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While Shāh Walī Allāh's political letters have been the subject of much scholarly discussion, they are still deeply misunderstood. These misunderstandings are due, primarily, to erroneous attributions of recipients, misidentified individuals in the letters, and the failure to read these "political letters" alongside Walī Allāh's broader epistolographic corpus, contemporary biographical texts and political chronicles of the period. This article argues that far from being a critic of the Mughal Empire per se , Walī Allāh was closely associated with leading members of ʿĀlamgīr II's court. Moreover, his famous "invitation" to the Afghan ruler Aḥmad Shāh Abdālī, ostensibly asking him to invade Hindustan, should properly be understood as an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to attract the favorable attention of a military leader in order to mitigate the danger posed by his troops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a book by Michael D. Calabria titled "The Language of the Taj Mahal: Islam, Prayer, and the Religion of Shah Jahan." The book examines the Taj Mahal's inscriptional cycle in connection with Shah Jahan's religiosity and personal life. It provides new perspectives on the monument and its relationship to religion and culture in early modern India. The book is commended for its refreshing perspective on Shah Jahan and its exploration of the performative nature of architectural spaces. It is recommended for those interested in architectural history and religious history. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the concept of esotericism and its relationship to global religious history. It highlights the need to move beyond Eurocentric perspectives and colonial frameworks in understanding religion. The authors argue for a decentered historiography that acknowledges non-Western agency and cultural exchange. They also suggest that the study of esotericism can contribute to broader debates in religious studies, but caution against limiting the discussion to Western esotericism. The article calls for collaboration between different fields of study and a recognition of the global history of esotericism. [Extracted from the article]

A mobile professional and familial network of Shiʿi Muslim naturalists emerged from Kārkiyā'ī Gilan and served royal courts across much of the Persianate world during the 16th and into the 17th centuries. While its members have been known in different historiographic contexts, they have not been studied together as a unique inter-Asian society that endured according to intrinsic logics cultivated at its point of origin and numerous trans-regional homes. Mapping this network, I argue that they promoted their own kind by whetting the appetites of Persianate courts hungry for specialists to strengthen sovereignty through the universalizing power of ḥikmat , comprised of interrelated theoretical and practical sciences that the Gilanis mastered. Their endurance not only calls into question scales of analysis that amalgamate migrant networks as "Iranians," "Persianate elites," or "foreigners," which overlook such ties, but it demonstrates how shared origins superseded sectarian identity in the maintenance of such networks across time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from Persian, Urdu, Dakkhani and Marathi sources, this article examines narratives about the sixteenth century Queen-Regent of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur, Chand Bibi (1550–1600), who was also widely regarded as 'Queen of the Deccan'. Powerful Muslim women of the Deccan Sultanates have received scant, if any, attention. This article challenges the north-centric perspective of Mughal imperial development that has long dominated histories of Persianate India. Like the Deccan, Chand Bibi resists categorisation. This article delves into Chand Bibi's afterlives by grappling with the multiple accounts of the queen's demise in 1600—by murder, suicide and escape. The mythology of an immobile harem or 'zenana' is belied by the context of mobility within sixteenth century Deccan. It focuses upon on when narratives of Chand Bibi's murder, suicide and legendary escape first emerged and how they were circulated. I argue that the existence of three distinct narratives about Chand Bibi's demise reveals various perceptions about the queen, which characterise the multi-ethnic and multireligious pluralism of the Deccan region to which she belonged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explore the longue durée philosophical background of Mughal Emperor Akbar's sun worship. Although Akbar's sun project may have been triggered by contemporary Hindu and Zoroastrian ideas and practices, we argue that Akbar's Neoplatonic advisers reframed it as a universal cosmotheistic tradition that, at the start of the new millennium, served as the perfect all-inclusive imperial ideology of Akbar's new world order. The astonishing parallels with the much earlier Neoplatonic sun cult of Roman Emperor Julian demonstrate that, although having characteristic of its own, Akbar's sun project was not that unique and should be seen as a fascinating late example of a so-far completely forgotten ancient Neoplatonic legacy of seeing the philosopher king, via the Sun, via illumination, connected to the One. