[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [Later Mughals](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922) › v2.c19.s5 # Later Mughals v2.c19.s5: Sec. 123.—State of India After Nadir's Departure. Later Mughals v2.c19.s5 - **Language:** English ### Sec. 123.—State of India After Nadir's Departure. ### [v2.c19.s5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.1) Nadir Shah's occupation of Dihli and massacre of its people carried men's memories 340 years back to a similar calamity at the hands of Timur. But there was a great difference between the results of these two foreign invasions. Timur left the State of Dihli as he had found it, impoverished no doubt, but without any dismemberment. Nadir Shah, on the other hand, annexed the trans-Indus provinces and the whole of Afghanistan, and thus planted a strong foreign power constantly impinging on our western frontier. Timur's destructive work and the threat of further invasion from his country ended with his life. But the Abdali and his dynasty continued Nadir's work in India as the heir to his Empire. With the Khaibar Pass and the Peshawar district in foreign hands, the Panjab became a starting point for fresh expeditions against Dihli. ### [v2.c19.s5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.2) Not only were Afghanistan and the modern N. W. Frontier Province ceded as the result of Nadir's invasion, but the Panjab too was soon afterwards lost. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, Ahmad Shah Abdali and his descendants who ruled over Kabul and Lahor, constantly threatened the peace of Dihli and even the eastern provinces of the Mughal Empire. Their least movements, their slightest public utterances were reported to Dihli and Lakhnau and sent a thrill of fear through these Indian Courts and caused anxiety and precautionary diversion of forces to their English protectors, Hastings and Wellesley. The hardy and trained warriors of Central Asia and Afghanistan could have captured Dihli by a few days' dash from Lahor. ### [v2.c19.s5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.3) ∗ The Peacock Throne consisted of a gold-plated frame capable of being taken to pieces, richly jewelled panels fitting into its eight sides and detachable pillars steps and roof. It used to be put together and placed in the darbar hall only at the anniversary of the royal coronation, but at other times it was stowed away in loose parts. When these parts were looted they were naturally dispersed to different quarters. The genuine Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan no longer exists anywhere in the world; but a modern and cheap imitation of it, made by the later kings of Persia, is still preserved at Teheran. ### [v2.c19.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.4) The Panjab, as the defensive barrier of India proper on the west, passed out of the hands of the ruler of Dihli even before the Abdali annexed it. Before the coming of Nadir, this province had attained to much peace and prosperity as the result of Farrukh-siyar's successful extinction of the Sikh guru Banda and his followers, and later on the vigorous campaigns of Zakariya Khan against predatory local chiefs and rebels. He had also added to the wealth and beauty of the cities, as Anandram enthusiastically describes. But Nadir's invasion undid all this. The country was first sacked by the Persian soldiers under orders and then by the lawless natives. Everywhere robbery and murder took place ; gangs of robbers closed the roads to trade and peaceful traffic ; every one fought every one else. Utter desolation and disorder seized the province. The Sikhs began to assert themselves in ever-increasing strength, until, half-a-century later, they gained possession of the entire province. From the end of Muhammad Shah's reign they became an ever-present thorn in the side of the Empire. In the second half of the 18th century they used to make almost annual raids eastwards to the environs of Dihli, plundering, burning, massacring and destroying all traces of cultivation and habitation with ferocious cruelty. Sarhind, Saharanpur, Meerut, Shahdera and even Hardwar suffered from their ravages. Peace, prosperity and industry disappeared from the region north and west of the Mughal capital. ### [v2.c19.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.5) After Nadir's return, the Mahrattas established themselves in the southern and western provinces of the Empire in absolute security. The Dihli sovereign had no force, no general left to offer them the least resistance. Emboldened by the helplessness of the central Government, Mahratta bands began to penetrate repeatedly to Orissa, south-eastern Bihar and Bengal. The local governor was helpless against their hordes and the Emperor could think of no other means of meeting this danger than by begging the Puna Mahrattas to drive the Nagpur Mahrattas out of Bengal. ### [v2.c19.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.6) We are told by the Indian historians that after the departure of Nadir, the Emperor called his ministers together and devoted himself to re-establishing the administration and restoring the finances. But we know from history that he did not succeed, and that during the ten years that he reigned after Nadir's invasion, the Government grew weaker and weaker and matters drifted as before. ### [v2.c19.s5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.7) Indeed, there was no reason why there should be a restoration of the imperial power and prestige, while the character of the Emperor and his nobles continued to be as bad as before. The Nizam was the only able and honest adviser left; but he was now an old man of 82 or 83, and in anticipation of his approaching death rebellion had broken out among his sons. His domestic troubles and anxieties drew him to the Dakhin and kept him busy there till his death. Thus the Emperor could not profit by the Nizam's wisdom and experience, even if he were inclined to follow his counsels—which was not the case. ### [v2.c19.s5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5.8) The governors of Oudh and the Dakhin had no help but to declare their independence—in practice, if not in name,—as the subahdar of Bengal had already done. The struggle for the wazirship at the capital—i.e., for the post of keeper of the puppet Emperor,—continued more bitterly than before; the factions among the nobility quarrelled and intrigued as hard as ever, and finally after the death of Muhammad Shah (1748) they came to blows in the streets and pitched battles on the plains outside Dihli, and the great anarchy, which is only another name for the history of the Mughal Empire in its last days, began, destined to be ended only by the foreign conquest of the imperial capital half a century later. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.irvine-1922.v2.c19.s5) · Pramāṇa