Emergence of New States in the 18th Century — Complete UPSC Notes

1. Three Categories of New States

Indian historians (after Bipan Chandra and Satish Chandra) classify 18th-century Indian states into three categories by origin. This typology is the single most useful organising framework for the chapter — and an excellent opening line for Mains.

2. Bengal — Murshid Quli Khan to Siraj-ud-Daulah

Bengal was the wealthiest of the Mughal provinces and the most cleanly converted into an effectively independent successor state.

2.1 Murshid Quli Khan (1717–27)

• Appointed diwan of Bengal in 1700; later nazim (governor) of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa from 1717.
• Shifted the capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad (named after him).
• Revenue reforms: introduced ijaradari (revenue farming) and the mal-jasmani system; reduced the number of jagirs by transferring most of Bengal's land to khalisa (crown land).
• Surplus revenue to Delhi was sent regularly — a rare instance of fiscal punctuality.
• Patronised the indigenous banking house of Jagat Seths at Murshidabad — who became the financial pillar of Bengal politics until Plassey.

2.2 Shuja-ud-Din (1727–39) & Sarfaraz Khan (1739–40)

Smooth succession through Shuja-ud-Din (Murshid Quli's son-in-law). Sarfaraz Khan, who succeeded in 1739, was killed by Alivardi Khan at the Battle of Giria (1740).

2.3 Alivardi Khan (1740–56)

• An able administrator who consolidated central control and defended Bengal from repeated Maratha incursions (1741–51) — the so-called "Bargi raids" by Raghuji Bhonsle of Nagpur. Maratha exactions extended into Bengal and Bihar.
• 1751 treaty with the Marathas — Orissa ceded to Bhonsle in return for cessation of raids.
• Cautious toward European companies: warned his successor that "the English are like bees — you may have honey but not without their sting".

2.4 Siraj-ud-Daulah (1756–57)

• Alivardi's grandson; succeeded at age 23.
• Conflict with English EIC over dastak abuse and fortifications at Calcutta; captured Calcutta (June 1756); the "Black Hole of Calcutta" episode (the figure of 123 deaths in J.Z. Holwell's narrative is now considered exaggerated).
• Defeated at the Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757) through the conspiracy of Mir Jafar, Jagat Seths, Rai Durlabh, and Omichand — engineered by Robert Clive.
• Captured and killed; Mir Jafar installed as puppet Nawab.

3. Awadh — Saadat Khan to Asaf-ud-Daulah

Awadh, sometimes called Oudh, was the second great successor state of the upper Gangetic plain.

3.1 Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk (1722–39)

• Persian (Irani) noble; appointed governor of Awadh in 1722.
• Crushed local zamindar resistance; reorganised the revenue system; reduced influence of hereditary zamindars by introducing fresh revenue settlements.
• Committed suicide after Nadir Shah's invasion (1739) — sometimes attributed to humiliation after his role in the Karnal disaster.

3.2 Safdar Jung (1739–54)

• Saadat Khan's nephew and son-in-law.
• Also served as wazir of the Mughal Empire under Muhammad Shah and Ahmad Shah Bahadur (1748–53).
• Allied with the Marathas and Jats against the Rohillas (First Rohilla War, 1751–52).
• Dismissed from the wazirate in 1753 by Ahmad Shah Bahadur; retreated to Awadh.

3.3 Shuja-ud-Daulah (1754–75)

• Maintained Awadh's autonomy through the high tide of Mughal collapse.
• Hosted the fugitive emperor Shah Alam II.
• Defeated at Battle of Buxar (22 October 1764) — with Mir Qasim and Shah Alam II — by Hector Munro of the EIC.
• Treaty of Allahabad (1765): Awadh retained, paid Rs 50 lakh war indemnity; ceded Allahabad and Kara to the emperor; became a "buffer state" for the EIC against Marathas and Afghans.

