes stabbed, tongue cut out, skin flayed with tiger claws), savagely put to death. Body thrown to dogs, head stuffed with straw and toured Deccan cities before being hung on Delhi Gate.
: Mughal siege trains took Maratha capital, Satara.
Brief Glimmer of Victory: Seemed Aurangzeb had 'driven that restless nation from its own home'.
Aurangzeb's Declining Fortunes:
Maratha Guerrilla Warfare: Avoided pitched battles, attacked Mughal supply trains, leaving slow columns to starve or retreat.
Aurangzeb's Frustration: Marched to take fort after fort, only to see them lost when his back was turned. 'So long as a single breath of this mortal life remains, there is no release from this labour and work.'
Empire's Extent vs. Instability: Mughal Empire reached its widest extent (Kabul to Carnatic) but suffered 'disruption everywhere'.
Wider Insurgencies (1680s):
Growing insurgency in imperial heartlands from peasant desertions and rebellions (Jats of Gangetic Doab, Sikhs of Punjab).
Zamindar Rebellion: Landowning gentry openly battled tax assessments and Mughal attempts to regulate rural areas.
Banditry: Became endemic; Giovanni Gemelli Careri complained Mughal India offered no 'safety from thieves'.
Prince Akbar's Rebellion: Aurangzeb's own son rebelled with the Rajputs.
Financial Crisis:
Resistance diminished flow of rents, customs, and revenues.
Treasury struggled for the first time to pay administration costs and official salaries.
Military expenses climbed, widening 'cracks in the Mughal state' into 'fissures, then crevasses'.
Aurangzeb's Deathbed Acknowledgment:
Confessed failures in a letter to his son, Azam: 'I came alone and I go as a stranger… I have not been the guardian and protector of the Empire. Life, so valuable, has been squandered in vain… I fear my punishment.'
Died: February , .
Burial: Simple grave, open to skies, in Khuldabad (Deccan plateau), where he spent most of his adult life trying, and failing, to bring to heel.
Post-Aurangzeb Anarchy and Rise of Regional Powers
Dissolution of Mughal Authority: After Aurangzeb's death, state authority dissolved, first in the Deccan, then spreading northwards under Maratha war leader Baji Rao.
Imperial Crisis and Weak Emperors:
Mughal succession disputes and a string of weak, powerless emperors exacerbated the crisis.
: Four different Emperors occupied the Peacock Throne in rapid succession, a 'worst year'.
Mughal historian Khair ud-Din Illahabadi: 'The Emperor spent years – and fortunes – attempting to destroy the foundations of Maratha power, but this accursed tree could not be pulled up by the roots.'
Corruption and Disorder: 'No longer sought to hide themselves and the once peaceful realm of India became a lair of Anarchy.'
Maratha Violence and Governance:
Devastating Raids: Villages under Mughal authority reduced to 'piles of smoking cinders'.
Eyewitness Account: European traveler described Maratha aftermath as 'indescribably horrid and distressing scene of humans and domestic animals burned and lying scattered about', with 'hideous corpses'.
Paradoxically, in peace, Marathas could be mild rulers.
French traveler: 'The Marathas willingly ruin the land of their enemies… but they faithfully maintain the peace with their allies, and in their own domains make agriculture and commerce flourish.' Areas submitting to Marathas were 'happiest and most flourishing'.
Maratha Confederacy (Early 18th Century):
Fanned out to control much of central and western India.
Organization: Five chieftains ruled different regions.
Peshwa (Prime Minister): Controlled Maharashtra and headed the Confederacy.
Bhonsle: In charge of Orissa.
Gaekwad: Controlled Gujarat.
Holkar: Dominated central India.
Scindia: Commanded territory in Rajasthan and north India.
Administration: Continued to use Mughal administrative procedures, making transition to their rule 'smooth it was almost imperceptible'.
Emergence of Independent Regional Governors:
Mughal regional governors, lacking central control, acted as independent rulers.
Deccan (1724): Chin Qilich Khan, Nizam ul-Mulk (Aurangzeb's protégé), left Delhi without sanction, set himself up in the eastern Deccan, defeating rivals, building power in Hyderabad.
Avadh (present-day Uttar Pradesh): Power concentrated in Shia Persian immigrant Nawab Sa’adat Khan and nephew Safdar Jung. Became main power brokers in the north, based at Faizabad.
Dynastic Rule: Both Hyderabadi and Avadh governors founded dynasties dominating large areas for years.
Nature of Rule: Operated under Mughal 'carapace', used Emperor's name for authority, but governates felt 'more and more like self-governing provinces'.
Bengal: A Partial Exception (Murshid Quli Khan):
Governor (former Brahmin slave converted to Islam) remained 'fiercely loyal' to the Emperor.
Annual Tribute: Continued to send sterling annually from Bengal's revenues to Delhi (which became most of central government's revenue).
Harsh Tax Regime: Notorious for severity.
Methods: Defaulters confined without food/drink, stripped naked and doused with cold water in winter, suspended by heels and bastinadoed ('beaten with a switch').
Extreme Torture: Thrown into a pit of putrefied human excrement full of worms. Forced to wear 'long leather drawers, filled with live cats'.
Innovative Tribute Transfer: Roads too disordered for bullion caravans.
Used credit networks of Jagat Seths, Marwari Oswal Jain financiers.
The Jagat Seths and EIC's Assertiveness in the Power Vacuum
The Jagat Seths ('Bankers of the World'):
Origin: Marwari Oswal Jain financiers from Nagar, Jodhpur state.
Title (1722): Emperor awarded them the hereditary title of Jagat Seths.
Influence: Controlled minting, collection, and transfer of revenues for Bengal (richest province).
Power: Exercised influence and power 'second only to the Governor himself', akin to Rothschilds.
Wealth: 'Their wealth was such that there is no mentioning it without seeming to exaggerate and to deal in extravagant fables' (Ghulam Hussain Khan). 'As the Ganges pours its water into the sea by a hundred mouths, so wealth flowed into the treasury of the Seths' (Bengali poet).
EIC's View: East India Company officials saw them as 'natural allies' whose interests coincided.
Credit Facilities: EIC borrowed an average of annually from them between and (over million today).
Impact: This alliance, 'based on reciprocity and mutual advantage', and access to Indian finance, radically changed Indian history.
EIC's Post-Mughal Assertiveness:
Lack of Firm Mughal Control: EIC realized it could now enforce its will in ways impossible a generation earlier.
Early Signs (1701): Da’ud Khan, Governor of Carnatic, complained of Madras Council's 'most cavalier manner' and disrespect.
Complaints: EIC had enriched itself extraordinarily, failed to account for administration after fall of Golconda, and did not account for revenues from tobacco, betel, wine, etc.
EIC's Response (Niccolao Manucci, emissary): Argued EIC transformed 'sandy beach into a flourishing port'; if overtaxed, EIC would move operations elsewhere. Local weavers and merchants, earning 'lakhs' of pagodas () through trade, would be the losers.
Tactic's Success: Da’ud Khan backed off. This 'prefigured by years the response of many modern corporates' (