"New Scholarship on Aurangzeb Reignites Debates Over Mughal Historiography"
Historiography
the study of how history is written, including methods, sources, and interpretive frameworks used by historians
Jizya
a poll tax levied on non-Muslim subjects under Islamic rule; abolished by Akbar, reimposed by Aurangzeb in 1679
The Mughal Empire, which reached its territorial zenith under Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707), the sixth Mughal emperor, has been one of the most contested subjects in South Asian historical writing. The empire's administrative, fiscal, and religious policies have been interpreted through radically different lenses across three centuries of scholarship. The foundational modern account was produced by Jadunath Sarkar in his multi-volume history published in the 1920s, which established a largely critical view of Aurangzeb's reign — emphasising his imposition of the jizya (a poll tax on non-Muslims), destruction of certain temples, and the role of his religious orthodoxy in the empire's eventual decline. Sarkar's framework, shaped partly by colonial-era assumptions about religious conflict as the motor of Indian history, dominated the field for decades.
Post-independence Indian historiography, particularly the Aligarh School associated with scholars such as Irfan Habib, sought to reframe Mughal history through a socioeconomic lens — emphasising agrarian relations, revenue systems, and class dynamics rather than religious identity. This school produced landmark works on the Ain-i-Akbari and the Mughal agrarian system, shifting attention from court theology to structural economic forces. Meanwhile, nationalist historiography had its own stakes: the Mughal period was either celebrated as a high point of composite culture or condemned as an era of foreign domination, depending on the political orientation of the narrator. These competing traditions mean that writing about any Mughal emperor — and Aurangzeb above all — is never a purely academic act.
Historiography, at its core, is the study of how history is written: the methods, sources, assumptions, and social contexts that shape historical accounts. In the Indian context, debates over Mughal historiography are inseparable from debates over national identity, communal relations, and the politics of memory. Three broad interpretive traditions have shaped how Aurangzeb is understood.
The colonial-communal tradition, exemplified by Sarkar, treated religious identity as the primary driver of Mughal politics. Under this reading, Aurangzeb's reimposition of the jizya in 1679 — abolished by Akbar — was evidence of a fundamentally anti-Hindu agenda. This interpretation was absorbed into popular Hindu nationalist discourse and has remained politically potent. The secular-nationalist tradition, dominant in post-independence academic institutions, argued that Mughal rulers, including Aurangzeb, were pragmatic political actors whose decisions were shaped by fiscal necessity, military exigency, and court politics rather than pure religious ideology. The Ain-i-Akbari, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, and the Alamgirnama — primary Persian chronicles of the period — are the key textual sources for this analysis. …
With reference to Indian history, consider the following texts:
1.Nettipakarana
2.Parishishtaparvan
3.Avadanashataka
4.Trishashtilakshana Mahapurana
Which of the above are Jaina texts?
With reference to ancient Indian History, consider the following pairs:
Literary work — Author
1.Devichandragupta : Bilhana
2.Hammira-Mahakavya : Nayachandra Suri
3.Milinda-panha : Nagarjuna
4.Nitivakyamrita : Somadeva Suri
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
With reference to the book 'Desher Katha' written by Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar during the freedom struggle, consider the following statements:
1.It warned against the Colonial State's hypnotic conquest of the mind.
2.It inspired the performance of swadeshi street plays and folk songs.
3.The use of 'desh' by Deuskar was in the specific context of the region of Bengal.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
With reference to the Mughal Empire, consider the following statements:
1.The jizya was a tax levied on non-Muslim subjects and was first introduced by Akbar.
2.Aurangzeb reimposed the jizya in 1679 CE after it had been abolished by his predecessor.
3.The Alamgirnama is the primary court chronicle of Aurangzeb's reign.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the following best describes the Aligarh School of historiography in the context of Mughal history?
With reference to Mughal historiography, which of the following statements is/are correct?
1.Jadunath Sarkar's multi-volume history of Aurangzeb, published in the 1920s, treated religious identity as the primary driver of Mughal politics.
2.The use of farmans and akhbarat as primary sources is associated with the colonial-communal historiographical tradition.
3.The global history approach situates the Mughal Empire within early modern world trade networks, including the influx of silver from the Americas.
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