Paper short abstract:

Highlighting connections between Mughal military campaigning in North India and the establishment of communication networks, this paper will explore how failure to establish such networks in certain areas resulted in creation of limits for Mughal political authority and rise of political frontiers.

Paper long abstract:

In early modern North India, the Mughal state presided over extremely well-connected networks of roads and communication linking different parts of the empire with the imperial metropolises. Securing these networks was crucial to Mughal state-formation. Invasion and conquest of new territory was always accompanied by the assumption of control over existing networks of communications and establishment of newer ones.

However, Mughal networks of communication failed to penetrate certain spaces sufficiently. Areas like the forested hills of southern Rajasthan, the jungles of Assam and the river-infested sectors of southeastern Bengal remained virtually out of reach for the Mughal state. In these areas, Mughal political authority was also restricted, and were home to rival polities. Thus the failure of Mughal-controlled networks of communication to penetrate certain regions, principally owing to the nature of the terrain, created limits for Mughal political authority and imperial power in different parts of the empire. Refusing to engage the Mughal armies in their preferred open spaces, rival polities, like the Rajputs, the Ahoms and the Portuguese, manipulated this terrain to resist Mughal imperial expansion and even launch military counter-offensives. This made them wicked, treacherous, and essentially evil in the eyes of the Mughals.

Through a study of Mughal chronicles, the present paper studies the connections between military campaigning and the establishment of networks of communications, the management of labour commissioned for these ventures, and how the failure to secure these networks in certain areas created limits for Mughal imperial power and gave rise to political frontiers.