This paperback edition of a classic not only tests a number of popular hypotheses about the Mughal Empire during the reign of Aurangzeb by examining the composition and the role of nobility under his rule, but also assesses afresh the material and questions that have been thrown up since 1966. This research based book is an eye opener to the rulers and the institutions governing a country. If history provides a lesson to the future generation, then the book is a must to understand how nations degenerate.