South Asia: Creating Dilemmas of Diversity - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 169

Guru Angad met with Akbar, who gave him a temple site
at Amritsar near Lahore.
In the sixteenth century , some Sikhs became in-
volved in political intrigue, and their leader was exe-
cuted by the Mughul ruler Jahangir. Subsequently , the
Sikhs began to take on a militaristic character and by
1650, claimed the Punjab as Sikh territory . Persecutions
by Aurangzeb intensified their militarism. Under Guru
Govind Singh, they vowed not to cut their hair, which is
still worn knotted under a turban. They swore to avoid
tobacco and alcohol and renounced purdah and sati .
Sikh women were accorded almost equal status with
men. Sikhs also adopted the surname of Singh (Lion).
There is a saying that “All Sikhs are Singhs but not all
Singhs are Sikhs.”
Sikhism grew as a force to be reckoned with, even-
tually becoming the last bastion of resistance to the
British takeover in India. Only in 1849, after two British
campaigns, were the Sikh armies defeated. Eventually
Sikh regiments were incorporated into the British-
Indian army . See the next chapter for more on the Sikhs
and Punjab.
In order to alleviate the friction of distance that
made central control difficult, Aurangzeb moved his cap-
ital to Aurangabad. Even so, encumbered with an army
of hundreds of thousands of elephants, guns, artillery ,
cavalry , and at least half a million camp followers (a mov-
ing camp 30 miles (48 km) in length), Aurangzeb was no
match for the guerrilla-style tactics of Shivaji, “The
Mountain Rat.”
Shivaji (1627-1680), the zealous Hindu leader of
the Marathas, had erected a complex of fortifications at
defensible sites in the fractured western Deccan. Head-
quartered at Poona (Pune), behind Bombay (Mumbai),
Shivaji was able to lash out, then quickly retreat to his
mountain strongholds. The Marathas turned out to be
the Mughal Empire' s most formidable opponent. In
1644, Shivaji sacked the main Mughal port at Surat. In
ensuing confrontations, Aurangzeb the Muslim and
Shivaji the Hindu stood as protagonists of their respec-
tive faiths, deepening the division between believers.
As disenchantment with the Mughals grew , common
gripes and shared concerns bonded individuals in com-
peting groups. The Sikhs—bound by faith, the Jats—
farmers bound by kinship, and the Marathas—bound by
nationalistic aspirations, challenged the Mughal hege-
mony . Many revolts were led by the Zamindars . Mughal
retaliation was unforgiving. The situation worsened in
1702-1703 when famine and plague eradicated more
than two million people from the Deccan.

The empire disintegrated in chaotic circumstances,
with the strongest and cleverest manipulators and
power-grabbers staking out their territories. And so arose
the powerful maharajas (great rulers) of states such as
Baroda, Gwalior, and Hyderabad. During this fray , the
Persians invaded and sacked Delhi in 1739, carting off
the jewel-encrusted Peacock Throne and other treasures.
As Delhi declined, cities such as Lucknow and Hyder-
abad became centers of Mughal culture.

EUROPEAN SEA POWER
When Babur raged into India, the Portuguese already
controlled the Indian Ocean with a monopoly on the
pepper trade. Their fortified outposts at Goa and else-
where served as customs stations where Asian merchants
had to obtain letters of protection in order to avoid
Portuguese attacks on the high sea. The land-based
Mughals were interested in international trade insofar
as it was a source of silver and gold. They remained
unconcerned about the intricacies of its functioning as
long as the precious metals kept coming.
With the Portuguese monopoly , European competi-
tors were welcomed by the Indians, who could play them
off against each other. In London, the British East India
Company was founded in 1600. T Two years later, the
Dutch East India Company was founded in Amsterdam.
Indian textiles were desired products, and factories
(storehouses) were erected in the foreign concessions.
However, as the textile trade boomed, factories became
involved in ordering, directing, and financing the indus-
try . Soon they became instruments of foreign control.
By 1740, the British had eclipsed the Dutch, who
then focused their attention on Indonesia. Starting with a
collection of trading posts, the British fought the Mughals,
forged alliances with local rulers, and eventually ousted
their European competitors. By exploiting local rivalries,
jealousies, Hindu-Muslim and other tensions, they were
able to expand their influence. Three key commercial
centers emerged.
On the Coromandel coast, Fort St. George developed
as Madras (Chennai). Madras soon flourished as an entre-
pot, an intermediary center of trade and transshipment.
With the dissolution of the Mughal empire, many
merchant ships moved to Bombay . Its natural harbor was
safely protected by the British fleet. As the empire fur-
ther dissolved, Indian shipping networks floundered
and interregional trade with Bengal and the Malabar
Coast dissipated. The British in Bombay had their sights
on trade with Europe.