ENG 515A Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Nizam Al-Mulk
Muhammad Hammad Siddiqui
This week’s reading is the following chapter to the last week’s reading. The chapter
begins with the description of how unordered the Mughal rule was. That is, there was
not sort of distribution of power to the lower level or a systematic way like we see today.
Everything was under the control of “Shahenshah” and his court. This lead to a threat to
the Mughal Empire when the Zamindars, having immense wealth and local knowledge,
started resisting the imperial authority. Then there were local cheftians who would form
a political collaboration and raise challenges for the Mughal authority.
There were more and more people coming up going against the Mughal rule. Some of
them include people like Nizam ul Mulk, the Nawabs (local governors) who gradually
became the head of their respective dynasties. There were people like Papadu, who
tried creating his own rebellious army (but was soon killed). There were rise of
rebellions and one of them, Nadir Shah Zafar, left the Mughal Empire in devastation
after killing around 30,000 people in Delhi alone; taking away immense booty including
the throne of Shah Jahan.
Then came in the East India Company. Started as a humble trade organization in the
rich regions of the empire and soon started taking over the rule. The Company’s annual
trade tripled by the year 1670 (about GBP 360,000). The Company was expanding
robustly. They started founding factories which resulted into a war with Mughals.
Mughals were defeated badly in 1686.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
This week"s reading is the following chapter to the last week"s reading. The chapter begins with the description of how unordered the mughal rule was. That is, there was not sort of distribution of power to the lower level or a systematic way like we see today. Everything was under the control of shahenshah and his court. This lead to a threat to the mughal empire when the zamindars, having immense wealth and local knowledge, started resisting the imperial authority. Then there were local cheftians who would form a political collaboration and raise challenges for the mughal authority. There were more and more people coming up going against the mughal rule. Some of them include people like nizam ul mulk, the nawabs (local governors) who gradually became the head of their respective dynasties. There were people like papadu, who tried creating his own rebellious army (but was soon killed).
