The Mughal News Network: Akhbarat That Ran an Empire
From the late 1500s, the Mughal akhbarat were Persian brief reports circulated between imperial and provincial courts, forming a dense information network that guided governance across the empire. Historian Munis D Faruqui spent decades cataloging thousands of pages now in Kolkata and other archives, revealing how this daily flow of news—on court life, campaigns, finances and gossip—offers a fresh, often surprising view of Aurangzeb’s reign, the influence of the harem and eunuchs, and the empire’s reach. The material is vast and underused, but it shows the Mughal state’s remarkable grasp of its realm and suggests many more histories waiting to be written.