A081 - Aurangzib

 Aurangzib

Aurangzib (Aurangzeb) (Muhi ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I) (Al-Sultan al-Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram Abul Muzaffar Muhi ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I, Padshah Ghazi) (b. November 3, 1618, Dahod, Mughal Empire [present day Gujarat, India] – d. March 3, 1707, Ahmednagar, Mughal Empire [present day Maharashtra, India]).   The last of the great Mughal emperors of India (r. 1658-1707).  During his reign, the Mughal Empire reached its widest extent but also began its descent.  Towards the end, the Empire was in shambles, ruined by a series of wars (many of which were of Aurangzib’s own making).

 
Aurangzib, also known by his chosen imperial title Alamgir I (Conqueror of the Universe), was the 6th Mughal Emperor whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707. Aurangzib's reign as the Mughal monarch was marked by years of wars of expansion and a series of rebellions by his non-Muslim subjects.

Aurangzib (Aurangzeb) was the third son of Shah Jahan.  His mother was Shah Jahan’s principal wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  He was originally named Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, but was given the name Aurangzib (“Ornament of the Throne”) while still a prince. 

His first responsible assignment under his father as emperor came with his appointment to the viceroyalty of the Deccan (1636-1644).  He was subsequently governor of Gujarat (1645-1647) and of Multan (1648-1652).  He led two expeditions against Kandahar (1649 and 1652), but was unsuccessful.  In 1652, he was reappointed viceroy of the Deccan.  He reorganized the revenue administration of the Deccan with the assistance of Murshid Quli Khan and led successful expeditions against Golconda (in 1656) and Bijapur (in 1657).

When his father was incapacitated by illness in 1657, Aurangzib and his brothers began a deadly struggle for the succession.  First, Aurangzib seized the opportunity offered by the sudden illness of Shah Jahan to unite with his younger brother Murad Bakhsh and overthrow the imperial forces at Dharmatpur (in April 1658).  The civil war continued for some time, but the ultimate result was that Shah Jahan (d. 1666) became his prisoner; Dara Shikoh was captured and executed (in August 1659); his other elder brother Shuja driven to exile and death in Araccan (1660-1661); and Murad Bakhsh imprisoned (in 1658) and executed (in 1661).

Aurangzib prevailed and ascended to the throne in June 1659, adopting the title Alamgir (“Conqueror of the World”).  He began his reign by organizing a vigorous campaign in the Deccan against Bijapur and the Marathas under Shaista Khan (1660-1661) and against Cooch Bihar and Assam under Mir Jumla (1661-1663).  These campaigns were not as successful as expected; and in the Deccan the Mughals received a great setback when Shivaji overran Shaista Khan’s camp at Pune in 1663 and plundered Surat in 1664.  A large army under Jai Singh forced Shivaji to accept the treaty of Purandhar (1665), but the subsequent campaign against Bijapur proved a failure (1665-1666).  This lack of success was compounded by Shivaji’s flight from Agra (1666) and his renewal of war with a second sack of Surat (1670).  This period was also one of considerable agrarian distress, marked by scarcities and high prices, which continued until 1670.  Aurangzib issued two important firmans (farmans) containing detailed regulations to protect peasants against excessive revenue demand and to encourage them to extend cultivation.  Whether these had any practical effect is debatable.  The agrarian “crisis” might have been one factor behind uprisings such as those of the Jats in 1669 and the Satnamis in 1672.  The Afghan tribes revolted from 1672 to 1675, necessitating Aurangzib’s own stay at Hasan Abdal from 1674 to 1675.

These difficulties probably explain Aurangzib’s recourse to a more orthodox religious policy than his predecessors as a possible means of gathering firmer Muslim support.  He doubled customs duties on non-Muslims (1665), sanctioned temple destruction (1669), and imposed the poll tax (jizya) on non-Muslims (1679).  These measures were not without qualifications.  Many great ancient temples were allowed to stand; many areas, and the Rajputs and Hindu officers, were exempted from the jizya.  The Rajput and Maratha component in the nobility was not directly affected by the new policy.  The Rajput revolt of 1679 to 1681 involved the Marwar and Mewar principalities, and the latter returned to its allegiance in 1681.  But the revolt was complicated when Aurangzib’s son Akbar joined it (in 1681).  As the revolt died out, Akbar fled to Shambhuji in Maharasta, and this compelled Aurangzib in 1682 to march to the Deccan, never to return to the North.

