The Later Mughals: Emperors After Aurangzeb (1707–1857)

Bahadur Shah I: The First Cracks (1707–1712)

🎯 Exam priority: Foundational. Tier 3 — tested occasionally and/or sets up the storyline; master the key facts and move on.

Why this topic matters for UPSC. Chronology is a 2-question block over 10 years — knowing the Later Mughal sequence (Bahadur Shah I → … → Bahadur Shah II) keeps you safe on any sequencing question.

• The succession: Bahadur Shah I → Jahandar Shah → Farrukh Siyar → Muhammad Shah → Ahmad Shah Bahadur → Alamgir II → Shah Alam II → Akbar II → Bahadur Shah II.

• The Sayyid Brothers (kingmakers), Nadir Shah's invasion (1739) and Ahmad Shah Abdali (1761) are linked events.

• Keep it as a reading article; don't drill every date.

When Aurangzeb died in 1707, the throne still looked secure — the army was strong and the dynasty commanded respect. Within a single lifetime, though, the emperors would slide from rulers of an empire to pensioners hiding behind their own nobles. This is the story of how, reign by reign.

A Contested Throne

• On Aurangzeb's death his three sons fought for the throne; the 65-year-old Bahadur Shah I emerged victorious. Learned, dignified and able, he chose a policy of compromise and conciliation, reversing some of Aurangzeb's narrow measures and adopting a more tolerant attitude towards Hindu chiefs and rajas.

• His settlements were real but not magnanimous. He restored their states to Jai Singh of Amber and Ajit Singh of Marwar, yet refused their demand for high mansabs and the governorships of Malwa and Gujarat.

Half-Hearted with the Marathas and Sikhs

• Towards the Marathas his policy was half-hearted conciliation: he granted the sardeshmukhi of the Deccan but withheld the chauth, and never recognised Shahu as the rightful Maratha king — deliberately keeping Shahu and Tara Bai locked in a contest for supremacy, so the Deccan stayed prey to disorder.

• He first tried to conciliate the Sikhs, but after Guru Gobind Singh's death the Sikhs rose under Banda Bahadur. The emperor led a campaign and captured the fort of Lohgarh, yet the Sikhs could not be crushed and recovered it in 1712.

An Emptying Treasury

• Administration deteriorated further. His reckless grants of jagirs and promotions worsened state finances; the remnants of the royal treasure — some 13 crore rupees in 1707 — were exhausted during his reign.

• Bahadur Shah was groping towards solutions and, given time, might have revived imperial fortunes. But his death in 1712 plunged the empire straight back into civil war.

• He crushed the Sikhs under Banda Bahadur at Lohgarh, but his disregard for administration earned him the nickname "Shah-i-Bekhabar" (the heedless king).

The Age of the Kingmakers (1712–1720)

The crucial change after 1712 was not who wore the crown but who held the power. A new element entered Mughal politics: ambitious nobles stepped out from behind the princes and became the direct contenders, using emperors as pawns.

Jahandar Shah and Zulfiqar Khan (1712–1713)

• In the civil war after Bahadur Shah's death, the weak and pleasure-loving Jahandar Shah won because he was backed by Zulfiqar Khan, the most powerful noble, who became his wazir and the virtual ruler.

• Zulfiqar tried to befriend the Rajputs and Marathas to strengthen his own position: the hated jizyah was abolished, Jai Singh of Amber was made Governor of Malwa and Ajit Singh of Marwar Governor of Gujarat, and the Marathas' chauth and sardeshmukhi were confirmed.

• But to raise money he encouraged ijara (revenue-farming) — contracting collection to middlemen who were free to squeeze the peasant — a practice that deepened rural oppression.

The Saiyid Brothers — the 'King Makers' (1713–1720)

• Jahandar Shah's reign ended in January 1713 when he was defeated at Agra by his nephew Farrukh Siyar, who owed his victory to the Saiyid Brothers — Abdullah Khan (made wazir) and Husain Ali Khan Baraha (made mir bakshi).

• Farrukh Siyar was cowardly and faithless; he intrigued against the brothers year after year while they insisted on wielding real authority. In 1719 the Saiyids deposed and killed him, raising in quick succession two young princes who soon died of consumption, and then the 18-year-old Muhammad Shah.

