Forgotten Mughals: A History of the Later Emperors of the House of Babar

by G.S. Cheema

A hundred and fifty years lie between the death of Aurangzeb and the final extinction of the Mughal empire. It was a period of violence and disorder, with armies constantly on the march across a landscape of increasing misery, impoverishment and desolation. This is the story of these largely pageant emperors with their increasingly ineffectual ministers, and their gradual decline into irrelevance while younger and more powerful forces, both Indian and foreign, grappled with each other for the master of Hindustan.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India

552 pages, Hardcover

First published April 4, 2006

Reviews

[anandhuu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Towards the end, it was a tedious seeing figures entering and disappearing as they came. While that is a given, I was only interested in the Mughals, and not the others. Still, I was thoroughly interested other times.

[Rahul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hidden gem of a book. This is a fantastic book that covers the Anarchy in 18th and 19th century India following the fall of the Great Mughals.

[Rajiv Chopra · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the tragedies of our school years, is that we were not taught about the history of the Mughals who followed Aurangzeb.

From then on, the histories that we were taught, were the dates of the battles of the British in India. This is a tragedy, because the 150 years following the death of Aurangzeb were confusing, and yet transformative, as far as India is concerned.

There are valuable lessons to be learned from this period, about decline, transition, leadership, kingship, betrayal etc.

This is a period that is quite dramatic in its own right, and the cast of characters each played their own role in shaping the fortunes of, what was to become, India.

GS Cheema's book is a gem. This is the book to read, if you want to understand the history and lessons from this phase of Indian history.

Read it. Absorb it. Buy it. Read it again.