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the intricate form development process of imperial tombs of Lahore. The major objective of the study is to investigate the form development process based on geometric analysis and formation in Mughal funerary monuments. Furthermore, it inspects how Mughal dynasty reflects the influences of Architectural styles from neighboring regions on Mughal funerary monuments of Lahore. This research employs methodology of using existing literature to procedurally analyzes and compare underlying geometric principles and design such as shape, symmetry, scale, ratio and portion, symmetry, importance of sacred geometry, use of golden ratios and concept of hast bahisht is studied in detail. Furthermore, it also analyzes evolution of the form of these magnificent tombs from simple basic geometric shapes. By examining the prime examples of Mughal funerary monuments, this paper uncovers the geometric formation, evolution process, concept of octagonal formation and use of design principles such as symmetry in these tombs. Through, detailed analysis and historic connotation, the research provides an insight into the geometric formation in Mughal era and its amalgamation with indigenous architectural styles. This comprehensive study contributes towards better understanding of form evolution in Mughal funerary monuments and its impacts on enduring legacy on the architecture of subcontinent. To further understand the Mughal Funerary Architecture, authors recommend that future research focus on analysis of the detailed study on symmetry, spatial analysis, 3d evolution of form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, special emphasis has been laid on the role of mothers. Who had a lot of influence on politics, culture, and society? When a royal woman fell ill, it had many meanings, like Akbar's mother pretended to be ill, after which Akbar went to meet his mother, after which Bairam Khan's reign came to an end. Similarly, whenever a Shah or Sultan fell ill, politics used to start. Like it happened during the times of Alauddin Khilji, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan. Many types of drugs were also used during the Mughal period to prevent motherhood. In this way, Babar's wife, Mubarika Begum, could never become a mother because she was given drugs. When Babar's son Kamran fell ill, he feared that his stepmothers would be poisoned. In this way, the royal illness was sometimes real and sometimes feigned. For example, Malika-i Jahan spread rumors about her son's illness and went to Delhi for treatment and overnight deposed Delhi's Sultan Alauddin Masood and her son. Prince Naseeruddin Mahmood was made the Sultan of Delhi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shikarpur is one of the most historical place of Sindh, the history of this historical city begins from 1600 AD when Sindh was conquered by the Mughal Empires. The present city and its outskirts places were used as hunting fields known as Shikargah . Later on this historical place ruled by Daudpotas and Talpurs. In earlier 1800 British extended their trade to Central Asia through River Indus. In 1843 British conquered Sindh, Britishers given special attention towards Shikarpur due to its geographical location, an underground sewerage system was laid in 1890 AD, underground water supply were laid with a network of fire hydrants. as Shikarpur was the trade Hub of Central Asia and after getting special attention from Britisher, economically the city become more richer and Architecture of this city boast up people started built beautiful houses, community Havelis and other institutional Buildings by local Authorities. The workmanship and techniques of that era was very high, they were often to build two, three stories’ buildings by using local techniques, Material and workmanship. The constructions were not only functionally, structurally and aesthetically sound but also environment friendly. Scope of this research to investigate the construction techniques and material used in Heritage of Shikarpur. The research was conducted through the surveys and detailed inspection of British Era Buildings in different areas of Shikarpur city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I explore hagiographical narratives about Khwāja Yaḥyā Kabīr (d. 1430), among the earliest of the Sufi masters to be identified as Afghan. The social memory of Yaḥyā Kabīr's life exemplifies the function of hagiography as a key arena for the production of historical knowledge, generating a vivid and specific imaginary of the past for devotees. My goal here is to present a reading of the hagiography, but first I will situate it within the discursive nexus of Persian historical writing, which often essentialized Afghans as innately barbarous while peripheralizing Afghan homelands (identified with the Sulaiman Mountains). Yaḥyā Kabīr's hagiography is both reflective of Indo-Afghan anxieties about social hierarchies and a device by which marginalizing traditions could be subverted through a highly textured portrayal of the past. As such, it exemplifies how saints' lives can index not only the hierarchies of imperial life, but also the techniques by which to escape them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to a growing literature on state capacity with reference to the early modern Asian empires. The historiography of these states, and especially the Mughal empire of South Asia, has moved away from an image of unrestrained despotism towards that of a constrained state, but has yet to explore fully what these constraints were and what the state did to overcome them. Using a new dataset on conflicts in Mughal South Asia, and an analytical model, the paper shows how forgiving rebel leaders was used as a strategic tool to secure stability, in a setting where high information