• From 1713 to 1720 the Saiyids ran the state. They practised religious tolerance, abolished the jizyah and pilgrim tax, won over Rajput princes and the Jat chief Churaman, and reached an agreement with King Shahu — granting him the swarajya and the right to collect chauth and sardeshmukhi of the six Deccan provinces in return for 15,000 mounted soldiers.

• They failed not for lack of effort but because of ceaseless court conspiracy. A faction led by Nizam-ul-Mulk and Muhammad Amin Khan, backed by Muhammad Shah himself, turned the nobility against them. In 1720 Husain Ali Khan was assassinated and Abdullah Khan defeated near Agra — ending the rule of the men history calls the 'king makers'.

Muhammad Shah & the Break-up of the Empire (1719–1748)

Muhammad Shah's long reign was the empire's last real chance to recover. Instead, it was under this frivolous emperor that the empire began to fall apart not at the edges but at its very core — province by province.

Muhammad Shah 'Rangeela' (1719–1748)

• Muhammad Shah ruled nearly 30 years. When his reign began, Mughal prestige was still a real political factor, the army still counted, and the Rajputs were still loyal. A strong, farsighted ruler might still have saved the situation.

• But Muhammad Shah was weak-minded, frivolous and fond of ease and luxury. He neglected the affairs of state, ignored able advisers, and even shared in the bribes taken by his favourite courtiers.

The Physical Break-Up Begins

• Disgusted with the emperor's fickleness, Nizam-ul-Mulk — who had become wazir in 1722 and tried to reform the administration — gave up. He relinquished his office and in October 1724 marched south to found the state of Hyderabad in the Deccan. His departure symbolised the flight of loyalty from the empire, and the physical break-up of the Mughal Empire had begun.

• Other powerful nobles followed. Hereditary nawabs owing only nominal allegiance to Delhi arose in Bengal, Hyderabad, Awadh and the Punjab. Everywhere petty zamindars, rajas and nawabs raised the banner of independence.

• The Maratha sardars began their northern expansion and overran Malwa, Gujarat and Bundelkhand — and then, in 1738–1739, a foreign storm broke over the plains of the north.

The Foreign Invasions: Nadir Shah & Abdali (1739–1761)

A hollow empire invites invaders. With the north-west frontier long neglected and the nobles at each other's throats, two conquerors from across the passes delivered the blows from which the Mughals never recovered.

Nadir Shah and the Sack of Delhi (1739)

• Nadir Shah had risen from a shepherd boy to Shah of Persia. Continual campaigns had left Persia near bankrupt, and he was drawn to India by its fabled wealth — spoils to pay his mercenary army. The empire's visible weakness made the plunder possible.

• He entered India late in 1738 and met no resistance; the danger was not recognised until he had occupied Lahore. The faction-ridden nobles could not agree on a plan or a commander for Delhi's defence.

• At the Battle of Karnal (13 February 1739) he crushed the Mughal army and took Emperor Muhammad Shah prisoner. He ordered a terrible massacre of Delhi's citizens, plundered an estimated 70 crore rupees, and carried off the Koh-i-noor diamond and the Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan — loot enough to exempt his own kingdom from tax for three years. Muhammad Shah was forced to cede all provinces west of the river Indus.

• The deeper damage was beyond the loot: the invasion exposed the empire's hidden weakness to the Maratha sardars and the European companies, paralysed the administration, and ruined imperial finances. The loss of Kabul re-opened the route for future invasions.

Ahmad Shah Abdali and the Third Battle of Panipat (1761)

• After Muhammad Shah's death in 1748, Ahmad Shah Abdali — Nadir Shah's ablest general, now master of Afghanistan — invaded northern India repeatedly, reaching Delhi and Mathura, between 1748 and 1767.

• At the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) he defeated the Marathas, shattering their ambition of controlling the Mughal emperor and dominating the country.

• Yet Abdali founded no Afghan kingdom in India; he and his successors could not even hold the Punjab, which they soon lost to the Sikh chiefs.

• By 1761, between these invasions and the suicidal feuds of the nobility, the Mughal Empire had ceased to exist as an all-India power. It survived merely as the "Kingdom of Delhi."

Twilight: Shah Alam II to 1857

The empire was finished as a military power — yet the dynasty lived on for another century. Why? Because the very contenders who had hollowed it out still found it useful to rule in the Mughal name.

A Throne Worth Hiding Behind

• The descendants of the Grand Mughals no longer led the struggle for India, but rival powers found it politically useful to hide behind the Mughal name. This gave the dynasty a long lease on the nominal throne of Delhi — the hold the dynasty still had on people's minds as a symbol of the country's political unity.

