By the 1750s the Mughal Empire was but a pale shadow of its former glory. No longer the Great Mughal, of Bernier’s day except in a strictly ironic sense the emperor was now a passive non-entity, a prisoner in his own palace, and subject entirely to the will of the wazir who callously disposed of him when he ceased to be useful. He had deposed and blinded one emperor the next he would kill and the heir apparent, Ali Gauhar soon to become Shah Alam II was ...
Our History, Their History: The Contrasting Historical Narratives of East and West
