Recently, I've become interested in the possibilities of an India that is more like Europe-a region with common cultural traits and history, but consisting of different native nation-states. It's a concept I'd like to incorporate into my current timeline, and I'd definitely like the opinion of board experts on how to accomplish this.
What I'm particularly interested in is keeping the Mughals from conquering most of India. I don't want to replace them with a different empire (like the Sur temporarily did), but rather to have the North, if not balkanize, at least become split into smaller kingdoms rather than merging into a single large empire that dominates the whole subcontinent.
So, what is the best way to do this? The impression I've gotten from my cursory reading is to have Babur's sons fail to reconquer their empire, and leave the Sur empire to fall apart under the multiple contenders for Sher Shah Suri's throne. Does anyone else have any other ideas?
What I'm particularly interested in is keeping the Mughals from conquering most of India. I don't want to replace them with a different empire (like the Sur temporarily did), but rather to have the North, if not balkanize, at least become split into smaller kingdoms rather than merging into a single large empire that dominates the whole subcontinent.
So, what is the best way to do this? The impression I've gotten from my cursory reading is to have Babur's sons fail to reconquer their empire, and leave the Sur empire to fall apart under the multiple contenders for Sher Shah Suri's throne. Does anyone else have any other ideas?