Mughal Administration (Patna University Readership Lectures, 1920)

This book says the way the Mughal administration was managed and functioned. While tracing the roots of the Mughal administration system, he tells us that its machinery and titles were borrowed by independent Hindu States as well. Thus, the Mughal system spread practically over all of civilized India. In the initial days of British rule, the old Mughal framework too was retained and changes or additions made only when necessary. The Mughal administrative system itself was taken from the Abbasid Khalifs of Iraq and Fatimid Khalifs of Egypt. While the principles of government and taxation rules, church policy were imported ready- made from outside India, some compromise was made so that existing Indian practices and customary laws prevailed as long as these did not run contrary to Islamic principles. The Indian usage continued in village administration too, while in the Court and higher official circles the 'foreign model' was practised.

Sir Jadunath Sarkar CIE FRAS (1870-1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. He graduated in English from Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1892, he topped the Master of Arts examination, in English at O Calcutta University and in 1897, he received the Premchand-Roychand Scholarship. Sarkar's works faded out of public memory, with the increasing advent of Marxist and postcolonial schools of historiography. Academically, Jos J. L. Gommans compares Sarkar's work with those of the Aligarh historians, noting that while the historians from the Aligarh worked mainly on the mansabdari system and gunpowder technology in the Mughal Empire, Judunath Sarkar was best remembered for his historical works, including: A History of Jaipur, Military History of India, A History of Aurangzib (in 5 volumes), Studies in Mughal India, and Mughal Administration.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages