The Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

This important book, first published in 1966, led to a reconsideration of many long-held views regarding the ethnic composition of the Mughal ruling classes and the role of the nobility in a formally centralized state apparatus. It also illustrates how quantitative methods could be successfully applied to the study of political history.

Athar Ali explores the structure and functioning of the administrative institutions of the Mughal empire. His extensive study of the ethnic and religious identities among the nobility, particularly under Aurangzeb, led him to revise many conventional views, such as the 'Hindu reaction' against Aurangzeb's rule and the domination of foreign factions within the Mughal nobility.

The revised edition includes an enlarged bibliography and a new introduction which assesses the theories of the 'segmentary state', regionalization, and 'corporate groups' pertaining to the Mughal empire of the late seventeenth century. The book is essential reading for historians of medieval India.

M. Athar Ali (1925-1998) was a leading scholar of medieval Indian history. He is the author of The Apparatus of Empire: Awards of Ranks, Offices and Titles to the Mughal Nobility, 1574-1658 (OUP, 1985).

THIS book is based on a Ph.D. thesis submitted with the same title to the Aligarh Muslim University in 1961. It has been prepared under the Research Scheme of the Department of History, which made it possible for me to pursue my research for a number of years.

I am grateful to Mr. Badr-ud-Din Tyabji, the then Vice Chancellor of the University, for having taken the trouble of reading this book in typescript and making suggestions in regard to its presentation.

I also take this opportunity to thank my teachers and colleagues to whom I am deeply indebted.

I must express my deep sense of gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Satish Chandra, who was always very generous to me, both with his time and attention. Professor Mohammad Habib has given me guidance on a large number of points; and only those who have benefited from his stimulating discourses can really appreciate the broad understanding of the basic problems that one can gain from him. I have also obtained constant inspiration from Professor S. A. Rashid's sympathetic interest in my work. Professor S. Nurul Hasan has always been very helpful to me, and I have the greatest pleasure in thanking him for all he has done to make the writing of this book possible. I have also been helped in various ways by my esteemed friend and colleague, Dr. Irfan Habib.

I am greatly obliged to Maharaj Kumar Raghubir Singh, M. P., for his kind permission to use his magnificent library of manuscripts at Sitamau. I am also grateful to the staff of the Maulana Azad Library and to Mrs. Saeeda Ansari of the Library of the Department of History, for their helpful cooperation.

I should like to thank my colleagues, Messrs Iqtidar Alam Khan, Ahsan Jan Qaisar, Refaqat Ali Khan, Ahsan Raza Khan and Satish Kumar, and Miss Aziza Hasan for their help in correcting the type- script and checking the proofs and in other matters.

Finally, I must acknowledge my deep gratitude to my wife, Feroza Khatoon, for her cooperation and indulgence in the face of the strain and stress which the writing of this book involved.

It is an oft-repeated dictum that in Indian historical writing the ruled have been largely ignored. Yet it is equally true that the rulers too have not received adequate attention. There exist, of course, many impressive biographies of Indian monarchs and histories of royal dynasties. But kings, however despotic they might have been, and how- ever grandiose their pretensions, after all represented only a part-even though an essential part of the ruling class. The remaining members of the ruling class, who appear usually, but not invariably, as nobles or officers of the kings, also deserve close attention. Yet it need hardly be argued that the composition, traditions, predilections, etc., of this class, or of the various strata that might comprise it, are of at least as much importance as the characters and policies of individual monarchs.

This book, as its title shows, does not pretend to cover the medieval period, or the whole of the Mughal times, but concerns itself only with the nobility of the last Indian Empire under the last of its great Emperors. In so far as it is an excursion into a largely uncharted field, it is, perhaps, best that it should aim at surveying only a small part of the vast field. For various reasons the subject confined within these limitations may still be considered not unimportant. The Mughal Empire began to disintegrate under Aurangzeb's own eyes and the processs of dissolution became only more marked and rapid under his successors. In other words at a time when the West was forging ahead in every field of life, Indian society was not only static, nor even stagnant, but, politically at least, degenerating and even receding from the levels it had previously reached. In what ways is this political decline, of such momentous consequence for the later course of Indian history, to be explained? Obviously such an explanation, to be plausible, cannot be provided on the basis of speculation or a priori assumptions or by simple appeal to the usual text-book formulae (e.g. personal degeneration of the kings, luxurious life at the court, inefficiency of administration), which are of doubtful value precisely because they can be applied with equal ease to every dynasty or empire. A detailed study of all the elements of the structure of the Mughal Empire can perhaps better supply the ground- work for such an explanation. Among these elements, the Mughal ruling class occupies a noteworthy place; and a detailed analysis of its nature and role would seem to be desirable.