1 Tales from Later Mughuls 2 3 Tales from Later Mughuls Mubarak Ali Tarikh Publications Book Street, 68 Mozang Road, Lahore e mail tarikh l com 4 Copyright© 2014 All rights reserved No.1 Tales from Later Mughuls 2 3 Tales from Later Mughuls Mubarak Ali Tarikh Publications Book Street, 68 Mozang Road, Lahore e mail tarikh l com 4 Copyright© 2014 All rights reserved No.
Tales from Later Mughuls Tales from Later Mughuls Mubarak Ali Tarikh Publications Book Street, 68-Mozang Road, Lahore e-mail: tarikh.publishers@gmail.com Copyright© 2014 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval, or transmitted any form of by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the author and publisher Published by: Zahoor Ahmed Khan Tarikh Publications Book Street, 68-Mozang Road, Lahore E-mail: tarikh.publishers@gmail.com DISTRIBUTOR Fiction House: Book Street 68-Mozang Road, Lahore Phone: 042 37249218, 37237430 Fiction House: 52,53 Rabia Square Hadir Chowk, Hyderabad Phone: 022 2780608 Fiction House: Nosheen Center, 1st floor shop# Urdu Bazar, Karachi Phone: 021 32603056 Title Design: Naintara Khan Printed by: Sayyed Muhammad Shah Printers, Lahore Price Rs: 800.00 Contents 18th Century India The Decline of Power 12 Death of the Institutions 16 Dynastic Rule 20 The Salatin 24 Story of a Mughals 28 Financial condition of the Later Mughals 32 Manners and Society 36 The Etiquette of Mughal Court 40 Decadence of the Mughal Nobility 44 Nobility on the Decline 48 Of Sadists and Savages 52 The King makers 55 The Downfall of Awadh 59 The Basis of Feudal Culture 63 The Glamour of Feudal culture 67 State of Mughal Army 71 Soldiering on 74 The Looting Soldiers 78 Deadlier than the Male 81 The Pindaris 85 Rise of Military Adventurer 89 From Mulitary Adventurer to Nawab 93 Europeans in India 97 European Military Adventurers 101 Soldiers on Hire 105 Indian Culture and the British 109 Marriage and the Indian Culture 113 The English Factory 117 Symbols of Culture 121 Indianisation of the British 124 Change of Relationship 127 Company Bahadur 131 The Cusatomhouse 134 Justfying Colonialism 137 Company and Its Collaborators 141 18th Century India The 18th century in the history of India is fascinating It is full of interesting events and radical changes which took place in the social and political structure of the Indian society The historians of this period recorded not only political events but narrated the social, economic, and cultural conditions of the age which they personally experienced As the Mughal power declined and rulers and nobility, facing financial crisis, failed to patronise them, the historians no longer remained servants to the court and the aristocracy and assumed an independent status to write their views about the situation The main feature of the historiography of this period was that historical narratives no longer moved around great persons but shifted to other aspects of society However, the historians emphasised the deteriorating condition of the imperial court and the decadent character of the nobility They severely criticised the king and condemned the nobles who were involved in corruption and intrigues Some historians, finding no place at the royal court, migrated to the successive states in the hope of patronisation and some of them retired to their home towns and started writing the history of their cities and families Therefore, it broadened the range of historiography and its scope Moreover, a new class of historians emerged who belonged to the middle class such as kayaths, moneychangers (sarraf), and scribes (munshi) They changed the writing style and adopted simple language instead of the traditional complex one which was used by the elite class of historians Due to these historians we have plenty of historical material on the events of the 18th century Poets were not lagging behind historians to depict their period Their poetry reflects the social, cultural and political condition of the period Mir Taqi Mir (1702-1810), Sauda (1713-81), Dard (1720-85), Nazir Akbarabadi (17401830) and other Urdu poets expressed their feelings of the period in their poetry; especially the genre of literature known as Shahr ashob describes in detail the miserable condition of the society There is sadness and sorrow which reflects the helplessness and despondency of the people Religious scholar, Shah Waliullah (d.1762), while analysing the condition of the state, presented a solution regarding how to revive the Mughal power However, his interest was to keep the Hindus under subjugation Modern historians are trying to point out important changes which took place during this century For example, there emerged new regional identities As the Marhattas, Jats, Sikhs, Rajputs, and Ruhellas acquired power in their regions, the loyalty of the people shifted from the Mughal rulers to their regional warlords However, as these states were modelled on the Mughal state, with the same exploitative institutions, the fate of the people did not change Civil wars, factional conflicts of the Mughal nobility and breakdown of the imperial system plagued northern India The movement of armies destroyed villages, as a result of which agriculture suffered The peasants, deprived of their livelihood, joined the bands of robbers, thugs, and criminals It made the route unsafe which resulted in the collapse of trade and commerce Ashin Das Gupta in his article `Trade and Politics in Eighteen Century India` argues that India was divided into two parts coastal and mainland The coastal part became the centre of trade and commerce while the mainland was deprived of commercial activities In the early period Surat, Hugly and Musalipatam were important