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UPPCS Mains
2026 Edition
General Studies Paper I
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Modern India

English Medium
9
Chapters
41
Topics
102
Figures & Maps
46
Tables
What's Inside
  1. 01Mughal Decline and the Rise of British Power (1707–1857)
  2. 02Early Resistance and the Revolt of 1857
  3. 03Socio-Religious Reform Movements
  4. 04Economic Impact of British Rule
  5. 05British Administration, Constitutional Reforms, Education and Press
  6. 06Rise of Nationalism and the Swadeshi Era (1858–1918)
  7. 07The Gandhian Era (1917–1939)
  8. 08Towards Freedom and Partition (1939–1947)
  9. 09Social Groups and Leaders of the National Movement
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Modern India
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Modern India
UPPCS Mains · Smart Notes

Contents

Modern India · General Studies Paper I
  1. 01Mughal Decline and the Rise of British Power (1707–1857)4 topics
    1. 1.1Mughal Decline and 18th-Century India
    2. 1.2Advent of the Europeans and Why Britain Won
    3. 1.3British Conquest: Bengal, Mysore, Marathas, Sindh and Punjab
    4. 1.4Annexation Policies and the Governors-General (Hastings to Dalhousie)
  2. 02Early Resistance and the Revolt of 18576 topics
    1. 2.1Civil and Peasant Uprisings
    2. 2.2Tribal Uprisings
    3. 2.3Causes of the Revolt of 1857
    4. 2.4Spread, Leaders and Failure of the Revolt
    5. 2.5Nature and Ideology of the Revolt
    6. 2.6Aftermath and Impact of 1857
  3. 03Socio-Religious Reform Movements4 topics
    1. 3.1Indian Renaissance: Context, Causes and Nature
    2. 3.2Hindu Reform and Anti-Caste Movements
    3. 3.3Muslim, Sikh and Parsi Reform Movements
    4. 3.4The Women's Question in the Reform Movements
  4. 04Economic Impact of British Rule5 topics
    1. 4.1Stages of Colonialism and the Drain of Wealth
    2. 4.2Deindustrialisation and Commercialisation of Agriculture
    3. 4.3Land Revenue Systems
    4. 4.4Famines and Famine Policy
    5. 4.5Railways and Modern Communication
  5. 05British Administration, Constitutional Reforms, Education and Press4 topics
    1. 5.1Civil Services and Local Self-Government
    2. 5.2Constitutional Reforms of 1909, 1919 and 1935
    3. 5.3Development of Modern Education
    4. 5.4Development of the Indian Press
  6. 06Rise of Nationalism and the Swadeshi Era (1858–1918)5 topics
    1. 6.1Rise of Nationalism and Foundation of the Congress
    2. 6.2Moderates, Extremists and the Surat Split
    3. 6.3Partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi Movement
    4. 6.4Revolutionary Nationalism
    5. 6.5Muslim League, Lucknow Pact and Home Rule Leagues
  7. 07The Gandhian Era (1917–1939)4 topics
    1. 7.1Early Satyagrahas, Rowlatt Act and Jallianwala Bagh
    2. 7.2Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movement
    3. 7.3Swarajists, Simon Commission and Purna Swaraj
    4. 7.4Civil Disobedience Movement and the Round Table Conferences
  8. 08Towards Freedom and Partition (1939–1947)4 topics
    1. 8.1Second World War, August Offer and Cripps Mission
    2. 8.2Quit India Movement
    3. 8.3Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA
    4. 8.4Cabinet Mission, Mountbatten Plan and Partition
  9. 09Social Groups and Leaders of the National Movement5 topics
    1. 9.1Women in the Freedom Struggle
    2. 9.2Peasants, Workers, Capitalists and the States’ People
    3. 9.3Mahatma Gandhi: Ideas, Methods and Legacy
    4. 9.4Nehru, Patel and Ambedkar
    5. 9.5Other Leaders and Foreign Participants
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Modern IndiaChapter 01 · Topic 1
Chapter 01

Mughal Decline and the Rise of British Power (1707–1857)

Modern India · 4 topics
Topic 1

Mughal Decline and 18th-Century India

Chapter Overview

This chapter covers the century and a half between Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 and the eve of the Revolt of 1857, when a trading company became the ruler of India. Within fifty years of 1707 Nadir Shah had sacked Delhi (1739) and Robert Clive had won at Plassey (1757); by 1856 the Company had annexed Sindh, Punjab and Awadh. These events explain how colonial rule began and why 1857 broke out.

