The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors [Paperback]

Abraham Eraly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2004

In December 1525, Babur, the great grandson of the Mongol conqueror Tamberlaine, crossed the Indus river into the Punjab with a modest army. At the battle of Panipat five months later, he routed the mammoth army of the Afghan ruler of Hindustan. Mughal rule in India had begun. It was to continue for over three centuries, shaping India for all time. Full of dramatic episodes and colourful detail, The Mughal Empire tells the story of one of the world's great empires.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This meticulously researched book that recounts late medieval Indian history--from 1526 to 1707--is part of a four-volume study that will cover the history of India from the beginning up to 1858. Chronologically, this is the third volume, although it is the first to be published. The author describes in detail two of the many battles the Mughals fought and depicts the everyday life of the six rulers and the people, saying that his objective is "to portray life rather than merely to chronicle history." Eraly discusses the camp followers, civilians fleeing the approaching armies, and soldiers suffering from thirst and hunger as they cross deserts and snowbound mountain passes. He tells of elephants and beautiful women exchanged as spoils of war and recounts the rulers' taste in clothes, perfume, liquor, wine, tobacco, opium, and concubines. This account of the Mughal conquest of India is essential in understanding that period of history. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Highly accessible history, full of illuminating asides.” -- Kirkus Reviews

“This account of the Mughal conquest of India is essential in understanding that period of history.” -- Booklist

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Product Details

• Paperback: 555 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753817586
• ISBN-13: 978-0753817582
• Product Dimensions: 1.8 x 5.2 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the Mughals made India, May 18, 2007

By 

M. A Newman (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors (Paperback)

This is a fascinating book involving a fascintating period in the history of India. During the heyday of Mughal rule, India was one of the world's leading civilizations. Here was an elite that ruled intelligently (at least at first), allowing Moslem and Hindu worship freely and equally and producing some of the great monuments of civilization, the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and the city constructed by one of the emperors, Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri.

The focus of the book is the emperors themselves. It begins with Babur, who came out of Central Asia, a descendent of Tamerlane, who established the dynasty in North India. Babur also wrote an autobiography which detailed the principle events of his life which makes fascinating reading even today (Modern Library has recently reissued it in paperback).

Babur was succeded by his son Humayun, who has to be one of the most unlucky rulers of the 16th century. There was the usual strife between him and his siblings (which became the standard way of doing business as time progressed) which undermined the stability of the throne. Humayan spent a lengthy period in Persia which had longstanding cultural implications for the Mughals.

Fortunately for the dynasty,during its exile Sher Khan, whose 5 year rule allowed for certain administrative reforms that allowed the restored Mughal dynasty a certain degree of financial independence and the resources to build the great monuments and to extend its control from the north of India down to south. Many historians have downplayed Sher Khan's legacy, but Eraly is quite thorough in addressing this point.

Humayan died of a freak accident while pursuing his hobby of astonomy. His son Akbar assumed the throne and with him, his son, Jahangir, and grandson, Shah Jahan were the great days of the Mughals. It is the successes of that these remarkable rulers enjoyed, ruling much of modern India, that we remember this dynasty. Here Eraly handles the variety of court intrigues, building marvels, and sensual pleasures that made up the day to day life of an Indian Mughal emperor. The section on Akbar is particularly well-done, dealing with the cultured, yet illiterate emperor's wise appreciation of the religious questions.

Akbar's ability to understand the need to balance the Moslem religion of the rulers with the Hiduism of the ruled is in marked contrast with the final emperor detailed in the book, Aurangzeb. Embarking on a policy of religious intolerance and military expeditions lead to isolation from his Rajput allies and ultimately the demise of the empire in 1857 and the establishment of British rule in India.

This is an excellent work which shows how the the Mughals were able to achieve all that they did and how they were undone by one of their own.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Uneasy lies a head that wears a crown.", May 6, 2005

By 

Richard Wells (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors (Paperback)

Arguably India's Golden Age, the near two-hundred years of the Mughal Empire from Babur to Aurangzeb was a time when the richest got richer, conquered and ruled SE Asia from Kabul to Konyakumari, built cities, forts, and fabulous tombs, lived fairly short lives, wept over trivialities, warred amongst themselves, blinded, maimed, and executed family members; and, after Aurangzeb, lost it all except in name.

"The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors," is the first released third volume of a four part history of India, and though it is far from the definitive work on the Mughals it is a well written, and exciting saga - just what the title says it would be - a narrative that hits all the high points, and delves into just enough detail not to loose the casual historian or India-phile.

If you want to know India, especially Northern India, you must know the Mughals, and they're a family worth knowing. (If you like the Medici's, you'll love the Mughals.) Their reign was short in the scheme of Indian history, but stamped the country for all time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read., April 11, 2004

By 

"puddlewonderful" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mughal Throne (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in the events in India just before the British came a'colonizing.
It is an excellent mixture of vivid story telling and clear factual progression. Eraly does more than simply recount dates and facts; he makes the people who moved these events come alive like the characters in a good novel.
I hadn't read any histories of India before this one, and I found it very easy to jump in and follow what was going on.

I believe this book is pretty much the same as Emperors of the Peacock Throne, just with a different title, so if this one remains unavailable Peacock Throne would be a good option.

Enjoy!