“Just as the Spanish ulcer ruined Napoleon, so the Deccan ulcer ruined Aurangzeb” – Which historian made this statement?
The famous parallel, “Just as the Spanish ulcer ruined Napoleon, so the Deccan ulcer ruined Aurangzeb,” was coined by the historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar. He argued that Aurangzeb’s relentless and costly twenty-six-year preoccupation with the Deccan campaigns drained the empire’s resources and manpower, directly contributing to its decline after his death. The correct answer is (B) Jadunath Sarkar.
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The insightful analogy was made by the eminent historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar. He used the phrase to encapsulate his view that Aurangzeb’s decades-long, ruinously expensive and strategically unnecessary military entanglement in the Deccan was the single most significant factor in the decline of the Mughal Empire.
Sarkar highlighted that the endless conflict against the Marathas and the independent sultanates depleted the imperial treasury, alienated the northern nobility and weakened the central administration irrevocably.