Modern India

Abstract

The great Mughal Empire, the envy of its contemporaries for almost two centuries, declined and disintegrated during the first half of the 18th century. The Mughal Emperors lost their power and glory and their empire shrank to a few square miles around Delhi. In the end, in 1803, Delhi itself was occupied by the British army and the proud Mughal Emperor was reduced to the status of a mere pensioner of a foreign power. A study of the process of decline of this great Empire is most instructive. It reveals some of the defects and weaknesses of India’s medieval social, economic and political structure which were responsible for the eventual subjugation of the country by the English East India Company.