Wonderfully well researched… engrossing, enlightening’ The Hindu The Delhi Sultanate period (1206–1526) is commonly portrayed as an age of chaos and violence-of plundering kings, turbulent dynasties, and the aggressive imposition of Islam on India. But it was also the era that saw the creation of a pan-Indian empire, on the foundations of which the Mughals and the British later built their own Indian empires. The encounter between Islam and Hinduism also transformed, among other things, India’s architecture, literature, music and food. Abraham Eraly brings this fascinating period vividly alive, combining erudition with powerful storytelling, and analysis with anecdote. Wonderfully well researched … engrossing, enlightening. Provocative; a must-read. An insightful perspective … Eraly has a unique ability to create portraits which come to life on the page. Abraham Eraly is the acclaimed author of three books on Indian history The Last Spring: The Lives and Times of The Great Mughals (later published in two volumes as Emperors of the Peacock Throne and The Mughal World), Gem in the Lotus: The Seeding of Indian Civilisation and The First Spring: The Golden Age of India