Introduction

• After the ruins of the Mughal Empire, several self-governing and semi-independent powers arose, such as Bengal, Avadh, Hyderabad, Mysore, and the Maratha kingdom.
• These new powers challenged British supremacy in India in the second half of the 18th century.
• The rulers of these states established law and order, as well as viable economic and administrative systems.
• They curbed the influence of local officials, petty chiefs, and zamindars who fought for control over the surplus produce of peasants and occasionally established local centers of power and patronage.
• The politics of these states were generally non-communal or secular, with rulers motivated by similar economic and political goals.
• Rulers did not make appointments based on religion, nor did rebels against their authority care much about the religion of the rulers.
• Despite the political stability, none of these states succeeded in halting the economic crisis.
• Zamindars and Jagirdars increased in number but continued to fight over a declining income from agriculture, while the condition of the peasantry worsened.
• These states did prevent the breakdown of internal trade and made efforts to promote foreign trade, but they did not modernize the industrial and commercial structure of their economies.