Topic 1 explains the Mughal decline and the regional states of the 18th century. Topic 2 follows the European companies and asks why the English won. Topic 3 traces the wars that brought Bengal, Mysore, the Marathas, Sindh and Punjab under the Company. Topic 4 covers the quieter tools of expansion, the Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse, and the Governors-General who used them.

Topic Flow
  1. 1Mughal Decline and 18th-Century India
  2. left a vacuum for
  3. 2Advent of the Europeans and Why Britain Won
  4. turned trade into
  5. 3British Conquest: Bengal, Mysore, Marathas, Sindh and Punjab
  6. completed through
  7. 4Annexation Policies and the Governors-General (Hastings to Dalhousie)

Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 opened a long succession crisis at the Mughal court, and within 32 years the Persian ruler Nadir Shah sacked Delhi (1739), carrying off the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor. Power then passed to regional states rather than to one new empire.

Why the Mughal Empire Declined

  1. Weak successors and factions: wars of succession and quarrels among Irani, Turani and Hindustani nobles left the emperor a puppet of court factions after 1707; e.g. the Sayyid brothers, the ‘kingmakers’ of 1713–20, placed four emperors on the throne.
  2. Jagir and agrarian crisis: productive jagirs were too few for the number of mansabdars, so revenue demands rose and peasants and zamindars revolted; e.g. Satnami revolt (1672), Jat risings under Churaman, Sikh revolt of Banda Bahadur (1709–15).
  3. Aurangzeb’s policies: jizya (1679), temple demolitions and the Deccan wars (1681–1707) drained the treasury and alienated Rajputs, Marathas, Sikhs and Jats together; e.g. Aurangzeb spent his last 26 years campaigning in the Deccan.
  4. Military decay: the mansabdari system no longer supplied loyal, well-armed contingents, and the empire built neither modern field artillery nor a navy; e.g. the Mughal army collapsed before Nadir Shah at Karnal, February 1739.
  5. Foreign invasions: Persian and Afghan invasions emptied the treasury, exposed Delhi’s weakness and broke the Maratha bid to replace the Mughals in the north; e.g. Nadir Shah’s loot of about ₹70 crore (1739); Ahmad Shah Abdali’s raids (1748–67) and the Third Battle of Panipat (1761).
Causes of the decline of the Mughal Empire after 1707
Fig. 1.1 Causes of the decline of the Mughal Empire after 1707

Rise of the Regional States

By 1750 power was shared among many centres: regional nawabs, the Marathas, the Sikhs, Afghan chiefs such as the Rohillas and Abdali, and the European companies on the coast.

  1. Successor states: Mughal governors turned their provinces into hereditary kingdoms but kept Mughal forms, coins and nominal loyalty to Delhi; e.g. Hyderabad (Nizam-ul-Mulk, 1724), Bengal (Murshid Quli Khan, 1717), Awadh (Saadat Khan, 1722).
  2. New states born of revolt: groups that had fought the Mughals built their own states, collecting tribute and taxes from wide areas; e.g. Maratha chauth and sardeshmukhi; Jats of Bharatpur under Suraj Mal; Ranjit Singh’s Sikh kingdom from Lahore (1799).
  3. Independent kingdoms: rulers with little Mughal link built strong armies and centralised revenue systems, often with European help; e.g. Mysore under Haidar Ali (from 1761) and Tipu; Travancore under Martanda Varma, who beat the Dutch at Colachel (1741).
Table 1.1 Common ground: every state was strong enough to break away from Delhi, but none could build a lasting alliance against the Company.
StateFounder / startMain featuresFate under the British
HyderabadNizam-ul-Mulk, 1724first major breakaway; kept Mughal protocolSubsidiary Alliance 1798; loyal ally
BengalMurshid Quli Khan, 1717richest province; strong revenue systemPlassey 1757; diwani 1765
AwadhSaadat Khan, 1722wealthy but weak army; taluqdarsSubsidiary Alliance 1801; annexed 1856
MysoreHaidar Ali, 1761most modern army; iron-cased rocketsfour wars; Tipu killed 1799
MarathasPeshwas from 1713loose confederacy; chauth and sardeshmukhithree wars; Peshwaship ended 1818
PunjabRanjit Singh, 1799united Sikh state; European-trained armytwo wars; annexed 1849
Main regional powers of India in the mid-18th century
Fig. 1.2 Main regional powers of India in the mid-18th century

Society and Economy in the 18th Century

  1. Society and women: a rich nobility lived beside poor peasants; caste was rigid and women faced sati, purdah and child marriage, with notable exceptions; e.g. Ahilya Bai Holkar ruled Indore ably (1767–95); avarnas (untouchables) stood outside the varna order.
  2. Education: maktabs, madrasas and pathshalas gave practical literacy, funded by rulers, zamindars and local communities rather than the state; e.g. William Adam’s reports (1835–38) counted about one lakh village schools in Bengal and Bihar.
  3. Trade and rural economy: textile, indigo, saltpetre and opium exports continued, while zamindars grew as intermediaries and villages relied on jajmani exchange; e.g. exports were paid for in gold and silver; regional coins such as the Arcot rupee replaced Mughal coinage; the Jagat Seth bankers of Murshidabad financed nawabs and the Company before 1757.