costs made intermediaries indispensable to the state. The paper also offers some comparison between Asian empires on the role of intermediaries in shaping state constraint and fiscal policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine a means of lightning known during the era of Mughal emperors in India called the oil lamp candlestick in terms of name, significance, and artistic style. This artifact combines the function of the candlestick and the oil lamp. The paper studies the patterns of this form of candlestick by investigating the styles available in international museums. There are several styles of this type of candlestick, including a style whose bottom part is detached completely to turn from an oil lamp into a candlestick, another whose oil container is removed to achieve the function of the lamp stick, and a third one whose oil container has a hole for fixing a candle. The study investigates the origin, uses, and spread of this type of candlestick in India. It highlights the function, dimensions, form, and functional compatibility of oil lamp candlesticks. It also illustrates the effect of the local Indian environment on oil lamp candlesticks, including the form and decorations of applied artifacts in the Mughal Indian era, as well as in relation to religious establishments. Various manufacturing methods were adopted, such as casting, welding, hammering, and perforating. Additionally, brass was used as a basic material for making this type of candlestick. The study highlights the impact of the technical unit in the Mughal Indian era on designing oil lamp candlesticks, as shown by the influences of the shape and decoration of the applied artifacts, including trays and jugs, and the architectural buildings. Furthermore, it compares the remaining styles of oil lamp candlesticks with their illustr-ations in manuscripts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a collection of notary documents referred to as the 'Cambay Documents'. The 'Cambay Documents' is a collection of around fifty documents, registered between the second half of the seventeenth to the first half of the eighteenth century. These documents were acquired by the National Archives of India from a private collection and are now in the Oriental Section of the National Archives of India, New Delhi. We explored these documents to situate the legal position of women in Mughal India. These documents are of immense importance as they are related to the practice of law rather than theory. There is a dearth of such documents in modern repositories and archives, due to the absence of any centralized archives in Mughal India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the role of Bhakti saints in music during Mughal period. During the time of Mughals, music played an essential part in Bhakti tradition. In this paper, we have noticed that Bhakti saints not only devoted themselves to worshipping God but also made significant contributions to the cultural life of their times. Listening to music to achieve a state of ecstasy and to profoundly engage in love for God is how these people express their devotion to God, and music is the medium through which they do it. By performing a variety of music that they have created themselves, Bhakti saints can effectively transmit their societal ideals and ambitions to us, which is an interesting phenomenon to observe. In this paper, we examined that with the use of regional languages in their compositions, Bhakti saints provide a common ground for the people of India. This, in turn, attracts people and fosters an environment of peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims. We see that Temples were the most effective arena for cultural transmission, and as a result, they played a crucial role in disseminating the composite tradition in art and culture. We have undertaken to trace the Mughal emperors, especially Akbar, who had a spiritual leaning towards Bhakti saints and would visit their places and listen to their music. It is quite fascinating to see that saints of the Bhakti tradition gave performances in a wide variety of musical styles throughout this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research article is an effort to explore the socio-cultural benefits of the reintegration of the open urban spaces around the historic monuments. In the Mughal period, tomb construction got the principal significance and the Royal tomb was constructed amid the spacious gardens. The selected case study, the Tomb of Nadira Begum, is a royal tomb, which was constructed in a sunken water tank. During the British period, the tank was filled and transformed in the garden. The Tomb was declared as a protected monument in 1956 and restored by the Archaeology Department in 2020. Now, the garden around the tomb has been transformed into a recreational place. Site surveys and pictorial surveys have been conducted for the evaluation of the current status. Walk thorough analysis was done to identify the dynamics of the site. It has been concluded that there is a dire need to reintegrate the space around the royal tomb for the socio-cultural sustainability of the neighborhood communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mughal gardens are a prominent figure in the history of landscape architecture, serving as a symbol of artistic talent and horticultural genius. The Mughal gardens thrived throughout the Mughal Empire's rule in South Asia, and this dissertation investigates the profound philosophy that underpinned its design planting methods. The study explores the sociocultural factors that influenced