Glimpses of Mughal Society and Culture: A Study based on Urdu Literature in the 2nd Half of the Eighteenth Century

The book emphasizes the need for a reassessment of the social, cultural and intellectual trends of the later Mughal period. A general decadence of the eighteenth century society need not be assumed in terms of the political status of the Mughal empire as its decline did not prove to be detrimental to the development of art, architecture, music and poetry which continued to receive patronage in the new provincial and local centres of power. Mughal culture survived the ruin of Delhi in the years 1739-1760, a period marked by an exodus of the nobles, the literati and the professional to the neighbouring state of Awadh where Mughal cultural traditions not only received a new lease of life but also acquired a new set of cultural norms and life style which claimed superiority over Delhi?s language and culture.
The study chiefly aims at analyzing the contemporary attitudes and relationships, the value system and the socio-religious outlook which find natural expression in literature rather than a detailed account of the material conditions under such conventional heads as food, clothes, means of recreation and festivals etc. The Urdu poetry of the age, which includes the works of the great masters like Mir Taqi Mir, Mirza Rafi Sauda and Mir Dard, reveals contemporary socio-political attitudes. The praise showered by the poets on the decadent monarchy and nobility was to their social and political institutional forms and not to the individuals representing the system at that time. This also reflected the inability of the upper classes of the time to postulate a system other than the existing one. The author has carefully examined the contemporary on the one hand the nobles were censored for disloyalty, a disloyal noble who had carved a separate state was praised for maintaining law and order. Obviously the major consideration of the people was establishment of peace and order and they were prepared to give their allegiance to any one who was in a position to ensure it.
The book highlights the contradictions which are inherent in the social values of the times as reflected in the poetry of the age. While there was a great deal of sectarian animosity as exemplified by Sauda?s sarcastic remarks against the Sunnis, there was a broad sentiment of tolerance at the court. Sauda himself along with the poets condemns fanaticism, corrupt practices and meaningless strife in the name of religion. The Urdu poetry of the period lent voice to such concepts as mysticism, eclecticism, religious toleration and humanism which provided a distinctive character to the culture of the eighteenth century.