| Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir | |
|---|---|
| Aurangzeb seated on The Peacock Throne. | |
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| Reign | 31 July 1658 – 3 March 1707 (48 years, 215 days) |
| Coronation | 15 June 1659 at Red Fort, Delhi |
| Predecessor | Shah Jahan |
| Successor | Bahadur Shah I |
| Spouse | Nawab Raj Bai Begum Dilras Bano Begam Hira Bai Zainabadi Mahal Aurangabadi Mahal Udaipuri Mahal |
| Issue | |
| Zeb-un-Nissa Zinat-un-Nissa Muhammad Azam Shah Mehr-un-Nissa Muhammad Akbar Sultan Muhammad Bahadur Shah I Badr-un-Nissa Zabdat-un-Nissa Muhammad Kam Baksh |
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| Full name | |
| Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb | |
| House | Timurid |
| Father | Shah Jahan |
| Mother | Mumtaz Mahal |
| Born | 4 November 1618 Dahod, Mughal Empire |
| Died | 3 March 1707 (aged 88) Ahmednagar, India |
| Burial | Khuldabad |
| Religion | Islam |
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir (Urdu: ابلمظفر- محىالدين - محمد اورنگزيب- عالمگیر, Hindi: अबुल मुज़फ्फर मुहिउद्दीन मुहम्मद औरंगज़ेब आलमगीर) (4 November 1618 [O.S. 25 October] – 3 March 1707 [O.S. 20 February]), more commonly known as Aurangzeb (Hindi: औरंगज़ेब)[1] or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir (Hindi: आलमगीर) ("Conquerer of the World", Urdu: عالمگیر), was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.[2][3]
Aurangzeb, whose rule lasted for nearly half a century, was the second longest reigning Mughal emperor after Akbar. During his reign the Mughal Empire reached its zenith with its territories encompassing over 1.25 million square miles and with more than 150 million subjects, nearly 1/4th of the world's population at that time.[4][5] But after his death in 1707, the Mughal Empire gradually began to shrink. Major reasons include a weak chain of "Later Mughals", an inadequate focus on maintaining central administration leading to governors forming their own empires, a gradual depletion of the fortunes amassed by his predecessors and the growth of secessionist sentiments among the various communities within the Mughal Empire.
Aurangzeb's communal policies are mixed. On one hand he authorized the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri over the entire empire, briefly taxed non-Muslims,[6] destroyed many Hindu temples which were accused of syncretism and executed Guru Tegh Bahadur.[7][8][9] On the other hand, he increased the number of Hindu administrators and senior court officials (such as Raja Jai Singh and Swarup Singh of Orchha) and many Hindu and Sikh temples continued to expand during his reign.[10]
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Aurangzeb was born the third son and sixth child of Prince Khurram (later the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan) and Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Bāno Begam) in Dahod on the way to Ujjain.[11] After an unsuccessful rebellion by his father, Aurangzeb and his brother Dara Shikoh were submitted as hostages in June,1626 under Nur Jahan at his grandfather Jahangir's court in Lahore.[11] After Shah Jahan was officially declared the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh returned to live with their parents in Agra on 26 February 1628.[11] As Aurangzeb grew up his daily allowance was fixed to Rs.500, while he spent his allowance in religious education and the study of history, he accused his brothers of alcoholism and womanizing.[11]
On May 28, 1633 when Aurnagzeb was 15 years of age he narrowly escaped death in an elephant fight and successfully defended himself from a stampede. While his other brothers fled from the arena, Aurnagzeb's valor was well appreciated by his father the mughal Emperor Shah Jahan who gave him the title Bahadur (Hero) and had him weighed in Gold and presented him gifts worth Rs 2 lakhs. This heroic deed was celebrated in Persian and Urdu verses.[11]
| “ | If the (elephant) fight had ended fatally for me it would not have been a matter of shame. Death drops the curtain even on Emperors; it is no dishonor. The shame lay in what my brothers did![11] | ” |
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—Aurangzeb to Shah Jahan taunting Dara Shikoh's cowardice , Ahkam-i-Alamgiri - Hamidullah Khan |
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He visited Kashmir with Shah Jahan and was presented with the parganah of Lukh-bhawan in September,1634.[11] On 13 December 1634 he was given his first command of 10000 horse, with an additional 4000 troopers.[11] He was allowed to use the Red tent, an imperial prerogative, indeed Shah Jahan had big plans for him particularly in the Mughal military.[11]
Sadullah Khan (later wazir to Shah Jahan), Mir Muhammad Hashim of Gilan and Muhammad Saleh Kamboh were a few of his childhood teachers.[11] Aurangzeb had a keen mind and quickly learnt what he read. He mastered the Quran and the hadith and readily quoted from them.[11] He spoke and wrote Arabic and Persian like a scholar.[11] He also learnt Chagtai Turki when he served in Kandahar.[11]
He wrote Arabic with a vigorous naskh hand and used to copy the Quran in it.[11] Two richly bound and illuminated manuscripts of his exist in Mecca and Medina, with another copy preserved in Nizamuddeen Aoliya.[11]
Aurangzeb was a prolific writer of letters and commented on petitions in his own hand.[11] He frequently quoted Islamic verses but had no special taste for poetry.[11]
Aurangzeb was a strict follower of Sufism and used to carry out his personal expenses by stitching caps which are still worn by Muslims while conducting their prayers, and by writing The Holy Quran.
