Part of the prestigious Debates in Indian History and Society series, this volume presents the key argument of the debates, along with a selection of writings that made pioneering interventions in the study of the 18th century in Indian history.

Robert Travers' analysis of British conquests in late eighteenth-century India shows how new ideas were formulated about the construction of empire. After the British East India Company conquered the vast province of Bengal, Britons confronted the apparent anomaly of a European trading company acting as an Indian ruler. Responding to a prolonged crisis of imperial legitimacy, British officials in Bengal tried to build their authority on the basis of an 'ancient constitution', supposedly discovered among the remnants of the declining Mughal Empire. In the search for an indigenous constitution, British political concepts were redeployed and redefined on the Indian frontier of empire, while stereotypes about 'oriental despotism' were challenged by the encounter with sophisticated Indian state forms. This highly original book uncovers a forgotten style of imperial state-building based on constitutional restoration, and in the process opens up new points of connection between British, imperial and South Asian history.

This book presents, in a single volume, a selection of the most important interpretations in current times, exploring and reassessing the nature and pace of change in India in the eighteenth century. A distinguished roster of contributors and a comprehensive collection of essays makes this book a must-read for historians, political analysts, students and non-specialist readers interested in the period.

James Achilles Kirkpatrick landed on the shores of eighteenth-century India as an ambitious soldier of the East India Company. Although eager to make his name in the subjection of a nation, it was he who was conquered—not by an army but by a Muslim Indian princess. Kirkpatrick was the British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad when in 1798 he glimpsed Khair un-Nissa—'Most Excellent among Women'—the great-niece of the Nizam's Prime Minister. He fell in love with Khair, and overcame many obstacles to marry her—not least of which was the fact that she was locked away in purdah and engaged to a local nobleman. Eventually, while remaining Resident, Kirkpatrick converted to Islam, and according to Indian sources even became a double-agent working for the Hyderabadis against the East India Company. Possessing all the sweep of a great nineteenth-century novel, White Mughals is a remarkable tale of harem politics, secret assignations, court intrigue, religious disputes and espionage.

Religious Tradition and Culture in Eighteenth Century Northern India contends that the 'decline' in the political scenario of eighteenth century India did not imply an all-round decay and stagnation of society, especially in its religious and cultural realms. The emergence of regional forces, following the disintegration of the Mughal empire, greatly aided the promotion of regional centres which provided the grounds for a religious and cultural efflorescence. Shifting the focus away from the oft-examined political and economic aspects of the eighteenth century transition, the book studies a wide array of primary sources in Persian and in Urdu, to instead bring the study of intellectual and cultural trends to the centre-stage of historiography. It has brought into prominence the vibrant religious-intellectual outpouring, the Shia-Sunni polemics, educational innovations, growth and spread of Urdu and its entanglement with regional sensibilities and regional networks of patronage.

This original contribution to Indian history, focusing on contemporary and largely indigenous documents, introduces a set of concepts for the analysis of late Mughal rule. More specifically it examines the origins and development of the Maratha svardjya or 'self-rule' within the context of declining Muslim power. It traces the expansion of Maratha dominion to a process of fitna, a policy of 'shifting alliances' which was recurrent in the wake of Muslim expansion throughout its history. The book gives an interesting perspective on Hindu-Muslim relationships in the pre-British period as well as on the nature of the Indo-Muslim state and its most important successor polity, on its capacity for change and development in the intermediate sections of society, the land-tenurial system, the monetization of the economy, and on the fiscal system.