MODEL QUESTIONS FOR IPO EXAM PAPER IV(GK) HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA

History of Modern India

● Muazzam occupied the Mughal throne as Bahadur Shah after his success in the war of succession.
● Muazzam, the son of Aurangzeb was called as the ‘Shah Bekhabar’.
● The Mughal King Farrukh Siyar gratned concession to the English men to trade in Bengal, Gujarat and Hyderabad.
● In 1759 Ali Mohar, the son of Alamgir sat upon the Mughal throne as Shah Alam II.
● After the death of Maratha ruler Shahu, the real power of the State came in the hands of Peshwas.
● Nawab Murshid Quli Khan of Bengal transferred his capital to Murshidabad from Dacca.
● Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal transferred his capital to Moongher from Murshidabad.
● In the middle of the 18th century, the nominal ruler of Mysore was Chika Krishnaraj. The real power of the State lied with the two brothers—Nand Raj and Dev Raj.

● In 1761 Hyder Ali captured Nandraj and became the master of Mysore.
● In the first Anglo-Mysore war, Hyder Ali badly defeated the English army.
● In 1781 Hyder Ali conqurered Arcot but in 1781 at Porn Novo Sir Eyerkoot defeated him.
● Ali Muhammad Khan established the State of Rohilkhand.
● The early capital of Rohilkhand was ‘Awala’ which later shifted to Rampur.
● Guru Har Gobind Singh constructed the Akaal Takht at Amritsar.
● Guru Gobind Singh converted the Sikhs into a warring and military group.
● In 1721, the two sects of Sikhism ‘Bandai’ and ‘Tatkhalsa’ merged in one sect ‘Khalsa’. This sect became a headache for the Mughals.
● The Sikhs were organized in 12 unions or misls which grew in political significance. Later Ranjeet Singh conquered these misls and organized them into Punjab State.
● The ruler of the Afghanistan conferred the title of Raja upon Ranjeet Singh and appointed him the Subedar of Lahore.
● The treaty of Amritsar was signed between the English and Ranjeet Singh in 1809. As a result the English checked the expansion of Ranjeet Singh towards the region of Sutluj.
● According to the treaty of Amritsar, the English accepted Ranjeet Singh as an independent ruler.
● During first Anglo-Sikh war, the Governor-General of India was Lord Hardinge.
● Punjab was ruled by Maharaja Dalip Singh when the Lahore Treaty was signed in 1846 between the Sikhs and the English after the defeat of Sikhs in the first Anglo Sikh war.
● During Sirajudaulla’s time, the English settlement at Calcutta became a resort for the enemies of Nawab and the traitors.
● On 4th June, 1756 Sirajudaulla invaded and captured the Qasim Bazar factory of English near Murshidabad.
● The Black hole tragedy as it is known in history, came to light through the letter of Holvell. Some of the historians consider it imaginery.
● In the contemporary historical works like Sher-a-Mutkherin and Royas-us-Salatin, there is no reference to the Black hole tragedy.
● On 9th February, 1757, the Ali Nagar Treaty was signed between the English and the Nawab.
● After the war of Plassey, when Sirajudaulla was running away from Murshidabad towards Patna he was captured and killed.
● On 28 June, 1757, the English declared Mir Jafar as the Nawab of Bengal.
● After victory in Plassey war, the English Company obtained concessions to trade in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
● On 25 November, 1759, the Bedara war was fought between the English and the Dutch and the Dutch were defeated. The victory helped the English in consolidating their hold on Bengal.
● Mir Qasim planned friendship with Vansittart to become the Nawab of Bengal.
● Mir Qasim gave to East India Company, the districts of Vardhman, Midnapur and Chittgaon for the expenditure of the English army.
● In 1764 the joint army of Mir Qasim, Shujauddaulla and Shah Alam fought with the English—the war of Buxar, the English were victorious in this war.
● After the Buxar War, the Allahabad treaty was signed between English and the Mughal King Shah Alam in 1765 AD.
● According to Allahabad Treaty, the districts of Kara and Allahabad were taken away from the Nawab of Oudh and given to Mughal King. The East India Company agreed to pay to the king a pension of Rs. 26 lacs. In lieu the English got Diwani rights in Bengal.
● After the death of Mir Jafar, his son Nizamuddaula was enthroned as Nawab of Bengal.
● K. M. Panikkar holds that from 1765 to 1772, the rule of East India Company in Bengal was the ‘rule of dacoits’.
● During Warren Hastings period, the Treasury was transferred by the East India Company to Calcutta from Murshidabad and Calcutta was made the capital.
● During the Governorship of Warren Hastings, in every district of subjugated India one Civil and one Criminal Court was opened.
● The cases upto to Rs. 500 were referred to the Civil Court and alone it, the appeal could be made to the Sadar Diwani Adalat.
● The District Criminal Court was put in charge of an Indian Officer.
● The Regulating Act of 1773 established a Supreme Court at Calcutta.
● The Permanent settlement introduced by Cornwallis brought changes in the land system. Most of the land came in the hands of commercial and rich classes of Calcutta.
● The Permanent settlement ensured the income of the Government. Besides the cooperation of the new Zamindars was obtained.

