Later Mughals After Aurangzeb: Timeline of Mughal Emperors and the Empire’s Fall

Quick Answer: After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, the Mughal throne passed through a succession of weak rulers — Bahadur Shah I, Jahandar Shah, Farrukhsiyar, Muhammad Shah ‘Rangeela’, Ahmad Shah, Alamgir II, Shah Alam II, Akbar II and finally Bahadur Shah Zafar. The empire collapsed due to Aurangzeb’s exhausting Deccan wars, incompetent successors, factional nobility, financial and jagirdari crises, and devastating invasions by Nader Shah (1739) and Ahmad Shah Abdali, ending with British supremacy after 1857.

Later Mughals Timeline (1707–1857) at a Glance

Bahadur Shah I (1707–1712): The Conciliatory Emperor

Aurangzeb died at Ahmednagar in March 1707. His eldest surviving son, Muazzam, ascended as Bahadur Shah I after defeating his brothers Azam Shah at the Battle of Jajau (1707). Unlike his father, Bahadur Shah pursued reconciliation: he released Shahu, the Maratha chieftain, restoring him to Satara, which opened the way for Maratha expansion. He made peace with the Rajput states of Amber and Jodhpur, and attempted to conciliate the Sikhs, granting Guru Gobind Singh the mansab of 5,000. The Khalsa, however, rose under Banda Bahadur after the Guru’s death, and Bahadur Shah died in 1712 campaigning against him. Historians call him Shah-i-Bekhabar (“the heedless king”) because he dissipated the empire’s remaining strength in futile pacification.

Jahandar Shah to Muhammad Shah ‘Rangeela’ (1712–1748)

Bahadur Shah’s death triggered a fresh war of succession. Jahandar Shah (1712–1713), backed by the powerful noble Zulfiqar Khan, was defeated and killed within a year by his nephew Farrukhsiyar. This period marks the rise of the Sayyid Brothers — Abdullah Khan and Hussain Ali Khan, the “kingmakers” — who deposed and killed Farrukhsiyar (1719), installed and removed two puppet emperors (Rafi-ud-Darajat and Rafi-ud-Daulah) within months, and finally placed the young Muhammad Shah on the throne. They were themselves eliminated by Muhammad Shah in 1720–1722 with the help of Nizam-ul-Mulk (Chin Qilich Khan).

Muhammad Shah ‘Rangeela’ (1719–1748) reigned for 29 years but surrendered governance to pleasure. Three major developments defined his reign:

• Nizam-ul-Mulk left Delhi in 1723 to found the virtually independent state of Hyderabad (1724).
• Saadat Khan established autonomous Awadh (1722 onwards); Murshid Quli Khan made Bengal de facto independent.
• Nader Shah of Persia invaded in 1739, crushing the Mughal army at Karnal and sacking Delhi. He carried away the Peacock Throne, the Koh-i-Noor diamond and an estimated treasure of crores of rupees — a blow from which Mughal finances and prestige never recovered.

Ahmad Shah to Shah Alam II (1748–1806)

Muhammad Shah’s death in 1748 left the throne to a series of nonentities. Ahmad Shah (1748–1754) was deposed and blinded by his own wazir, Safdar Jang. Alamgir II (1754–1759) was murdered by the wazir Imad-ul-Mulk, who even placed a fake claimant, Shah Jahan III, briefly on the throne. Meanwhile, Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani) of Afghanistan — who had married into the Mughal family and been released with a farman recognising his Afghan conquests — invaded India repeatedly between 1748 and 1767. His most famous intervention was the Third Battle of Panipat (1761), where his forces annihilated the Maratha army under Sadashivrao Bhau. The defeat broke Maratha power in the north but did not restore Mughal authority — it created the vacuum the British would fill.

Shah Alam II (1759–1806) spent much of his reign in exile from his own capital. After the Battle of Buxar (1764), he granted the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company by the Treaty of Allahabad (1765). From 1771 he lived at Delhi under the “protection” — in effect the pension — of the British Resident, and after 1803 the emperor was wholly a British dependant.

Akbar II to Bahadur Shah Zafar (1806–1857)

Akbar II (1806–1837) and Bahadur Shah Zafar (1837–1857) were emperors only in name, confined to the Red Fort on a British pension. In 1857, the sepoys of Meerut reached Delhi and proclaimed the 82-year-old Zafar their leader in the Revolt — largely as a symbolic head, not an active commander. After the revolt’s suppression, the British tried him, executed his sons Mirza Mughal and Khizar Sultan, and exiled him to Rangoon (Burma), where he died in November 1862. His famous lament — “Kitna hai badnaseeb Zafar, dafn ke liye do gaz zameen bhi na mili” — marks the end of the dynasty.

