Chapter nine commences with the increasing demand for textiles, especially cottons, as Europeans established several trading enclaves including in Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, all of which became important to the EIC. We turn next to newly ascendant groups who increasingly contested Mughal control of north India, especially to the Sikhs, a multiethnic religious community with strong martial orientations. Next we explore differences in various regions’ economic experiences as the empire weakened. While the imperial heartland’s economy was hit hard, other regions witnessed greater prosperity. The final section deals with Bengal where developments had significance for the subcontinent’s subsequent history, for it was there that the English first obtained an extensive foothold within the internal affairs of the erstwhile empire.

This chapter is divided into five sections. Firstly, it situates the origins of Sikhism within the historical traditions of northern India. This is followed by an examination of how the new tradition was gradually institutionalised to accommodate its growing appeal in the century after Nanak’s birth. It then assesses the turn to militancy from the end of the seventeenth century onwards, the creation of the Khalsa and the related question of political sovereignty. This is followed by an outline of how the turn to militancy triggered the process of state formation in the eighteenth century which climaxed in the creation of Ranjit Singh’s empire. Finally, the chapter reflects on the impact of the British Raj on the rise of modern Sikh identity with reference to the colonial discourses of Sikhs as a ‘nation’ and Sikhism as a ‘world religion’.