Sadullah, I need a man

losing no time in entering into conflict with one another, each one, of course, aspiring to the throne, irrespective of the cost. Ultimately, in the ensuing battle, three of them were killed. Jahandar Shah, the victor, then seized the throne. But his rule, too, was short-lived—barely one year—for Farrukh Ser, the son of his murdered brother had set himself to avenging his father’s death. His plot was successful and Jahandar Shah was dethroned and hanged in the Red Fort in 1713. Although, having killed his uncle, Farrukh Ser came to possess the throne of Delhi; he retained it for barely six years, for his enemies finally succeeded in overpowering him. One day in the year 1719, he was dragged down from his throne, beaten cruelly, then thrown into prison where he was killed by strangulation. After this murder, Prince Rafiud Darajat ascended the throne of Delhi. But his reign was even shorter than that of his immediate predecessors, having come to the throne on the 28th of February 1719 only to be ousted on the 4th of June 1719. A few days later, he died of tuberculosis. The domestic war between the Mughal princes considerably weakened the central government of Delhi, which lost its hold on the provinces, thus sparking off a tendency among the different provinces to seek their independence. To quote from a standard history of India: “On the decline of the central authority at Delhi, the inevitable centrifugal tendency was manifest in different parts of the Empire and the provincial viceroys made themselves independent of the titular Delhi emperor” (An Advanced History of India, 1978, p. 529). Events had borne out Aurangzeb’s worst misgivings. The Deccan province became independent in 1724 under Qamruddin Khan (Nizamul-Mulk). Awadh province established independent rule in 1754 under Saadat Khan. Bengal saw its independence in 1739 under Sarfaraz Khan, who was known as the Nawab of Bengal. Similarly the Rajput States, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaipur, etc., abandoned their allegiance to Delhi and assumed independent status. The vast empire of Aurangzeb had thus torn into pieces. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire continued apparently to exist for a further 150 years, but this was a period frequently marred by internecine bloodshed. There was a constant struggle for personal power going on between the Mughal princes, nobles and ministers and the result was that the Mughal empire was being weakened and diminished day by day. The English were quick to exploit this situation, and made greater and greater