I know I'm casting a very wide net, but I've recently started trying to learn more about the history of India and its peoples, and I'm looking for some interesting PODs. I'm deliberately avoiding setting too many bounds - if you have an interesting POD you think might warrant further exploration, feel free to post it.
Indian History PODs, 1300-1800
- Thread starter Old1812
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The third Battle of Panipat is probably the most famous one- more so because there is an AH story (named "The Adventure" by Jayant Narlikar) with this PoD that is (or used to be) compulsory reading for all Class 11th Central Board students in India .
1857 rebellion is another popular one, though unrealistic is hindsight, as it would have required multiple PoDs in the prior years to be viable.
Dara Shikoh winning the succession war.
Battle of Talikota going as expected, instead of the surprise defection of the Vijayanagari muslim commanders. (This one's a bit dodgy, the commanders defecting theory may not be correct, but certainly it was supposed to be a relatively straightforward victory where something went very wrong)
1857 rebellion is another popular one, though unrealistic is hindsight, as it would have required multiple PoDs in the prior years to be viable.
Dara Shikoh winning the succession war.
Battle of Talikota going as expected, instead of the surprise defection of the Vijayanagari muslim commanders. (This one's a bit dodgy, the commanders defecting theory may not be correct, but certainly it was supposed to be a relatively straightforward victory where something went very wrong)
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This happened prior to 1300 CE maybe as early as 200 CE, it was a very long process, of course it became obvious and inevitable by 1200CE
Isn't that before 1300 AD?
For PODs I can suggest the Child's War, the first conflict between the Mughal Empire and BEIC. Second POD is the Vijaynagar one and another one can be the Battle of Plassey. You could even do a bunch of PODs for the various Kingdoms in India starting from 1300 AD as well.
PS:- I am currently working around for a TL of the Indian subcontinent using the Child's War but considering I am not a good storyteller you can take it up with your own twist
.VVD0D95
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Do you mind if I message you re child’s war?Isn't that before 1300 AD?
For PODs I can suggest the Child's War, the first conflict between the Mughal Empire and BEIC. Second POD is the Vijaynagar one and another one can be the Battle of Plassey. You could even do a bunch of PODs for the various Kingdoms in India starting from 1300 AD as well.
PS:- I am currently working around for a TL of the Indian subcontinent using the Child's War but considering I am not a good storyteller you can take it up with your own twist
A late Mughal resurgence after a victory in the Battle of Buxar? That was the battle that secured Britain's control of Bengal IOTL.
To widen the sphere of interest into the south, I'll throw in the battle of Talikota- without it, it's plausible for the Vijayanagara empire to have maintained control over the entire south, and perhaps loose cultural/political hegemony over the Deccan sultanates as well
I'll toss Malik Ambar never being sold into India- without his role in the Deccan resistance to the Mughal Empire and his association with the Bhosale family prior to the rise of the Maratha Confederacy India would presumably have a very different history. Not to mention the low likelihood of Aurangabad ever becoming a city without his waterworks.
And frankly, the odds against a specific Ethiopian child being enslaved, transported haphazardly across the sea to India through the hands of a variety of slave traders, only to be freed and rise to see his grandchildren on the throne of his adopted sultanate are astronomical.
And frankly, the odds against a specific Ethiopian child being enslaved, transported haphazardly across the sea to India through the hands of a variety of slave traders, only to be freed and rise to see his grandchildren on the throne of his adopted sultanate are astronomical.
I have been intermittently researching about a story where either someone gets inserted into Narayanrao Peshwa or Madhavrao Peshwa recovers from his diseases. Then they go on to rebuild after the losses after 3rd panipat battle and reform Maratha society.
It wasn't even that much of a surprise to most people in the sultanate. There had been many times in the history of the Ahmednagar sultanate where the ruler was just titular and someone else was the power behind the throne (most notable being Chand Bibi).
Battle of Khanwa.
Rana Sangha had united all Rajputs (ex. Gwalior) under his leadership, an exceptional feat by itself. Had he won you would see a Rajput empire under the Sisodiya dynasty from the Peshawar to Patna. Mewar under his predecessor Kumbha had beaten Gujarat and Malwa Sultanates simultaneously, Sangha too would subdued the Afghans on his periphery incl. in Bengal. His grandon, Pratap Singh would have surely expanded to the Deccan.
The admin setup and political culture that would develop would be quite interesting to explore. They would have the benefit of being the same religion as their subjects and same jati as the most of the landowners. The revival of Hindu Imperium, Varna-ashrama, Sanskrit scholarship, science and art.
Rana Sangha had united all Rajputs (ex. Gwalior) under his leadership, an exceptional feat by itself. Had he won you would see a Rajput empire under the Sisodiya dynasty from the Peshawar to Patna. Mewar under his predecessor Kumbha had beaten Gujarat and Malwa Sultanates simultaneously, Sangha too would subdued the Afghans on his periphery incl. in Bengal. His grandon, Pratap Singh would have surely expanded to the Deccan.
The admin setup and political culture that would develop would be quite interesting to explore. They would have the benefit of being the same religion as their subjects and same jati as the most of the landowners. The revival of Hindu Imperium, Varna-ashrama, Sanskrit scholarship, science and art.
There were plenty of Ethiopians who rose up in india, and atleast 2 other prime ministers that I know of prior to him, he wasn't a one off case.
The most common POD from this period is Plassey, and the tarpaulin meme.
Not sure about scholarship and art, but I doubt a Sisodiya Rajput state would be a Mauryan or Gupta-style centralized affair. It would probably be somewhere between the Marathas of the confederacy period and the Gurjara-Pratiharas, who started out as first among equals and then used the massive Kannauj wealth to crush their feudatories in Rajasthan.
Depends. How many Sharrifs were in any position of authority, or people who could plausibly claim Sharrif-hood without local genealogists making convincing contradictions to those Islamic authorities who mattered?
Mid you, it needn't be too strict. The Ottoman Sultans gained their claim to the Caliphate by purchasing the hand of the eldest daughter to the last tracible putative Umayyad Caliphate heir, only the subsequent succession of Ottoman Sultans were not her descendants. This was part of the reason no one in Sudan, for example, ever recognized the Ottoman Sultans as Caliphs.
Indeed, but that kind of social mobility is precisely what makes for great PoDs- you could remove Malik Ambar, Chand Bibi, or dozens of other notable leaders who rose from relatively humble origins very easily, and generate large differences in India's history- especially if you change things around the rise of the Mughal Empire. Whether your changes stabilize it so that it remains strong during and after the arrival of European merchant companies, or whether they destabilize it so that Europeans arrive on an explicitly divided subcontinent, the history of India and the world would end up very differently.
I am pretty sure that OTL is the best case scenario for European expansion in India, even if the Mughals did not exist Europeans did not have the capability to conquer the subcontinent in the 1600s. The only thing that could change would be perhaps someone other than the British (read: France) getting the upper hand.
As for avoiding colonialism that is quite an interesting topic, do you think that only a unified and strong Mughal India would be able to do that (avoid at least as much as the Qing did), Or could the Marathas have too after a victorious Panipat? Personally I also like the POD of a successful integration of the Marathas into the Mughal system a la the Rajputs- whether by Aurangzeb or perhaps Dara Shikoh.