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Empire Of The Moghul Traitors in the Shadows
A new emperor, Aurangzeb, sits on India's glittering Peacock Throne - the throne he seized from his father while the old emperor still lived. He has paid for it with blood: during the brutal civil war he hunted down and killed his brothers. Now he must return the Moghul Empire to the true path and achieve new glory. But the exercise of great power is isolating. With enemies everywhere, who should he trust? Certainly not his sons. He must rely on himself and the knowledge that there are more ways to subdue a man than on the battlefield.But as the years pass memories haunt him - memories of a father who never loved him and a mother who lies in the Taj Mahal; of murdered brothers and of sons and daughters locked in sunless prisons. He tells himself that everything he has done has been necessary - moral, even. But how will his God judge him?
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Empire Of The Moghul The Serpents Tooth
The new Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan reigns over a colossally wealthy empire of 100 million souls. Yet to gain his throne he has followed the savage 'throne or coffin' traditions of his ancestors -descendants of Genghis Khan and Tamburlaine. Ever since the Moghuls took India, brother has fought brother and sons their fathers for the prize and Shah Jahan has been no exception. As his reign dawns, now is the time for Shah Jahan to secure his throne by crushing his enemies. Instead, devastated by the death of his beautiful wife Mumtaz, he becomes obsessed with building an epic monument to their perfect love -the Taj Mahal. His overwhelming grief isolates him from his sons and he does not see the rivalries, indeed hatreds, building between them. When he falls ill, civil war breaks out -ruthless, murderous and uncontrollable -and the foundations of the empire itself begin to shake.
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Empire of the Moghul:Brothers At War
The thrilling story of the second great Moghul Emperor, whose fatal flaws threatened everything his dynasty had fought for
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Empire of the Moghul: Raiders from the North
The mighty Mughal Empire that ruled a large part of the Indian subcontinent for three centuries has left its imprints in the history of the region. Empire of The Moghuls by Alex Rutherford is a proposed five part series that traces the dynasty from its beginning to its end. Raiders From The North is the first book in this series. Empire of The Moghuls: Raiders From The North chronicles the life of Babur, who founded the Mughal empire. The story begins when Babur is 12 years old and covers the rest of his life from that point. Babur, a descendant of Timur, and Genghis Khan through his mother’s family, has dreams of reclaiming the glory of his ancestors. But first, he has to begin by securing his claim to his current tiny kingdom. When Babur is just 12 years old, his father dies in a freak accident, leaving him as the rightful heir, but with many threats to his claim. Factions within the kingdom were plotting against him, taking advantage of his age and inexperience. But Babur had the support of his grandmother and his mother who wielded great influence in the court. With the aid of his mentor and military advisor Wazir Khan, Babur secured his kingdom, Ferghana. He then turned his attention to Samarkhand. This city had been the capital of his ancestor Timur, and Babur wanted to reconquer the city. After capturing it, he loses it to the Uzbeks. After this happens repeatedly, Babur turns his attention elsewhere. Babur and his troops march on through Kabul into the land of India, and eventually conquer a large part of Hindustan, establishing his own dynasty, the Mughal Empire. This novel, based on Babur’s autobiography, Baburnama, traces his campaigns, from his regaining and losing his own kingdom and Samarkhand to his eventual conquest of Hindustan. It is a story of violence, betrayals, plots, and counter-plots - the story of an eventful life.
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Empire of the Moghul: The Tainted Throne
The brutal battle for power continues in the fourth book in the epic Empire of the Moghul series. Agra, India, 1606. Jahangir, the triumphant Moghul Emperor and ruler of most of the Indian subcontinent, is doomed. No amount of wealth and ruthlessness can protect him from his sons' desire for power. The glorious Moghul throne is worth any amount of bloodshed and betrayal; once Jahangir raised troops against his own father; now he faces a bloody battle with Khurram, the ablest of his warring sons. Worse is to come. Just as the heirs of Timur the Great share intelligence, physical strength and utter ruthlessness, they also have a great weakness for wine and opium. Once Jahangir is tempted, his talented wife, Mehrunissa, is only too willing to take up the reins of empire. And with Khurram and his half-brothers each still determined to be their father's heir, the savage battle for the Moghul throne will be more ferocious than even Timur could have imagined...
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Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World
Keep your enemies close, and your sons closer... The story of the third great Moghul Emperor, Akbar, leader of a triumphant dynasty which contained the seeds of its own destruction. Akbar, ruler of a sixth of the world's people, colossally rich and utterly ruthless, was a contemporary of Elizabeth I, but infinitely more powerful. His reign began in bloodshed when he strangled his treacherous 'milk-brother', but it ended in glory. Akbar extended his rule over much of Asia, yet despite the unimaginable bloodshed which resulted his empire was based on universal religious tolerance. However, Akbar's homelife was more complicated. He defied family, nobles and mullahs to marry a beautiful Rajput princess, whose people he had conquered; but she hated Akbar and turned Salim, his eldest son, against him. What's more, as any Moghul prince could inherit his father's crown and become Emperor, his sons were brought up to be intensely competitive and suspicious of each other. And, as Salim grew to manhood, the relationship between father and son became tainted by the competition to be the greatest Moghul of them all.