Give an account of the Maratha expansion occurred between 1720 and 1761.
The Maratha empire expanded between 1720 and 1761. It gradually chipped away at the authority of the Mughal Empire. Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the Mughals by the 1720s. By the 1730s, the Maratha king was recognised as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula.
After raiding Delhi in 1737 the frontiers of Maratha domination expanded rapidly — into Rajasthan and the Punjab in the north, into Bengal and Orissa in the east, and into Karnataka and the Tamil and Telugu countries in the south. These were not formally included in the Maratha empire, but were made to pay tribute as a way of accepting Maratha sovereignty.
Did any of the Kingdoms mentioned in this chapter develop in your state? If so, in what ways do you think life in the state would have been different in the eighteenth century from what, it is in the twenty-first century?
Do you think merchants and bankers today have the kind of influence they had in the eighteenth century?
Name the new social groups that developed in Awadh to influence the management of the state's revenue system ?
State whether true or false:
(a) Nadir Shah invaded Bengal.
(b) Sawai Raja Jai Singh was the ruler of Indore.
(c) Guru Gobind Singh was the tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
(d) Poona became the capital of the Marathas in the eighteenth century.
Fill in the blanks:
(a) Aurangzeb fought a protracted war in the …………………
(b) Umaraand jagirdarsconstituted powerful sections of the Mughal
(c) Asaf Jah founded the Hyderabad state in ………………….
(d) The founder of the Awadh state was ………………..
Name the three states that were carved out of the old Mughal provinces in the 18th century. [Imp.]
How did moneylenders and bakers achieve influential position in the state of Awadh? [V. Imp.]
Or
Describe the close connection between the state of Awadh and bankers.
Match the following
subadar – a revenue farmer
faujdar – a high noble
ijaradar – provincial governor
misl – Maratha peasant warriors
chauth – a Mughal military commander
kunbis – A band of Sikh warriors
umara – tax levied by the Marathas
Describe the three common features of the states like Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad.
Or
What common features were shared by these three states—Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad? [V. Imp.]
The Mughal Empire had to face a variety of crises towards the closing years of the 17th century. What were the causes behind it?
Or
What were the causes of the fad of the Mughal Empire? [V. Imp.]