Study the picture and answer the following questions:

(a) Identify the person in the picture. State how was he responsible for the decline of the Mughal Empire.

(b) How did the successors of the person in the picture lead to the decline of the Mughal Empire.

(c) Who do you think would have taken the place of Mughals? Why did they fail to do so?

(a) The person in the given picture is Aurangzeb. He was responsible for the decline of the Mughal Empire in the following ways:

1. Aurangzeb gave up Akbar's policies of diplomacy and religious tolerance. He reimposed jizya and the pilgrim tax on the non-muslims and removed them from high posts under the state.
2. He interfered in the internal matters of Rajputs and made them his bitter enemies.
3. His revenue officers oppressed the peasants.
4. His policy of continuos war in Deccan made him lose control over his administration and officers in the North. His long absence from the North emboldened the local chiefs and zamindars to defy the local authority and governors of petty states to assert their independence. These wars also drained the resources of the Mughal Empire.

(b) The successors of Aurangzeb were incapable of maintaining the integrity of such a vast empire. They left the affairs of the empire in the hands of their nobles and governors. The central authority grew weak and the nobles and governors declared their independence.

(c) The Marathas would have taken the place of Mughals. They failed to do so because of the crushing defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat. Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas and put their hope of replacing Mughals to an end.