Books
30 Best Novels About Mughal India and the British Raj
Bestselling authors first, then star rating.
Period
Mughal India and British Raj
1526–1947 CE
Mughal India and British Raj covers a long span from the foundation of the Mughal Empire to the end of British rule in India. It includes imperial courts, regional kingdoms, trade, conquest, Company expansion, rebellion, reform, nationalism and partition. The period should be broken into clear sub-periods because Mughal, Company and Raj fiction have different settings and reader expectations.
It matters because South Asian history in this span connects court culture, land revenue, religion, caste, empire, commerce, military service and anti-colonial politics. The shift from Mughal power to British rule transformed political authority and everyday life. This is a major area for historical novels, family sagas, court fiction, imperial critique and detective series.
Mughal, Company and British Raj fiction needs to be split carefully by setting. Indu Sundaresan and Alex Rutherford fit Mughal court fiction, while M. M. Kaye, Paul Scott, J. G. Farrell and Abir Mukherjee fit Company, rebellion, Raj or late-colonial settings; Amitav Ghosh is better treated as a nineteenth-century Indian Ocean and opium-trade link rather than a Mughal author. These entries should help separate Mughal court fiction from East India Company, Raj, rebellion and independence-era stories.
Related people for Mughal India and British Raj
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington1769–1852 Baji Rao II1775–1851 Benjamin Disraeli1804–1881 Chattar Singh Attariwalladied 1855 Daulat Rao Scindia1779–1827 Dewan Mulraj1814–1851 Dhoondia Waghdied 1800 Dost Mohammad Khan1793–1863 Duleep Singh I1838–1893 Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts1832–1914 George Harris, 1st Baron Harris1746–1829 Gulab Singh1792–1857 Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge1785–1856 Henry Montgomery Lawrence1806–1857 Herbert Benjamin Edwardes1819–1868 Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough1779–1869 Hyder Ali1720–1782 James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie1812–1860 Jind Kaur1817–1863 John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence1811–1879 Lal Singhdied 1866 M. M. Kaye1908–2004 Mahatma Gandhi1869–1948 Mohammad Akbar Khan1816–1845 Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari1841–1879 Ranjit Singh1780–1839 Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley1760–1842 Robert Clive1725–1774 Shah Shujah Durrani1780–1842 Sher Singh Attariwalladied 1858 Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet1757–1829 Sir Frederick Currie, 1st Baronet1799–1875 Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet1787–1860 Tej Singhdied 1862 Tipu Sultan1751–1799 Victoria1819–1901 Walter Hamilton1856–1879 William Brydon1811–1873 William George Keith Elphinstone1782–1842 Winston Churchill1874–1965 Yashwantrao Holkar1776–1811
Non Fiction
13 Non-Fiction Books About Mughal India and the British Raj
Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.
