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 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 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.