3.4 Asaf-ud-Daulah (1775–97)

• Shifted the capital from Faizabad to Lucknow (1775) — beginning the Lucknow nawabi cultural florescence.
• Treaty of Faizabad (1775) with the EIC — ceded Banaras to the Company; pension to the Bahu Begum.
• Famous for the Bara Imambara (built 1784 during the great famine as a relief work).
• Awadh became a model of "composite culture" — Hindu-Muslim, Persian-Urdu, Mughal-Indo-Persian syntheses.

4. Hyderabad — The Asaf Jahi Dynasty

The largest and longest-surviving Mughal successor state — lasting from 1724 until 1948.

4.1 Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I (1724–48)

• Mir Qamaruddin Chin Qilich Khan — Turani noble; served briefly as Mughal wazir (1722–24).
• Returned to the Deccan as governor (1724) and effectively founded the independent Hyderabad state; nominal Mughal allegiance retained.
• Capital initially at Aurangabad, later transferred to Hyderabad.
• Fought the Marathas at Palkhed (1728) — defeated by Bajirao I; forced to recognise Maratha chauth claims in Deccan.
• Personally led the surrender to Nadir Shah at Karnal (1739).

4.2 Successors & the Carnatic Connection

• Nasir Jung (1748–50) and Muzaffar Jung (1750–51) — disputed succession; both killed in the Second Carnatic War, in which the French (Dupleix) and English supported rival claimants.
• Salabat Jung (1751–62) installed by the French (Bussy); later removed.
• Nizam Ali Khan (1762–1803) signed the first major Subsidiary Alliance (1798) with Lord Wellesley — Hyderabad became the model client state.

4.3 Character of the State

• Combined Indo-Persian Mughal administrative forms with Deccani (Bahmani, Bijapur, Golconda) traditions.
• Significant Hindu nobility (Maharashtrian Brahmins and Marathas of the Deccan); the prime ministers (diwans) were often Hindu.
• Highly stratified society with Persian and Telugu-Urdu syntheses.

5. Mysore — The Wadiyars before Hyder Ali

Mysore had been under the Wadiyar dynasty since the late 14th century. After the fall of Vijayanagar (1565), the Wadiyars expanded under Raja Wadiyar (1578–1617) and Chikka Devaraja Wadiyar (1672–1704), who created a centralised state.

5.1 The Pre-Hyder Mysore

• Capital at Srirangapatna.
• By the early 18th century, royal authority had weakened. Real power passed to the dalavais (commanders-in-chief), notably the brothers Devaraja and Nanjaraja in the 1740s–50s.
• The Wadiyar king Chikka Krishnaraja II (1734–66) was a figurehead.

5.2 The Rise of Hyder Ali

Hyder Ali, of Punjabi-Afghan ancestry but raised in Karnataka, entered Mysore service as a soldier under Dalavai Nanjaraja. He distinguished himself during the Second Carnatic War (1749–54), particularly at the siege of Devanahalli. By 1761 he had displaced the dalavais and become effective ruler — though he retained the Wadiyar puppet on the throne until his death.

6. Hyder Ali (1761–82) — The Soldier-Statesman

Hyder Ali ruled Mysore from 1761 to 1782, transforming a peripheral kingdom into the most modern, militarily formidable Indian power of the late 18th century.

6.1 Reforms

• Military: Recruited French officers (under the influence of his alliance with Dupleix's successors); modern infantry on European lines; disciplined cavalry; the first systematic Indian use of iron-cased rockets in warfare.
• Administrative: Centralised revenue collection; reduced power of poligars (local chieftains).
• Diplomatic: Maintained the fiction of Wadiyar sovereignty; used the title "Sarvadhikari".

6.2 The Anglo-Mysore Wars (Hyder's Phase)

7. Tipu Sultan (1782–99) — The Tiger of Mysore

Tipu Sultan, Hyder Ali's son, is arguably the most studied non-Mughal Indian ruler of the 18th century. His reign combined military innovation, diplomatic ambition, modernisation efforts, and a complex religious profile.

