Sunday, November 17, 2013

Mughal Studies

Mughal Studies is really quite a vibrant field. Apart from the wider trend of looking at the 'so-called' Gunpower Empires as a cultural continuity and stressing the need for a connected histories approach that rejects the categorisation of nationalist historiographies, there have been a number of excellent developments.
First, we have this blog - the Mughalist - which brings together materials and links that are essential if you are interested in the area.
Second, Azfar Moin's ground-breaking monograph The Millenial Sovereign builds upon recent re-assessments of the dominance of messianism from the Timurid period onwards. He argues for continuities of Safavid and Mughal conceptions of kingships as sacral in ways which places the king above the religious communities that constitute his subjects.
Third, there is the recent work of Munis Faruqui on the administration and functions of the Mughal Empire focusing on the role of princes. Here is a recent lecture of his on Dārā Shikuh. This is part of an ongoing project on Dārā that he has. Alongside a new book on the formation of Mughal Empire, he is writing about Dārā and his context.


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