A political sociology of empire: Mughal historians on the making of Mughal paramountcy

Abstract In this article, Mughal understandings of their own past are reconstructed from the standpoint paramountcy in around 1700. That was moment empire's greatest territorial reach, when it knew no peer nor threat. To reconstruct contemporary how situation came about, histories empire composed by governing officials time analysed using a novel approach rooted particular distinction between constants and contingencies. These allow us to recapture political sociology as apprehended elites. The article's findings value for two reasons. Narrowly construed, they help fill lacuna mainstream views on historiography, traditionally dominated Akbar his reign, imbued with logic decline (and its corollary, transition colonialism). More broadly, because weight accorded knowledge formation ruling elites, provide fresh insights into cognitive framework within which these elites operated at recognized highly significant then, retrospect.