7.1 Reforms

• Land revenue: Tipu reduced the power of hereditary poligars; brought peasants under direct revenue assessment; mostly cash-based.
• Trade: State monopoly over many commodities; established commercial agencies (kothis) in Pegu, Muscat, Constantinople, even Versailles.
• Modernisation: Mint reform; new coinage; modern calendar; sent embassies to France (1787) and Ottoman Turkey.
• Military: Continued and expanded Hyder's iron-cased rockets — captured British rockets are preserved at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich; Congreve's later British rocket programme drew on them.
• Religious policy: Complex. Patronised Sringeri Math (correspondence with the Shankaracharya survives); but campaigns in Malabar and Coorg involved forced conversions. Use this nuance for Mains.

7.2 Diplomacy

• Sent embassies to Louis XVI of France (1787) seeking alliance.
• Joined the short-lived Jacobin Club of Srirangapatna (1797) — planted a "Tree of Liberty" and styled himself "Citizen Tipu".
• Sought Ottoman recognition and titles (1786–87).

7.3 The Last Wars

8. Travancore — Marthanda Varma

The southernmost Indian kingdom that emerged as a centralised state in this period.

8.1 Marthanda Varma (1729–58)

• Inherited a fragmented kingdom dominated by the Ettara Yogam (eight feudal chiefs) and the pillamars.
• Crushed the feudal opposition through systematic military campaigns.
• Defeated the Dutch East India Company at the Battle of Colachel (10 August 1741) — the first decisive defeat of a European naval/colonial power by an Indian ruler. The Dutch commander Eustachius de Lannoy was captured and entered Travancore service, modernising its army.
• Expanded Travancore territory to include most of Kerala south of Cochin.
• Dedicated the kingdom to Padmanabhaswamy (1750) — ruling thereafter as "Padmanabha Dasa", servant of the deity.

8.2 Rama Varma "Dharma Raja" (1758–98)

• Continued modernisation; resisted Tipu Sultan's invasion (1789–90) — built the famous Nedumkotta defensive lines.
• Allied with the EIC against Tipu — partial Subsidiary Alliance signed 1788, formalised 1805.

9. Rajput States in the 18th Century

The 18th century was a period of internal weakness for the Rajputs despite their de facto independence from Delhi.

• Amber (Jaipur): Sawai Jai Singh II (1700–43) — astronomer-king who built the Jantar Mantar observatories at Delhi, Jaipur, Mathura, Ujjain, and Varanasi. Founded Jaipur (1727); his court was a centre of mathematical and astronomical learning.
• Marwar (Jodhpur): Maharaja Ajit Singh re-established Rajput independence post-Aurangzeb; killed by his son Bakht Singh (1724); subsequent succession disputes weakened the state.
• Mewar (Udaipur): Reduced to relative weakness; Maratha and Pindari raids in the late 18th century forced reliance on the EIC.
• Bundelkhand: Maharaja Chhatrasal Bundela; ceded part of his kingdom (Jhansi area) to the Marathas as gratitude for Bajirao I's help against Muhammad Khan Bangash.

10. The Maratha State after Shivaji

The Marathas were the most successful 18th-century rebel state, briefly the closest thing to an Indian successor to the Mughals.

10.1 Shivaji's Legacy (1627–80)

• Crowned at Raigad in 1674; created an autonomous Maratha kingdom.
• Established the Ashta Pradhan council; revenue system based on chauth (1/4 of revenue) and sardeshmukhi (1/10).
• Naval establishment; coastal fortifications.

10.2 The 27-Year Mughal War (1681–1707)

• Sambhaji captured and executed by Aurangzeb (1689).
• Rajaram and Tarabai continued the resistance from Jinji and the Western Ghats.
• The very campaign that was meant to crush the Marathas drained the Mughal Empire (the "Deccan ulcer").

10.3 Shahu's Release & Civil War (1707–14)

• Bahadur Shah I released Shahu (Sambhaji's son, captive since 1689) in 1707.
• Civil war between Shahu (based at Satara) and Tarabai (representing Rajaram's line, based at Kolhapur).
• Shahu prevailed with the help of Balaji Vishwanath (a Chitpavan Brahmin) — who was appointed Peshwa in 1713.

11. The Peshwa Era (1713–61)

From 1713, real power within the Maratha state shifted from the Chhatrapati to the Peshwa. The Peshwaship became hereditary in the Bhat family of Chitpavan Brahmins from Shrivardhan.

