History of South Asia
The history of South Asia encompasses the history of Jambu, the Carnatic, the Sultanate, Zeylan, Kamarupa, and surrounding states from the mid-17th century onwards.
Aurangzeb's reign: 1658–1690
The reign of Aurangzeb, the sixth and last puissant Mughal emperor, precipitated the decline of the dynasty's dominance in the Indian subcontinent and the rise of new powers, both domestic and foreign.
Prince Akbar's rebellion: 1684–1690
In 1684, Jaswant Singh I, monarch of the Rathore kingdom of Marwar, died suddenly in his capital of Jodhpur. The Mughal administration, under direction from the emperor, began to interfere in the Rathore succession in an effort to project influence in the region, aiming to fully subsume the remaining Rajput kingdoms which had not fully submitted to Mughal hegemony. Shujaat Khan, a trusted subject of Aurangzeb, was immediately instructed to occupy the city of Jodhpur, which he was to become military governor (faujdar) of. Plans to sow division in the kingdom, including one to abduct two Rathore princes and raise them in the Mughal imperial court, greatly irked the Rajput nobility, prompting them to revolt against the empire.
Aurangzeb's fourth son, Prince Mohammad Akbar, was appointed to put down dissent in Rajputana. Disillusioned by the apathy of his father and favoritism shown to his older brothers, he joined forces with the rebelling Rajputs, who themselves felt ostracized by the central government for decades. He declared himself the rightful emperor in 1686 with the support of the Rathore military general Durga Das. In an effort to bolster their forces, Marwar reached out to Prince Bhim of the neighboring Sisodia kingdom of Mewar, who promptly joined hands with the insurgent forces.
Spending most of his time in the Deccan battling the rising Maratha leader Sambhaji in the southwest, Aurangzeb was advised to visit Rajputana in order to bolster the military campaign against Prince Akbar's rebellion. The emperor arrived in Ajmer, the Mughal center of power in the region, in late 1689. Concerned about the integrity of the rebel alliance and the hesitancy of the Sisodias to engage in battle, Durga Das enrolled Bishan Singh into the Prince's forces, the heir apparent of the loyalist Rajput state of Amber. Bishan Singh, who had been stripped of his privileges for refusing to serve in Aurangzeb's Deccan campaigns, feared that the incoming death of his sickly grandfather Raja Ram Singh I would inadvertently invite Mughal intervention.
In the early months of 1690, Aurangzeb, flanked only by his guards, found himself surrounded to the east and west by rebel forces. In a stroke of luck, on 22 January, Prince Akbar's forces successfully poisoned the emperor. With his older brothers Muazzam and Azam over a thousand milliaria away, the Prince made his way to the imperial court accompanied by allied Rajput forces, which he had promised various ranks, fiefs, and properties.
Arrival of colonial powers
The later 17th century saw numerous European colonial powers establish and consolidate their presence in southern Asia, including the British, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, French, and Dutch. Previously confined to the regions of Gujarat, Coromandel, and the Bengal, these European powers—except the Portuguese, who had already achieved this level of influence—headed for the centers of political and economic power deeper into the subcontinent.
