International Journal of Innovative Research and Development

Abstract

Most scholars have either located or questioned the Mughal Empire's remarkable strength by examining its administrative and political institutions (such as the jagirdari, mansabdari, legal, and taxation systems). In contrast, networks were the real foundation upon which the Mughal Empire, like its Ottoman and Safavid contemporaries, was erected and maintained. Unlike the case of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, however, Mughal princes were key factors in forging and working the networks that supported Mughal rule. The relationship between empire and networks through the institution of the Mughal Prince and against a backdrop of princely retinue construction, rebellion against the emperor, and wars of succession have played an important role. My article traces this process between 1569 and 1657, over three generations of imperial princes. Beyond a re-examination of the history of the Mughal Empire

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My paper explores the intersections between religion, Islamic legitimacy, and historiography. It investigates the ways Muslim historians, living in India during a dynamic and conflictual age, attempted to narrate the religious and ethical values of Muslim courts and their sovereigns through the creative process of history writing. Significantly, it marks the first sustained political, military, and cultural presence of Turko-Persian speaking Muslims in North India. With the establishment of Muslim courts at Delhi, the sultans who ruled from there initiated a process of empire building that eventually spread across the entirety of the Indian subcontinent. While their political expansions were achieved through diplomacy, forged alliances, and the sheer force of military arms, those gains were sustained by the careful projection of Islamic religious symbols that legitimated their rule. To accomplish this, historians aligned the history of the sultans of Delhi with an idealized and universal history of Islam. In the process, Islam was interpreted and projected as a religion of empire with the mandate of divine guidance.

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My paper addresses several interrelated issues currently of central concern in research on early modern South Asian history. This includes debates concerning the nature of the Mughal Empire’s efforts toward administrative centralization and subsequent imperial decline and the role and impact of commercialization and trade.

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Several pre-modern successor states and other polities arose during the period of Mughal decline after 1707.Jaipur was a prime example of a polity which developed from a patriarchal, clan-dominated entity into a more consolidated, centralized domain during the period of its subservience to Mughal rule. Its internal administration was shaped according to the Mughal model, but the elements of informal, patriarchal relationships, although eroded, remained. Further centralization and territorial expansion occurred after 1707 when its talented ruler, Raja Savai Jai Singh, reshaped the boundaries of the polity. He utilized his influence at Delhi as well as his appointments to thegovernorships of Malwa and Agra to gain long-term assignments and leases. He also meddled in regional politics to gain control over other Rajput polities and branches of his own clan. 

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