ports which supplied commodities and goods to the mainland; the merchants of Surat were especially famous for their commercial ventures as indicated by a report, written in 1700, by the English Council to England that the Surat traders had so many ships that if the European merchants did not counter them they would lose their ground The coastal trade suffered when trade routes no longer remained safe as a result of the chaotic conditions of the mainland They failed to get supply from northern India, especially cloth and indigo The Marhattas bands of looters raided and plundered Gujarat This gradually reduced the importance of coastal towns At the same time the East India Company developed Madras, Bombay and Calcutta as their trading ports which were safe and so the Indian merchants also turned towards them for trading In this way the Company got its Indian allies in trade which later on helped it in getting political ascendancy Sahukars or money lenders became a prominent class in this period As the rulers and tha aristocracy had lost their source of income and the collection of revenue was not assured, they turned towards money-lenders for loans to meet their day-to-day expenses Though it was a risky business, they not only survived but prospered Karen Leonard in her article `Great Firm Theory` points out the emergence and importance of the banking families in the 18th century As the royal power lost its financial resources, it sought the help of the banking families to get loans During this period these families played two important roles to give loans to rulers and nobles, and to take charge of collecting revenue, minting coins and acting as treasurers She especially points out a firm founded by a Jain merchant which moved from Rajputana to Putna and from there to Deccan and then to Murshidabad In Bengal its head was Jagat Seth In the battle of Plassey he sided with the Company against Siraj-ud-Daula just for his commercial interest The Company in the early period required the help of other bankers but once it assumed political power, it cut off all its relations with these firms If we compare India of the 18th century to presentday Pakistan, we can find some similarities Our political situation is the same chaotic and uncontrollable, breakdown of administration and governance, and violent conflicts among warring groups which consequently is leading to financial collapse The government, to meet the expenses, turned towards modern sahukars such as the IMF, World Bank and other agencies for loans Modern East India 10 The complete break up between these two communities occurred after 1857 It ended the last vestige of the Mughal Empire and India came under the British crown The native states had lost all their independence To the Indians, 1857 was not only a political but also a cultural defeat The colonial rulers promoted English culture to dominate the Indians intellectually Culture became the effective tool to control the educated Indian class and mould them in favour of colonial policies 130 Company Bahadur During the British rule in India, an interesting lesson `The blessing of the English Government', was taught in schools It compared the past with the present, pointing out that prior to the British rule there was political chaos, disorder and no rule of law People had no security of life or property and armies of warlords were busy looting and plundering It was a reminder to the people of India that the English government restored law and order and established peace in the country Therefore, people in turn should be grateful to the government for its laudable achievements But how was it that the English managed to occupy such a vast country so easily? Was it their military power or the policy of fraud and deception; or the inevitable result of weak Indian rulers? History shows that without collaboration, it is impossible for a foreign power to occupy and sustain its rule in any country So who were the collaborators who supported the English and helped them establish their rule? The rulers of the minor states of southern India sought military help of the English and the 131 French to resolve their internal disputes This was an opportunity for the European powers to interfere in the internal affairs of the Indian states In exchange they would demand cash or land Surpassing the French in this conflict, the British soon emerged as a military power in the region Unhappy with the Company's interference in the internal affairs of his province, Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal organised his army and defeated the British in Kolkata The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive from Chennai (Madras) to Bengal and recaptured Kolkata Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-Daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey, which lingered for seven years When Clive arrived in Bengal, he realised that it would be difficult for him to win the battle purely on the basis of military strength He decided to conspire with Umi Chand, Mir Qasim and the bankers of Bhagat Seth who had business interests with the East India Company Mir Qasim collaborated because he wanted to become the ruler of Bengal at all cost So basically there were collaborators, the power hungry people who were ready to consort with the Company without realising the cost of their support Then there were businessmen acting as agents between the Company as well as the artisans who manufactured textile for it In the south, Tipu Sultan being an enlightened and progressive ruler realised the danger of foreign rule He was liked neither by the Nizam of Deccan nor the Maratha chiefs He was defeated by