Aurangzeb was a Sufi and followed the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi method of Sufism. He was a disciple of Khwaja Muhammad Masoom, the third son and successor of the founder of Mujaddidi order Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi. His letters to Shayk and the replies from him show that he was highly devoted to him and followed him in every matter of his life and rule.[14] Though the Shaykh was not involved in politics, Aurangzeb established Islamic law inspired and instructed by him.
Soon after coronation, he wrote to Shaykh that due to the duties of the empire, he was unable to attend his shaykh's company, therefore he should send one of his noble sons to the capital for spiritual and Islamic guidance to Aurangzeb. The shaykh sent his son, Khwaja Saif ad-Din Sirhindi (5th son) who was a scholar and Sufi shaykh by himself and only 27 years old. He not only guided Aurangzeb to observe the Islamic law properly, he was also the source of most of the Islamic rules Aurangzeb implemented in the empire. One of those is the ban on musical instruments throughout the country, which was initially suggested by Khwaja Saif ad-Din in accordance with the Sharia law.
Many other famous Sufis also revered Aurangzeb, including the Punjab Sufi Sultan Bahu (ca 1628 - 1691), who wrote a book with spiritual secrets specially for him. The book was written in Persian and titled "Aurang-i-Shāhī", to resemble the name of the emperor. The author has praised the emperor with titles such as The Just King.[15]
To contain the Bundela rebellion led by the renegade Jhujhar Singh, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan planned a campaign to strike the rebellious territory known as Bundelkhand and its capitol Orchha from 3 sides: Syed Khan-i-Jahan with 10,500 men from Badaun, Abdullah Khan Bahadur Firuz Jang with 6000 men from the north and Khan-i-Dauran with 6000 men from the south-west.[11] The three generals were of equal rank and hence Shah Jahan and Inayat Khan,[16] ensured unity and co-operation amongst them, Aurangzeb, then a 16 year old commander of 10,000, escorted by 1000 archers and 1000 horses, was made the (nominal) commander-in-chief.[11] He was to stay in the rear, away from the fighting and take the advice of his generals as the Mughal Army gathered and commenced the Siege of Orchha in the year 1635.[11]
| “ | If the campaign was meant to be Aurangzeb's baptism of fire, we must say the baptism was performed at a great distance from the fire![11] | ” |
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—Dow's account of the war |
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The campaign was known for its spectacular usage of Artillery according to Mughal accounts more than 220 Cannons were combined with Mughal armies of 32,000 men, that ultimately captured the Bundela capital during the combined Siege of Orchha, on October 4, 1635. Aurangzeb then raised the Mughal flag on the highest terrace of the Jahangir Mahal and installed Devi Singh as the new administrator, while Jhujhar Singh had escaped.[11] After a flurry of events, the Gonds killed Jhujhar and his son in their sleep and sent their heads to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in December 1635.[11] Aurangzeb then went to Dhamuni where Shah Jahan paid him a visit.[11] There, he ordered the demolition of Bir Singh Dev's temple and had a Mosque constructed.[11] Aurangzeb returned from Dhamuni to wait for his father at Orchha and together they traveled through the country.[11]
On the way to Sironj they reached Daulatabad where Aurangzeb on July 14, 1636 took formal leave of the emperor to take up his new post as the Viceroy of the Deccan.[11][17] At this time, he began building a new city near the former capital of Khirki which he named Aurangabad after himself. After Shah Jahan's vassals had been devastated by the alarming expansion of Ahmadnagar during the reign of the Nizam Shahi boy prince named Murtaza Shah III, the Mughal Emperor dispatched his son the Subedar of the Deccan Aurangzeb, who in the year 1636 brought the Nizam Shahi dynasty to an end. Pleased by Aurangzeb's efforts in the Deccan his father Shah Jahan presented him a magnificent Talwar called Alamgir.[18] In 1637, Aurangzeb married Rabia Durrani. During this period the Deccan was relatively peaceful. In the Mughal court, however, Shah Jahan began to show greater favour to his eldest son Dara Shikoh.
In 1644, Aurangzeb's sister Jahanara was accidentally burned when the chemicals in her perfume got close to a lamp while in Agra. This event precipitated a family crisis with political consequences. Aurangzeb suffered his father's displeasure when he returned to Agra three weeks after the event, instead of immediately. Shah Jahan had been nursing Jahanara back to health in that time and thousands of vassals had arrived in Agra to pay their respects to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his injured daughter the Mughal princess Jahanara.[11] Shah Jahan was outraged to see Aurangzeb enter the interior palace compound in military attire and immediately dismissed him from his position of Viceroy of the Deccan, Aurnagzeb was also no longer allowed to use Red tents (an imperial prerogative, which Shah Jahan handed over to Dara Shikoh) or associate himself with the official military standard of the Mughal Emperor.[11]
In 1645, he was barred from the court for seven months and mentioned his grief to fellow Mughal commanders. Thereafter, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan appointed him governor of Gujarat where he served well and was rewarded for bringing stability. In 1647, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan made him governor of Balkh and Badakhshan (in modern Afghanistan and Tajikistan), replacing Aurangzeb's ineffective brother Murad Baksh. These areas were, at the time, under attack from various tribal oriented forces and Aurangzeb's tough military skills proved useful to deter their threats. He was appointed governor of Multan and Sindh where he gained fame during the Mughal-Safavid War, a protracted military struggle against the Safavid army over the city of Kandahar. Aurangzeb himself led many assaults and learned from his mistakes by writing a lengthy memorandum as a guide for the Mughal Army, which Shah Jahan himself praised.[19]
In 1652, Aurangzeb was re-appointed governor of the Deccan. In a bold effort to extend the Mughal Empire, Aurangzeb gathered an army of 40,000 and attacked the Qutb Shahi dynasty at Golconda in the year 1657, and Bijapur in the year 1658. Although Aurangzeb almost came close to achieving total victory both times, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan ordered the Mughals to withdraw, most probably due to the woes of Dara Shikoh who then interceded and arranged for a peaceful end to the war and gained the support and favor of the Qutbshahis of Golconda and the Adil Shahi of Bijapur.
