Rakesh Kumar Rakesh Kumar has done his graduation, post-graduation, MPhil and PhD in history from the University of Delhi. He has 28 years of teaching and evaluation experience at the undergraduate level. His area of specialisation is medieval Inian history, but his interest area goes beyond to cover studies dealing with ancient and medieval world. He has written on several themes related to medieval Indian history such as ‘Nature of the Mughal State’, ‘Currency System during the Mughal Age’, ‘Art of Printing and Painting of Cloth during the Mughal Period’, ‘Ghalib’s Contribution towards Urdu Literature’, ‘Indo-Persian Literature: Works of Amir Khusrau’ to mention a few. His passion for teaching and care for students has meant that most of his publications have been aimed towards benefitting the students. The present work is a move in the similar direction with a difference that while his earlier publications had readership primarily among students of the University of Delhi, this book, it is hoped, would benefit students at the pan-India level. His devotion towards teaching has earned him the ‘Teaching Excellence Award’ conferred by the University of Delhi on its Foundation Day (1 May) in 2014. Dr Kumar’s MPhil dissertation was entitled Labourers and Artisans in the City of Agra (16th–17th Centuries) and his PhD thesis was entitled Towns, Bazars and the Working Population in the Ahmadabad Region during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Rakesh Kumar has also presented papers in international seminars organised by the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Lal Nehru University. As a member of the courses committee of the University of Delhi, Dr Kumar has been actively involved in the university’s syllabus revision and curriculum framing exercises. Presently, he is working as an Associate Professor, Department of History, Ram Lal Anand College (University of Delhi). Read More Read Less