● In the Mahalwari system, land revenues was fixed either through the local Zamindars or their hereditary tax collectors or the Zamindars of the Mahal. Mahal was the collection of villages. The Mahalwari system was known in Punjab as the village system.
● The Raiyyatwari system was introduced during early 19th century in some regions of Madras and Bombay. The Govt. directly obtained a fixed amount from the peasants.
● In the Raiyyatwari system, the revenue rate was fixed 45% to 50% of the total produce separately.
● The Raiyyatwari system had many defects which the Govt. official accepted at the time of a parliamentary inspection for the renewal of the Company’s Charter.
● In the Fifth and Sixth decades of 19 century, the English invested in large amount to control Indian economy.
● The English invested their capital on roads and communications, Railway, Post and Telegraph, Banks and tea gardens.
● In 1830 the Ahoms again rebelled against the English. This time, the English Company adopted a peaceful policy and granted north Assam and some other region to King Purandar Singh.
● Raja Teerath Singh of Nanakkalo rebelled against the English with the help of Garo, Khampati and Sinhopo tribes. Soon it took the shape of a mass-movement. In 1833, the English could crust it with superior military force.
● In 1825, the Assam Rifles rebelled against the English.
● In 1838, the Indian troops stationed at Sholapur rebelled due to non-payment of the full allowances.
● In 1850 the Gobind Garh regiment rebelled.
● On 1 January, 1857, the use of British made Enfield Rifles was started in India. In the cartridges of this Rifle, the fat of cows and pigs were used.
● In March 1857, the soldiers of Bairakpur Cantt refused to use the fat cartridges.
● On 2 May, 1857, the Oudh Regiment of Lucknow too refused to use these cartridges. As a result, the Oudh regiment was disbanded.
● To the soldiers of Meerut who had refused to use the fat cartridges, an English military officer—Carr Michael Smith issued the jail punishment of 5 years.
● On 10 May, 1857, a section of the infantry and cavalry of Merrut rebelled at about 5 P.M.
● The rebels marched to Delhi, captured the city and declared Bahadurshah the emperor of India. Bahadurshah assumed the leadership of revolt in Delhi.
● During this rebellion, Nana Saheb established his suzeranity over Kanpur and declared himself the Peshwa.
● In Bundelkhand Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi assumed the leadership of the revolt.
● In Bihar, the zamindar of Jagdishpur, named Kunwar Singh led the revolt.
● On 28 May, 1857, the soldiers of Nasirabad Cantt in Rajasthan, rebelled.
● Kota and Adva were the main centres of revolt in Rajasthan.
● The Central India, Tantya Tope led the revolt.
● In U.P. the importnat centres of revolution were Jhansi, Kanpur, Bareilly, Meerut, Lucknow, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.
● The Bareilly rebellion was led by Batakhs Khan.
● The Commissioner of Oudh, Henry Laurrence died of a blast on 4th July, 1857.
● While suppressing the revolt, the English officer Neil buried the dead Brahmans and burnt the dead Muslims.
● In March 1858, under the leadership of Kunwar Singh, the rebels captured Azamgarh.
● While marching towards Benaras from Azamgarh, there was an encounter between Kunwar Singh and the English officer Lord Mark in which Lord Mark had to run away to save his life.
● Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur was the only leader to have died under the banner of freedom.
● On 14 December, 1857, the English army blasted Kashmiri Gate of Delhi.
● In November 1857 the rebels defeated the English General Windaham near Kanpur.
● Vinayak Damodar Saverker was the first to name the rebellion of 1857 as the first war of Indian independence.
● According to Sir Seeley, the rebellion of 1857 was fully a national revolt conducted by selfish soldiers.
● Sir John Lawrence, P. E. Roberts and V. A. Smith have called it a Sepoy Mutiny.
● According to V. A. Smith, the rebellion of 1857 was purely a sepoy mutiny which fully reflected the indiscipline of Indian soldiers and the foolishness of English military officers.
● According to Sir James Outtram, the revolt of 1857 was the result of a conspiracy of the Muslims who desired to fulfill their self-interest on the strength of the Hindus.
● Ashok Mehta in his book, ‘The Great Revolt’, has attempted to prove that it was a national revolt.
● Pattabhi Sita Ramaiyya takes it to be the first war of Indian independence.
● After crushing the revolt of 1857, they constituted an India Council and abolished the Board of Directors. There were 15 members in the India Council and a Secretary of State for India.
● After the revolt, Lord Canning announced the Declaration of the Queen at a Durbar held at Allahabad. He called it, ‘the Magna Carta of Indian people’.
● In the Declaration of the Queen, the policy of expansion of the political limits came to an end.
● The rebels responsible for the murder of Englishmen were punished. All others were pardoned.
● The objective of Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramkirshna Mission and the Theosophical society etc. was to herald a renaissance in India.
● Brahmo Samaj was founded in Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy on 20 August, 1828.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy always advocated the appointment of Indians on high govt. posts. He played a major role in the abolition of Sati system.

