Dealing with multiplicity: Mughal administration in Braj Bhum under Aurangzeb (1659–1707)

Abstract

The collection made up of sixteenth-, seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century documents, of both private and public nature, preserved by the Gosāins of the Chaitanya sect at Vrindavan, uniquely enables us to reconstruct some aspects of everyday life in Mughal-period Braj Bhøm. The paper attempts a narrative of the conduct of the local administration in Mathura and Vrindavan, mainly during the reign of Aurangzeb (1659–1707), in matters relating to civic life in the area.