11.1 Bajirao's Five Lieutenants — Origin of the Confederacy

Bajirao's strategy of devolving northward conquests to his trusted commanders created the five chief Maratha houses:

• Peshwa at Pune — overall leadership.
• Holkar at Indore — Malhar Rao Holkar (founder, d. 1766); later the regent Ahilyabai Holkar (1767–95) is celebrated for her temple-rebuilding programme across India.
• Scindia (Shinde) at Gwalior — Ranoji Shinde (d. 1745); later Mahadji Scindia (d. 1794), the most powerful Maratha of the late 18th century.
• Bhonsle at Nagpur — Raghuji Bhonsle (Bargi raids on Bengal, 1741–51).
• Gaekwad at Baroda — Pilaji Gaekwad and successors.

12. The Maratha Confederacy — After Panipat

After Panipat III (1761), the central Peshwa authority weakened; the five houses became autonomous regional powers loosely coordinated as the Maratha Confederacy.

12.1 Madhav Rao I (1761–72)

• Restored Maratha power in north India.
• Defeated the Nizam in 1762 and 1763.
• Recovered Delhi in 1771; brought Shah Alam II back to Delhi under Maratha protection.
• Died young (27); his death is often called "a second Panipat" (Grant Duff).

12.2 The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–82)

• Triggered by the succession dispute over Madhav Rao II's regency — Raghunath Rao sought EIC support (Treaty of Surat, 1775).
• Bombay government's initiative led to disaster at Convention of Wadgaon (1779).
• Warren Hastings intervened from Calcutta; war concluded inconclusively by the Treaty of Salbai (1782) — twenty years of Anglo-Maratha peace.

12.3 Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–05)

• After the Treaty of Bassein (1802) — Peshwa Baji Rao II accepted Subsidiary Alliance — the Maratha chiefs rejected it and were defeated piecemeal by Wellesley.
• Arthur Wellesley (later Wellington) won Assaye (Sept 1803) and Argaon (Nov 1803); Lord Lake captured Delhi and Agra.

12.4 Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–18)

• Combined with the Pindari War; ended Maratha independence.
• Peshwaship abolished (1818); Baji Rao II pensioned to Bithur near Kanpur (his adopted son Nana Saheb later led the 1857 Revolt at Kanpur).
• Holkar, Scindia, Bhonsle, Gaekwad accepted Subsidiary Alliance.

13. Mahadji Scindia & Nana Phadnavis

The post-Panipat generation produced two outstanding Maratha figures whose names UPSC frequently tests.

13.1 Mahadji Scindia (1761–94)

• Survived Panipat (escaped wounded).
• Reorganised his army on European lines under the French officer Comte de Boigne — disciplined infantry, modern artillery; the most formidable Indian army of the late 18th century.
• Restored Mughal authority in Delhi from 1771; the de facto Regent of the Mughal Empire.
• Awarded the title Vakil-i-Mutlaq ("plenipotentiary regent") by Shah Alam II (1784).
• Negotiated the favourable Treaty of Salbai (1782) ending the First Anglo-Maratha War.

13.2 Nana Phadnavis (1742–1800)

• The "Maratha Machiavelli" — chief minister at Pune for nearly thirty years.
• Led the Barabhai Council (council of twelve) that effectively governed during Madhav Rao II's minority.
• Engineered the Maratha-Mysore-Nizam triple alliance against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War.
• His death in 1800 left a leadership vacuum that the Treaty of Bassein (1802) exploited.

14. Sikh Rise — Banda Bahadur to the Misls

14.1 Banda Singh Bahadur (1708–16)

• Deputed by Guru Gobind Singh in 1708 from Nanded.
• Established the first Sikh political authority in Punjab; struck coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh; introduced a new Nanakshahi calendar.
• Defeated Wazir Khan of Sirhind (1710) — the killer of Guru Gobind Singh's younger sons.
• Captured at Gurdas Nangal (1715) after long siege; executed at Delhi (1716) along with hundreds of Sikhs.

