Tipu ruled Mysore till 1799. He was an innovator. His desire to change with the times was symbolised in the introduction of a new system of coinage and a new scale of weights and measures. He showed keen interest in French Revolution. He planted a Tree of Liberty at Srirangapatnam and became a member of the Jacobin Club
He tried to do away with the custom of giving Jagirs, and thus increase state income. He made an attempt to reduce the hereditary possessions of the Poligars and to eliminate the intermediaries between the state and the cultivator
However, his land revenue was as high as that of the other contemporary rulers, it ranged upto one-third of the gross produce. But he checked the collection of illegal cesses and he was liberal in granting remissions
TIPU’S ADMINISTRATION
Tipu’s infantry was armed with muskets and bayonets in the European fashion, which were manufactured in Mysore. He also made an effort to build a modern navy after 1796.
He was fond of saying that “it was better to live a day as a lion than a lifetime as a sheep.” He was a threat to the English and to the other Indian rulers. Among the Indian rulers, only he understood the importance of economic strength as the foundation of military strength. He sent emissaries to France, Turkey, Iran and Burma to develop foreign trade. He also traded with China. He tried to promote trade with Russia and Arabia by setting up state trading institutions in the port towns.
He financed the construction of the images of Goddess Sharda in the Sringeri temple, which was looted by the Maratha horsemen in 1791. But while he treated the vast majority of his Hindu and Christian subjects with consideration and tolerance, he was harsh on those Hindus and Christians who might directly or indirectly aid the British against Mysore.
KERALA
At the beginning of the 18th century Kerala was divided up among a large number of feudal chiefs and rajas. The four most important states were those of Calicut, under the Zamorin, Chirakkal, Cochin and. Travancore.
In 1729, the kingdom of Travancore rose into prominence under King Martanda Verma. He ended the political power of Dutch in Kerala.
He organized a strong army on Western model with the help of European officers and armed it with modern weapons.
By 1763, all the petty principalities of Kerala had been absorbed or subordinated by the three big states of Cochin, Travancore and Calicut.
THE RAJPUT STATES
The principal Rajput states took advantage of the growing weakness of the Mughal power to virtually free themselves from the central control of the Mughal empire. The Rajputana states continued to be divided as before, because of their internal weaknesses and their constant involvement in petty quarrels and Civil Wars.
The most important and outstanding Rajput ruler of the 18th century was Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber (1688-1743). He a distinguished was statesman, law-maker and reformer. He founded the city of Jaipur and made it a great seat of science and art.
It was built upon scientific principles and regular plan. Jai Singh was a great astronomer. He erected observatories with accurate and advanced instruments, with some of them being his own inventions at Delhi, Jaipur. Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura. He drew up a set of tables, entitled Zij Muhammad Shahi, to enable people to make astronomical observations.
He had translated Euclid’s Elements of Geometry into Sanskrit and also several works on trigonometry and Napier’s work on the construction and use of logarithms. As a social reformer, he tried to enforce a law to reduce the lavish expenditure, which the Rajputs had to incur on their daughter’s wedding which had given rise to the evil practice of infanticide. This remarkable prince ruled Jaipur for nearly 44 years.
THE JATS
The Jat peasants around Mathura revolted under their Jat landlords in 1669 and then again in 1688. After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, they created disturbances all around Delhi. The Jat State of Bharatpur was set up by Churaman and Badan Singh. Jat power reached its highest glory under Suraj Mal, who ruled from 1756 to 1763 and who was extremely able administrator, soldier and a very wise statesman. After his death, Jat state declined and was split up among petty zamindars, most of whom lived by plunder.
THE MARATHAS
Marathas were the strongest power after the decline of Mughal empire in the 18th century. It alone possessed the strength to fill the political vacuum created by the disintegration of Mughal empire. After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Shivaji’s grandson Shahu was released by Bahadur Shah.
This led to conflict between Shahu at Satara and his aunt Tara Bai at Kolhapur for Maratha throne. From this conflict, evolved a new system of Maratha Government under the leadership of Balaji Vishwanath, the Peshwa of King Shahu. With this change, began the second period-the period of Peshwa domination in Maratha history in which Maratha state was transformed into an empire.
Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath took full advantage of the internal conflicts of the Mughal officials to increase Maratha empire. He secured the rights to collect Chauth and Sardeshmukhi of Deccan from Wazir Zulfiqar Khan and later signed a pact with the Sayyid brothers.
In 1719, Balaji Vishwanath at the head of a Maratha force accompanied Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan to Delhi and helped the Sayyid brothers in overthrowing Mughal emperor Farrukh Siyar. In 1920, after his death, he was succeeded as Peshwa by his son Baji Rao I. He expanded Maratha empire in North including Malwa, Gujarat and parts of Bundelkhand.
The Maratha families of Gaekwad, Holkar, Sindhia and Bhonsle came into prominence during this period. But the dream of Marathas to found an all India empire was shattered in 1761, when Marathas suffered huge losses in Third Battle of Panipat against Abdali.