Aurangzib initiated vigorous campaigns against the Deccan powers.  Bijapur was annexed in 1686, and Golconda in 1687.  Shambhuji was captured and executed in 1689.  He also extracted a tribute from Tanjore (now Thanjavur) and Trichinopoly (now Tiruchchirappalli) in 1691.

A four year campaign (1691-1695) by Asad Khan and Zulfiqar Khan resulted in the occupation of all of South India, with the exception of Kerala.  But Maratha power was revived in its homeland, and Aurangzib’s armies proved unable to contain the Maratha sardars (chiefs).  Aurangzib himself besieged and took fort after fort while large parts of the Deccan were sacked by the Marathas.  During a great famine in the Deccan from 1702 to 1704, more than two million people perished, according to a contemporary estimate.  Aurangzib was compelled to open the ranks of the Mughal nobility so as to win over opponents, and this brought about a crisis in jagirs, which was also a reflection of the financial strains caused by war on the Mughal administration. In spite of revolts such as those of the Jats and Sikhs, North India by and large remained peaceful.

Aurangzib died in February 1707, and lies buried in a simple grave at Khuldabad, near Aurangabad.  Unlike his three predecessors, Aurangzib was not a great builder nor a great patron of the arts.  His interests lay elsewhere.  He patronized the compilation of a great collection of rules of Muslim law, the Fatawa-i Alamgiri, and liberalized awards of land grants to theologians.  He was not, however, a blind fanatic, and tried to maintain the administrative machinery of the empire in as efficient a shape as he had found it.  He had few personal vices, and remained dedicated to his work until his death.  His death was followed by a war of succession among his sons Mu’azzam (Bahadur Shah), Azam, and Kam Bakhsh; and although Mu’azzam was successful (1709), the empire was badly shaken by the war.  Aurangzib’s failure to resolve the Maratha question also left alive a threat to the empire that would only grow with time. 

From a contemporary perspective, Aurangzib is perceived to have been a shrewd military leader and a brilliant ruler, with an administrative talent matched by cunning statesmanship.  A devote Muslim, Aurangzib unwisely abandoned the religious tolerance of his Mughal predecessors and ruled the Hindu majority by ruthless force that earned him their universal hatred.  Aurangzib also won the enmity of the Sikhs when he executed their ninth guru, Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675).  Nevertheless, when Aurangzib died, on an expedition against the Marathas, he left a vast empire, albeit an internally weakened one that would not long endure.

Today, Aurangzib is usually perceived as being the complete opposite in temperament to his great grandfather, Akbar.  If Akbar’s reign was characterized by the word “tolerance”, then Aurangzib’s was summed up by the word “persecution.”

Aurangzib observed the precepts of Islam faithfully. He lived in the palace almost as if he were an ascetic and, like his great grandfather, turned to a largely vegetarian diet.  A strict legalist, Aurangzib could not condone the “idolatry” of his Hindu subjects.  Ironically, his fanatical dedication to Islam did more to hamper the spread of Islam than did Akbar’s alleged apostasy. 

Under Aurangzib, Hindu Indians once again resisted their foreign rulers.  Within Aurangzib’s Islam, bitterness developed between those who were doggedly determined to follow the militaristic rules of the Qur’an and those inclined to the spreading of faith in Allah by example and preaching.  Aurangzib’s reign marked the beginning of the end for the Mughal empire.  His narrow vision of justice and his grim determination to unite his subjects by force finally shattered the fragile foundations of peaceful cooperation which Akbar had sought to establish. 

Aurangzeb see Aurangzib
Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I see Aurangzib
Muhammad, Muhi-ud-Din see Aurangzib
“Ornament of the Throne” see Aurangzib
Alamgir see Aurangzib
“Conqueror of the World” see Aurangzib