Author: Muzaffar Alam
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 365
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0-19-563000-9
Description
This pioneering book examines two contrasting regions of north India and shows how the period 1707-48 saw the emergence of a new order with local and regional idioms, and in doing so it changes our understanding of eighteenth-century India.
The period following the death of Aurangzeb has been viewed as the beginning of the decline and decay of the Mughal empire. The historiography of the period is replete with images of systemic failure, political fragmentation, social unrest , and economic decay. This pioneering book examines two contrasting regions of north India and shows how the period 1707-48 saw the emergence of a new order with local and regional idioms, even though echoes from the imperial period continued to be heard. In doing so it changes our understanding of eighteenth-century India.
Drawing extensively on eighteenth-century Persian sources, it focuses on the interplay of imperial collapse with regional restructuring in Awadh and Punjab. It analyses the workings of the jagirdari system and nature of the Zamindari uprisings, and the problems these posed to imperial power. Further the book explains how, in Awadh, local social groups were mobilized to establish a viable rule, while in Punjab this failed. In both provinces, however, the semblance of empire was sustained in the interests of individuals and groups who had been bulwarks of the imperial order and were now rulers in the region. Between 1707 and 1748 the patterns of power changed: the center which controlled the provinces earlier on came subsequently to be controlled by them.
Contents
* Acknowledgements
* Notes on Transliteration
* Abbreviations
* Introduction
* Breakdown of Imperial Organization
* The Changing Position of the Governor
* The Zamindars, the Madad-I Ma’ash Holder and Mughal Administration in Awadh
* Mughal Power, the Sikhs and Other Local Groups in the Punjab
* The Punjab after 1715, the Zamindars and the Problem facing the Provincial Government
* Growth of Nawabi Rule in Awadh and its Relations with Local Social Groups
* The Imperial Court, the New Subadars and the Region
* Conclusion
* Bibliography
* Index
* 7 Maps