Aurangzeb’s Deccan policy was a major factor in Mughal decline. Discuss.

Answer:

Aurangzeb’s Deccan policy was one of the most important factors in the weakening of the Mughal Empire. His long campaigns against Bijapur, Golconda and the Marathas expanded the empire territorially but exhausted its military, financial and administrative resources.

Nature of Aurangzeb’s Deccan Policy

Annexation of Deccan Sultanates:

• Aurangzeb annexed Bijapur in 1686 and Golconda in 1687.
• This removed old buffer states between the Mughals and the Marathas.
• The empire became larger but also harder to govern.

Conflict with Marathas:

• The Marathas used mobility, forts and guerrilla tactics to resist Mughal power.
• Aurangzeb spent the last decades of his life in the Deccan trying to suppress them.
• The conflict became prolonged and indecisive.

Impact on Mughal Decline

Financial exhaustion:

• Continuous warfare required enormous expenditure.
• Revenue from the Deccan could not immediately compensate for military costs.
• The imperial treasury came under pressure.

Jagirdari crisis:

• Expansion increased the number of mansabdars needing jagirs.
• Good revenue-yielding jagirs became scarce.
• This deepened factionalism and administrative strain.

Administrative overstretch:

• The empire became too large to manage effectively from the centre.
• Local officials, zamindars and regional powers became harder to control.

Rise of Maratha power:

• Instead of eliminating the Marathas, the Deccan wars strengthened their resistance and later expansion.
• After Aurangzeb, the Marathas emerged as a major force in Indian politics.

Balanced View

However, Mughal decline cannot be explained only by Deccan policy. Noble factionalism, revenue pressure, succession conflicts, regional assertion and agrarian unrest also mattered. Satish Chandra treats the Deccan policy as a major but not sole cause. Thus, Aurangzeb’s Deccan policy accelerated Mughal decline by causing fiscal exhaustion, administrative overstretch and Maratha resurgence.