Causes of Decline of the Mughal Empire

UPSC and SSC papers frequently ask candidates to group the causes of Mughal decline. The standard framework includes:

• Aurangzeb’s Deccan policy: 25 years of war against Bijapur, Golconda and the Marathas drained the treasury and army without producing a durable settlement.
• Weak successors: After 1707, wars of succession at every emperor’s death destroyed stability; most Later Mughals were puppets of nobles.
• Factional nobility: The Irani, Turani, Afghan and Hindustani party struggles, and the dominance of kingmakers like the Sayyid Brothers, paralysed administration.
• Jagirdari crisis: The number of jagirs failed to keep pace with the number of mansabdars, intensifying peasant exploitation and revenue decay.
• Financial breakdown: Nader Shah’s plunder (1739) and Abdali’s repeated raids wrecked the imperial finances of Delhi.
• Successor states: Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad became autonomous in all but name by the 1720s, drying up tribute.
• European advance: The East India Company’s military and financial superiority, sealed at Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764), replaced Mughal supremacy with colonial rule.

Foreign Invasions and the Loss of Delhi’s Prestige

Nader Shah’s invasion (1739) exposed the hollowness of the empire. At Karnal, the Mughal army was routed in a single day; the subsequent massacre and plunder of Delhi destroyed the myth of Mughal invincibility. Ahmad Shah Abdali raided India eight times (1748–1767), each time sacking Punjab and the north-west. Together, these invasions stripped Delhi of bullion, weakened its army, and legitimised regional powers — Marathas, Sikhs, Rohillas and the Company — as the real contenders for power.

Rise of Regional and Successor States

The eighteenth-century “successor states” did not break with the Mughal framework immediately — they ruled in the emperor’s name while enjoying autonomy:

• Bengal: Murshid Quli Khan (from 1717) made it effectively independent, though nominally Mughal.
• Awadh: Saadat Khan (1722) founded a prosperous Shia-ruled state; key Maratha buffer.
• Hyderabad: Nizam-ul-Mulk’s foundation of 1724; the largest southern successor state.
• Sikhs: Under Banda Bahadur and later Ranjit Singh, Punjab slipped entirely from Mughal control.
• Marathas: From Shahu’s release (1707) to Panipat (1761), the dominant power in the Deccan and, after 1752, protectors of the Mughal emperor in name.

Link to 1857 Revolt and Colonial Acts

The abolition of the Mughal crown followed the 1857 Revolt. Policies like Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse had already annexed princely states and created widespread insecurity. After Zafar’s exile, the British Crown assumed direct rule under the Government of India Act 1858, ending both Company rule and the Mughal dynasty. The Governor-General became Viceroy, and the British monarch took the title of Emperor/Empress of India (from 1876), closing the chapter the Later Mughals had kept open in name for half a century.

Exam-Style Facts and One-Liners

• Aurangzeb died in 1707 at Ahmednagar; Bahadur Shah I won the Battle of Jajau.
• Sayyid Brothers = “Kingmakers”; they killed Farrukhsiyar in 1719.
• Farrukhsiyar’s 1717 farman gave the East India Company duty-free trade in Bengal.
• Nader Shah defeated Muhammad Shah at Karnal, 1739; took the Peacock Throne and Koh-i-Noor.
• Third Battle of Panipat, 14 January 1761 — Abdali vs Marathas.
• Battle of Buxar, 1764 — Shah Alam II defeated; Diwani granted in 1765.
• Bahadur Shah Zafar exiled to Rangoon; died 1862.
• Bahadur Shah I was called Shah-i-Bekhabar; Muhammad Shah, Rangeela.
• Imad-ul-Mulk murdered Alamgir II (1759).
• For authoritative reference, see NCERT and IGNOU material on eighteenth-century India.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who were the Later Mughals?

The Later Mughals were the emperors who ruled after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 — from Bahadur Shah I to Bahadur Shah Zafar (deposed 1857) — a line of increasingly powerless rulers under whom the empire fragmented.

What happened immediately after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707?

A war of succession followed. Muazzam defeated Azam Shah at Jajau and became Bahadur Shah I, who then tried to conciliate the Rajputs, Sikhs and Marathas.

Who was the last Mughal emperor and what happened to him?

Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor, was proclaimed leader of the 1857 Revolt, tried by the British, and exiled to Rangoon, where he died in 1862.

How did Nader Shah’s and Abdali’s invasions weaken the Mughals?

Nader Shah’s 1739 sack of Delhi drained its treasury and prestige, while Abdali’s repeated invasions (1748–1767) destroyed the north-west frontier’s security and left a power vacuum filled by the British.

What are the main causes of Mughal decline for exams?

Aurangzeb’s Deccan wars, weak successors, factional nobility, the jagirdari crisis, financial collapse after 1739, the rise of successor states, and British conquest after Plassey and Buxar.

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• Revolt of 1857: Causes, Key Centres, Leaders and Why It Failed — UPSC Modern History Notes
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