Table of Contents

Preface; The End of an Era; The Breakdown of Empire; The War of Succession; The End of Kam Bakhsh; The Reign of Shah Alam Bahadur Shah: Turmoil in Rajasthan; The Sikh Rebellion & the Death of Bahadur Shah; Brother against Brother again; The Reign of Jahandar; Badshah Gardi or King Making; The Fall of Zulfiqar; The King & his Makers; Take Warning Ye Who Have Eyes: The Fall of Farrukhsiyar; The Syed Dictatorship & Puppets on a String; The Fall of the Syeds; The Reign of Muhammad Shah Rangila: The Turanian Ascendancy; First Maratha Invasion of Hindostan; The Court of Merry Monarch; The Persian Invasion; Debacle at Karnal; The Persian on his Throne; The Morning After; Creeping Chaos; The first Invasion of Ahmad Shah Durrani; The New Reign; The Ministry of Safdar Jang; The Civil War & The Downfall of Safdar Jang; The Rise of Imad ul-Mulk; Reign of Chaos; Rivers of Blood: Ahmad Shah in Hindustan; Towards Panipat; The Panipat Campaign; The Aftermath; The Dictatorship of Najib ud-Daulah; The Wanderings of Shah Alam; The Gilded Exile; Mirza Najaf: The First Phase; The Fall of Abdul Ahad Majd ud-Daulah; Mirza Najaf Khan: The Second Phase; Night Falls over the City: After Mirza Najaf; The Regency of Mahadji Scindia; Ghulam Qadir: His Rise & Fall; After Ghulam Qadir: The Dictatorship of Mahadji Scindia; War & Strife in the Maratha Heartland; Maratha Twilight; The Bling Padishah in the Qila-i-Mualla; The Dawn of a New Age; The Golden Calm (1806-1857); The Ghadar: Reaping the Whirlwind; The Rebellion in Delhi; Retribution; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author

G.S. Cheema was born in Ranchi and is presently a senior civil servant belonging to the Punjab cadre of the Indian Administrative Service which he joined in 1972. He lives in Chandigarh.