Past present: 18th century India

PUBLISHED AUG 02, 2009 12:00AM

The 18th century in the history of India is fascinating. It is
full of interesting events and radical changes which took
place in the social and political structure of the Indian
society. The historians of this period recorded not only
political events but narrated the social, economic, and
cultural conditions of the age which they personally
experienced. As the Mughal power declined and rulers and
nobility, facing financial crisis, failed to patronise them, the
historians no longer remained servants to the court and the
aristocracy and assumed an independent status to write their
views about the situation.

The main feature of the historiography of this period was

that historical narratives no longer moved around great
persons but shifted to other aspects of society. However, the
historians emphasised the deteriorating condition of the
imperial court and the decadent character of the nobility.
They severely criticised the king and condemned the nobles
who were involved in corruption and intrigues. Some
 who were involved in corruption and intrigues. Some
historians, finding no place at the royal court, migrated to
the successive states in the hope of patronisation and some
of them retired to their home towns and started writing the
history of their cities and families. Therefore, it broadened
the range of historiography and its scope.

Moreover, a new class of historians emerged who belonged to

the middle class such as kayaths, money-changers (sarraf),
and scribes (munshi). They changed the writing style and
adopted simple language instead of the traditional complex
one which was used by the elite class of historians. Due to
these historians we have plenty of historical material on the
events of the 18th century.

Poets were not lagging behind historians to depict their

period. Their poetry reflects the social, cultural and political
condition of the period. Mir Taqi Mir (1702-1810), Sauda
(1713-81), Dard (1720-85), Nazir Akbarabadi (1740-1830) and
other Urdu poets expressed their feelings of the period in
their poetry; especially the genre of literature known as
Shahr ashob describes in detail the miserable condition of
the society. There is sadness and sorrow which reflects the
helplessness and despondency of the people. Religious
scholar, Shah Waliullah (d.1762), while analysing the
condition of the state, presented a solution regarding how to
revive the Mughal power. However, his interest was to keep
the Hindus under subjugation.

Modern historians are trying to point out important changes

which took place during this century. For example, there
emerged new regional identities. As the Marhattas, Jats,
Sikhs, Rajputs, and Ruhellas acquired power in their regions,
the loyalty of the people shifted from the Mughal rulers to
their regional warlords. However, as these states were
 their regional warlords. However, as these states were
modelled on the Mughal state, with the same exploitative
institutions, the fate of the people did not change. Civil wars,
factional conflicts of the Mughal nobility and breakdown of
the imperial system plagued northern India. The movement
of armies destroyed villages, as a result of which agriculture
suffered. The peasants, deprived of their livelihood, joined
the bands of robbers, thugs, and criminals. It made the route
unsafe which resulted in the collapse of trade and commerce.

Ashin Das Gupta in his article 'Trade and Politics in Eighteen

Century India' argues that India was divided into two parts
coastal and mainland. The coastal part became the centre of
trade and commerce while the mainland was deprived of
commercial activities. In the early period Surat, Hugly and
Musalipatam were important ports which supplied
commodities and goods to the mainland; the merchants of

Surat were especially famous for their commercial ventures
as indicated by a report, written in 1700, by the English
Council to England that the Surat traders had so many ships
that if the European merchants did not counter them they
would lose their ground.

The coastal trade suffered when trade routes no longer

remained safe as a result of the chaotic conditions of the
mainland. They failed to get supply from northern India,
especially cloth and indigo. The Marhattas bands of looters
raided and plundered Gujarat. This gradually reduced the
importance of coastal towns. At the same time the East India
Company developed Madras, Bombay and Calcutta as their
trading ports which were safe and so the Indian merchants
also turned towards them for trading. In this way the
Company got its Indian allies in trade which later on helped
it in getting political ascendancy.
 Sahukars or money-lenders became a prominent class in this
period. As the rulers and tha aristocracy had lost their source
of income and the collection of revenue was not assured,
they turned towards money-lenders for loans to meet their
day-to-day expenses. Though it was a risky business, they
not only survived but prospered.

Karen Leonard in her article 'Great Firm Theory' points out

the emergence and importance of the banking families in the
18th century. As the royal power lost its financial resources,
it sought the help of the banking families to get loans.
During this period these families played two important roles
to give loans to rulers and nobles, and to take charge of
collecting revenue, minting coins and acting as treasurers.
She especially points out a firm founded by a Jain merchant
which moved from Rajputana to Putna and from there to
Deccan and then to Murshidabad. In Bengal its head was
Jagat Seth. In the battle of Plassey he sided with the
Company against Siraj-ud-Daula just for his commercial
interest. The Company in the early period required the help
of other bankers but once it assumed political power, it cut
off all its relations with these firms.

If we compare India of the 18th century to present-day

Pakistan, we can find some similarities. Our political
situation is the same chaotic and uncontrollable, breakdown
of administration and governance, and violent conflicts
among warring groups which consequently is leading to
financial collapse. The government, to meet the expenses,
turned towards modern sahukars such as the IMF, World
Bank and other agencies for loans. Modern East India
Company is controlling our policies in their interest and our
rulers are playing the role of puppets.
 However, we have one more problem and that is religious
extremism which was not present in 18th century India.

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