Mughal gardening practices within the historical framework of that period. This study makes use of both primary and secondary sources to illuminate the main components of Mughal Garden design, including the widespread use of geometric patterns, water features, and the blending of architecture and landscape. A strong link between the gardens and the Mughal worldview is shown when the research additionally looks at the spiritual and metaphorical meanings connected to the fauna and plants selected for these gardens. Additionally, the study focuses on the cultivation practices used by Mughal horticulturists, showcasing their creative approaches to attaining a harmonic fusion of form and function. Mughal gardens are renowned for their overall visual effect, mostly due to the careful selection and placement of their flora. This dissertation tries to uncover the underlying plantation philosophy of Mughal gardens through a thorough investigation of historical records and garden ruins, highlighting the complex interactions between art, culture, and environment throughout this era. Modern landscape designers and hobbyists may take inspiration from the Mughal approach to horticulture and apply its timeless wisdom to contemporary gardening techniques by comprehending the fundamental ideas that guided the building of these gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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"Grief and the Shaping of Muslim Communities in North India, c. 1857–1940s" by Eve Tignol is a book that explores how elite north Indian Muslims expressed grief and related emotions during the British Raj. The author analyzes Urdu-language poetry, memoirs, letters, and other manuscripts to understand the cultural and historical context of these expressions. Tignol highlights the term "gham," which encompasses various connotations of grief and nostalgia. The book also discusses the impact of colonialism on the Muslim community and the different approaches taken by Muslim leaders in response to Indian nationalism. Overall, this volume offers valuable insights into the emotions and experiences of Muslims in North India during this period. [Extracted from the article]

Jyotsna Singh's book, "A Companion to the Global Renaissance," challenges the traditional Eurocentric view of the Renaissance as a revival of European art and culture in 15th century Italy. The second edition expands on this perspective by including contributions that focus on regions such as Europe, the Islamic empires, the Far East, Africa, North America, and the Caribbean. The book also highlights the importance of lyric poetry in understanding the global Renaissance. While the collection is praised for its expanded geography and diverse perspectives, some argue that a more radical approach is needed to fully decenter Western European culture and scholarship. Overall, the book offers valuable insights into the Renaissance beyond Italy and Europe. [Extracted from the article]

The document titled "Books received 2023" provides a list of books published in 2023 that may be of interest to library patrons conducting research on various topics. The books cover a range of subjects, including literature, history, politics, and art. Some notable titles include "Shakespeare and University Drama in Early Modern England" by Daniel Blank, "Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire" by Nandini Das, and "The Political Thought of the English Free State, 1649-1653" by Markku Peltonen. The list includes information on the authors, publishers, publication dates, page counts, and prices of the books. [Extracted from the article]

This article identifies and examines Persian-language culinary manuals that were produced in South Asia between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries. In doing so, it centres three empirical loci: the definition of food as it was conceptualised during the period under study; the impetus for the textualisation and standardisation of culinary knowledge; and core principles that undergird the cuisine of the Mughal elite. Engaging with these themes, the article privileges the intersection between the discourses on body, food, and ethical self-fashioning as the key site of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is concerned primarily with Maulana Azad's early political and theological writings with a view to understanding his positions on Islam and the non-Islamic religions. It opens with a brief description of his discussion of Mughal history and religious culture, and then notes his portrayal of Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624) as an exemplary political figure, who raised his voice against Akbar's heresy. This portrayal has had a significant historiographical afterlife. Several modern scholars followed Azad's reading. The article asks whether Azad was truly the first to have such a view of the saint, and thereby influenced the modern writings on Mughal India. We will notice that Sirhindi was already portrayed as a political figure in the Mughal-era historical accounts devoted to him. Azad only chose to work within a certain memory of Sirhindi—but why did he choose to use an earlier tradition and not a purely religious interpretive framework of his own for analysing and presenting the saint's position? The article examines Azad's rationale for such a portrayal in light of his political concerns. It then discusses in some depth the theological discourses in his Tazkira and the early issues of Al-Hilāl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three centuries after the Mongol-era historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318) wrote his influential account of China, an émigré Christian convert from Islam translated Matteo Ricci's book on China into Persian in Mughal Delhi. In doing so, he provided a remarkably detailed depiction of the rulers, religions, and regulations of the Ming empire that greatly updated, and superseded, Rashid al-Din's celebrated account. Nonetheless, by the very virtue of its triangulated origins—between China, Europe, and India; between Chinese, Latin, and Persian—this was a fraught endeavour. For Chinese cultural traditions had to be rendered into Islamicate Persian terms that were approximate equivalents for Latin Christian terms which themselves inevitably misrepresented Confucian terms that in turn provided biased depictions of Buddhist and Daoist beliefs. By looking at two moments of the transmission of Ricci into Persian—in the early modern era of manuscripts and amid the colonial ascent of Indian print—this article uses translation as a lens through which to observe both the reach and limits of the cross-cultural connections that have captivated global historians in recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1650s in Mughal India 'Mobad' (Kaikhusrau Isfandyār) wrote a remarkable work, titled Dabistān , devoted to a description of the world's major religions. He adopted an avowedly objective approach that he strives to maintain throughout. An account of the religious tendencies under Akbar is offered in a long concluding chapter, dedicated to Islam. The account is given in two nearly totally different versions. In Version A, Akbar is credited with supernatural powers, with many anecdotes offered of their exercise. In Version B, all such anecdotes have been deleted and replaced by an extensive account of inter-religious debates held under Akbar, in which Christian (and Jewish) objections to Islamic traditions figure prominently. This version also seems to have been the major source of the belief current in later times that Akbar established a sect of his own under the designation of dīn-i ilāhī. In both versions the section on Akbar closes with the insightful observation that Akbar's policy of forming a nobility composed of diverse racial and religious elements was designed to protect the monarchy from any possibility of a unified aristocratic opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transmission of idea and inner reality is an important feature of images. This fact has always been accompanied with the display of mental and ideological tensions in historical images. Representing historical characters is one of the most significant features of the Indian Mughal miniature, which has been the manifestation of Mughal emperors’ tastes and interests. There are some crucial points in such portraits which are remained unknown due to reliance on the mere superficial structures and implications. Actually, two important features, i.e. authority and spirituality, are of immense significance in these portraits. Adopting a descriptive-analytical methodology, the present article is to answer the following question: What are the main visual elements relating to authority and spirituality in the Mughal portraits in India? Studying 30 portraits as case studies in this research, the results show that the manifestation of authority and spirituality in the trinity of emperor, sheikh and yogi were considered more than others, and this has been represented in the portraits of the king more conspicuously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the expansion and international reach of the journal "Seventeenth Century" in its 39th year of publication. The previous volume included research articles, review articles, and book reviews on various topics related to the seventeenth century. The journal received submissions from scholars in 20 different countries and published contributions from scholars in 12 countries. The current issue features articles on the Church of Ireland, philosophical writings, popular entertainment, legal disputes, diplomatic communication, and hospitality in Spanish America. The issue also includes book reviews on academic drama, natural theology, Grotius's Annals of the War in the Low Countries, political thought during the English Free State, and the legacy of Cromwell. [Extracted from the article]

Stefanie Gänger's book, "A Singular Remedy: Cinchona across the Atlantic World, 1751–1820," explores the global history of cinchona, also known as "Peruvian bark," and its widespread consumption across the Atlantic world. Gänger argues that while cinchona was adapted to local tastes and conditions, there were significant shared understandings among different groups. The book draws on a wide range of European sources and examines the distribution, preparation, and application of cinchona as a medical remedy. Gänger's work contributes to the understanding of the global circulation of medicinal substances and calls for further research in this area. [Extracted from the article]