Shah Alam II to 1857

• Shah Alam II ascended in 1759 and spent his early years wandering far from his capital, in fear of his own wazir. In 1764 he joined Mir Qasim of Bengal and Shuja-ud-Daula of Awadh in declaring war on the English East India Company — and was defeated at the Battle of Buxar.

• He then lived for years as a pensioner of the Company at Allahabad, left British shelter in 1772, and returned to Delhi under the protection of the Marathas.

• The British occupied Delhi in 1803, and from then until 1857 the Mughal emperors merely served as a political front for the English. With the suppression of the Revolt of 1857, the dynasty was finally extinguished.

Why This Matters for UPSC

• Prelims: fix the sequence and the dates — Bahadur Shah I (1707), the Saiyid 'kingmakers' (1713–1720), Nizam founds Hyderabad (1724), Karnal (1739), Panipat (1761), Buxar (1764), Delhi occupied (1803), dynasty ends (1857).

• Mains: the throughline is the transfer of real power from emperor to noble, the empire's break-up from within before any invasion, and its survival after 1761 as a symbol rather than a state.

Further Reading

• Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on modern Indian history (any UPSC reading list).

• So shrunken was Shah Alam II's realm that a Persian saying ran, "Sultanat-e-Shah Alam, az Dilli ta Palam" — the empire of Shah Alam stretches only from Delhi to Palam.

• Akbar Shah II (1806–1837) gave Ram Mohan Roy the title "Raja" and sent him to London as his envoy; by now the Company had stopped issuing coins in the emperor's name.

• Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal, became the figurehead of the Revolt of 1857; afterwards the British deported him to Rangoon, where he died in 1862 — and with him the Mughal dynasty ended.

Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs

Test how well you can reconstruct the sequence. Read each question, decide your answer, then open Show answer to check the explanation.

Practice Questions

Q1. Who succeeded Aurangzeb in 1707 after defeating his brothers?

• (a) Jahandar Shah

• (b) Bahadur Shah I

• (c) Farrukh Siyar

• (d) Muhammad Shah

Q2. The 'new element' in Mughal politics after 1712 was that:

• (a) princes stopped fighting for the throne

• (b) the army was disbanded

• (c) ambitious nobles became direct contenders for power, using princes as pawns

• (d) the British chose the emperor

Q3. The Saiyid Brothers, Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan, are remembered as:

• (a) founders of Hyderabad

• (b) the 'king makers'

• (c) Persian invaders

• (d) Maratha peshwas

Q4. Which emperor was raised to the throne by the Saiyid Brothers and later deposed and killed by them in 1719?

• (a) Jahandar Shah

• (b) Farrukh Siyar

• (c) Rafi-ud-Darajat

• (d) Shah Alam II

Q5. The event widely taken to mark the start of the empire's physical break-up was:

• (a) the Battle of Karnal

• (b) Nizam-ul-Mulk leaving the court to found Hyderabad in 1724

• (c) the death of Bahadur Shah I

• (d) the Third Battle of Panipat

Q6. At the Battle of Karnal (1739), Nadir Shah carried away which famous treasures?

• (a) the Kohinoor and the Peacock Throne

• (b) the Vijay Stambha

• (c) the Iron Pillar of Delhi

• (d) the Sun Temple panels

Q7. The Third Battle of Panipat (1761) was fought between Ahmad Shah Abdali and the:

• (a) Sikhs

• (b) Marathas

• (c) Rajputs

• (d) British

Q8. Shah Alam II was defeated by the English in 1764 at the Battle of:

• (a) Plassey

• (b) Buxar

• (c) Wandiwash

• (d) Panipat

UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

The later-Mughal chronology is a foundational, Mains-oriented topic; direct Prelims PYQs are rare (Prelims questions begin with the Advent of the Europeans). The dates and the ruler sequence here, however, underpin the Carnatic, Bengal and Maratha questions that follow.

Mains Practice Questions

Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.

• Trace the decline of Mughal authority from Bahadur Shah I to Shah Alam II. How did the emperors become puppets of their nobles?

• “The later Mughal period saw the centre weaken even as new regional powers rose.” Discuss with examples.

• Assess the impact of the invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali on the Mughal Empire.

• How far is it correct to say that after 1707 the Mughal Empire survived more as a symbol than as a political power?