04/13/2015 4pm-5:30pm
Columbia University Morningside Campus Knox Hall, Room 208
116th Street and Broadway, New York, NY 10027
A talk by Munis Faruqui
“Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504-1719”
Co-sponsored by the Departments of MESAAS and History
For almost 200 years, the Mughal emperors ruled supreme in northern India. How was it possible that a Muslim, ethnically Turkish, Persian-speaking dynasty established itself in the Indian subcontinent to become one of the largest and most dynamic empires in the early-modern period? Using the figure of the Mughal prince, Munis D. Faruqui offers a new interpretive lens through which to comprehend Mughal state formation. In a challenge to previous scholarship, Prof. Faruquis work suggests that far from undermining the foundations of empire, the court intrigues and political backbiting that were features of Mughal political life and that frequently resulted in rebellions and wars of succession actually helped spread, deepen, and mobilize Mughal power through an empire-wide network of friends and allies. Ultimately, however, because Mughal imperial and princely success were interlinked when both experienced political stress in the late 1600s and early 1700s, they atrophied together with negative results for the empire.
Munis D. Faruqui is an historian and Associate Professor in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He focuses on the Muslim experience in South Asia, especially during the Mughal period. His books include Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504-1719 (2012) and Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History, co-edited with Richard Eaton, David Gilmartin and Sunil Kumar (2013). Another co-edited volume (with Vasudha Dalmia) is forthcoming later this year: Religious Interactions in Mughal India. He is currently working on a book about the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
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