● After the death of Raja Ram Mohan Roy on 20 August, 1833, Devendara Nath Tagore assumed the leadership of the Brahmo Samaj.
● Aadi Brahmo Samaj was established by Devendra Nath Thakur.
● Bhartiya Brahmo Samaj was founded by Keshav Chandra Sen.
● The principles of Brahmo Samaj helped immensely in the birth and Spread Indian nationalism.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy established Vedant College, English School and Hindu College at Calcutta.
● Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the advocate of English Education and he thought English to be the vehicle of progress.
● It was due to the effort of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, that the restriction upon the newspapers were lifted.
● In 1819, at Maharashtra, Prarthna Sabha was founded. It came to an end due to its limited scope.
● In 1867 Atma Ram Pandurang established Prarthna Samaj. M. G. Ranade, R. G. Bhandarkar and Narayan Chandrawarkar were the prominent members of this Samaj.
● Dayanand Saraswati left his house at the age of 21. As a Brahmachari Sadhu, he travelled to different places in India.
● Dayanand Saraswati started the propagation of his religion from Agra.
● In 1874, he wrote his famous book Satyarth Prakash.
● On 10 April, 1875 he founded Arya Samaj at Bombay.
● Totapuri, a Vedantic sadhu taught Vedant Sadhna to Dayananda.
● Ramkrishna Paramhans was born in 1836 in a poor Brahman family of Hoogly district of Bengal.
● Swami Vivekanand was the most devoted disciple of Swami Ramkrishna Paramhans.
● Ramkrishna Pramhans did not establish any Ashram or sect.
● In 1893 in the All Religion Conference at Chicago Vivekanand impressed everyone, and started a Vedant Samaj there.
● In 1896 Vivekanand established Ramkrishna Mission.
● In the last years of the third decade of the 19th century, the young Bengal movement was led by an Englishman named Henry William Derozio.
● On 7 September, 1875 in New York, U.S.A. Madame H.P. Blatavesky (Russian) and Col. H. S. Alcott (American) founded the Theosophical Society.
● Mrs. Annie Besant, an Irish lady was a very active member of Theosophical Society in India.
● Due to the efforts of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, in 1856, the Widow Remarriage Act was legislated.
● The slogan of ‘Inkalab Zindabad’ was given by Mohammad Iqbal.
● Sir Saiyyad Ahmad Khan founded the Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh in 1877 which later became known as Aligarh Muslim University.
● Haji Shariatullah was the initiator of Faryaz movement.
● In Maharashtra the Bharat Sewak Samaj was started by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
● In 1922 Amrit Lal Viththal Das established the Bheel Sewa Mandal.
● Jyoti Ba Phule was the champion of widowremarriage in Maharashtra.
● In 1911 Narayan Maltar Joshi organised the Social Service League, a society to solve the social problems. He was assisted by some educated Indians.
● Avanindra Nath Thakur founded the society known as—The Indian Society of Oriental Art.
● In the 19th century, the famous Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composed the song— Vande Matram.
● In 1875, Sisir Kumar Ghose founded the India League.
● The Indian Association founded by Surendra Nath Banerjee was replaced by the Indian League in 1876.
● The credit for founding the Indian National Congress in 1885 goes to an English officer, Allen Octavian Hume.
● The first Conference of the Indian National Congress was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay under the chairmanship of W. C. Banerjee.
● Bal Gangadhar Tilak started Ganesh Mahotsav in 1893 and Shivaji Samaroh in 1895.
● Pandit Jugal Kishore published the first newspaper of India—Udant Martand. It was a paper which gave top priority to Indian interests.
● During Lord Curzon’s time in 1905, Bengal was divided.
● In 1911, in Lord Hardinge’s time, the partition of Bengal was cancelled.
● Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajeet Singh were exiled to Burma in 1907.
● In 1911 the capital of India was shifted to Delhi from Calcutta.
● On Nov. 1913, the Ghadar Party was founded at Sanfransisco city of America by the great revolutionary of Punjab named Lala Hardayal.
● Kashi Ram and Hardayal were the active members of the Ghadar Party.
● In 1906, Agha Khan founded the All India Muslim League.
● In 1916, a pact was signed between Muslim League and Congress which is known in history as the Lucknow Pact.
● In 1916 Bal Gangadhar Tilak established the Home Rule League of India.
● After Lucknow Pact, Congress and League presented the plan of political reforms based on separate electoral regions. This pact led to an increase in communalism.
● In 1914 Annie Besant brought out a newspaper in English named ‘New India’.
● Gandhiji established the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.
● On 30 March, 1919, Satyagraha Day was observed in whole of India. The Satyagraha was peaceful at all places except Punjab and Delhi.

