Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c2.5

v1.c2.5

The present writer is here making the first attempt to synthesise the Persian, Marathi, English, French, Hindi, Rajasthani and Sanskrit sources, and reconstruct the story of the fall of the Mughal Empire from the invasion of Nādir Shah in 1739 to the British conquest of Delhi and assumption of the keeper-ship of the puppet but still legitimate Padishah in 1803. But the nature of his subject has enforced a strict limitation on him. Dispersion of interest could be avoided only by keeping the eye constantly fixed on the centre of the empire,—the Emperor and his keepers, —and rigidly eliminating every side-issue that may divert the mind from the main theme. Thus, provinces that had cut themselves adrift from the empire, like Bengal and Bihar under the English from 1757, Malwa and Gujrat from 1741-50, the Panjab after 1757, Oudh after 1761, and the six Deccan subahs after 1748,—will not have their events narrated here, except for the briefest references when needed to light up some problem or action of the central Government. The Anglo-French struggle for an Indian empire will be totally omitted. Rajputana and Bundelkhand, though now owing little more allegiance to Delhi than those lost provinces did, remained the cockpit of Northern India, and the activities of those who held Delhi overflowed into these two regions almost to the end of the century. They will, therefore, be embraced in this survey. The internal affairs of the Maratha States are no concern of the historian of Delhi, except where they served as the motive force of some Maratha activity in Northern India, and to that extent alone will they be noticed.