Sir Jadunath Sarkar was the most scholarly among pre-independence historians, who based his historiography mainly on objective evidences. His seminal five-volume History of Aurangzib and other works bring out the bitter truth about the deliberately glorified Mughals. His Military History of India is also considered to be fundamental, so are his works on Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and annals of Maratha History. He has massively contributed in bringing forward the history of Mughal India, which was mainly in oblivion due to it being mostly recorded in Persian.

Early Life

Jadunath Sarkar was born on the 10th of December, 1870 in Singra, then in the Bengal Province of British India (now in present-day Bangladesh). He started off as a scholar in English, and became pretty well established as an undergraduate English teacher in Rippon College, Calcutta. He won the coveted Premchand Roychand Scholarship in 1897. [ref]

History Writing

It was as a faculty member of the Patna College that Sarkar began pursuing his interest in history in right earnest. His first historical work was 'India iof Aurangzeb (Topography, Statistics and Roads), published in 1901. He followed a rigorous schedule of research, which explains the staggering output of work he generateed over his stellar career.

Modern research workers have touched upon several specialised monographs on several Mughal rulers, but none except Sir J. N. Sarkar has made full use of all the available Rajput sources. [ref]

Works

History of Aurangzib (5 Volume)

The five-volume History of Aurangzib by Sir Jadunath Sarkar is a seminal text that shows the truth about Aurangzib as it is. It is mainly based on objective persian sources. The historical atrocities of Islam against the Hindus of India were meticulously recorded by H.M Elliott and John Dowson in their 12 volume - The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, and later expanded by Jadunath Sarkar in these 5 volumes that were published in the time period between 1912-1924.

1. History of Aurangzib - Volume 1 - Reign of Shah Jahan
2. History of Aurangzib - Volume 2 - War of Succession (1657-1658)
3. History of Aurangzib - Volume 3 - North India (1668-1681)
4. History of Aurangzib - Volume 4 - Southern India (1645-1669)
5. History of Aurangzib - Volume 5 - The Last Phase (1689-1707) [ref]

Fall of the Mughal Empire

1. Fall of the Mughal Empire - Volume I (1739 - 1754)
2. Fall of the Mughal Empire - Volume II (1754 - 1771)
3. Fall of the Mughal Empire - Volume III (1771 - 1788)
4. Fall of the Mughal Empire - Volume IV (1788 - 1803)

Works on Maratha History

• Shivaji and His Times (1929)
• House of Shivaji (1940)

English Records of Maratha History - Poona Residency Correspondence 

• Volume 1 - Mahadji Sindhia and North Indian Affairs (1785 - 1794) - Edited by Jadunath Sarkar
• Volume 8 - Daulat Rao Sindhia and North India Affairs (1794-1799) - Edited by Jadunath Sarkar

The Later Mughals 

• The Later Mughals : Volume I - (1707 - 1720) - William Irine - Edited by Jadunath Sarkar 
• The Later Mughals : Volume II - (1719 - 1739) - William Irine - Edited and Augmented with The History of Nadir Shah's Invasion by Jadunath Sarkar

Other Works on Mughal History

• A Short History of Aurangzib (1930)
• Mughal Administration (1920)
• Studies in Aurangzib's Reign - 18 essays (1933)
• Anecdotes of Aurangzib (English Translation)  (1912)
• The India of Aurangzib (1901)
• Studies in Mughal India (1919)
• Maasir-i-Alamgiri: A history of the emperor Aurangzib-al̀amgir (translated from the Persian original by Muḥammad Saqi Mustaidd Khan)

Other Works

• India through the Ages (1928)
• A History of Jaipur (1503-1938)
• A History of Dasnami Naga Sanyasis
• Military History of India
• The History of Bengal (in 2 volumes)
• Nadir Shah in India (1922)
• Economics of British India (1900)

Death

Sir Jadunath Sarkar, the eminent Indian historian, breathed his last on the 19th of May, 1958 in Calcutta (present day Kolkata).