Pre-modern India was pluralistic and there was an accommodation of difference.

Mughals
were not despotic. How do we know that?
Sufi and Bhakti traditions co-existed and Hinduism and Islam grew in interaction with
each other.
When the Mughals conquered a land, they would select a new ruler from the fallen kings
family only, rather than placing someone new on the throne.
Metcalf says there were no forced conversions to Islam.
Examples of people like Mahmud of Ghazni destroying temples and invading lands
mostly due to economic reasons, not religious.
Akbar Din e Ilahi
Akbar replaced the Muslim lunar calendar with the solar calendar
Akbar hired lots of Hindus for the mansabdaar posts.
Akbar abolished Jizya tax on non - Muslims.
The nobility would receive only the final cut of revenue collected from lands. They were
not draining the revenue and wrecking the lives of peasants.
Aurangzeb brought back Jizya tax but it was mostly economic reasons, not religious
because even during his rule there were a lot of Hindu mansabdaars.
Internal challenges to Mughal rule. Internal contradictions which gave the EIC an edge.

Warrior states e.g. Marathas, Mysore and Punjab

Provincial governors
Zamindars
Princely states
Bankers and merchants

These groups were challenging Mughal power because 1. They wanted to preserve their own
power rather than being subjugated by the Mughals. 2. They saw that the British had superior
military technology. 3. They saw that the British had better control of external trade through
the seas. Hence lots of them made allies with the EIC which gave the British a more firm
footing in their political invasion of the subcontinent.
Economic and cultural devastation and/or interference by the British in the subcontinent.
Making allies with Mir Jaffar and invasion of Bengal in 1757. (Battle of Plassey).
Defeat of Mir Kasim in Battle of Buxar 1764 because he was trying to build a base for
himself at Bihar and the Brits didnt like it.
Subsidiary alliance system this led to a lot of regions falling into British hands like
Awadh.
Permanent settlement 1793.
Doctrine of lapse.
Forced cultivation of indigo and opium for trade.
Civil bureaucracy where civil servants were to help the governor general it was largely
made up of Europeans, very few Indians had a place in it.

 Military fiscalism to build a standing army first time ever in the subcontinent this
happened.
The Rwatwari system
1765 British took over the diwani.
1799 Mysore fell to the British. 1803- Delhi fell. 1818 Marathas fell. 1842 Sindh
fell. 1849 Punjab fell.
Western education: Hindu College.
Hastings: made the Asiatic Society of Bengal for studying India they apparently dug
up all this past about India saying it was so glamorous and now has to be restored to its
former glory because it has gotten corrupted along the way.
Collector: In charge of revenue collection introduced by the British.
Resident: British puppet in regions where they ruled indirectly through making
agreements with local kings.
Invasion of forests and destruction of tribal homes. E.g. wars against the Bhils, and
Thugs. These forests would then be turned into commodity producing areas.
Introducing the caste system: apparently for social stability.
McCauleys Minute on Education: we need to create people who look like Indians but
think like British.
1835: Replaced Persian with English in the court.
Divided cities: places where British lived and places where Indians lived.
Abolished sati in 1829. (only move I like)

Revolt and reaction to British rule

Brahmo Samaj by Rammohan Roy
Muslims reacted by arguing for a purification and restoration of Islam.pg. 67 of Jalal
and Bose.
Tribes revolted (Bhils, Kols and Santal hool uprising).
Rural revolts: E.g. people refused to pay rent saying only Allah was the owner of lands
and the Blue mutiny in Bengal where peasants refused to grow indigo.
Urban revolts by artisans: E.g. weavers riots in north India in 1810s and 1830s.