Lords of the Auspicious Conjunction: Turco-Mongol Imperial Identity on the Subcontinent

Re-evaluating the scholarly and intellectual isolation with which India's Mughal empire has been treated, this study identifies the Mughals as direct descendants of Chinggis Khan and Tamerlane (Timur). It also explores the systematic manipulation of their Central Asian legacy through which the Mughals defined and defended their imperial identity and political viability on the South Asian subcontinent. In identifying and examining Mughal loyalty to Turco-Mongol institutions and traditions, the study positions the Mughal dynasty in the center of the early modern Islamic world as the direct successor of a powerful political and religious tradition.