Paper Title
Gunpowder, Governance, and Glory: Babur and Akbar’s Military Legacy in Alex Rutherford’s Empire of the Moghul

Abstract
The military ascendancy of the Mughal Empire in the sixteenth century was shaped decisively by the innovative tactics of its first two great rulers—Babur and Akbar. Babur’s revolutionary deployment of gunpowder artillery at the Battle of Panipat (1526) and Akbar’s sweeping administrative-military reforms, including the mansabdari system, set the structural and technological foundation for nearly two centuries of Mughal dominance. This article examines Alex Rutherford’s Empire of the Moghul series—particularly Raiders from the North and Ruler of the World—as a dramatized reconstruction of these military milestones, juxtaposing the novels’ portrayals with primary historical sources such as the Baburnama and AbulFazl’sAin-i-Akbari. By engaging with postcolonial historiography and the theoretical framework of historiographicmetafiction, this study explores how Rutherford’s fictionalized history navigates the tension between documented fact and imaginative reconstruction. Babur’s Central Asian heritage, mastery of mobile warfare, and introduction of firearms are discussed alongside Akbar’s integration of artillery into siege tactics, reorganization of the army, and strategic alliances with Rajput states. Through a close comparative reading, the article argues that Rutherford’s work not only revives historical episodes for contemporary audiences but also participates in a broader postcolonial effort to reinterpret Indo-Islamic imperial history from a perspective unmediated by colonial historiography. Keywords - Military Tactics, Gunpowder Artillery, MansabdariSystem, Mughal Warfare, Postcolonial Historiography, Historical Fiction, Baburnama, Ain-I-Akbari