This important book provides a new perspective on the decline of the Mughal Empire,departing from the existing appraisement of Aurangzeb,the functioning of the Mughal nobility and the crisis of the jagirdari system.It re-examines in detail the first half of the eighteenth century, which was a period of party struggle and political controversies.This was the phase in which struggle for liberal and orthodox policies identified as the policies of Akbar and Aurangzeb jostled with each other.The book will continue to be an invaluable resource for historians and students of medieval and later-medieval India.