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Disintegration of Mughal

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All the attempts of Aurangzeb to get the Marathas and the Deccan under his rule, were in vain. Even after the death of Shivaji, he did not give up his efforts. He thought, it would be easy to crush the Marathas after Shivaji's death. But he died in 1707 without having his ultimate dream completed. In about 50 years, from then the Mughal Empire disintegrated.

The successors of Aurangzeb were not strong and could not withstand the determination of the Rajputs, Jats, Marathas and the Sikhs. Taking advantage of the growing weakness of the Mughal Empire, the Rajputs freed themselves from the central authority of the Mughals. The Sikhs emerged most importantly in this period. The rise of Sikh power and the change in the character of Sikhs marks the beginning of the fighting community of the Sikhs. The Marathas were the ones who had power and will to crush the Mughals. Even for the dying Mughal Empire the most important challenge was of the Marathas. But they lacked unity. Sahu was imprisoned under Aurangzeb but was released in 1707 after his death. Meanwhile a new system of governance was launched by the Marathas under the leadership of Balaji Vishwanath, who was the founder of the Peshwa Rule.

Invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739 and the Invasion of Ahmed Shah Abdali in 1747 were the two foreign invasions during this period. Nadir Shah was the new ruler of Iran and he invaded India during the rule of the Mughal Ruler, Muhammad Shah. Ahmed Shah Abdali or Durrani was the most qualified and capable general of Nadir Shah. When Nadir Shah conquered Qundhar, he settled all his Abdali subjects there. After his death these Afghans, led a new expedition under Ahmed Shah to India.

The downfall of the Mughal Empire mainly occurred because of the religious policy Aurangzeb. Unlike most of the Hindu rulers, he did not follow the policy of religious tolerance. In his later half, he dismissed all the Hindu state officials and spared only those who embraced Islam. Thus he alienated the sympathy and support of the Hindus, by committing all sorts of atrocities on them. His policy towards Marathas after Shivaji was partly responsible for the downfall of his own Empire. Aurangzaeb found that the Bijapur and Golconda Empires were the supporters of the Marathas. The Maratha soldiers were always welcomed there. They not only acquired booties from them but also got military training from them. This was the reason why he wanted first to take hold of them , so that the Marathas' resources would be cut off. But this never happened. Behind all these, the Bijapur and Golconda rulers being Shias, and Aurangzeb being a Sunni, he had a special motive to throw them out of his nation.