Similarly the Europeans showed up around the same time when the Islamic rule was in decline and the Maratha Empire & Sikh Empire had pretty much ended the Mugha

Similarly the Europeans showed up around the same time when the Islamic rule was in decline and the Maratha Empire & Sikh Empire had pretty much ended the Mughals. For quite sometime the East India company was working as a mercenary making deals with smaller kingdoms, the concentration of wealth from exports to Europe did give them the resources to initially run trading ports and eventually become the force behind the famed puppet rajas, often children. The Europeans rarely engaged in direct conflict until much later when they had amassed enormous power.