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A hundred and fifty years lie between the death of Aurangzeb andthe final extinction of the Mughal empire. In its first hundred andfifty years the empire had seen six rulers, but during the nextcentury and a half the Qila-i-Mualla would witness the passage ofas many as eleven emperors if one leaves out the six or sevenfailed pretenders. It was a period of violence and disorder, witharmies constantly on the march across a landscape of increasingmisery, impoverishment, and desolation. The Forgotten Mughals isthe story of these largely pageant emperors with their increasinglyineffectual ministers, and their gradual decline into irrelevancewhile younger and more powerful forces, both Indian and foreign,grappled with each other for the mastery of Hindostan. The landmarkevents like the wars of succession, the dictatorship of the Syedbrothers, the Nadir Shahi and Durrani invasions with theirattendant horrors, the bloodbath of Panipat and the final sack ofDelhi in 1857 are all covered in detail. The books strength lies inits anecdotal details, like that of young Muhammad Shah, hidingbehind the ample skirts of the formidable Sadr un-Nissa,superintendent of the harem, and of Bidar Dil cowering in a closet,while the emissaries of Qutb-ul-Mulk tried, in vain, to convincehis women that they had, in fact, come to call him to the throne.And who will believe today that, as part of the retributive justiceof the British, for nearly twenty years the Zinat masjid inDaryaganj was used as a bakery, and that the basement of theFatehpuri mosque was sold to Seth Chuna Mall?ISBN - 9788173046018
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Pages : 552
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