In the backdrop of the decline of the Mughal empire, this book studies two contrasting regions in north India-Awadh and Punjab. It offers a bold new interpretation of the period by focussing on the agrarian uprisings, the jagirdari system, and the emergence of a new regionally-based political order. This edition includes a new introduction.
The collapse of the Mughal empire has often been characterized as a period of political fragmentation, social unrest, and economic decay. Contrasting two regions in north India--Awadh and the Punjab--Muzaffar Alam contends that even as the empire declined, there emerged a new, regionally-based political order, maintained and controlled by former Mughal rulers. From agrarian uprisings to the jagiardari system, the Sikhs to the Zamindars, this book presents a bold new interpretation of an important transition in Indian government.
The Mughal Empire is a fascinating mosaic in the history of India. The 'decline' of the Mughal Empire, along with its power, wealth, stability, territoriality, and exquisite and surreal character, has engaged historians for several decades in a complex and contentious debate. This volume explores the divergent views and discussions that surround the withering of this empire and focuses on the different paradigms and assumptions that have shaped the interpretations of this decline. A part of the Debates in Indian History and Society series, this volume tackles questions regarding the Mughal Empire. Was the decline a mere deterioration of power over a period of roughly thirty to fifty years or did the decentralizing tendencies of the empire become more apparent and aggressive during these particular years? Did the decline of the Mughal Empire lead to a 'dark age', or notwithstanding the decline and the political collapse of the centre, did the Indian economy and polity continue to flourish? This book will be of interest to students, teachers, and scholars of medieval and modern Indian history.
Based on a critical study of a large number of contemporary Persian texts, court chronicles, epistolary collections, and biographies of sufi mystics, The Mughals and the Sufis examines the complexities in the relationship between Mughal political culture and the two dominant strains of Islam's Sufi traditions in South Asia: one centered around orthodoxy, the other focusing on a more accommodating and mystical spirituality. Muzaffar Alam analyses the interplay of these elements, their negotiation and struggle for resolution via conflict and coordination, and their longer-term outcomes as the empire followed its own political and cultural trajectory as it shifted from the more liberal outlook of Emperor Akbar "The Great" (r. 1556–1605) to the more rigid attitudes of his great-grandson, Aurangzeb 'Alamgir (r. 1658–1701). Alam brings to light many new and underutilized sources relevant to the religious and cultural history of the Mughals and reinterprets well-known sources from a new perspective to provide one of the most detailed and nuanced portraits of Indian Islam under the Mughal Empire available today.
A reissue of a classic that has been out of print for many years. Friedmann analyses the significance of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi in Islamic thought, through a study of his celebrated collection of letters.
Between the mid-sixteenth and early nineteenth century, the Mughal Empire was an Indo-Islamic dynasty that ruled as far as Bengal in the east and Kabul in the west, as high as Kashmir in the north and the Kaveri basin in the south. The Mughals constructed a sophisticated, complex system of government that facilitated an era of profound artistic and architectural achievement. They promoted the place of Persian culture in Indian society and set the groundwork for South Asia's future development. In this volume, two leading historians of early modern South Asia present nine major joint essays on the Mughal Empire, framed by an essential introductory reflection. Making creative use of materials written in Persian, Indian vernacular languages, and a variety of European languages, their chapters accomplish the most significant innovations in Mughal historiography in decades, intertwining political, cultural, and commercial themes while exploring diplomacy, state-formation, history-writing, religious debate, and political thought. Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam center on confrontations between different source materials that they then reconcile, enabling readers to participate in both the debate and resolution of competing claims. Their introduction discusses the comparative and historiographical approach of their work and its place within the literature on Mughal rule. Interdisciplinary and cutting-edge, this volume richly expands research on the Mughal state, early modern South Asia, and the comparative history of the Mughal, Ottoman, Safavid, and other early modern empires.
Widely acclaimed when it first appeared in hard covers, Dr Bayly's authoritative study traces the evolution of North Indian towns and merchant communities from the decline of Mughal dominion to the consolidation of mature Victorian empire following the 'mutiny' of 1857. The first section of the book looks at the response of the inhabitants of the Ganges Valley to the 'Time of Troubles' in the eighteenth century. The second section shows how the incoming British, were themselves constrained to build their new empire on this resilient network of towns, rural bazaars and merchant communities; and how in turn colonial trade and administration were moulded by indigenous forms of commerce and politics. The third section focuses on the social history of the towns under early colonial rule and includes an analysis of the culture and business methods of the Indian merchant family. It is based in part on the private records and histories of the business people themselves.
