ABSTRACT
Large realms were the exception rather than the rule in South Asia. The Maurya Empire, under the rule of Ashoka (r. 268-233 BCE), was one such exception encompassing virtually the entire Indian subcontinent. Similarly, the Gupta Empire, between 320 and 500 CE, stretched across the whole of north India. The Mughal Empire, formed in 1525 by Babur (1483-1530), successfully conquered Delhi from Afghanistan and established the Timurid dynasty there. Its descendants built upon Babur’s foundation on which Akbar (r. 1556-1605) led the empire to its cultural flowering whilst Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) brought the empire to its maximum territorial expansion. However, this expansion, both militarily and administratively, surpassed the organisational infrastructures of the central(ised) government. As a result, in the 1720s a number of provinces of the empire began to form new states. Some of these newly formed states, such as Awadh and Haiderabad, covered an area as large as the contemporary states of France or Spain, whilst others held proportions rather more similar to the size and importance of German principalities. Meanwhile, in Rohilkhand in the north and in Bhopal in central India, immigrant Afghan clans began to establish new dynasties whilst the Marathas were able to stretch their sphere of influence over large parts of central India.1
