Clarify how mid-eighteenth century India was beset with the spectre of a fragmented polity
The 16th & 17th century India is characterized by a centralized administrative system with the Mughal emperor at its apex and his Mansabdari bureaucracy ruling the provinces. The first half of the eighteenth century marked the beginning of the ‘Later Mughal period’ that was characterized by weak rulers and the rise of many autonomous regional states who pledged only namesake loyalty to the emperor. During this period the boundaries of the Mughal Empire were reshaped by the emergence of a number of independent kingdoms.
The internal feud among the Mughal family members and factionalism among the nobles emboldened Nadir Shah and later Ahmed Shah Abdali to invade India.
Aurangazeb’s policies on religion, economy, and the Deccan region fueled discontent among Mansabdars consequently leading to the formation of independent states by the Governors/Viceroys of Awadh, Hyderabad and Bengal.
In the Carnatic region, puppet rulers were installed by the British and French generals in the mid-eighteenth century. In the Maratha region, the succession disputes weakened Peshwas’s hold over the Maratha confederacy, and consequently the Peshwa, Holkar, and Scindhia fall prey to the Europeans.
Therefore in the middle of the eighteenth century, the ruler of Delhi was no longer the de-facto ruler of India, and the Indian subcontinent was marked by political fragmentation and regional instability.
This created an ideal opportunity for the British to take over India and establish its biggest and most rewarding colony in the world.