The Later Mughals

Title: The Later Mughals

Author: William Irvine

Publisher: Low Price Publications, 2011 (First published 1922)

ISBN: 978-81-7536-406-6

Pages: 811

The Mughal dynasty adds colour to India’s medieval history. Whether you admire or hate them, the Turkish family had its roots implanted deep in the nation’s rich repertoire of cultural heritage. Established in 1526 by Babar, the dynasty lingered on till 1857, but the vital sap was squeezed out of its trunk by the death of Aurangzeb, probably due to his thoughtless actions and tactless policies. This presents the history of the later Mughals, from the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 to the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah in 1739, in which the ruling princes bickered and fought among each other in incessant battles to deny the kingdom of its vigour. After two centuries of its founding, the family had grown many fold over the generations and the number of aspirants to the throne also multiplied with every passing generation. Lack of administrative talent and weak nature contributed to the sorry state of affairs when all power concentrated in the hands of ministers and sycophants who invariably shadow people in power. In the book, we see the state gradually disappearing before oncoming events which it was powerless to encounter. It was only a matter of when rather than if, the dynasty would give way to successor states. The coup de grace was administered by Nadir Shah through his devastating raid and plunder of Delhi. The Mughals never recovered from the humiliating shock and country was divided up among their provincial governors and rebels. Irvine presents the story in his thoroughly researched work.

One word about the author is due at this point. William Irvine was the son of a Scottish lawyer and he came to India in 1863 as a member of the coveted Indian Civil Service. Though he didn’t rise much high in his career, taking retirement at the age of 48, he opened his eyes to the history of the people whom he was called upon to rule over. He painstakingly collected many original manuscripts in Persian and other Asiatic tongues and made copies of many original documents collected in museums across Europe. He was a ready reference to historians by sharing those documents with them. This book contains two volumes of his work of the same title, combined into one codex. The first part deals with the period 1707 to 1720 and the second extends it up to 1739.

The book begins with the struggle of succession after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. Being a born suspicious fellow, Alamgir kept his sons and grandsons distant from the capital and weak. So, when the Emperor died, all the pretenders were equally weak. The fratricidal warfare, which is an innate characteristic of the Mughal dynasty, played out again over the bier of the dead king. Brother turned against brother, son against father, father against son – the story of the sanguinary fight for power is endless among Mughals. Bahadur Shah proved successful at the end of the day. His tenure turned out to be the unraveling point of Mughals. The disintegration of the Empire commenced with him and the downfall was swift and brutal. Aurangzeb ruled for 51 years, but just after 32 years of his death, a Persian adventurer rod roughshod over Delhi, sowing death, destruction and plunder in his wake. Irvine presents a glimpse of what initiated the tumultuous fall of the state. Bahadur Shah (Shah Alam) was a weak king in conscience ad decision making capacity. He prevaricated on every issue and was unable to say no to a petitioner. He conferred titles freely to everyone who asked for it. There were several men with the same title. Naturally, this led to discontent.

One important observation none of the readers would fail to make is the unsettled nature of social life. Robbers and plunderers lurked everywhere even in the Emperor’s camp. The moment a whiff of rebellion is aroused, armed gangs came out in the open in search of loot. When Bahadur Shah died in 1712 while camping outside Lahore, the deceased’s sons quickly started to amass soldiers and weapons for the inevitable succession struggle. The camp followers lost no time in pouncing upon their fellows to rob them of whatever valuables they possessed. The case of Churaman Jat exemplifies the point. He robbed the passengers on the road between Agra and Ajmer. When his depredations grow uncontrollably, the Emperor brought him to heel. He was allowed entry into the nobility and the guardianship of the road he used to plunder was entrusted back upon him. But it didn’t improve his inborn traits. He was present at the final battle between Jahangir Shah and Farrukh-Siyar at Agra. Immediately after the warring parties took to the field, Churaman leapt on their baggage indiscriminately to obtain what he wanted.

Mughal administration was inherently corrupt. The Emperor was oblivious to the way his subordinates made money as long as they remitted the calculated revenue from their mansabs. The mansabdari system itself was nothing more than tax farming. Besides, the claim to the mansab and property was not hereditary. When a noble died, the Emperor resumed whatever little he had. This led the nobles to secretly appropriate resources for their descendants’ use. Major decisions could be forced, with the efficient use of bribes. Taking the case of Churaman Jat himself as an example, we see that Raja Jai Singh Sawai of Amber was deployed to capture him. The siege went on for 20 months. Jai Singh was not a gallant soldier and quite inexperienced in military tactics. Churaman made secret overtures to Qutb-ul-Mulk, the Wazir, in order to arrive at a settlement. The Jat promised 50 lakhs of rupees, of which 20 lakhs were promised to the Wazir’s own coffers. A treaty was immediately reached and Jai Singh ignominiously returned. The curious thing was that everyone knew about the pecuniary transactions. We need to look no further to get at the source of corruption in public service, which is the bane of modern India.

India was subject to invasions from Muslim hordes right from 1000 CE. In spite of the incessant pressure from outside and being subject to Muslim rule for centuries, it is a wonder that Hinduism continue to flourish in modern India. Just a cursory look at other colonies in the New World under Spanish masters, Moorish Spain under Christian kings and Islamic sultanates in Africa is enough to highlight the existence of the ancient Indian religion as an example of resilience bordering on nothing short of a miracle. One of the reasons may be deduced from this book. After Aurangzeb, the Mughals were too deeply in fissure and each faction enlisted the support of local chieftains irrespective of their religion. Babur had to contend with only the Rajputs as the Hindu threat to his dominions. But hardly two centuries later, his descendants were in a state of continuous collaboration and contest with Sikhs, Marathas and Jats, as well as, of course Rajputs. We see the resurgence of Hindu power around the 1720s. The restoration of the daughter of Ajit Singh Rathore who was a wife of Emperor Farrukh-Siyar, who was killed, back to Hinduism seems to be a turning point in the relations between the two religions. Taking a convert back to the original faith was opposed tooth and nail by Islamic clerics, but the Mughal administration gave the go ahead signal.

The book ends with the invasion and plunder of Delhi by Nadir Shah who ascended the Persian throne. This decimated all traces of Mughal authority. Had they displayed some diplomacy, Nadir Shah could’ve been pacified and made to return after his victory at Karnal. But the Mughals had several Persians in their employ and Sadat Khan, the governor of Oudh defected to Nadir’s side during the battle. He persuaded the conqueror not to settle for 50 lakhs of rupees offered on the battle field and to press on to Delhi where he would obtain 20 crores. All the treasure and jewels in imperial Delhi was carried away by the Persians, including the Koh-i-Noor and the peacock throne. Still, not satisfied by the bounty, Nadir chastised Sadat Khan openly and he had to commit suicide.

Reading the book is a misery for the reader to contend with. With so many footnotes appearing in every page, the continuity of narrative is frequently interrupted. Instead of pausing for reflections and generalizations, Irvine simply quotes the original authors in painstaking detail, which is not at all appealing to the general readers. Exact itineraries of moving armies are listed in endless detail, like the army reached such and such place on the third day, then another place on the fourth day and such. Altogether, we get an impression that Irvine lacked the drive to come out with a brilliant narrative of analysis and generalization which would have elevated him to the status of an Indian Gibbon. In fact, the author thought about such a possibility and remarked that his only ambition is to enter the foot notes in acknowledgement from a future Gibbon, than to be one himself. The book is also adorned with a fine prologue by Jadunath Sarkar which is a glowing tribute from a disciple to his master.       

The book is recommended only to serious readers of history.

Rating: 2 Star