This book, originally published by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh in 1974, endeavours to delineate the history of Bihar and Bengal from the time of Shahjahan’s usurpation of these provinces during his father’s reign till the outbreak of the war of succession among his four sons. Its aim was to fulfil the lacunae which existed even after the completion of two works on seventeenth century Bengal – T.K Ray Chaudhuri’s Bengal under Akbar and Jehangir, and a doctoral thesis,‘Bengal in the time of Aurangzeb’.

This book, in addition to the political narrative, gives an account of the actual working of the administrative machinery, the economic conditions and the socio-religious life of the Muslims. A very interesting period, it saw the development of Mughal administration in Bihar and Bengal. Land revenue figures showed considerable improvement, in commerce too there was marked progress. This period also saw an unprecedented influx of Persian noblemen here. The influx of Mughal officers and men of learning and culture brought refinement and culture to all spheres of social life. Also, the people of Bengal cultivated their own Bengali literature. The author has sourced from Persian sources, European travellers’ accounts, English factory records and contemporary literary works.