Shah Jahan fell ill in 1657, and because he was the most famous Mughal commander, Aurangzeb's elder sister Roshanara appropriated his seal to ensure that he would not authorize, initiate or involve himself in any possible war of succession.[20] When Shah Jahan's second son Shah Shuja declared himself emperor in Bengal. Imperial armies sent by the heir apparent Dara Shikoh and Shah Jahan were quick to restrain this effort, and Shah Shuja retreated to Bengal.
Soon after, Shah Shuja's youngest brother Murad Baksh, with secret promises of support from Aurangzeb, declared himself emperor in Gujarat. Aurangzeb, ostensibly in support of Murad Baksh, and marched north from Aurangabad, gathering support from his allied nobles and generals. Following a series of victories, Aurangzeb declared that Dara Shikoh had illegally usurped the throne. Shah Jahan, determined that Dara Shikoh would succeed him, handed over control of the empire to him. A Rajput named Raja Jaswant Singh, was defeated by Aurangzeb at Dharmatpur near Ujjain and then concentrated his forces and attention on defeating his elder brother Dara Shikoh. A series of bloody battles followed, with troops loyal to Aurangzeb defeating Dara Shikoh's armies particularly during the Battle of Samugarh. In a few months, Aurangzeb's forces surrounded the Mughal capitol city of Agra. Fearing for his life, Dara Shikoh departed for Delhi, leaving Shah Jahan behind. After Aurangzeb shut down the Sakia that supplied water to the city, the aged emperor surrendered the Agra Fort to the besieging forces, but Aurangzeb refused any meeting with his father and instead met with the recently arrived Ottoman ambassador Manzada Husein Agha, explaining his rise to the throne, the ambassador propitated Aurangzeb to bring an end to the internal conflict among the Mughals.[21]
Later, Aurangzeb declared that his brother and Mughal heir apparent Dara Shikoh was no longer a Muslim, Aurangzeb also accused Dara Shikoh of poisoning the Mughal Grand Vizier Saadullah Khan, during the reign of Shah Jahan, both of these statements however remained contrary to any factual evidence. After being betrayed by his own commander, Dara Shikoh and his son Suleiman Shikoh were captured by Mughal forces and then paraded in silver chains inside the city of Agra causing considerable distress among the locals, later both of them were executed by the orders of the new Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
In a sudden reversal, Aurangzeb arrested his brother and long time ally Murad Baksh, whose supporters defected to Aurangzeb in return for rich gifts.[22] Meanwhile, Dara gathered his forces, and moved to the Punjab. The army sent against Shuja was trapped in the east, its generals Jai Singh and Dilir Khan, submitted to Aurangzeb, but Dara Shikoh's son Suleiman Shikoh, escaped. Aurangzeb offered Shah Shuja the governorship of Bengal. This move had the effect of isolating Dara Shikoh and causing more troops to defect to Aurangzeb. Shah Shuja, who had declared himself Mughal Emperor in Bengal began to annex more territory prompting Aurangzeb to march from Punjab with a new and large army that fought during the Battle of Khajwa, where Shah Shuja and his Chain mail armored War elephants were routed by the forces loyal to Aurangzeb. Shah Shuja then fled to Arakan (in present-day Burma), where he was executed by the local rulers.[23] Murad Baksh was finally executed, ostensibly for the murder of his former divan clerk named Ali Naqi, in 1661.[24]
With Shuja and Murad disposed of, and with his father Shah Jahan immured in Agra, Aurangzeb pursued Dara Shikoh, chasing him across the north-western bounds of the empire. After a series of battles, defeats and retreats, Dara Shikoh was betrayed by one of his generals, who arrested and bound him. In 1659, Aurangzeb arranged his formal coronation in Delhi. He had Dara Shikoh openly marched in chains back to Delhi where he had him executed on arrival on the 30th of August, 1659. Having secured his position, Aurangzeb kept his frail father Shah Jahan at the Agra Fort where Shah Jahan died in 1666 and was denied a state funeral.
