The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c20.2

v4.c20.2

THE flight of his rebel son Akbar to the Marāthā king forced a complete change on the policy of Aurangzīb and hastened the fate of his empire as well. It became necessary for the emperor to go to the Deccan in person and to assemble there his best troops and generals and practically all the resources of his realm. The centre of gravity of the Delhi empire was shifted to southern India for the next twenty-six years, while north India, its real seat of strength, fell into neglect and decay. In Hindustān the administration rapidly deteriorated, peace, prosperity and the arts decreased, and the entire Indian civilisation fell backwards. The defence of the north-western frontier was neglected, and the material resources of the empire dwindled till they ceased to suffice for its needs. The vast annexations effected by Aurangzīb in the Deccan—Bījāpur, Golconda, eastern Carnatic and Mahārāshtra—were all illusive. Instead of adding to the strength and wealth of the empire, they brought down economic ruin upon it and destroyed its army as an instrument of power. In fact, the Mughul empire now became too large to be administered by one man or from one centre, and its disruption began which was to make the history of India in the eighteenth century one “great anarchy”.