Mughal India : studies in polity, ideas, society, and culture / M Athar Ali

Antecedents: 1. The Islamic Background to Indian History, 2. Encounter and Efflorescence; 3. Nobility under Muhammad Tughluq, 4. Capital of the Sultans; 5. The Punjab Between the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Centuries; Formation of the Empire: 6. Towards and Interpretation of the Mughal Empire, 7. The Pre-Colonial Social Structure and the Polity of the Mughal Empire, 8. The Mughal Polity, 9. Political Structures of the Islamic Orient in the Sixteenth and SeventeenthCenturies, Political Thought: 10. The evolution of the Perception of India ; 11. The State in Islamic Thought in India, 12. Elements of Social Justice in Medieval Islamic Thought; The Religious World: 13. The 'Vision' in the Salt Range, 1578, 14. Sulh-i Kul and the Religious Ideas of Akbar, 15.Translations of Sanskrit Works at Akbar's Court, 16. The Religious World of Jahangir, 17. The Religious Environment under Shah Jahan, 18. Sidelights into Ideological and Religious Attitudes in the Punjab during the Seventeenth Century, 19. Pursuing an Elusive Seeker of Universal Truth, 20. Muslims' Perceptions of Judaism and Christianity in Medieval India; The Politics of Empire: 21. The Religious Issue in the War of Succession 1658-59; 22. Causes of the Rathor Rebellion of 1679, 23. ProvincialGovernors Under Aurangzeb; The Empire and Contemporary Powers: 24. 'International Law' or Conventions Governing Conduct of Relations between Asian States, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries; 25. Jahangir and the Uzbeks, 26. The Objectives Behind Mughal Expedition into Balkh and Badakhshan, 1646-47;The Passing of Empire: 27. The Passing of the Empire, 28. Recent Theories of Eighteenth-century India; Sources: 29. History in Indo-Muslim Tradition, 30. The Use of Sources in Mughal Historiography, 31. The Correspondence of Aurangzeb and its Historical Significance; Bibliography, Index; Map, 'Scientific Frontier' in Afghanisthan

The late Professor M. Athar Ali was one of the foremost authorities on Mughal history. This book is a selection of some of his best essays on a wide range of themes from the realm of ideas (including religion) to polity, administration, society and culture of the Mughal period (sixteenth to eighteenth centuries). Some essays are interpretative, others represent detailed research, and rest share both elements. What unites them is his critical approach and consistence proximity to the Persian source material. The book includes a critique of 'revisionist' approaches in the study of the Mughal polity, and a section on sources. Professor Irfan Habib has provided the preface. This selection of thirty-one essays on the Mughal period (with a few on the pre-Mughal period) will be extremely useful to students and researchers of history and scholars of Islam."