Soon after his ascension, Aurangzeb abandoned the liberal religious viewpoints of his predecessors.[25] Though Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan's approach to faith was more syncretic than the empire's founder, Aurangzeb's position is not so obvious though his conservative interpretation of Islam and belief in the Sharia (Islamic law) is well documented. Despite claims of sweeping edicts and policies, contradictory accounts exist.[26] Specifically, his compilation of the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, a digest of Muslim law, was either intended for personal use, never enforced, or only poorly done. While some assert the lack of broad adoption was due to an inherent flaw,[27] Hanafi law was sought to be codified under Aurangzeb but the work of several hundred jurists, called Fatawa-e-Alamgiri[28] While it is possible the war of succession and a continued incursions combined with Shah Jahan's spending made cultural expenditure impossible,[29] Aurangzeb's orthodoxy is also used to explain his infamous "burial" of music. The scene describing the "death of music"(and all other forms of performance) is paradoxically dramatic.
Immediately after becoming the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb enforced morals, and strictly banned the consumption, usage and practices of: alcoholism, gambling, prostitution, sati, castration, servitude, eunuchs, music, nautch and narcotics in the Mughal Empire. He learnt that at Sindh, Multan, Thatta and particularly at Varanasi, the Hindu Brahmins attracted large numbers of indigenous local Muslims to their discourses. He ordered the Subahdars of these provinces to demolish the schools and the temples of non-Muslims.[30] Aurangzeb also ordered Subahdars to punish Muslims who dressed like non-Muslims, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. However newer temples continued to be built and expanded in both Varanasi and Amritsar.
The Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded because he objected to Aurangzeb's forced conversions. Francois Bernier, traveled and chronicled Mughal India during the war of succession, notes both Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb's distaste for Christians. This led to the demolition of Christian settlements near the British/European Factories and enslavement of Christian converts by Shah Jahan. Furthermore, Aurangzeb stopped all aid to Christian Missionaries (Frankish Padres) initiated by Akbar and Jahangir.[31]
Aurangzeb destroyed several non-Islamic shrines: some Hindu nationalists state the number to be as high as 60,000, but researcher Richard M. Eaton (2000) states that a total of 15 Hindu temples were destroyed during Aurangzeb's reign.[30] After the Jat rebellion in Mathura, Aurangzeb ordered destruction of the city's Keshava Deva temple and built an Islamic idgah in its place. In 1679, he ordered destruction of several prominent temples that had become associated with his enemies: these included the temples of Khandela, Udaipur, Chittor and Jodhpur.[32]
Ram Puniyani states that Aurangzeb was not always fanatically anti-Hindu, and kept changing his policies depending on the needs of the situation. He banned the construction of new temples, but permitted the repair and maintenance of existing temples. He also made generous donations of jagirs to several temples to win the sympathies of his Hindu subjects. There are several firmans (orders) in his name, supporting temples and gurudwaras, including Mahakaleshwar temple of Ujjain, Balaji temple of Chitrakoot, Umananda Temple (Guwahiat) and the Shatrunjaya Jain temples.[33]
From the start of his reign up until his death, Aurangzeb engaged in almost constant warfare. He built up a massive army, and began a program of military expansion along all the boundaries of his empire. Aurangzeb pushed north-west into the Punjab and what is now Afghanistan; he also drove south, conquering three Muslim kingdoms: Nizams of Ahmednagar, Adilshahis of Bijapur and Qutbshahis of Golconda these new territories were administered by the Mughal Nawabs loyal to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
In 1636 while Aurangzeb was the Mughal viceroy of Deccan his forces defeated the Nizam Shahi's of Ahmednagar during various Cavalry skirmishes and finally annexed their capitol of Ahmadnagar.[34]
In the year 1685 the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb dispatched his son Muhammad Azam Shah with a force of nearly 50,000 men to capture Bijapur Fort and defeat Sikandar Adil Shah the ruler of Bijapur who refused to be a vassal. The Mughals led by Muhammad Azam Shah could not make any advancements upon Bijapur Fort mainly due to the superior usage of cannon batteries on both sides. Outraged by the stalemate Aurangzeb himself arrived on September 4, 1686 and commanded the Siege of Bijapur after eight days of fighting the Mughals were victorious.
Only one remaining ruler Abul Hasan Qutb Shah the Qutbshahi ruler of Golconda refused to surrender, he and his servicemen fortified themselves at Golconda, and fiercely protected the Kollur Mine (then, the worlds only diamond mine). In the year 1687 the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb led his grand Mughal army against the Deccan Qutbshahi fortress during the Siege of Golconda. Golconda itself was the only diamond producing city in the world at that time. The Qutbshahi's had constructed massive fortifications throughout successive generations on a granite hill over 400 ft high with an enormous 8mile wall enclosing the city. The main gates of Golconda had the ability to repulse any War elephant attack. In fact of the 18 most famous diamonds in the world 13 came from the Golconda Kollur Mine ruled by the then Qutbshahi dynasty the city was also home to the most famous diamond cutters. For the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb the conquest of Qutbshahi ruled Golconda was crucial to the legitimacy of his reign throughout the realm. Although the Qutbshahi's maintained impregnable efforts defending their walls, at night the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and his infantry usually assembled and erected complex scaffolding that allowed them to scale the high walls. During the eight month siege the Mughals faced many hardships including the death of their experienced commander Kilich Khan Bahadur. But finally the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and forces his managed to penetrate the walls by capturing a gate their entry into the fort led Abul Hasan Qutb Shah to surrender peacefully and hand over the precious Nur-Ul-Ain Diamond, Great Stone Diamond, Kara Diamond, Darya-e-Nur, The Hope Diamond, the Wittelsbach Diamond and the The Regent Diamond making the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb the richest monarch in the world.