the combined powers of the Nizam, the Marathas and the Company The rulers who did not tolerate 132 Tipu and his policies failed to understand that the growing power of the Company was more dangerous than Tipu, and conspired with the British The Marathas were annihilated by the English while the Nizam survived on humiliating terms of the Company The Indian states were in a dismal condition, the rulers incapable and the masses had no right to live a dignified life However, people who served the Company in various capacities received regular salaries and pensions after retirement This was not a common practice in the Indian states so working for the Company was much preferred as it provided security Once the Company established its rule, religious scholars and professionals also offered their services and were proud to be its servants In his autobiography, Lutfullah, who served the Company in its early period, expressed his pride and gratitude to British officials It was published in 1854 and reprinted several times Taking full advantage of the situation, the Company extended its hegemony all over India Soon they had the intellectuals arguing on their behalf that the English rule was a blessing to India which had begun to progress as a modern country According to their point of view, the British introduced new ideas and thoughts to change traditional society Sir Syed Ahmad Khan also believed that the British rule would rescue India from its decadent culture Here rises the question whether we should depend on foreign powers to come and solve our problems for us or is it better to rely on our own ideas to change our society? 133 The Custom House When European traders arrived in India, their first encounter was with the custom officials It was customary that as soon as a ship anchored, its captain made his way to the custom house by boat and announced the arrival of his ship The custom officials then sent some armed soldiers to guard the ship so nothing could be smuggled to the shore until it was thoroughly checked The custom house was a simple building, containing a large hall which accommodated many officials assigned to different tasks The timings were from 10 am to noon If traders or travellers arrived late they had to wait on their ships till the next day to report their arrival There were a large number of peons in the custom house who were in charge of controlling the crowds and would even beat them up in case of disorder Newly arrived traders, after passing through a courtyard, entered a big room where the higher officers used to sit First their name was registered and then they were thoroughly searched After this, they were allowed to go to the city Their baggage was searched and released 134 later Custom officials searched everything very minutely and often took months to complete the job The reason for this was that European traders often attempted to smuggle unlawful goods and tried to avoid the payment of custom duties However, the Munhall officers did not search the President of the Surat factory or any women The in-charge of the port was known as Shah Bandar The officer who collected the custom duties was called Mir Bahar If somebody tried to evade paying duties he was punished but his baggage and goods were not confiscated; however, some traders managed to avoid payment by bribing the officers Tavernier, who visited India from 1665 to 1667, mentions in his travelogue that the English traders often smuggled small items of gold and silver; one tactic was to hide gold coins in wigs and wear the wig when disembarking as that was the least likely place to be searched Tavernier writes that "As soon as merchandise is landed at Surat it has to be taken to the custom-house, which adjoins the fort The officers are very strict and search persons with great care Private individuals pay as much as four to five per cent duty on their goods English and Dutch Companies pay less But, on the other hand, I believe that taking into account what it costs them in deputations and presents, which they are obliged to make every year at court, the goods cost them nearly the same as they private persons." Lahribandar was another important and busy port in Sindh The Portuguese were the first who arrived here for trade Custom officers of the port became so familiar with 135 the Portuguese that they even learned their language The English started making efforts to set up trade with Sindh from 1616 to 1630 and finally succeeded in 1635, when a peace treaty was signed between the English and the Portuguese In the same year the first English ship was dispatched to Lahribandar with a letter from Asif Khan, the brother of Nurjahan and an influential Mughal noble The "Discovery," under the command of William Fremlin, landed at Lahribandar in December of the same year The Shah Bandar sent his son to welcome Fremlin They were provided the best accommodation and seven horses for transport The Shah Bandar also sent them goats, hens, meat, flour rice, butter and sugar After the arrival of the English, the Portuguese lost their influence and the English carried on extensive trade till the closure of their factory in 1662 All European companies had their representatives at the Mughal court to win the favour of the influential nobles Their main concern was to get as much concession as possible; for this purpose they offered gifts and presents to the nobles and bribed them to win them over to their side The rivalry between the English and the Portuguese was perhaps the most intense Hawkins and Thomas Roe were the English ambassadors who came to India with the purpose of attaining business privileges for the English traders Generally, they