The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c15.s1.38

c15.s1.38

When viewed in this perspective, it seems somewhat superfluous to look for specific internal reasons to explain the decline and fall of the Mughal Empire. Even in its hey-day, it rested on a precarious balance of forces round the inner frontier. A breakdown was always just round the corner, but the system could just as well continue indefinitely. It was, moreover, precisely this fluidity that gave the Mughal Empire its remarkable resilience and durability, even under the pressure of overextension and adversity, for the working of the precarious balance and the corresponding diffusion of power meant that there was no single, readily definable point where the imperial system could be attacked and defeated. In fact it never was. It was simply overarched and finally replaced by a completely different dispensation.