This combination of military expansion and religious intolerance had deeper consequences. Though he succeeded in expanding Mughal control, it was at an enormous cost in lives and treasure. And, as the empire expanded in size, Aurangzeb's chain of command grew weaker. With much of his attention on military matters, Aurangzeb's political power against his rebellious enemies apparently began to wane, and his provincial Nawabs grew in authority.
As soon as he became Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb sent some of the finest ornate gifts such as carpets,[35] lamps, tiles and others to the Islamic shrines at Mecca and Medina, immediately after his emergence to the throne he also ordered the construction of very large ships in Surat that would transport these gifts and even pilgrims to the Hijaz. These annual expeditions organized by Aurangzeb were led by Mir Aziz Badakhshi who died in Mecca of natural causes but managed to deliver more than 45,000 gold and silver coins, Jewels and several thousand Kaftans of honor.[21][36]
Subhan Quli, Balkh's Uzbek ruler was the first to recognize him in 1658 and requested for a general alliance, he worked alongside the new Mughal Emperor since 1647 when Aurangzeb was the Subedar of Balkh. Aurangzeb warmly received the embassy of Shah Abbas II of Persia in 1660 and returned them with gifts.
In the year 1688 the desperate Ottoman Sultan Suleiman II urgently requested for assistance against the rapidly advancing Austrians, during the Ottoman–Habsburg War however the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and his forces were heavily engaged in the Deccan Wars to commit any formal assistance to their desperate Ottoman allies.[37]
In 1686 English East India Company which had unsuccessfully tried to obtain a firman, an imperial directive that would grant England regular trading privileges throughout the Mughal empire, initiated so-called Child's War with the empire which ended in disaster for the English. In 1690 the company sent envoys to Aurangzeb's camp to plead for a pardon. The company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behavior in the future.
In September 1695, English pirate Henry Every perpetrated one of the most profitable pirate raids in history with his capture of a Grand Mughal convoy near Surat. The Indian ships had been returning home from their annual pilgrimage to Mecca when the pirates struck, capturing the Ganj-i-Sawai, reportedly the greatest ship in the Muslim fleet, and its escorts in the process. When news of the piracy reached the mainland, a livid Aurangzeb nearly ordered an armed attack against the English city of Bombay, though he finally agreed to compromise after the East India Company promised to pay financial reparations, estimated at £600,000 by the Mughal authorities.[38] Meanwhile, Aurangzeb shut down four of the East India Company's factories, imprisoned the workers and captains (who were nearly lynched by a rioting mob), and threatened to put an end to all English trading in India until Every was captured.[38] The Privy Council and East India Company offered a massive bounty for Every's apprehension, leading to the first worldwide manhunt in recorded history.[39] However, Every successfully eluded capture.
Emperor Aurangzeb's exchequer raised a record £100 million in annual revenue through various sources like taxes, customs and land revenue, et al. from 24 provinces.[41] A pound sterling was exchanged at 10 rupees then.
| No. | Province | Land Revenue (1697) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | Total | £38,624,680 | |
| 1 | Bijapur | £5,000,000 | |
| 2 | Golconda | £5,000,000 | |
| 3 | Bengal | £4,000,000 | |
| 4 | Gujarat | £2,339,500 | |
| 5 | Lahore | £2,330,500 | |
| 6 | Agra | £2,220,355 | |
| 7 | Ajmere | £2,190,000 | |
| 8 | Ujjain | £2,000,000 | |
| 9 | Deccan | £1,620,475 | |
| 10 | Berar | £1,580,750 | |
| 11 | Delhi | £1,255,000 | |
| 12 | Behar | £1,215,000 | |
| 13 | Khandesh | £1,110,500 | |
| 14 | Rajmahal | £1,005,000 | |
| 15 | Malwa | £990,625 | |
| 16 | Allahabad | £773,800 | |
| 17 | Nande (Nandair) | £720,000 | |
| 18 | Baglana | £688,500 | |
| 19 | Thatta (Sindh) | £600,200 | |
| 20 | Orissa | £570,750 | |
| 21 | Multan | £502,500 | |
| 22 | Kashmir | £350,500 | |
| 23 | Kabul | £320,725 | |
| 24 | Sukkur | £240,000 |
Aurangzeb felt that verses from the Quran should not be stamped on coins, as done in former times, because they were constantly touched by the hands and feets of people.[11] His coins had the name of the mint city and the year of issue on one face, and, the following couplet on other
| “ | King Aurangzeb Alamgir Stamped coins , in the world , like the bright full moon.[11] |
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—Mir Abdul Baqi Suhbai |
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Since Aurangzeb's reign is marked by numerous rebellions in the distant provinces of the Mughal Empire, many historians believe that Mughal Nawabs were incapable of bridging the gap between the rulers and the people; therefore many new identities emerged along with it armed rebellion.
