Reasons for End of Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire started in the year 1526 when Babur attacked Delhi which was then ruled by Ibrahim Lodhi. The Mughals ruled the northern part of India for more than 200 years with glory but the Empire started to decline after the death of the Aurangzeb in the year 1707. There were many reasons for the decline of the Mughal Empire which are discussed in this article :

Decline in Power of Kings -

This happened soon after the death of Aurangzeb as his successor was Shah Alam 1 but the main power of administration was in the hands of his noble 'Wazir Zulfiqar', this led to the emergence of new power centre and the Rulers became more dependent on their nobles for decisions rather than relying on their own decisions. This thing kept on increasing with time and the complete power was shifted from Kings' hand to the Nobles which were not accountable to the people and were always keen to make a handsome profit for them which resulted in the decline in economy and the empire both. If the rulers were independent just like their forefathers they might have changed the situation and could have even terminated the decline of the Mughal Empire.

Emergence of Autonomous States -

Mughals were known for their large empire and thus generated large taxes from that area but with time and the decline in the power of the kings, many other rulers set themselves free from the Mughal rule which were concurred by the starting rulers and also many autonomous states started emerging from the Empire like Deccan, Avadh, and Bengal set themselves free from the Mughal Empire which not only reduced the area of the empire but also the resources and the taxes of that region. This emergence of the small autonomous states weakened the Mughal Empire from inside and thus played a great role in the decline of the Mughal Empire.

Hated by the People -

This reason might be considered as a bit wired but you know what this also played an important role in the shrinking of the Empire. This happened in this way that the rulers before respected the culture and the religion of the native people which created a nice image in the hearts of the people. But the later rulers like after Aurangzeb did not respected the native peoples' religion which led to many rebels in the state and eventually many region set them free from the Mughal empire and merged in their ethnic empire like many regions joined Marathas, while some joined the Sikh empire and in same way many other regions were separated from the Mughal Empire which also played a great role in the decline.

Unstable Throne -

One of the most important reason for the decline of the Mughal rule is the uncertainty that who is the king as the throne was much unstable as some of the rulers were killed by their own nobles while some died soon after their succession which led to the conflict in the royal family and thus there was no time for the external matters to look after for. We can say that during that time the focus was on the throne rather than the problems of people and the attacks from neighbours. Also the age at which the kings succeed the throne was too late and at such late age they were not as effective as it was needed to rule such a kingdom.

Revolt of 1857 -

And this is the reason because of which the Mughal empire finally came to end and much of the royal family members were killed. This happened in the return of the support showed by Bahadur Shah to the rebellions of the 1857 revolt. When the rebellions approached the king for support, he agreed and supported them but this led to the end of the Mughal Empire and deportation of Bahadur Shah to Rangoon. Thus, the support showed by the king led to the complete end of the Mughal Empire and also the British people became the official ruler of the Indian Subcontinent.

So, these all are the major reasons for the fall of the Mughal Empire. This is just a reason point of the end of Mughal empire, the whole story will be updated soon.

If this is my first article that you are reading I will suggest you to read a few more that you might like them.

These articles can be used for the preparation of UPSC CSE, various board exams and other competitive exams.

Read about the rock art paintings of bhimbetka at Rock art paintings.

Also check my article on the Harappan Culture at 1. harappan-civilization-compared-to.html
                                                                                 2.indus-culture-and-modern-urbanisation.
                                                                                 3.religion-of-harappan-people.