Across the early modern Islamicate world, the phenomenon of eunuch slavery constitutes a significant aspect of courtly contexts and royal households. Although Mughal historiography has focused on the eunuch primarily in relation to the harem, this article analyses the function of such figures in regulating elite male space, in order to explore how these practices shaped both the representation of courtly life as well as the dynamics animating the Mughal court and the inner palace. As is shown in both textual and visual materials, enslaved, castrated men appear as figures both marking and mediating the perimeters of such spaces. In the process they played an important part in the spatial formation of access, intimacy, and hierarchical relations. However, their formative role in mediating elite social interactions at times entangled eunuchs in political conflict. The article concludes with an examination of a particularly dense archive of evidence from the reign of Aurangzeb dealing with royal princes. This material underlines the sometimes-precarious situation of eunuchs in moments of intrafamilial struggle, a fact which suggests the complicated reality of these kinds of intimate roles not only in Mughal princely households but wherever they took on such proximate positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic on overland routes connecting the Indian subcontinent to the Iranian Plateau and Central Asia increased from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries. This led to the formation of strong states in the Kabul-to-Delhi region—namely, the state ruled by the later Lodīs in north India, the embryonic Mughal state in Kabul, and the Arghūn state in Qandahar (1479–1522). This article will especially investigate the latter. Since there is no mercantile archive for this period, I will make use of narrative sources, especially the little-used "court history" of the Arghūns, the Nuṣratnāmā-i Tarkhān (completed circa 1565) in search of political and economic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the extravagant usage of gold in Mughal miniature court painting to depict overgenerous lifestyle of Mughal emperors, especially evaluates the lavish epoch of Shah Jahan. This paper employs descriptive research method to analyze that gold deeply impacted the visual attraction and became symbolic depiction of Mughal art, with a particular emphasis on Shah Jahan's era, often mentioned to as the Golden Age of the Mughal Empire. With the historical imagery references in Mughal miniature paintings, this paper aims to illuminate the various roles that gold has played, such as a symbol of wealth, decoration, and its connection to Mughal traditional art. The conclusion refers that the gold's enduring symbolism of wealth and power that remains vibrant in contemporary society, preserving its coveted position as a symbol of significance and prestige. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads were developed by humans in ancient times. With the passage of time these structures went through development and took form of modern highways. A complex structure of road network existed in Indian sub-continent during imperialism in South Asia. When Mughals developed their Empire, they further developed that road network. These routes were used for various purposes like local as well as interstate trade, postal services, and movement of royal army. Individual travelers and caravans also moved on those roads. Valuable items were carried by travelers on these routes hence various groups of professional robbers, thieves and thugs were gradually formed who robbed and killed travelers. Mughal Emperors took various measures to address this issue. Administrative officers were given the task to make arrangements to provide security to travelers. Rest houses (Sarai) were made, check posts were created and local responsibility law was continued which required local village heads to provide security on roads which were present near their villages. A strong spying network was established which kept the emperor well informed about the happenings in the state. Culprits were either killed in encounters with Mughal troops or captured by the village vigil force or they were presented before Emperor and Judges who punished these criminals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional architecture of any area embodies its true character, deeply rooted in the history, geography, and culture of that region. It does not only satisfy the functional requirements but also stems from local construction techniques and materials available. Traditional architecture faces the problem of its coexistence with modern technological development everywhere. The built heritage which stands in Lahore over centuries is encroached by modern and efficient techniques. The present paper specifically focuses on the development of Jharokha windows (Bay windows) in Lahore. The Jharokha window that was used in the Indian subcontinent during and after the Mughal period was the solution to the climatic conditions of the region. This research will investigate the old Jharokha window form and how with technology and advancement it starts losing its original form. The change in Jharokha form will be studied by the existing examples from different time periods available in the city of Lahore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging literary field of speculative and fantasy fiction in India has opened up possibilities for literature to address and rethink in new forms the issues of history, nationalism, and identity, as well as to engage critically with (often tabooed) topics of gender and sexuality. Many of these concerns are explored in the novel The Devourers (2015) by Indra Das. The Devourers is a Gothic horror story about shape-shifting monsters (werewolves), their lives and love-affairs in India through the span of several hundred years. While strategically situating the narrative in some of the most important historical periods of Indian history (the Mughal Empire, the British Raj, neoliberal contemporary India), the novel also carefully incorporates the notions of foreignness, monstrosity, sexual