The eighteenth century marks the beginning of the modern period of India’s history. Politically, the period saw the decline of the Mughal empire and the rise of a number of small and big independent states in different parts of the country. None of these states was able to replace the Mughal empire which had politically unified a large part of the country for about 150 years. In spite of this, however, the process of the growth of composite culture continued. This is evident from the new schools of painting which arose as a result of the influence of the Mughal painting, literature in various Indian languages, including Urdu, and the continuing process of the coming together of people belonging to different communities.
This period, when looked at in the context of changes taking place in some other parts of the world, is one of stagnation. You have read before about some of the developments that had been bringing about far-reaching changes in the social, economic, cultural and political life of Europe. Significant advancements had taken place in the field of science, and soon new technologies were to further transform the social, economic and political life in many countries of Europe. The process of colonization of vast areas of the world by a few European counties had been underway since the sixteenth century. Changes of a comparable nature failed to take place in India, as also in other countries of Asia and Africa. There was also no awareness of the importance of the changes taking place in Europe in spite of contacts with European traders, missionaries and others. From about the middle of the eighteenth century, the conquest of India by Britain began. It was completed in a few decades and by the middle of the nineteenth century, the entire country was under the direct or indirect rule of the British. For the first time in her history, India came under foreign rule. She was ruled by foreigners who had not come to settle but to rule in the interest of their mother country. A new system of exploitation of one country by the dominant classes and groups of another country came into being. Under the new conditions created by foreign rule, the people of India were awakened and this awakening expressed itself, finally, in the struggle for independence, the end of imperialist exploitation of India the early decades of the nineteenth century, various social, religious, cultural and intellectual movements took root which aimed at removing the state of stagnation of Indian society. These movements were influenced by the modern democratic, humanistic and scientific though and played an important role in promoting national consciousness and in laying the foundations of a new phase in India’s cultural development. The nationalist movement united the Indian people on a new basis. It recognized and cherished the unity in diversity and the composite nature of India’s culture as its unique feature. Te nurturing of this feature was an integral part of the nationalist movement’s objective of building an independent, united and forward-looking Indian.
