Babur, conqueror and first Mughal emperor, scorned India as 'a place of little charm', lamenting bitterly the lack of poetry and etiquette, the poor quality of the food, the absence of cold water and baths. But he and his successors stayed on in India and prospered, and built a vast empire that sprawled across the subcontinent and extended into Central Asia. The epic tale of Mughal conquest and rule is told by Abraham Eraly in his previous volume, The Mughal Throne.<BR>Here, Eraly looks beyond the story of the dynasty's rise and fall to ask what it was like - whether as emperors, nobles or the common people - to live in India at that time. Blending detailed description and contemporary sources, including the writings of the emperors themselves and of European travellers, he brings the wider world of Muslim ruler and Hindu subject into focus.