fluidity, colonial memory and hybridity in order to forge out a critical commentary on contemporary India. Therefore, taking into account novel's concerns and major topics I argue that The Devourers employs the imagery of a werewolf monster in order to comment on a current socio-political climate of India and its cultural anxieties concerning sexual and national identities, and to present an alternative version of Indian identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia has a variety of diverse ancient cultures and civilizations. In this paper, we studied the architecture of a UNESCO tentative heritage site: Badshahi Mosque Lahore (BMLH, 1671-1673), built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir (AA). The site is special since it had the largest mosque title (human capacity = 100,000) in the world from 1673 to 1986, has great architectural importance, and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. Various mosque architectures (MA) emerged over the past 1400 years worldwide to preserve each region's diversity, identity, and culture. A documentation visit was arranged to study this site and feel the real architecture of the Mughals after decades of preserved form. The study found that BMLH underwent significant alterations while keeping the original MA. This unique study further focused on the basic architecture of the Mughal Era. A detailed study of the architectural themes of BMLH showed that the architectural style of this heritage included regional, cultural, and traditional impacts. By analyzing the architectural themes and distinctive features of BMLH, we have uncovered the distinct regional, religious, and psychological influences that led to Mughal-era mosque architecture's development. Further documentation was reported about the current structural situation of Badshahi Mosque; the number of seepages has been pointed out, and several decays were sighted during our visit. For this significant site's perfect preservation, it was proposed that high-end preservation strategies be implemented in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gedung Sate was built to accommodate various architectural styles derived from local and foreign elements. The local elements have been widely studied, such as those relating to the architecture of 'Candi' on the island of Java. Many external elements are associated with the Moorish European style and that of the Dutch. However, according to the elements, it also indicates the existence of Indian Islamic architecture; the Mughal style. This study of the Islamic elements of Mughal India has not been pursued or presented any further. This study aims to identify the traces of Islamic architecture in the Gedung Sate, especially those derived from the Mughal, Moorish, and local styles. This research method used a qualitative approach by studying the morphology of Gedung Sate and Mughal or Moorish architecture to identify the relationship between their architectural elements. The results show that Gedung Sate does indeed show the use of Mughal architectural elements, especially in the outer layout and mass, processing of the figure section, and the ornamental exterior column. Meanwhile the Moorish influence is more visible in the processing of curved elements and column heads, also slender interior columns showing light elements. The idea of using Islamic architecture is carried out to represent the splendor in the typology of new buildings in Bandung. Indian architecture is used as the reference because it is considered to have a close relationship with Candi as an important resource in Java. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the use of dharmaśāstra in Mughal India through the case of a little-known seventeenth-century Persian translation of a dharmaśāstra text entitled Aḥkām-i awāmir wa nawāhī-yi mazhab-i hunūd (Legal rulings on commanding [right] and forbidding [wrong] of the legal school of the Hindus). The work, apparently completed in 1658 by a Kāyastha named Lāl Bihārī Bhojpurī, is a translation of the Yājñavalkya Smṛti together with the Mitākṣarā and includes lavish praise of Aurangzeb ʿĀlamgīr (d. 1707). I investigate the broader context in which the Aḥkām was produced and argue that this work represents an effort to delineate the boundaries of a separate legal space for Hindus from the standpoint of a munshī committed to Persianate culture and the ethos of Mughal imperial service. Persian dharmaśāstra translations later came to play a role in British colonial efforts to codify Hindu law for use in the administration of justice. The prior engagements with dharmaśāstra in the Persian language are suggestive of a more complex background to such colonial enterprises than modern scholarship has hitherto identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mughal chronicles frequently refer to royal Mughal infants being entrusted to wet nurses for breastfeeding and nurturing. The women chosen for this purpose were invariably the wives of important Mughal officials. It was believed that the quality of milk the baby received determined its future disposition. Therefore, these nurses needed to possess desirable psychological qualities and moral temperaments. They were accorded a high status and usually established a lasting relationship with their charges. As a result, the children of the emperor developed a close association with their wet nurses and their families who, in turn, became the staunchest supporters of their wards. The success, influence, and prestige of these families depended on the political fortune of the royal child