This thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the acculturation of European mercenaries in the armies of Post-Mughal successor states at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The thesis takes William Dalrymple's "White Mughals" as a departure point and uses sources left behind by the mercenaries to test his hypothesis that these mercenaries generally acculturated into the societies of the post-Mughal successor states. However, through the analysis of these sources, this thesis argues that there was no acculturation to the degree Dalrymple argued present. Moreover, this thesis argues that there was an active segregation from Indians by most of the mercenaries, with an economic motive.Show less
The Tarikh-i Alfi or “History of One Thousand Years- a Millennium” was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the year 990/1582. The task was to compile a history of the world from the death...Show moreThe Tarikh-i Alfi or “History of One Thousand Years- a Millennium” was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the year 990/1582. The task was to compile a history of the world from the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 C.E down to Akbar’s reign and it was undertaken by a group of well-known scholars of his court. The book was to commemorate the completion of the first Islamic millennium, which occurred in 1592. It was designed to be superior in scope and contents over all other historical works that had been ever compiled. It was planned to include the history of all Muslim rulers from the day the Prophet passed away, to analyzing reasons of their rise and fall. Nonetheless, it was not limited to Muslim rulers, but also encompassed all other people, who came in contact with them. Hence, this makes the book more than simply a history of Mughals, Muslim rulers, or a certain region, but rather the history of the world for the one thousand years from 632 till 1592.Show less