Historiographical Debate: Decline or Transformation?

Historians disagree on whether the empire fell because of weak rulers, because of a deeper crisis in its revenue system, or whether power simply moved to the regions.

  1. Personal and religious view: older writers blamed Aurangzeb’s religious policy, weak later emperors and court intrigue, and called the century a ‘dark age’; e.g. Jadunath Sarkar, Fall of the Mughal Empire (1932–50); Percival Spear, Twilight of the Mughuls (1951).
  2. Structural crisis view: later historians traced the fall to a shortage of jagirs and to pressure on peasants that the system could not resolve; e.g. Satish Chandra on the jagirdari crisis (1959); Irfan Habib on the agrarian crisis (1963); M. Athar Ali on an overgrown nobility.
  3. Regional view: revisionists argue that the century saw decentralisation rather than collapse, as regional courts, bankers and markets prospered; e.g. Muzaffar Alam on Awadh and Punjab (1986); C.A. Bayly on north Indian towns and merchants (1983).

Significance, Legacy and Present Relevance

  1. Door opened to the Company: rival regional powers and an empty Mughal treasury let a trading company buy allies and win decisive battles; e.g. Plassey 1757 and Buxar 1764 (see Topic 3); Shah Alam II a Company pensioner at Allahabad (1765–72), under British protection from 1803.
  2. Regional cultures: the regional courts patronised architecture, music, science and Urdu poetry that still shape regional identity; e.g. Sawai Jai Singh’s Jantar Mantar, Jaipur (UNESCO, 2010); poetry of Mir Taqi Mir and Sauda.

The 18th century was a time of shifting power, and the rivalry among regional states gave the Company its opening.

Based on NCERT, Standard Books references, Keywords from Syllabus and Previous Year question Papers

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Modern IndiaChapter 01 · Topic 2
Topic 2

Advent of the Europeans and Why Britain Won

While Mughal power was fading inland, European trading companies were already on India’s coasts; the sea route had opened when Vasco da Gama landed near Calicut in May 1498. Of the five European powers that came, only the English turned trade into rule.

Why the Europeans Came

  1. Blocked routes and high profits: the Ottoman capture of Constantinople (1453) raised the cost of the land route, while Indian spices and textiles fetched huge prices in Europe; e.g. da Gama’s first cargo is said to have sold for about 60 times the cost of the voyage.
  2. Ships, capital and crowns: the compass, astrolabe and caravel made ocean voyages possible, and joint-stock companies and royal charters pooled capital and spread risk; e.g. English East India Company (1600), Dutch VOC (1602); Portuguese voyages also aimed to spread Christianity.

The Portuguese, Dutch, French and Danes

  1. Portuguese sea empire: the Portuguese controlled Indian Ocean shipping through forts and sea passes rather than by conquering land; e.g. Francisco de Almeida, the first Viceroy (1505–09), with his Blue Water Policy and cartaz passes; Afonso de Albuquerque took Goa (1510) and Malacca (1511) and encouraged mixed Luso-Indian settlement; Nino da Cunha made Goa the capital (1530).
  2. Dutch spice focus: the Dutch VOC set up textile factories in India but gave first place to the Spice Islands of Indonesia; e.g. VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie); Masulipatnam (1605), Pulicat (1610), Chinsura; beaten by Travancore at Colachel (1741) and by the English at Bedara (1759).
  3. French political bid: Dupleix used sepoy armies and Carnatic succession disputes to seek territory, but the English won the three Carnatic Wars; e.g. François Caron’s first factory at Surat; Chandernagore on a site granted by Shaista Khan (1673); Carnatic Wars (1746–63); Eyre Coote beat Lally at Wandiwash (1760); Dupleix recalled (1754).
  4. Danish missions: the Danes traded on a small scale and are remembered mainly for missionary printing and education; e.g. Tranquebar (1620), Serampore (1755); Serampore Mission of Carey, Marshman and Ward (1799); sold to the British (1845).
Table 1.2 Common ground: every company came for Asian trade and fought its rivals at sea; only the English turned trade into territorial rule.
PowerCompany / startMain basesWhy it fadedLegacy
PortugueseEstado da India; came 1498Goa, Daman, Diu; early posts at Calicut, Cochin, Cannanore, San Thome, Nagapattinamsmall population; intolerance; union with Spain (1580–1640); Salsette and Bassein lost to the Marathas (1739); Brazilnew crops; press (1556); churches; Goa held till 1961
DutchVOC, 1602Pulicat, Chinsura, Cochin (1663)Anglo-Dutch wars (1652–74); Indonesia firstforts, cemeteries; posts ceded by Treaty of London (1824)
EnglishEast India Company, 1600Madras, Bombay, Calcuttadid not fade: became the rulerEnglish language, law, railways
FrenchCompagnie des Indes Orientales (Colbert, under Louis XIV), 1664Pondicherry (1674), Chandernagore, Karikal, Mahe, Yanamweak state support; Seven Years War (1756–63); Dupleix recalledFrench law and language in Puducherry; left 1954
DanishDanish East India Company, 1616Tranquebar, Seramporesmall trade; sold to the British (1845)Bible translations; Serampore College (1818)
Main European settlements in India and the battle of Wandiwash
Fig. 1.3 Main European settlements in India and the battle of Wandiwash

