Emergence of Communists in India
Advent of Europeans
ADVENT OF EUROPEANS
Vasco da Gama was the first Portuguese sailor who discovered as sea route to India via Cape of Good Hope. He arrived at the port of Calicut on May 27, 1498, paved the path for Alfonso de Albuquerque to carve out a Portuguese empire in India. In 1510 he captured Goa from Bijapur sultanate and also established trading centres in Bombay, Malabar coast, San Thome Near madras and Hooghly in Bengal.
The Dutch : They also came in the early seventeenth century but their influence soon vanished.
The French : They reached India in 1670 and established their centres near Madras and at Chandernagore on Hooghly. They also established their naval base in the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
Gandhian Thought of Sarvodaya
Gandhiji was much impressed by reading John Ruskin’s Unto This Last. He translated it later into Gujarati entitling it Sarvodaya. The book brought great transformation in the life of Gandhiji and Sarvodaya became a great ideal of his life and philosophy. The broad outlines of this ideal were the following:
(a) That the good of an individual is contained in good of all.
(b) That a lawyer’s work has the same value as that of a barber in as much as all have the same right of earning their livelihood from their work.
(c) That a life of labour, i.e., the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman is a life worth living.
As a votary of non-violence, Gandhiji did not fully subscribe to the utilitarian concept of the greatest happiness of the greatest number. He hoped that a votary of Ahimsa would zealously strive for the greatest good of all and may be ready to sacrifice his life gladly for attainment of that ideal whereas a utilitarian would never sacrifice his life for the good of others.
Hence, the ideal of the greatest good of all is superior to that of the utilitarian doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number, the former being comprehensive enough to include in it the latter also.
He believed that if the ideal of Sarvodaya could be realised, there would be true democracy in which the highest and the humblest, the ruler and the rub would be equal. This presupposes that all are good and pure. So distinctions of caste and outcast would vanish. There would be no untouchables. The capitalist and the toiling labourer would hold equal status. Everybody would earn his living by honest means and by the sweat of his brow. There would be no distinction between intellectual and physical labour People would abjure intoxicants of opium and liquor at the own will. There would be no exploitation of women. Eva woman who is not a wife, would be respected as the modi sister or daughter according to her age. Swadeshi would be rule of life. A zealous spirit of sacrifice would imbue all of us Everybody would be ready to sacrifice his life for the good of all and would never think of taking the life of his fellow brethren.
Rise of Peshwa
Balaji Vishwartath was a clever Brahman from Konkan, who secured the recognition of Sahu’s independent status from Mohammed Shah, the then Mughal Emperor. Sahu made him his Peshwa who became the virtual ruler. Balaji died in 1720 and Sahu in 1749. Balajirao I succeeded his father as Peshwa in 1720. He greatly extended the empire and died in 1740. Balaji was the eldest son of Bajirao and his successor as Peshwa. On the death of Sahu, he seized power by a coup d’etat and imprisoned Ramraja, heir to the throne and her aunt Tarabai. During his reign, Maratha empire attained its zenith. Taking advantage of the departure of Nadir Shah and the decaying condition of Mughal Empire he captured Delhi in 1760.
Third Battle of Panipat : Ahmad Shah Abdali, the successor of Nadir Shah on hearing of Maratha victory, challenged them at Panipat in January 1761 and defeated them. Balaji died in 1761 on his way to reinforce the defeated Marathas at Panipat.Balaji’s successor Madhavarao being a minor, his uncle Raghunathrao acted as regent. Madhavrao died in 1771. During his reign Marathas greatly restored their strength and prestige by defeating Nazim Ali of Hyderabad in 1763 at the Battle of Rakshasbhwan, and subsequently Haider Ali of Mysore in 1764. His successor Narayanrao was murdered in 1773 with the connivance of Raghunathrao. Narayanrao’s son Madhavrao II was installed on the throne of Nana Farnavis who acted as his regent. Raghunathrao who was opposed to it, conspired with the English to seize power.
First Anglo-Maratha War: The English at Bombay espoused the cause of Raghunathrao in return for certain concessions agreed to by him. This caused the first Anglo-Maratha War in 1775 in which the Marathas were defeated.
Decline and Fall of Mughal Empire
Bahadur Shah (1707-1712) : Prince Muazzam, a son of the late Emperor succeeded to the throne in June 1707 A.D. After defeating his two brothers. He assumed the title of Bahadur Shah or Shah Alam IÂ (1707-1712). He released Sahu, the son of Shambhaji as a conciliatory measure towards Marathas.
Must Read:Â The Mughl Empire
Invasion of Nadir Shah (1739): In 1739 during the reign of Mohammed Shah, Nadir Shah, the king of Persia invaded India and mercilessly massacred the people of Delhi. Nadir Shah reinstated Mohammed Shah and went back to Persia.
The Disintegration of mughal empire : Nadir Shah’s invasion virtually crippled the powers of the Emperor. In Deccan, Marathas became very powerful. Sadat Ali Khan, governor of Awadh and Alivardi Khan, governor of Bengal, became independent. Rohillas in Ganga valley also became independent under the leadership of Ali Mohammed Khan Rohilla.
The mughal empire of Mohammed Shah successor, Ahmad Shah (1748-54) consisted only of the lands adjoining Delhi and a few districts in U.P. Imad-ul-mulk who had become his Wazir by terrorising him, ultimately blinded the emperor in 1754 and deposed him and placed his son Mohammed Azim Uddaulah on the throne as Alamgir II. He was later murdered by his Wazir and another Mughal prince was installed on the throne. The heir-apparent, Prince Shah Alam sought refuge with the Nawab Wazir of Awadh.
Shah Alam was recognised as emperor by Abdali, the successor of Nadir Shah. He lived under the protection of the English after his defeat by them at the Battle of Buxar in 1764. In 1771 he came back to Delhi at the invitation of Marathas who placed him on the throne. In 1788 he was blinded and deposed by Ghulam Qadir but he were again restored in the throne with the help of Mahadaji Sindhia. Shah Alam IIwas succeeded by Akbar Shah II (1806-1837) and Bahadur Shah (1837-1857). the last ruler, famous as Bahadur Shah Zafar.