iv. Conclusion
- With the closure of the 18th century, the actual rule of the Mughal emperor was confined only to a limited area around Delhi.
- The weakness of the empire led the regional powers to assert their authority. Nonetheless, the symbolic authority of the Mughal emperor prevailed as the emperor was a source of political legitimacy. The newly formed states did not challenge the emperor, but rather persistently looked for his sanction to legitimise their authority. This led to decentralisation of power and local disputes among them.
- The English East India Company (EIC) defeated Siraj ud Daulah in the Battle of Plassey (1757). The Mughal emperor granted the company the diwani rights of Bengal – control over the administration of the region and the right to collect tax revenue in lieu of a revised revenue amounts every year, after defeat in the Battle of Buxar 1764. Hereafter, EIC defeated French East India company and became a powerful player in the local polity as it was involved in local disputes.
- Meanwhile, with EIC’s lingering influence over south, by the 1770s the balance of power had shifted. The Maratha in western India and Tipu Sultan of Mysore were defeated and expansion continued. By early nineteenth century, the EIC was the dominant political power in India, with direct control over two-thirds of the subcontinent and indirect control over the rest. Subsequently, this led to 200 years of colonial supremacy and control of India by the British.