Territorial conflicts between the Mughal Empire and the Deccan Sultanates caused much instability in the region including a powerful urge for the Deccan Sultanates to conscript a new infantry, which consisted of Marathas. One of the earliest Maratha who rose to prominence in the Deccan Sultanates was Shahaji, in 1635 he set up a Nizam Shahi boy prince named Murtaza Shah III as a subject to his authority and as the nominal Sultan of Ahmadnagar.[45] Together they occupied and defeated the territories of the vassals of the Mughal Empire. When the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan's Mughal Army led by Prince Aurangzeb, captured Ahmadnagar and overthrew Murtaza Shah III in the year 1637, the fleeing Shahaji entered the service of the Sultan of Bijapur and was a major figure in their campaign in the Carnatic.
Shahaji's son Shivaji was raised in Puna but unlike his other brothers he refused to enter the service of the Sultan of Bijapur but instead gathered his own following of Marathas. By the age of eighteen Shivaji seized his fathers estate and began to expand his territories and initiated the capture of hill fortresses,[46] in a region that was known to be associated with fugitive Rajputs and even Thugees.[47] In the year 1657 the new Sultan of Bijapur, Ali Adil Shahi sent his most prestigious commander Afzal Khan with an elite army of 10,000.[46] Shivaji and his Marathas were decisively defeated in the prelimanry battles, but he decided to lure the powerful Afzal Khan to a private conference and then murdered him with his dagger.[48] The leaderless troops of Bijapur were thenceforth consequently routed by Shivaji's soldiers.
In the year 1659, Shivaji began to annex territories of the Mughal Empire, in the year that followed the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, dispatched his maternal uncle Shaista Khan to subdue the Maratha threat. Shaista Khan and his Mughal forces quickly occupied Puna and after four months of siege they captured Chakan and the Mughal cavalry routed the remaining Marathas in the countryside. In the night of April 5, 1663, the Marathas led by Shivaji attacked Shaista Khan's encampment at Puna, and although the viceroy escaped, his son was killed, he was then recalled by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.[49]
In January 1664, Shivaji led 4,000 Maratha soldiers to sack the city Surat, the most important Mughal imperial port, home to over 200,000 people. The Mughal faujdar Inayat Khan and the 5000 soldiers in his command deserted the city and fled to the safety of the fort.[50] the Marathas then sacked the city, and looted the wealth from trading centers and houses belonging to rich merchants such as Virji Vora.[51] Only the well organized British led by George Oxenden and the Portuguese survived the onslaught, but the city itself never recovered. The enraged Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb then sent Dilir Khan and Raja Jai Singh, with his son, Prince Muazzam, to the Deccan. Before the arrival of the imperial forces Shivaji is even known to have presented the head of Afzal Khan and the fingers of Shaista Khan to his mother Jijabai, symbolizing victory against the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.[52]
Mughal commanders forced Shivaji to sue for peace after initiating the two month Siege of Purandhar, he also surrendered twenty three fortresses and the territories that he had annexed. In 1666 he attended the court at Agra, but insulted at being given the rank of Mansabdar of only five thousand horsemen, he made his displeasure public. He was kept under surveillance, but he escaped and reached Puna. On his return Shivaji formally assumed the title of Maharaja and for the next four plundered a vast territory in the Deccan spanning from Khandesh to Kanara. The Mughals continuously pursued and engaged the raiders but with mixed success and in response Aurangzeb, ordered the armament of the Daulatabad Fort with two bombards, the fort itself was utilized as a Mughal bastion.[53]
After Shivaji's death in 1680, his son Sambhaji fought the Mughals in eccan] In 1682 Shambhuji raided Burhanpur, the local Qadi alleged that Sambhaji committed cruelties on the Muslim population and sent a letter praising Aurangzeb's efforts against the Marathas as a just-cause, which needed immediate attention.[54] Sambhaji himself harmed the Mughals by disrupting and killing those who worked on the supply routes and fought the Mughal commander Kilich Khan Bahadur, later on during the Siege of Bijapur. Meanwhile Aurangzeb, setup encampments on the third week of March, 1682 at Ahmadnagar and was concerned about the Deccan since his rebel son, Prince Akbar, decided to go south and join Muslim rebels associated with the Deccan Sultanates, unable to make any major changes Prince Akbar and his allies fled to Persia.[55]
After Bijapur and Golconda, were annexed in 1686 and 1687, and Sambhaji and his men were captured by Muqarrab Khan and his contingent of 25,000 and executed in early 1689.[56] Despite such advancements battles and skirmishes against the Maratha continued to be fought under the command of Ghazi ud-Din Khan Feroze Jung. It was during these battles that Aurangzeb brought up Sambhuji's son, Shahu, at the court he entered the service of Prince Muazzam and was later released from service honorably in the year 1707. But Meanwhile Sambhaji's younger brother, Rajaram, took over the Maratha leadership and in the year 1700, his widow, Tara Bai, was chosen to lead the Maratha.[57]
The Mughals achieved many successes against the Marathas, but these proved temporary. But even though Aurangzeb had conquered most of the Maratha forts, he was unable to suppress the powerful roving Maratha bands that challenged Mughal authority whenever they got an opportunity. In 1699, they carried their raids on Malwa, Hyderabad and Jinji, Surat, Murud Janjira[58] and in 1706 they sacked Baroda. Mughal commanders such as Zulfiqar Ali Khan made every attempt to halt the spread of the Maratha, but their shortcomings prompted the frail 89 year old Aurangzeb to launch his final campaign against the Maratha against whom he was engaged in continuous war in the Deccan for more than two decades. Even though the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb was known to have had more than 500,000 men there was no resolution to the conflict, he died due to natural causes during the campaign in the year 1707.[58][59] After Aurangzeb's death, the Marathas became a major factor in the downfall of the Mughal Empire.[59]