14.2 The Era of the Misls (c. 1716–99)

After Banda's execution, the Sikhs went underground, regrouping during the chaos of Abdali's invasions into twelve organised confederacies — the Misls:

• Bhangi, Ramgarhia, Kanhaiya, Nakai, Ahluwalia, Sukerchakia, Singh Krora, Phulkian, Faizullapuria, Dallewalia, Karor Singhia, Nishanwalia.
• Coordinated through the Sarbat Khalsa assembly at the Akal Takht, Amritsar — biannual meetings (Baisakhi and Diwali) that took collective decisions (Gurmata).
• The misls fought the Afghans during Abdali's invasions; after Abdali's withdrawal (1767), the misls effectively divided Punjab among themselves.
• The Dal Khalsa was the combined Sikh army.

14.3 Two Sikh Holocausts (Ghallugharas)

• Chhota Ghallughara (1746) — under Lakhpat Rai, governor of Lahore; about 7,000 Sikhs killed.
• Vada Ghallughara (5 February 1762) — Abdali's massacre of Sikh families at Kup near Malerkotla; estimates run from 10,000 to 30,000 killed.

Both massacres failed to crush the Sikhs and accelerated their political consolidation.

15. Ranjit Singh's Lahore Kingdom (1799–1839)

Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sukerchakia misl is the towering Indian ruler of the early 19th century — the only one to keep the British south of the Sutlej for forty years.

15.1 Consolidation

• Captured Lahore (1799) from the Bhangi misl; took the title Maharaja in 1801.
• Took Amritsar (1802) — controlled both the political and the religious capital.
• Subjugated the cis-Sutlej misls — until the Treaty of Amritsar (1809) with the EIC fixed the Sutlej as the boundary between Sikh and British territories.
• Conquered Multan (1818), Kashmir (1819), Peshawar (1834) — extended his realm from the Sutlej to the Khyber.

15.2 Reforms

• Modern army (the Fauj-i-Khas) trained by French and Italian officers — Ventura, Allard, Avitabile, Court — modelled on Napoleonic infantry.
• Religious tolerance: Hindu and Muslim officials in high positions (Diwan Mokham Chand, Faqir Azizuddin, Dewan Sawan Mal).
• Patronised the Golden Temple (rebuilt with marble and gold plating, 1830).
• Possessed the Koh-i-Noor (acquired from Shah Shuja, 1813) — passed to the British after the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

15.3 After Ranjit Singh

• Successor disputes (1839–45); two Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–46 and 1848–49); Punjab annexed by Dalhousie in 1849.
• Covered in detail in Modern Topic 04.

16. Jats of Bharatpur — Suraj Mal

The Jat peasantry of the Mathura-Agra-Delhi region rebelled repeatedly against the Mughals from the 1660s. Out of these revolts grew the Jat state of Bharatpur.

• Founders: Gokula (1669), Rajaram (1685), Churaman (early 18th century).
• Badan Singh (1722–55): Consolidated the Bharatpur kingdom; built the fort.
• Suraj Mal (1755–63): The "Plato of the Jat tribe" (Sir Jadunath Sarkar). Extended Bharatpur from the Yamuna to the Chambal. Built the famous palace at Deeg (with its garden-and-water-jet architecture).
• Allied with the Marathas at Panipat but quit before the battle over a disagreement with Sadashivrao Bhau — saved the Jat state.
• After his death (1763), the kingdom declined; ultimately accepted EIC subsidiary alliance in 1818.

17. Rohillas & the Afghan Belt

The Rohillas were Afghan-origin warriors who settled in the foothills of the Himalayas (modern western Uttar Pradesh) and established the kingdom of Rohilkhand in the 18th century.

• Ali Muhammad Khan (d. 1748) — founder of Rohilkhand; capital at Aonla.
• Hafiz Rahmat Khan — later leader; killed in the First Rohilla War (1774).
• First Rohilla War (1774): Awadh Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulah (with English EIC troops, against treaty obligation) invaded and crushed Rohilkhand; Hafiz Rahmat Khan killed; Rohilkhand annexed to Awadh. The episode was a key item in the impeachment proceedings against Warren Hastings (1788–95).
• Najib-ud-Daulah — a different Rohilla leader, the kingmaker at Delhi from 1757; his grandson Ghulam Qadir Rohilla blinded Shah Alam II (1788).

