ABSTRACT
While unravelling the complex weave of India’s pre-modernhistory we could hardly not have noticed two recurringthemes. First, the infusion of new peoples and ideas, sometimes in the form of an invasion from the northwest, and second, temporal cycles of imperial consolidation and decentralization. Invasions were not sharp disjunctures, and were most commonly followed by fresh processes of accommodation, assimilation and cultural fusions. The high points of great imperial epochs were often characterized by political cohesion, social vitality, economic prosperity and cultural glory. But it was also abundantly clear that periods of political decentralization were not necessarily accompanied by social and economic decay. These general observations drawn from a thematic survey of the long term in Indian history can be investigated more closely with reference to the Mughal empire which was established in 1526, enjoyed expansion and consolidation until about 1707, and survived, even if in drastically attenuated form, until 1857.
