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Synopsis This book has two parts, the King and the Ruling Elite and Persian Sources in translation. The first part rests all types of sources: narrative, numismatic, epigraphic, and literary. It includes a reappraisal, based on neglected evidence, of the state policies and administrative measures of the Mughal emperors. The use of literary materials helps to correct the views of official historians like Abul Fazl on the mature of Mughal rule in India and the opposition to it. The second part contains a critical survey of the Persian sources on the Afghan dynasties in India and an English translation of a portion of the Afsanah-i-Shahan of Shaykh Kabir Batini. This excerpt provides new information on the Karrani rule in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It also gives vital insights into cultural life and the state role in it. An immense advance on existing scholarship, this book gives a new understanding of the formation and nature of Mughal rule.