18. Common Features of 18th Century States

A standard Mains question. The following features cut across the successor, rebel, and independent states:

1. Personal rule: Authority was charismatic and personal; institutional succession was weak.
2. Reliance on Indian bankers and merchants: Jagat Seths (Bengal), Manik Chand, Vora merchants (Surat) — credit was central to state-building.
3. Persianised administrative culture: Even rebel states (Marathas, Sikhs) used Persian as a language of administration well into the 19th century.
4. Indo-Persian elite culture: Composite Hindu-Muslim cultural patronage (Awadh's Lucknow, Hyderabad, Mughal-Maratha Pune).
5. Revenue-farming (Izaradari): The standard fiscal mechanism — short-term gain, long-term agrarian damage.
6. Military modernisation attempts: Hyder, Tipu, Mahadji Scindia, Ranjit Singh all hired European officers and built disciplined infantry-artillery armies (the "military fiscalism" identified by Bayly).
7. Commercial dynamism: C.A. Bayly's argument — port-cities (Surat, Murshidabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow) and the new "service gentry" produced a commercially vibrant 18th century.
8. Continued cultural production: Urdu poetry (Mir, Sauda, Mir Hasan); Awadhi nautanki; Maratha bakhars; Sikh historical literature.

19. Why the 18th Century States Could Not Unite Against the British

This is the classic 15-mark Mains question. A balanced answer should cover:

19.1 Political Causes

• No state had a pan-Indian ideological vision; each pursued regional aggrandisement.
• Inter-state hostilities — Marathas vs Nizam, Marathas vs Mysore, Marathas vs Jats — were chronic.
• The British succeeded in playing one against another (Wellesley's brilliant exploitation of this).
• No diplomatic mechanism (treaty system) bound the states together.

19.2 Military Causes

• Despite modernisation, no Indian army matched the EIC's organisational coherence — disciplined sepoy battalions, regular pay, central command, unified supply.
• Mercenary character of European officers in Indian service — many switched sides for higher pay.
• Maritime weakness — none of the Indian states could challenge British sea power.

19.3 Financial Causes

• The Bengal Diwani (1765) gave the EIC a colossal revenue base — what Indian historians call the "Plassey plunder" that financed the Company's later wars.
• Indian bankers shifted credit to the EIC (Karen Leonard's argument).
• Subsidiary Alliance bankrupted client states by forcing them to pay for British troops.

19.4 Ideological Causes

• No pan-Indian nationalism — that would only emerge in the late 19th century.
• The Mughal symbolic umbrella, although weak, was respected (most rulers minted coins in Shah Alam's name until 1835); but no rival pan-Indian symbol replaced it.

20. Historiography & Bridge to British Conquest

20.1 The Historiographical Debate

20.2 The Bridge to British Conquest (Modern Topic 04)

The states described above are the targets of the British conquest covered in Modern Topic 04. The standard chronology runs:

1. Bengal — Plassey (1757), Buxar (1764), Diwani (1765).
2. Mysore — Four Anglo-Mysore Wars (1767–99).
3. Marathas — Three Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775–82, 1803–05, 1817–18).
4. Sindh — Annexed under Lord Ellenborough (1843).
5. Punjab — Two Anglo-Sikh Wars (1845–46, 1848–49); annexed by Dalhousie (1849).
6. Awadh — annexed under Dalhousie (1856) on charges of misgovernment.

By 1856, every state surveyed in this chapter had been subordinated, annexed, or pensioned. The 1857 Revolt is the dispossessed elite's last protest against this conquest — and is led by representatives of these very states (Bahadur Shah II for the Mughals; Nana Saheb for the Peshwas; Begum Hazrat Mahal for Awadh; Tatya Tope for the Marathas; Rani Lakshmibai for the Bundela Rajput-Maratha tradition of Jhansi).

21. Previous Year Questions — UPSC Mains & Prelims

Prelims-style

Mains-style (GS Paper 1)