While Aurangzeb and his brother Shah Shuja had been fighting against each other (during the Mughal wars of succession, particularly during the Battle of Khajwa), the Hindu rulers of Kuch Behar and Assam, took advantage of the disturbed conditions in the Mughal Empire, had invaded imperial dominions. For three years they were not attacked, but in 1660 Mir Jumla II, the viceroy of Bengal, was ordered to recover the lost territories.[60]
The Mughals set out in November, 1661, and within weeks occupied the capital of Kuch Behar after a few fierce skirmishes. The Kuch Behar was annexed, and the Mughal Army reorganized and began to retake their territories in Assam. Mir Jumla II's forces captured Pandu, Guwahati, and Kajali practically unopposed. In February 1662, Mir Jumla II initiated the Siege of Simalugarh and after the Mughal cannon breached the fortifications, the Ahoms abandoned the fort and escaped. Mir Jumla II then proceeded towards Garhgaon the capital of the Ahom kingdom, which was reached on March 17, 1662, although the ruler Raja Sutamla fled and the victorious Mughals captured 100 elephants, about 300,000 coins of gold and silver, 8000 shields, 1000 ships, and 173 massive stores of rice.[60]
When the Mughal navy from Lakhau and Dacca led by Munnawar Khan armed with Gunboats began to take control of the Brahmaputra River, the Ahoms concluded a treaty at Ghilajharighat in January 1663 and ceded western Assam to the Mughals, promised a war indemnity of 300,000 gold and silver coins and 100 elephants. In addition to that Raja Sutamla had to deliver his only child and daughter Ramani Gabharu, as well as his niece, the daughter of the Tipam Raja to the Harem in Agra. Thus, according to the treaty Raja Sutamla returned the territories in Kamrup to the possession of the Mughals and promised to pay a heavy war indemnity. After the Mughals received a heavy tribute they further captured some forts and towns in the cultivated districts near the frontier of Bengal and Assam.[61]
Later that year in December 1663, the aged Mir Jumla II died on his way back to Dacca of natural causes, but skirmishes continued between the Mughals and Ahoms after the rise of Chakradhwaj Singha, who refused to pay further indemnity to the Mughals and during the wars that continued the Mughals suffered great hardships. Munnawar Khan emerged as a leading figure and is known to have supplied food to vulnerable Mughal forces in the region near Mathurapur. Although the Mughals under the command of Syed Firoz Khan the Faujdar at Guwahati were overrun by two Ahom armies in the year 1667, but they continued to hold and maintain presence along their the eastern territories even after the Battle of Saraighat in the year 1671.[62]
Early Sikhism was resented strongly by the Brahmans, in fact the third Guru Amar Das, pleaded the Mughal Emperor Akbar for assistance. Akbar himself had visited the third guru and granted him land in Amritsar on which the Golden Temple was built.[63]
However, troubles soon began in the year 1573 during the Mughal Emperor Jahangir's reign when Guru Arjun Dev had given assistance and support to the revolt led by the rebellious Prince Khusrau. After subduing the rebellion Jahangir and his advisors stated that the Sikhs intended to destabilize the Mughal Empire.[64]
The Sikhs began to organize themselves on semi-military lines, which led ultimately led to conflict in te year 1628, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, these Sikhs ambushed and defeated a small force of Mughal Sowars and when the Mughals organized a massive retaliation, almost all the Sikhs, including Guru Hargobind and his mercenaries fled.[65]
Aurangzeb's, tensions towards the Sikhs began even before he was coronated Mughal Emperor; perticularly when the Sikh, Guru Har Rai supported Aurangzeb's elder brother Dara Shikoh. Guru Har Rai, however cleverly withdrew his support for Dara Shikoh after he had been defeated by Aurangzeb during the Battle of Samugarh.[66] The ninth guru, Tegh Bahadur, who in 1664, served in the Mughal army on the Assam frontier for some years under the command of Mir Jumla II, but later returned to eastern Punjab and settled down at Anandpur. His followers began to refer to him as the "Sacha Badshah" (True King), probably because he continued to arm the Sikh community. Mughal officials such as Nur Muhammad Khan of Rupnagar, Dilawar Khan the Faujdar of Sirhind and Wazir Khan had him arrested and he was taken to Delhi and put to death by Aurangzeb in 1675. However, when Aurangzeb was questioned by a group of Qadis regarding the reasons for the execution, the Mughal Emperor could not clearly explain the causes for the order of the penalty.[67]
His successor was Guru Govind Singh, gave the Sikhs their very distinctive symbols—the uncut hair, the steel bangle, the sword. He soon initiated conflict against local Hindu rivals in the Punjab such as Kirpal Chand, Raja of Kangra and Raja Dayal of Bijarwal. After ceaseless battles local Hindu landlords allied themselves to the Mughal governor Wazir Khan, who himself requested assistance from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb when the local Muslim populace was consecutively attacked by the Sikh rebels.[68][69]
Aurangzeb agreed to send forces to assist them in besieging Govind Singh in his stronghold at Anandpur. The guru himself escaped, but his children were executed. As he fed from the pursuing Mughal Army, Guru Govind Singh addressed their Emperor, Aurangzeb in a long Persian poem, known as Zafarnama. The poem complained against the Mughal Emperor Aurnagzeb, but appealed for peace in the name of humanity and of Islam and its teachings. According to certain Sikh accounts, Aurangzeb invited the guru to visit him in the Deccan and thereafter allowed Guru Govind Singh to live in peace.[70]
The Pashtun tribesmen of the Empire were considered the bedrock of the Mughal Army. They were the Empire's from the threat bulwark in the North-West as well as the main fighting force against the Sikhs and Marathas. The Pashtun revolt in 1672 under the leadership of the warrior poet Khushal Khan Khattak[71] was triggered when soldiers under the orders of the Mughal Governor Amir Khan allegedly attempted to molest women of the Safi tribe in modern day Kunar. The Safi tribes retaliated against the soldiers. This attack provoked a reprisal, which triggered a general revolt of most of tribes. Attempting to reassert his authority, Amir Khan led a large Mughal Army to the Khyber Pass, where the army was surrounded by tribesmen and routed, with only four men, including the Governor, managing to escape.
