UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 1 Q2: model answer
Clarify how mid-eighteenth century India was beset with the spectre of a fragmented polity?
What the question wants
Clarify how India in the mid-18th century had become politically fragmented.
How to structure it
Clarify: make clear, with examples, the nature and causes of fragmentation.
- Mughal decline
- Successor states
- New and regional powers
- Foreign threats and verdict
How to think it through
Imagine a giant jigsaw puzzle after someone has kicked the table. That is India around 1740–1760. The Mughal piece is still in the centre, but smaller each year. Around it are three kinds of pieces: successor states (Awadh, Bengal, Hyderabad), new powers (Marathas, Sikhs, Jats) and independent kingdoms (Mysore, Travancore), plus the Europeans and invaders at the edge. Show each, and you've clarified.
Model answer
In 1739 Nadir Shah walked out of Delhi with the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor, and no Indian power could stop him. The empire survived in name; power had passed to regional centres.
Mughal decline
- Weak successors after Aurangzeb (d. 1707), court factions, jagirdari crisis.
- Nadir Shah's sack of Delhi (1739) and Abdali's invasions exposed its weakness.
Successor states
- Awadh (Saadat Khan), Bengal (Murshid Quli Khan) and Hyderabad (Nizam-ul-Mulk): governors who became virtually independent while still owing nominal loyalty to the emperor.
New regional powers
- The Marathas expanded across India until their defeat at Panipat (1761).
- Sikh misls in Punjab, Jats around Agra and Bharatpur, Rohillas.
Independent kingdoms
- Mysore under Haidar Ali, Travancore under Martanda Varma, Rajput states.
Foreign forces
- English and French companies fought the Carnatic wars and intervened in Indian politics; Plassey (1757) began the British territorial conquest.
The fragmented polity meant there was no central power able to resist the Company, which turned regional rivalries to its advantage.
Draw: Sketch map of India in 1760 marking the major powers.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Nadir Shah 1739, Abdali, Panipat 1761, successor states, misls, Carnatic wars, Plassey 1757.
Where most answers lose marks
- Saying the 18th century was a 'dark age' without the new regional vitality.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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