Aurangzeb was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India and the last of those generally known as the Great Mughals. He reigned for almost fifty years, from 1658 to 1707 and, through constant battles, expanded the empire to the widest territorial extent it ever reached. However, the decline of the Mughals was evident even before the end of his reign.

The Holder of the World concerns a diamond which once belonged to Aurangzeb. The title of the book is close to the coronation title held by Aurangzeb’s father, Shah Jahan, which means “king of the world.” Aurangzeb’s own kingly title was Alamgir, “conqueror of the universe.”

By the time of Aurangzeb’s reign, the Mughal empire was becoming better known in the West, though accounts were often inaccurate and tended to dwell on the fabulous wealth and extreme cruelty of the emperors. Although Aurangzeb’s grandfather, Jahangir, was a noted collector of jewels (and probably the closest model provided by reality for the Western image of Mughal emperors as decadent tyrants wallowing in luxury), Aurangzeb himself was ascetic in his lifestyle and deeply pious. Indeed, his main fault seems to have been his religious intolerance, which contrasted sharply with several of his predecessors, notably the Emperor Akbar, who famously invited representatives of all religions to India to engage in theological debate. Aurangzeb remains a deeply divisive figure in the history of India, generally remembered by devout Muslims as one of the greatest emperors and by Hindus as one of the worst.