The English Company’s Foothold

  1. From trading rights to factories: naval wins over the Portuguese and diplomacy at the Mughal court won the English the right to trade and build factories; e.g. charter of Elizabeth I (31 December 1600); Thomas Best’s victory at Swally (1612); Sir Thomas Roe at Jahangir’s court (1615–19).
  2. Three presidencies: fortified settlements at Madras, Bombay and Calcutta grew into the presidencies from which the Company later ruled; e.g. Francis Day got Madras from the Raja of Chandragiri, Fort St George (1639); Bombay, part of Charles II’s Portuguese dowry, leased to the Company for £10 a year (1668); Job Charnock’s Calcutta (1690) with Fort William; Farrukhsiyar’s farman (1717) for duty-free Bengal trade.
Stages in the rise of the English East India Company, 1600–1760
Fig. 1.4 Stages in the rise of the English East India Company, 1600–1760

Why Britain Won

  1. Company strength: a profit-driven company answerable to shareholders, with cheap credit through the Bank of England, outlasted the state-run French company; e.g. Dupleix’s wars were starved of funds from Paris, while the English drew on Bengal revenue after 1765.
  2. Naval and industrial power: the Royal Navy controlled the sea lanes, and Britain’s early Industrial Revolution supplied arms, ships and money for long campaigns; e.g. British fleets cut French supply lines during the Seven Years War (1756–63).
  3. Leadership and Indian disunity: able commanders played Indian rulers against one another, while Indian states lacked navies, unity and disciplined infantry; e.g. Clive at Plassey (1757); the Nizam and the Marathas joined the English against Tipu (1790).
Why the English defeated European and Indian rivals
Fig. 1.5 Why the English defeated European and Indian rivals

Assessment of the European Impact

The European companies brought new crops, printing and sea links, but they also brought religious coercion, armed control of trade and wars fought on Indian soil.

  1. Positive: crops, print and science: new crops, the printing press, European firearms and early European studies of Indian plants reached India; e.g. tobacco, cashew, pineapple and guava; matchlock guns; Goa press (1556); Garcia da Orta’s work on Indian herbs (1563).
  2. Negative: coercion at sea and on land: the cartaz system forced Asian ships to buy Portuguese passes, and the Goa Inquisition used force against local faiths; e.g. the Goa Inquisition (1560–1812) burned texts and punished converts suspected of old practices.
  3. Negative: European wars on Indian soil: Anglo-French rivalry drew Indian rulers into succession wars and taught the Company to use Indian armies for its own ends; e.g. Carnatic Wars (1746–63) over the thrones of Arcot and Hyderabad.

Legacy and Present Relevance

  1. End of the enclaves: the last European enclaves joined India after independence, leaving distinct legal and cultural traces; e.g. French settlements transferred in 1954; Goa, Daman and Diu freed by Operation Vijay (1961); Goa’s Portuguese-era civil code still in force.
  2. Maritime heritage: colonial ports and churches are now heritage sites, and India studies its old ocean links for cultural diplomacy; e.g. Churches and Convents of Old Goa in Manueline, Mannerist and Baroque styles (UNESCO, 1986); Project Mausam (2014) on Indian Ocean routes.

The English won because they combined sea power, steady finance and skill in using the rivalries of Indian rulers.

Based on NCERT, Standard Books references, Keywords from Syllabus and Previous Year question Papers

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