Mughals and the ‘maritime dynamic’ along the maritime frontier in Gujarat, c.1572–1759

The literature relating to the nature, scope and legacy of the engagement of the Mughals with the maritime space in the early modern era is beset with certain inadequacies. The consensus has it that a sophisticated commercial system functioned along the Gujarat coast, centred at Surat, largely independent of the presence of the Mughals per se in the region. This article re-examines the role of the Mughals to reveal a more dynamic picture that accounts for the paradoxes that riddle current understanding of this vital aspect of Mughal history