In 1919, Sarkar published the seminal "Shivaji and His Times", hailed as the most authoritative biography of the king since James Grant Duff's 1826 "A History of the Mahrattas". A respected scholar, Sarkar was able to read primary sources in Persian, Marathi, and Arabic, but was challenged for his criticism of the "chauvinism" of Marathi historians' views of Shivaji. Likewise, though supporters cheered his depiction of the killing of Afzal Khan as justified, they decried Sarkar's terming as "murder" the killing of the Hindu raja Chandrao More and his clan.