This photo of these two made me revisit the history books!
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After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 AD, the Mughal empire became weak because of its incapable successors, which benefitted the Britishers immensely.
Succession conflict and power struggle lead to the decline of the Mughal empire.
The Mughal court became a victim of conspiracies and power struggles.
In 1739 owning to bankruptcy in his kingdom, Persian ruler Nadir shah raided India, taking the then Mughal emperor Muhammad shah by surprise. He was unprepared for the battle, owing to the power struggles in his kingdom.
Nadir shah quickly reached Delhi, won the war and returned to Persia with valuables worth 70 crores, Kohinoor diamond and peacock throne,
The Mughal emperor lost his prestige and was left humiliated.
The Marathas and Bengal East India company got a psychological advantage here over the Mughals.
But they knew that the Mughal emperor though weak is still the ruler of India, and he is still the most significant symbol of the political unity of then India.
Rulers of East, West and south accepted the political supremacy and legitimacy of the Mughals.
Britishers meanwhile dislodged the Nawab of Bengal Siraj Ud doula by divide and rule policy. They took the Bengal nawabs minister Mir Jaffar and Jagat Seth, the wealthy financier of Kolkata, on their side, to dislodge Siraj ud doula in the battle of Plassey in 1757.
Later Mir Jaffar was installed as the puppet nawab of Bengal.
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After nadir shahs death, his general Ahmed shah Abdali decided to attack Delhi again.
Marathas offered protection to Mughal emperor Shah Alam 2 in 1759.
All the problems of the Mughal emperor now became the problems of The Marathas.
Ahmad Shah Abdali attacked Delhi with his army; the Marathas, under the leadership of Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao, plunged into the war on behalf of the Mughals.
In the third battle of Panipat in 1761, the Maratha army was brutally defeated and crushed by Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Ahmad Shah Abdali won the war but was not in a strong enough position to become the ruler of Delhi.
Marathas and Mughals were anyways defeated and lost.
Due to the Marathas/Mughals loss, India lost direction on who will become the next ruler of India.
Britishers sensed the vacuum and then went on to defeat one after the other king in all the directions to start a new phase in Indian history which lasted for the next 200 years.
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You are free to reasonably interpret the events and connect the dots from past to present.
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