The Last Mughal: The Fall of Delhi, 1857

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But in Aurangzeb's later years the state was brought to the brink of destruction, over which it toppled within a decade and a half after his death; by 1720 imperial Mughal rule was largely finished and an epoch of two imperial centuries had closed. There were, of course, sizeable rural populations supporting substantial, if lesser, urban centres elsewhere—for example in Gujarat, and on rivers like the Kaveri and the Godavari.

Hyder Ali realised the importance of rockets and introduced advanced versions of metal cylinder rockets. After 1835 the Company no longer recognised the authority of the emperor, accepting him only as 'King of Delhi' and removing all references to him from their coinage. Such officials included the kotwal (local police), the faujdar (an officer controlling multiple districts and troops of soldiers), and the most powerful, the subahdar (provincial governor). Hyder Ali's father Fatah Muhammad the constable at Budikote, commanded a corps consisting of 50 rocketmen ( Cushoon) for the Nawab of Arcot.a b c Conermann, Stephan (4 August 2015), "Mughal Empire", Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Brill, doi: 10. Historians point out that thousands of soldiers from both religions came together to rebel against their British officers in support of restoring Mughal rule. Humayun built a personal observatory near Delhi; Jahangir and Shah Jahan were also intending to build observatories, but were unable to do so. British generals deployed Sikh soldiers from Punjab and Pathans from the North-West Frontier Province - Delhi was recaptured by September.

Akbar allowed freedom of religion at his court and attempted to resolve socio-political and cultural differences in his empire by establishing a new religion, Din-i-Ilahi, with strong characteristics of a ruler cult. He had been banished not so much for what he did during the mutiny as for what he represented to the mutineers - Hindus as well as Muslims - who regarded him as the touchstone of an old and deeply rooted way of life which the Victorian Evangelicals, who dominated the making and execution of British policy, were determined to replace with the prejudices and habits of muscular Christianity. Although the Mughal Empire was created and sustained by military warfare, [17] [18] [19] it did not vigorously suppress the cultures and peoples it came to rule; rather it equalized and placated them through new administrative practices, [20] [21] and diverse ruling elites, leading to more efficient, centralised, and standardized rule.I had thought that Dalrymple would never surpass his performance in writing From the Holy Mountain, but The Last Mughal has caused me to think again.