● Dr. Satyapal and Dr. Saifuddin, the leaders of the Punjab Satyagraha were imprisoned. In protest, a meeting was organized at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar . The people who assembled here were gunned down. This is known as ‘Jalhianwalla bagh Massacre’ of April 1919.
● After the world war I, the Indian Muslims were excited due to the treatment meted out to Caliph by the British in Turkey. In 1919 they started the Khilafat movement under the leadership of Maulana Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Ali.
● The Congress joined the Muslims in Khilafat movement. On 31 August, 1919, the Khilafat Day was observed.
● Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-cooperation Mass Movement in 1920-21. But violence broke out at Chauri Chaura then in Gorakhpur district which saddened Gandhiji. In February 1922 he announced the closure of the movement.
● In March 1922 Motilal Nehru and Deshbandhu Chitranjan Das established the Swaraj Party.
● In the elections of 1923 the Swaraj Party scored 40 seats out of 148.
● In 1927 the Bardoli Satyagraha was conducted by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
● In 1928 under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon a Commission came to India to inspect the administrative work. The Indians boycotted it as no Indian was a member of the Commission. In March 1928 the Commission went back.
● In the 1929 Lahore Congress session held under the chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru, the meaning of Swaraj was declared as total independence.
● In 1930 Gandhiji broke the Salt laws by his Dandi March and he started the Civil Disobedience movement.
● In 1930, the Congress boycotted the first Round Table Conference.
● In 1931, after Gandhi-Irwin pact Gandhiji went to attend the second Round Table Conference along with the members of Muslim League.
● In the third Round table conference in 1932, Congress did not send any representative. Only 46 members went to participate under different categories.
● The meeting of the Executive of Congress held on 1 January, 1932 decided to again start the Civil Disobedience Movement due to the completely negative attitude of the Government.
● The British Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald declared the communal award on 16 August, 1932.
● On 25 September, 1932, the Poona Pact was signed. Common agreement was made on two conditions for preparing the electoral regions. The representative of the Depressed classes was B.R. Ambedkar.
● In 1932 Gandhiji founded the Harijan Sewak Sangh for the uplift of the Harijans.
● On 8 May, 1933 Gandhiji declared the programme of 21 days fast for his self-purification.
● Gandhiji began ‘Individual Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience on 1 August, 1933.
● The Government of India Act of 1935 had 312 articles and 19 enclosures.
● In 1935, the British provinces were 11 e.g., Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Orissa, Central Provinces, Assam, North West Frontier Provinces, United Provinces and Sindh.
● The Government of India Act of 1935, the subjects were divided into three departments—Federal, Provincial and Concurrent.
● This Act divided the British provinces of India in two categories. 11 were the provinces under the Governor and 5 provinces were under Lieutenant Commissioners.
● The Govt. of India Act, 1935, proposed Federal system and Provincial autonomy. The plan of Federal system could not be implemented. The elections for the Provincial legislative Councils were held in the January-February of 1937.
● The Congress won majority in 5 provinces—Madras, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bihar and Orissa in the general election of 1937.
● In Punjab, the Unionist Party and Muslim League jointly formed the Government. This Government worked without any obstruction till 1947.
● In Bengal the Krishak Praja Party and the Muslim League jointly formed the Government. Its Cabinet worked till 14 August, 1947. Sikandar Hayaat Khan was the head of this Government.
● The Congress Cabinets worked from 1937 to 1939.
● In 1934, the members of Congress Executive, Acharya Narendra Dev, Jai Prakash and Achyut Patvardhan organized the Congress Socialist Party.
● In the Haripura session of the Congress (1938), S. C. Bose was unanimously elected the President.
● Subhash Chandra Bose organized a National Planning Committee.
● In 1939 Bose was relected Congress President defeating Gandhi’s candidate P. Sitaramayya.
● In April 1939, Subhash Chandra Bose resigned from the post of the President and started a militant party known as Forward Block.
● In 1939, Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of the Tribal Conference of Indian States.
● In 1933, a Muslim student named Choudhary Rahmat Ali studying in England proposed the formation of a separate Muslim State and called it Pakistan.
● On 24th March, 1940, in the Lahore Conference of the Muslim League, the Pakistan proposal was passed.
● Lord Linlithgo presented the August proposal before the Congress on 8 August, 1940 for getting cooperation during the war.
● The Individual Satyagraha was started from 17 October, 1940. Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the first Satyagrahi. Gandhiji postponed it on 17 December, 1940.
● It was restarted on 5 January, 1941. During this period more than 20 thousand people were arrested.
● Cripps Mission visited India in 1942. It was onemember Commission and only Sir Strafford Cripps was the member.

