2.5 The Decline of the Mughals

By 1700 the Mughal Empire stretched across almost the whole subcontinent, the largest it had ever been. Yet within a few decades it was crumbling. By the mid-1700s the emperor in Delhi ruled little beyond the city itself. How did the mightiest empire India had seen fall apart so quickly? The reshaping of the map was about to begin all over again.

The Turning Point: Aurangzeb The long reign of Aurangzeb (1658–1707) marked both the empire’s greatest size and the start of its decline. He pushed the empire to its territorial limits, especially through costly wars in the Deccan, but these very wars drained its treasury and exhausted its armies. After his death in 1707, the empire began to unravel.

Why the empire weakened

Historians point to several causes working together, no single villain, but a combination of strains.

Causes of Mughal Decline

  • Over-expansion and endless wars. Aurangzeb’s long campaigns in the Deccan stretched the empire too far and emptied its treasury.
  • A reversal of tolerant policies. Aurangzeb reimposed the jizya and was far less accommodating than Akbar, weakening the loyalty of Rajputs, Marathas and others.
  • Rising regional powers. The Marathas in the west, the Sikhs in Punjab, and others grew strong and broke away.
  • Weak successors and court intrigue. After Aurangzeb, a series of weak emperors fought over the throne while nobles plotted for power.
  • Financial crisis. Constant warfare plus a shrinking tax base meant the state could no longer pay its soldiers and officials reliably.

Invasions deepen the collapse

A weakened Delhi became a target. In 1739, the Persian ruler Nadir Shah invaded, defeated the Mughal army, and sacked Delhi, carrying off immense treasure (including, by tradition, the famous Peacock Throne). Later raids by Ahmad Shah Abdali struck further blows. Each invasion exposed how hollow Mughal power had become.

Think About It Akbar held a diverse empire together with fair taxes and tolerance; the later Mughals lost it amid war, heavy taxation and intolerance. Looking at both ends of the story, what does the rise and fall of the Mughals suggest about what truly keeps a large, diverse state stable?

What rose in the empire’s place

As Mughal authority faded, India’s map filled once more with regional powers. The Marathas spread across much of the subcontinent; the Sikhs built power in Punjab; Nizams, Nawabs and regional rulers turned their provinces into near-independent states. Into this fragmented, competitive landscape stepped a new and very different player, the European trading companies, whose story belongs to the next chapters.

A Bridge Forward The Mughal decline did not leave an empty stage, it left a crowded, competitive one. The rise of the Marathas (Chapter 3) and the arrival of the British East India Company in this fractured India (Chapter 4) are the direct next chapters of this same story of a changing political map.

Let’s Explore Write three sentences explaining why the Mughal Empire declined, using at least three of these words: Deccan wars, treasury, jizya, weak successors, Marathas, invasions. This is exactly the kind of short-answer you may meet in an exam.

We have now traced India’s political map from 1192 to the 1700s, from the Sultanate, through the southern empires and regional powers, to the rise and fall of the Mughals. The Going Deeper section pulls it all together with timelines, revision aids and CBSE-style practice.