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The Empire was, by the end of the seventeenth century, essentially an ‘Empire of the Indian Subcontinent’, encompassing almost the entire subcontinent. In the formative phase of his military career Aurangzeb had gained his experience in Central Asia where he had been deputed by Shah Jahan for campaigns in Balkh and Badakhshan.

Evaluating the nature of court histories and court chronicles, Joshi raises a few historiographical issues. Relating his concerns, he asserts that while these narratives depict the occurrences pertaining to official gatherings or festive events attended by elitist politically powerful male members,

Urban improvement by accumulating funds through lottery was popular in eighteenth and early nineteenth-century British colonies. The basic idea was that city-dwellers would voluntarily buy lotteries, and improvement would be funded from that money.

In the succinctly written Introduction, Aparna Vaidik, besides providing a bird’s eye-view of the book, discusses the complex nature of the primary theme of her study, viz., the historical-legal aspects of the Case, and the difficulties that she, as a historian, faced while working on it. An important challenge which she faced related to presenting a difficult theme in ‘accessible prose’

From a geopolitical perspective, British involvement in the Hajj served multiple strategic purposes. It allowed the empire to assert control over trade routes and exert influence in key regions such as Jeddah. Simultaneously, the British sought to earn the loyalty and legitimacy of their Muslim subjects by facilitating the pilgrimage, a move that was both pragmatic and symbolic. However