● The Congress and the League, both rejected the Cripps Proposals.
● The Quit India movement resolution was passed on 14 July, 1942 in the Executive of the Congress Session held at Wardha. It was reaffirmed on 8 August, 1942.
● The interim government of free India was organized on 21 October, 1943 by Subhash Chandra Bose in Singapore.
● 21 Indian political leaders were invited to attend a Conference at Simla in June 1945. It ended in failure.
● In December 1945, the General Elections were held in India. The Congress received the majority in 6 provinces.
● On 18 February, 1946, the non Commissioned officers and Naval soldiers of the Royal Indian Navy who were called Rattings, began a militant revolt at Bombay.
● In order to remove the Constitutional crisis the British Government sent the Cabinet Mission to India.
● It came on 29 March, 1946 to New Delhi and it declared its proposals.
● Muslim League observed the Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946.
● The Interim Government of India was organized under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Cabinet took oath on 2nd September, 1946.
● The Constituent Assembly first met under the chairmanship of Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 6th December, 1946.
● Atlee declared on 20 February, 1947 that the English would leave India after transferring the power to responsible people before June 1948.
● The Mountbatten Plan of 3 June, 1947 was mainly the Plan of partition. It was agreed upon by the Executive of the Indian National Congress on 14-15 June in a meeting at Delhi.
● In July 1947, the Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament.
● India became independent on 15 August, 1947.
● On 26 January, 1950, the state of Hyderabad merged in the Indian Federation.
● On 20 April 1954, the Panchsheel Pact was signed between India and China.
● On 20 October, 1962 China invaded upon India. Soon it occupied Assam Valley and Laddakh. On 21 November, 1962, China declared one sided ceasefire.