After that the revolt spread, with the Mughals suffering a near total collapse of their authority in the Pashtun belt. The closure of the important Attock-Kabul trade route along the Grand Trunk road was particularly disastrous. By 1674, the situation had deteriorated to a point where Aurangzeb camped at Attock to personally take charge. Switching to diplomacy and bribery along with force of arms, the Mughals eventually split the rebels and partially suppressed the revolt, although they never managed to wield effective authority outside the main trade route. The anarchy that became endemic on the Empire's North-Western frontier as a consequence ensured that Nadir Shah's invading forces, half a century later, faced little resistance on the road to Delhi.
By the year 1689, almost all of Southern India was a part of the Mughal Empire and after the conquest of Golconda the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb may have been the most richest and powerful man alive, Mughal victories in the south expanded the Mughal Empire to 1.25million square miles, ruling over 150million subjects, nearly 1/4th of the worlds population. But this supremacy was short-lived.
Aurangzeb's vast imperial campaigns against rebellion-affected areas of the Mughal Empire, caused his opponents to exaggerate the "importance" of their rebellions. The results of his vast campaigns were made worse by the incompetence of his regional Nawabs.[72]
Muslim views regarding Aurangzeb vary, most Muslim historians believe that the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb was the last powerful ruler of an empire inevitably on the verge of decline. The major rebellions organized by the Sikhs and the Marathas were long embedded and had deep roots in the remote regions of the Mughal Empire.
Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb considered the royal treasury to be held in trust for the citizens of his empire. He made caps and copied the Quran to earn money for his use. He did not use the royal treasury for personal expenses or extravagant building projects excepting perhaps the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, which, for 313 years remained the world's largest mosque and still remains to this day the 5th largest mosque in the world. He also added a small marble mosque known as the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) to the Red Fort complex in Delhi. His constant warfare especially with the Marathas, however, drove his empire to the brink of bankruptcy just as much as the wasteful personal spending and opulence of his predecessors. Aurangzeb knew he would not return to the throne after his final campaign against the Maratha in the year 1706, in which, he was joined by newly emerging commanders in the Mughal Army such as Syed Hassan Ali Khan Barha, Saadat Ali Khan and Asaf Jah I.
Stanley Wolpert writes in his New History of India that:
the conquest of the Deccan, to which, Aurangzeb devoted the last 26 years of his life, was in many ways a Pyrrhic victory, costing an estimated hundred thousand lives a year during its last decade of futile chess game warfare...The expense in gold and rupees can hardly be accurately estimated. Aurangzeb's encampment was like a moving capital - a city of tents 30 miles in circumference, with some 250 bazaars, with a 1⁄2 million camp followers, 50,000 camels and 30,000 elephants, all of whom had to be fed, stripped the Deccan of any and all of its surplus grain and wealth... Not only famine but bubonic plague arose...Even Aurangzeb, had ceased to understand the purpose of it all by the time he was nearing 90... "I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing," the dying old man confessed to his son in February 1707.[73]
He died in Ahmednagar on Friday, 20 February 1707 at the age of 88, having outlived many of his children. His modest open-air grave in Khuldabad expresses his deep devotion to his Islamic beliefs. The tomb lies within the courtyard of the shrine of the Sufi saint Shaikh Burham-u'd-din Gharib (died 1331), who was a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi.[74]
After Aurangzeb's death, his son Bahadur Shah I took the throne. The Mughal Empire, both due to Aurangzeb's over-extension and Bahadur Shah's weak military and leadership qualities, entered a period of terminal decline. Immediately after Bahadur Shah occupied the throne, the Maratha Empire — which Aurangzeb had held at bay, inflicting high human and monetary costs — consolidated and launched effective invasions of Mughal territory, seizing power from the weak emperor. Within a century of Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal Emperor had little power beyond the walls of Delhi.
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Aurangzeb
Born: 4 November 1618 Died: 3 March 1707 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Shah Jahan |
Mughal Emperor 1658-1707 |
Succeeded by Bahadur Shah I |