were successful in getting custom duties waived off Thus the rate of profit increased for the company, strengthening its commercial as well as political position 136 Justifying of Colonialism There is a group of historians who justifies the colonisation of the sub-continent by the British According to their point of view, what happened in India was accidental and the East India Company became entangled in local disputes un-intentionally It is an undeniable fact that many of the Company`s servants were involved in intrigues, loot and plunder Robert Clive made a fortune in India, returned to England and became a Member of the Parliament; Warren Hastings is well known for his atrocities against the queen of Awadh However, these historians argue that these were individual acts and that the British government was not involved On the contrary, the government impeached both Clive and Hastings on the charges of corruption and misuse of power Wellesley, another Governor General, also barely escaped impeachment This shows that the government did not tolerate corruption and unjust acts committed by the servants of the Company Moreover, these historians are of the view that the people of England were not fully aware of the occupation of 137 India and it`s after effects They learnt of the conquest of Bengal seven years after the event Once India came under British rule they administered it properly and defended it against any foreign invasion The Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon were captured to protect India All this happened without any planning and circumstances forced the British to assume the role of a colonial power It is further pointed out that when India was an independent country, it had no dispute with any European power and there was no danger of any invasion The British had to defend India from Persia, Afghanistan and Russia This led them to take control over the Indian Ocean and occupy Adan, Mumbasa, Colombo, Durban, and Perth Moreover, the British had to keep a large army to defend India The Indian government paid all its expenses because this was in its interest Alfred Loyal, an English historian, in his book The Rise and Extension of the British Dominion in India, agrees that the British victories and subsequently the building of a great empire in India was just accidental He uses the term `conquest in blindness` in the beginning as evidence shows it was not in the interest of the Company to acquire territories but to devote all its energies to promote trade In India there was political chaos and land routes were not safe Trading caravans were looted by bandits When the Company set up its factories it needed armed guards to defend them It was also important to keep an army to protect ships because there was the danger of pirates at sea This was a time when most of the wars were fought 138 by the European nations on the issue of trade Each European nation saw the others as a threat to its interests and resorted to war to oust the rival power, as in Indonesia where the English lost against the Dutch European rivalry was not limited to Asia and Africa; they were also fighting bloody wars in Europe on political fronts However, in India the conflict was not directly between European states but between the private companies; albeit with the indirect support of their respective governments In 1687, the East India Company assumed political power; it built fortresses and struck its own coins It recruited the local people into its army Armenians, Arabs, Africans and Europeans who were settled here and married to local women were the first to join Once it had an army, it became ambitious and set out to acquire territory It got this opportunity because of the political chaos in the Indian subcontinent, where, after the decline of the Mughal dynasty, regional powers were fighting for political domination They needed help and the Company`s army provided armed assistance to those who paid well It became a regular feature for the Company to defend any ruler who asked for its help in return for either cash or territory The Company`s army was well trained and equipped with modern weapons On the other hand, the Indian armies were disorganised and ill equipped Thus the Company`s army had a higher success rate and earned respect in the eyes of the Indians; this led to a sense of superiority and the realisation that it could easily defeat the Indian armies The first time the Company interfered in the political 139 affairs of the country was in the South Indian states including Tanjore, Karnatak, and Hyderabad There it contested against the French and succeeded in placing its own candidate on the throne This led to a decline in the influence of the French and a rise in that of the British Company which gradually became a political power Its motive was to establish an empire by ending small states and their conflicts because only then could it advance its business These motives led it to occupy India It was difficult for the Company to maintain a large army However, it adopted the old Indian tradition of recruiting soldiers in times of need and dismissing them when the war was over According to Loyal, due to their travels and trade activities the English were more enlightened than other European nations That`s why they did not use religion as a political tool like the Portuguese On the contrary, they provided full religious freedom to the Indians and concentrated only on economic benefits On the basis of these arguments, we have groups of intellectuals who still believe that India became modern only after the establishment of the British rule To them colonialism was a blessing rather than a curse 140 Company