Author: Satish Chandra
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 355
ISBN/UPC (if available): 019566790
Description
This classic work provides a new perspective on the decline of the Mughal Empire. It re-examines the first half of the eighteenth century, which was a period of growing anarchy and cultural stagnation. The author studies the role of the nobility in the downfall of the Mughal Empire-with special reference to the position of the various ethnic and religious groups in the nobility, the basis of the rise and struggle of parties at the court and its impact, the rise of the Marathas, Jets, and other indigenous elements, and developments in the field of administration.
In the new Preface to this edition, he contends that the core of the crisis of the Mughal Empire is linked to the collapse of the jagirdari system with a deepening social crisis and increased factionalism in the ruling classes leading to a break-up of a central polity. First published in 1959, the present edition continues to be an invaluable resource for historians and students of medieval and late medieval India.
REVIEWS
The book caused a paradigm shift in the historians understanding of the underlying reason s behind the collapse of the Mughal empire…In the fourth edition of this book Chandra takes account of the prolonged debate set off by him in 1959 and reasserts the thesis of a crisis in the jagirdari system, but he does so with important modifications.
- The Statesman
The fourth edition of Parties and Politics…is a reassuring move for it reiterates the importance of socio-economic factors in the understanding of the crisis in the Mughal Empire..The book will always remain an important source for the students of Medieval Indian History.
-The Book Review
Contents
Preface to the Fourth Edition
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition Abbreviations
INTRODUCTION
The Dominant Classes in Medieval Indian Society
The Organization, Character and Composition