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Maurya Dynasty (300 B.C.–184 B.C.)

Chandragupta Maurya (324–300 B.C.)—He founded the Maurya Empire in India with the help of Kautilya. He was a military genius and an eminent statesman.

Ashoka the great (273–236 B.C.)—Coronation in 269 B.C. He was the son of Bindusara. He conquered; Kalinga in 261 B.C. This was killed the soldier in him and he embraced Buddhism.

Kushan Dynasty (40–176 A.D.)
Kanishka (78–101 or 102 A.D.)—He is known as a great empire builder. Like Ashoka he patronized Buddhism. He patronized the Gandhara School of Art. The famous Indian physician Charak and Bhuddhist lawyer Nagarjuna lived during his reign. Ashwaghosh a Buddhist monk also lived in his time.

Gupta Dynasty (320–550 A.D.)
The great rulers in this dynasty are : Chandra Gupta I. (2) Samudra Gupta, (330 –375 A.D.). Also known as Napoleon of India, (3) Chandra Gupta II. (375–413 A.D.) (Vikramaditya), and (4) Skanda Gupta (455–477 A.D.). The Gupta period is described as the golden period in the history of ancient India. Among the great personalities of the period mention may be made of Kalidas. The famous dramatist, Arya Bhatta, the famous astronomer and mathematician. Varahamihir and Brahmagupta also belonged to this age.

Vardhana or Pushyabhuti Dynasty (560–647 A.D.)
The greatest king of this dynasty was Harsha Varadhan (606–647 A.D.). He was a great patron of art and literature. He himself was a man of letters having written two great books ‘Naga Nandin’ and ‘Ratnavali’. He was the last great Hindu ruler of India. Huen Tsang a Chinnese pilgrim, visited India during his reign.

Ghazni Dynasty (962–1116 A.D.)
Mahmud Ghazni (997–1030)—He was a great conqueror. He invaded India 17 times. His invasions weakened the Indian rulers and paved the way for Muslim rule in India. The famous Persian poet Firdausi, the writer of ‘Shahnama’ lived in his court.

Ghori (1186–1206 A.D.)
Mohammed Ghori (1186–1206)—He was defeated by Prithviraj, the ruler of Ajmer and Delhi at the first Battle of Tarain. He however, defeated Prithviraj at the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192. This marked the beginning of permanent Muslim rule in India.

Slave Dynasty (1206–1290 A.D.)
Qutubuddin Aibak (1206–1210 A.D.)—He was the founder of the Slave Dynasty. He commenced the building of the Qutub Minar which was later completed by Altamash (1211–1236) who was succeeded by Razia Begum, (1236–1239 A.D.) his daughter.

Khilji Dynasty (1290–1320 A.D.)
Ala-ud-din Khilji (1296–1316 A.D.)—He was the most distinguished ruler of this dynasty. He was a great conqueror and his empire extended to the far south. He was famous for control of
markets.

Tughlaq Dynasty (1320–1414 A.D.)

Mohammed Tughlaq (1325–1351 A.D.)—He was the most distinguished ruler of this dynasty. He was known for his learning and also for mixture of sagacity and madness. His transfer of capital from Delhi to Daulatabad has been described by historians as an act of madness.

Lodhi Dynasty (1451–1526 A.D.)

