CBSE Class 7 History Chapter 10 Notes Understanding The Lesson

1. Significant happening occurred in the subcontinent during the first half of the 18^th century.

2. Boundaries of the Mughal Empire were reshaped by the emergence of a number of independent kingdom.

3. The British had successfully grabbed major chunks of territory in eastern India, by 1765.

4. The Mughal Empire started facing a variety of crises towards the closing years of the 17^th These were caused by a number of factors.

5. Emperor Aurangzeb had depleted the military and financial resources of his empire by fighting a long war in the Deccan. Under his successors, the efficiency of the imperial administration broke down and it became difficult for the Mughal emperors to keep a check on their powerful mansabdars.

6. Nobles appointed as governors (subadars) often controlled the offices of revenue and military administration (diwani and faujdari) as well. As the governors consolidated their control over the provinces, the periodic remission of revenue to the capital declined.

7. In the northern and western India, the Mughals faced many rebellions including revolts of peasant and zamindari. These groups were now able to seize the economic resources of the region to consolidate their positions. After Aurangzeb, Mughal were unable to arrest the shifting of political and economic authority into the hand of provincial governors, local chieftains and other groups.

8. Ruler of Iran, Nadir Shah sacked and plundered the city of Delhi in 1739 and took away immense amounts of wealth.

9. Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded north India five times between 1748 and 1761.

10. The worst possible humiliation came when two Mughal emperors, Farrukh Siyar and Alamgir II were assassinated and two others Ahmad Shah and Shah Alam II were blinded by their nobles.

11. With the decline in the authority of the Mughal emperors, the governors of large provinces, subadars, and the great zamindars consolidated their authority in different parts of the subcontinent.

12. Through the eighteenth century, the Mughal Empire gradually fragmented into a number of independent, regional states.

13. States of the 18th century can be divided into three overlapping groups:

14. States that were old Mughal provinces like Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad. They were extremely powerful and quite independent, the rulers of these states did not break their formal ties with the Mughal emperor. All three states were founded by members of the high Mughal nobility who had been governors of large provinces-Sa’adat Khan (Awadh), Murshid Quli Khan (Bengal) and Asaf Jah (Hydrabad). All three had occupied high mansabdari positions and enjoyed the trust and confidence of the emperors. The two of them had zat rank of 7,000 each.

15. States had enjoyed considerable independence under the Mughals as watan jagirs. These included several Rajput kings.

16. States under the control of Marathas, Sikhs and others like the Jats had seized their independence from the Mughals after a long-drawn armed struggle.

17. Amber and Jodhpur had served under the Mughals. In exchange, they were permitted to enjoy considerable autonomy in their watan jagirs.

18. Ajit Singh, the ruler of Jodhpur, was also involved in the factional politics at the Mughal court. He held the governorship of Gujarat and Sawai Raja Jai Singh of Amber was governor of Malwa.

19. Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur and was given the subadari of Agra in 1722.

20. The Sikhs organization helped in regional state-building in the Punjab. Several battles were fought by Guru Gobind Singh against the Rajput and Mughal rulers, both before and after the institution of the Khalsa in 1699.

21. Several battles were founght by Guru Gobind Singh against the Rajput and Mughal rulers.

22. Under Banda Bahadur’s leadership Khalsa declared their sovereign rule by striking coins in the name of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh and established their own administration between the Sutlej and the Jamuna. Banda Bahadur was captured in 1715 and executed (death sentence) in 1716.

23. The Sikhs organized themselves into a number of bands called ‘jathas’ and later on ‘misls’. Their combined forces were known as the grand army i.e. dal khalsa.

24. A system called rakhi was introduced offering protection to cultivators on the payment of a tax of 20 per cent of the produce.

25. The Maratha kingdom was another powerful regional kingdom to arise out of a sustained opposition to Mughal rule. Shivaji carved out a stable kingdom with the support of powerful warrior families (deshmukhs).

26. Groups of highly mobile peasants, pastoralists provided the backbone of the Maratha army. These forces used to challenge the Mughals in the peninsula. Chitpavan Brahmanas who served Shivaji’s successors as Peshwa (principal minister). Poona became the capital of the Maratha kingdom.

27. Under the Peshwas, the Marathas developed a very successful military organization. Malwa and Gujarat were seized from the Mughals by the 1720s. By the 1730s the Maratha king was recognized as the overlord of the entire Deccan peninsula. He possessed the right to levy chauth and sardeshmukhi in the entire region.

28. The frontier of Maratha domination expanded into Rajasthan, Punjab, Bengal, Orissa and Karnataka, Tamil and Telugu region in the South.

29. Agriculture was encouraged and trade revived. This allowed Maratha chiefs (sardars) like Sindhia (Gwalior), Gaekwad (Baroda) and Bhonsle (Nagpur) the resources to raise powerful armies. Ujjain expanded under Sindhia’s patronage and Indore under Holkar’s. These cities were large and prosperous and functioned as important commercial and cultural centres. The silk produced in the Chanderi region now founded a new outlet in Poona.

30. Under the leadership of Churaman Jats acquired control over territories situated to the west of the city of Delhi and began dominating the region between the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra.

31. The Jats were prosperous agriculturists and towns like Panipat and Ballabhgarh became important trading centres in the areas dominated by them. Under Suraj Mai the kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state.

The Making of Regional Cultures Class 7 CBSE Notes Important Terms

Faujdar: Mughal military commander.

Subadar: Governor of Province.

Jagirdar: Landowner.

Peshwa: Maratha minister.

Kunbis: Maratha peasant warriors.

Chauth: A Maratha tax.

Misls: Group of Sikh warriors.

Watan Jagirs: These states under the Mughals enjoyed independence.

Sardeshmukhi: A Maratha Tax

Notes of History Class 7 Chapter 10 Time Period

1699: Khalsa was formed by Guru Gobind Singh.

1707: Aurangzeb died.

1708: Guru Gobind Singh died.

1715- 1716: Banda Bahadur was captured and executed.

1719: Farrukh Siyar was assassinated.

1722: Sa’adat Khan appointed subadar of Awadh. Sawai Raja Jai Singh founded his new capital at Jaipur and he became Subadar of Agra.

1739: Nadir Shah attacked on Delhi.

1759: Alamgir-II assassinated.

1748-1761: Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded north India 5 times.

1761: Third battle of Panipat.

1765: British had grabbed major chunks of territory in eastern India.

1799: Maharaja Ranjit Singh established his capital in Lahore.