and its Collaborators The question is how did a trading company become a political power in India What were the causes and circumstances that helped the Company to acquire this status? The reason for this was the unstable and chaotic political condition of India, which had weakened due to the disintegration within the society In the social structure of Indian society, the element of dependence played an important role Nobility was on the highest rung of the ladder and a large number of people depended on its patronage including soldiers, artisans, businessmen, and ordinary servants Once the nobility collapsed and was financially broke, it could not afford to support large numbers of people These unemployed people wandered from one place to another in search of jobs When the Company offered jobs to soldiers, they got the opportunity to serve it and fought for it with loyalty They were soldiers and were not bothered with the consequences of these wars Actually, they were the people who won India for the English The second group which welcomed the English was 141 the traders They were attached to the Company from the beginning because of their commercial interest During the Mughal period, textile and other goods were produced in larger quantities than there was demand in the market The Company provided a chance to send the surplus goods to foreign countries As India did not have a strong navy to compete with the European naval powers, they heavily relied on the Company`s ships to carry their merchandise One disadvantage of this collaboration was that the Indian traders did not get full profit because the company kept a major part of it as its share The indirect result was that the Indian traders became dependent on European companies The Indian traders also supported the Company by supplying those goods which it needed to import This relationship became strong with the passage of time At the same time, Mughal rulers also encouraged the English companies to come to India for trade and to counter the Portugese who were hated by the ruling classes as well as common people because of their religious extremism and brutal way of handling the local population The Portuguese controlled the sea routes and even pilgrims were required to pay them for their safety to go to Hajj The Mughal state, in the absence of any navy, could not fight and reduce their naval power The alternative was to support the English companies The Mughal rulers granted them better trade concessions and privileges as compared to other nations When the Mughal Empire became weak, the English traders, by offering gifts and bribes to government officials, got royal decrees which exempted them from custom duties The 142 result was that the other European traders could not compete with the Company Due to these concessions Indian traders also faced problems In order to avoid paying custom and other duties the Indians began sending their goods along with the Company`s A close relationship developedbetween the local traders and the Company and they supported the Company when it was in trouble The Court of Directors instructed the Company that it was in its interest to employ local people as its agents, especially the Armenians who were well aware of the Indian situation and could supply excellent textile This made the Armenian traders loyal to the Company The other group which collaborated with the Company was dadni traders The Company paid them in advance to supply the required textile; in return they approached the weavers and ordered them to make specific fabrics for the Company The sahukar or moneylenders of Bengal were very influential people They not only collected revenue for the state but struck coins for it and gave loan to nobles as well as to the government They had close relationship with the Company, which acted as their trade partner Therefore, in the conflict between Sirajud Daula and the Company they sided with the English The conquest of Bengal changed the character of the Company - from trading company, it became a political power In this capacity more groups and individuals became attached to it such as translators, local agents, and banyas or businessmen When the Mughal state collapsed, its officers and administrators such as qazi, mufti, kotwal and revenue collectors joined the service of the 143 Company, which had by this time become more powerful due to further conquests, and assumed the status of state within the state Once it became a political power, the company reformed itself from within; it ended corruption and mismanagement In 1773, the Regulating Act prohibited the employees of the Company from accepting any gift In 1784, Pitts` Indian Act brought the Company under the Board of Control Moreover, it started to train its servants in administration; care was taken that they should be men of integrity Their salaries were raised and they were granted extra privileges so that they would not take bribe and yet maintain their high status Because of their honesty and devotion to work they were respected by the Indians These reforms changed the character of the Company and it not only conquered India but brought changes to its society 144 ...2 Tales from Later Mughuls Mubarak Ali Tarikh Publications Book Street, 68-Mozang Road, Lahore e-mail:... 12 Death of the Institutions 16 Dynastic Rule 20 The Salatin 24 Story of a Mughals 28 Financial condition of the Later Mughals 32 Manners and Society 36 The Etiquette of Mughal Court 40 Decadence... we get from history is that common people need peace and prosperity If their rulers fail to deliver it, they welcome the outsiders as their deliverers 31 Financial Condition of The Later Mughals