Ibrahim Lodhi (1517–1526 A.D.)—He made some mark in extending his dominions. He was a cruel ruler. He was defeated by Babur in 1526 at the First Battle of Panipat, and the foundations of Mughal rule in India were laid.

Mughal Rulers (1526–1857)

Babur (1526–1530 A.D.) founded the Mughal rule in India in 1526 by defeating Ibrahim Lodhi—He however, did not live long was and succeeded by his son Humayun (1530–1540 and 1555– 1556 A.D.) in 1530. Akbar (1556–1605 A.D.) was the most capable and distinguished ruler of the Mughal dynasty. His son Jahangir (1605–1627 A.D.) followed in his foot steps to some extent. Jahangir was succeeded by Shahjahan (1627–1659 A.D.) whose reign is described as the golden period in Mughal history. His son Aurangzeb (1659–1707 A.D.) was the last great Mughal emperor. But with him began the downfall of the Mughal empire on account of his policy of intolerance which alienated the Hindus especially the Rajputs.

Causes of the Downfall of the Mughal Empire
(1) The Empire had become too unwieldy to be managed.
(2) Aurangzeb’s policy of religious intolerance antagonized the Hindus.
(3) The successors of Aurangzeb were not competent rulers.
(4) The rivalry, intrigues and corruption led to administrative chaos.
(5) Attacks of Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali reduced it to a small size.
(6) It had not struck deep roots in the Indian soil.

Suri Dynasty (1540–1555 A.D.)

Sher Shah Suri (1540–1545 A.D.)—Rule provides an interragnum between two phases of Mughal rule in India. Sher Shah defeated Humayun and forced him into exile. He carried out notable reforms in administration.

The Marahattas (1649–1818 A.D.)—The Marahatta power rose in the latter half of the 17th century. The Marahattas organised their power under the leadership of Shivaji (1627-80). He was an able ruler and commander. During the Peshwa period, the Marahatta power spread through the major part of India. But at a time when the Marahatta power was at its zenith and promised to establish its sway over the whole of India, the forces of Ahmad Shah Abdali badly defeated the Peshwa forces in 1761 at the Battle of Panipat. Though the Marahattas were defeated at the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdali, neither of the two parties could maintain its sovereignty over India. On the contrary this battle made the field clear for the establishment of British East India Company’s rule in India.

The Peshwas (1708–1818)—After the death of Shivaji, Peshwas continued their struggle. They did succeed to a great extent in their struggle. A major portion of Indian peninsula came under their control at the outset of British hold. But due to internal conflict and subsequent weakening of power they succumbed to British power which had been gaining momentum.

Important Dynasties in the South

Chalukyas— Pulkeshin I was the founder of this dynasty. He made Kanchi or Modern Badami his capital. His grandson Pulkeshin II (609–642) was the most distinguished ruler of this dynasty. He measured swords with king Harsha and defeated him on the bank of the Narmada.

Cholas—Parantoka I was the founder of this dynasty in 947. Chola rule reached its high water mark of glory under Raja Rajadeva, the Great and his son Rajendra Choladeva I. The Cholas established their supremacy even outside India.

Bahmani Muslim Kingdom (1346–1526 A.D.)—The Muslim Kingdom was established in the Deccan during the reign of Mohammed Tughlaq and founded in 1347 by a brave soldier, named Zafar Khan. The most illustrious person of this kingdom was Mahmud Gawan, a persian who was a minister for a long time. He was killed and after that the kingdom was split into five independent states : (1) Bedar, (2) Berar, (3) Ahmednagar, (4) Bijapur, (5) Golkunda.

Vijayanagar Empire (1336–1565 A.D.)—Harihar and Bukka were the founders of this dynasty in 1336. The greatest rulers of this dynasty were Deva Raya II and Krishna Deva Raya. The glory of Vijayanagar empire was smashed at the Battle of Talikota in 1565 when the Deccan Sultanates fought and defeated Ramraja and killed him

(Collected & Published by AB Kantharaja, Mobile   08969822340, http://abkantharaja.blogspot.in )
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