Insights into Mughal India’s Informational Ecosystem from 17th-Century News Reports
What news reports from 1600s tell – While the world was witnessing the birth of modern newspapers in Europe, the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent maintained its own system of disseminating news. This system, known as akhbarat, was a network of concise reports that chronicled the empire’s inner workings, from political maneuvering to military actions and administrative decisions. These documents, penned in Persian on fragile paper, served as critical tools for communication across the vast Mughal territories. Today, they offer historians a unique window into the complexities of governance and daily life during the reign of one of the most enigmatic figures of the era: Aurangzeb.
The Evolution of Mughal News Reporting
From the late 16th century onward, a cadre of scribes, envoys, and royal secretaries meticulously compiled these reports. Their role was multifaceted—acting as both information gatherers and disseminators, they ensured that news from the imperial court reached distant provinces. The akhbarat were more than mere bulletins; they functioned as intelligence briefs, official directives, and gossip-laden updates. Circulating daily between the central court and regional authorities, they helped maintain cohesion within an empire that spanned much of the Indian subcontinent and governed nearly a quarter of the global population at its height.
Many of these reports were read aloud to assembled officials, creating a shared awareness of events unfolding across the empire. For decades, the collection of such documents remained largely untouched, gathering dust in the archives of India and Britain. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that historians began to systematically explore them, uncovering layers of detail that had previously gone unnoticed. Among these scholars, Munis D Faruqui stands out for his deep dive into the akhbarat, a project that spanned nearly two decades and transformed the way we understand Mughal India’s administrative machinery.
Faruqui’s Journey Through the Archives
Beginning in 2007, Faruqui immersed himself in the Akhbarat-i Darbar-i Mualla (Newsletters of the Exalted Court), a monumental archive preserved in institutions across India and Britain. Working through over 6,500 pages in Kolkata’s National Library, he traced the movements of princes, generals, courtiers, and even royal women, revealing a society where information flowed as fluidly as power. His research culminated in a forthcoming history of Aurangzeb and the Mughal Empire during the late 17th century, shedding light on both the ruler’s character and the empire’s operational dynamics.
What emerged from Faruqui’s study was a striking contrast between the surface-level details of the reports and their underlying significance. At first glance, much of the material appeared routine—listing appointments, disputes, military campaigns, gifts, and administrative minutiae. Yet, when viewed as a whole, these entries formed a near-continuous narrative of an empire observing itself. “The density of the informational ecosystem during that time is astonishing,” Faruqui remarked. “It never ceases to amaze me how these reports captured the pulse of the empire.”
“My whole experience of working with the akhbarat has been one big eureka moment after another!” Faruqui said. “The sheer volume of information suggests that, by pre-modern standards, the Mughal Empire had an exceptionally developed system for knowledge gathering and transmission.”
Faruqui’s work also highlighted the interconnectedness of the Mughal world. The reports he studied were not limited to the imperial court; they were crafted for the Raja of Jaipur, with similar documents likely reaching other nobles, princes, and officials across the empire. This suggests a sophisticated network of communication that extended far beyond the capital, enabling the efficient management of a sprawling dominion. The findings challenge the notion that Mughal governance was solely top-down, revealing a more nuanced system of information exchange.
Preservation and Historical Context
These akhbarat survive in at least four known collections, including those in London, Bikaner, Sitamau, and Kolkata. However, historians believe that other caches may still exist in private hands. One particularly well-preserved set was found stored in the cool, dry basement of Jaipur Fort, where they remained undisturbed for over a century before being borrowed by James Tod, an East India Company official and collector of Indian antiquities. Tod, who failed to return the reports upon his departure for Britain in 1823, later donated them to the Royal Asiatic Society’s library, ensuring their survival for future study.
The richest collection, housed in Kolkata’s National Library, consists of 21 volumes dedicated to Aurangzeb’s reign. These volumes were once part of the personal library of Sir Jadunath Sarkar, the empire’s most influential biographer. They provide an unparalleled record of Aurangzeb’s rule, spanning from 1658 to 1707—a period marked by both territorial expansion and the seeds of decline. While the early years of his reign are documented sparsely, the reports from the 1680s onward offer an almost daily chronicle of the empire’s activities, illuminating roughly a third of Aurangzeb’s nearly half-century rule.
Faruqui’s analysis underscores the importance of these documents in understanding the Mughal Empire’s administrative strategies. By examining the content and flow of the akhbarat, he has reconstructed a vivid picture of how power was exercised and how information shaped the empire’s decisions. The reports also reveal the personal lives of those in the court, such as the intrigues among imperial eunuchs or the subtle gestures of royal women, offering a rare blend of political and social history.
The study of these reports continues to yield new insights, particularly as scholars uncover the interplay between official narratives and grassroots perspectives. Faruqui’s work exemplifies how archival research can bridge the gap between historical records and lived experience, providing a more comprehensive view of the Mughal world. As the empire transitioned from its zenith to decline, these news reports became invaluable artifacts, preserving the voices of an era that shaped the course of Indian history.