they had cared for. If the prince became an emperor, they gained immense power and prestige both in life and death. They were honoured with elaborate funerals and buried in imperial tombs. This article argues that the rationale behind the use of wet nurses by Mughal royalty during Emperor Akbar's reign was not simply a medical or physiological one, it was equally a political instrument for forging ties between prominent families and royalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1562 and 1579, the third Mughal emperor Akbar undertook 17 pilgrimages to the Sufi shrine of Muinuddin Chishti in Ajmer in western India. This article analyses them as a form of peripatetic kingship. It studies specific actions of the emperor in and around Ajmer to show how they articulated a specific understanding of monarchy, one that derived legitimacy from the spiritual authority of Sufi masters and sacred sites. It then shows how the strategic location of the town of Ajmer allowed the young emperor to use it as a base for military expansion and political consolidation in western and central India. It also discusses how the journeys allowed Akbar to carry out vital facets of imperial governance, like exploring the realms, forging alliances with local chieftains, and creating public infrastructure. They also served as a public site for the performance of kingship and sovereignty. The final portion of the article explains how a paradigmatic shift in the conceptualisation and performance of Mughal kingship—whereby the ideal of monarchy as a product of Sufi charisma and Islamic piety made way for more universalist and millenarian ideals—brought a sudden end to the pilgrimages after 1579. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sufi Muslims spread Islam throughout the subcontinent, guiding every section of the society towards the true teachings of Islam and also presenting the best practical examples of Islamic teachings. However, in the last period of the Delhi Sultans, there was a proliferation of counterfeit Sufis who generally became a source of error and disbelief in the society. Although at the beginning of the Mughal period, the Qadri and the Chishtia orders were spread all over the subcontinent, many hoax Sufis began making a profound impact here during this period too. This later emerged in the form of various movements and orders like the Mughal emperor Akbar, during his reign, introduced the divine religion or Din-e-Ilahi for various reasons. Madariya, Mahdia, Roshniya, Zakaria, Jalalia and Kak were some other noteworthy misleading movements and orders of that time which caused a large number of Muslims to go astray. This article contains a brief historical overview of the movements and orders of those deviant Muslim Sufis and a brief account of the important efforts of religious scholars who spent their lives in reforming the deviant religious ideas and misguidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of Mughal history has relied extensively on manuscript sources in Persian language, especially court chronicles, travelers' tales, biographical dictionaries, and statistical accounts. Visual evidence, to the limited extent it is identified for study, tends to focus on court paintings, monumental architecture, or exceptional regalia left by royals. This essay breaks new ground by introducing a less elite source with striking visuals that helps to challenge dominant explanations of social change in eighteenth-century India. The source is the Persian diary of a lower-level Mughal bureaucrat named Itimad Ali Khan titled Mirat-ul Ḥaqaiq or Mirror of Events. Produced in the 1720s and acquired by East India Company official James Fraser during his stay in Gujarat, the compendium is now held at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. We begin by highlighting the cultural environment within which the Mirat-ul Ḥaqaiq was produced, and then present a conjectural interpretation of some stunning and unusual border art set across eight folios of the manuscript. Critical to this effort is an altogether new translation of the 71 lines of poetry that accompany the colorful illustrations. The art sequence tells the tale of a powerful and overconfident Cat King who is unexpectedly defeated by mice underlings. Despite recent scholarship that emphasizes eighteenth-century India as a period of continuity, growth, and economic prosperity, we suggest that for those directly involved in Mughal administration like Itimad Ali Khan, the spirit of the age felt more like one of social decline and political disorder boldly expressed by the topsy-turvy imagery of mice devouring cats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1930s Hindi short story "Mugaloṃ ne saltanat bakhś dī" ("The Mughals Gave the Sultanate Away") by self-proclaimed apolitical author Bhagavatīcaraṇ Varmā offers an alternative version of how the British Crown took the rule of India away from the Mughal Empire. An in-depth analysis of this story written during the buildup to the decolonization of India evaluates how two different kinds of what is often referred to as "outside rulers" are depicted in this story: the Mughal emperors and the British colonial rulers. This case study assesses whether the story shows a different attitude toward Mughals and the centuries-old Muslim culture in India, compared to how both historic rulers are viewed and represented by right-wing Hindu nationalists: Muslim Indians seem to be made part of the "other" rather than a part of an inclusive interpretation of the Indian "self." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]