Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c7.s1: § 1. Afghans under Mughal rule in India
Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c7.s1
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§ 1. Afghans under Mughal rule in India
v1.c7.s1.1
Within half a century of the final Mughal victory over the Pathān power of Delhi (1556), the Afghān ruling houses in different parts of Hindustan were extinguished, and that race had no independent State left to it anywhere in India. True, their brethren in the north-western frontier made many risings in defence of their tribal independence and immemorial practice of highway robbery and disputed the passes that led from India to the Mughal province of Kābul; but the imperial Government always triumphed in the end, whether by arms or by arts. No doubt, isolated bodies of Afghāns lived in many a distinct locality of India, but as subjects or servants of the all-conquering Mughals. Afghān captains and soldiers fought under the banners of the Empire throughout the reigns of Jahāngir, Shāh Jahān and Aurangzib, and Afghān camel-owners and tradesmen followed the Mughal armies for a living throughout the long Deccan wars of the 17th century. But all these were mercenaries;
v1.c7.s1.2
the Afghān race had no longer any home in India under a chief of their own race even as a great territorial magnate; they possessed no centre of political cohesion, no nucleus for a racial rally.
v1.c7.s1.3
When a full century had worn out in this manner, the dominant Mughal empire began visibly to weaken and break up. After the accession of Muhammad Shāh, the sovereign was clearly seen to be an impotent shadow; in provinces like Bengal, the Deccan and Oudh the imperial governors began to assert their ambition and to found local dynasties, independent in all but the name. Their example in no time impressed the Afghāns who had never forgotten that the Timurids were mere interlopers and had robbed their own race of the empire of Hindustan. Why should they not follow the path of these viceroys or even try to recover their lost dominion over India? The invasion of Nādir Shāh robbed the Mughal Emperor of the last shred of prestige and proved him to be a hollow phantom of power. Divinity ceased to hedge in the sovereign of Delhi and force no longer feared to raise its head against him. The succession of a king of their own race to Nādir Shāh's glorious heritage in 1747 and his military fame as the ablest of Nādir's lieutenants roused the ambition of the Indian Afghāns to the highest pitch of ardour.
v1.c7.s1.4
But long before that date the ground was being silently prepared for them.