The author of this book specializes in Mughal history and
Mughal Empire. This book is based on eight chapters. Aurangzeb ruled for
forty-nine years over a population of 150 million people. Being the sixth ruler
of the Mughal Empire he named himself ‘seizer of the world’ (Alamgir).
Aurangzeb was a complex ruler who the author thinks has wrongly been attributed
as a villain in history. Aurangzeb longed for territory, political power and
adopted a particular ideal of justice.
Some consider him as a religious fanatic who destroyed
temples and restricted celebration of Holi. The author stresses that such
arguments remain invalid as Aurangzeb issued many articles protecting Hindu
temples, granted stipends and lands to Brahmins. Moreover, the author explains
that Aurangzeb consulted Hindu ascetics on health matters and employed more
Hindus in his administration than any prior Mughal ruler. In fact, the top
positions in his government were given to Hindus. Raghunatha was appointed
diwani (Chief finance minister of the empire) by Auragzeb.
Aurangzeb was born in 1618. He rose to power by killing his
brothers and later kept his father Shah Jahan (under house arrest) for more
than 7 years. He eliminated the position of a formal court historian, supported
a vast imperial library and sponsored the construction of Badshahi masjid in
Lahore- built at a time when it stood as the largest mosque in the world. He
spent the first half of his reign mainly at Court in Delhi and the second half
campaigning in the Deccan. Between 1679 and 1707, Aurangzeb increased Hindu
participation at the elite levels of the Mughal state by nearly 50 percent.
Hindus rose to 31.6 percent of the Mughal nobility.
Shivaji and Aurangzeb’s fight is highlighted in chapter
four. Shivaji was a master of raids and guerilla warfare. The Mughal-Maratha
conflict was shaped by lust for raw power. The author believes that both Mughal
and Maratha writers gave the rivalry a religious touch, which was not the case.
In fact, it was a thirst for political power.
Chapter five elaborates the morality and leadership in
Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb prayed regularly, did not consume alcohol and opium. His
interpretation of Islam included talismanic aspects and when religious obligations
conflicted with state interests he put his weight behind the latter. Aurangzeb
sponsored a legal book named Fatwa-i-Alamgiri, revived Jazya tax after one
hundred years, tried to ban/limit alcohol, opium, prostitution, gambling,
inflammatory theological writings and public celebrations of religious
festivals. Aurangzeb had thousands of temples in his domain and yes he did
destroy some. He believed that Kings
represent God on earth and thus must ensure peace on earth including religious
communities.
The author believes that for Aurangzeb Islamic teachings
and Mughal teachings made him protect Hindu temples, pilgrimage destinations,
and holy men. The idea that religious institutions could be subject to
politically motivated destructions makes many modern people see red, but
pre-modern Indians did not show such a firm line between religion and politics.
Furthermore, the author is of the view that: “Hindu kings targeted one another’s temples
beginning in the seventh century, regularly looting and defiling images of
Dogra, Ganesha, Vishnu, and so forth. They also periodically destroyed each
other’s temples. Some Hindu kings ever commissioned Sanskrit poetry to celebrate
and memorialize such actions. Indo-Muslim rulers, such as Aurangzeb, followed
suit in considering Hindu temples legitimate targets of punitive state action.”
Within a few decades of Aurangzeb’s death, the Mughal
empire lost all it had gained in Deccan, and the empire started crumbling. By
1700s, Aurangzeb favored his grandsons over his sons. Aurangzeb died in 1707
and is buried in an unmarked grave within the Chishti Sufi Shrine of Zaynuddin
Shirazi in Khuldabad.
Aurangzeb was an emperor devoted to power, his vision of
justice, and expansion. In seven years between 1712 and 1719, four Mughal Kings
ruled in quick succession. In total five kings ascended the Mughal throne in
the thirteen years after Aurangzeb’s death, as compared to four kings in the
previous one hundred and fifty years. The author adds: “From late 1750s onward, the East India Company stripped the
already-reduced Mughals of nearly all the trappings of actual sovereigns,
including their landholdings, an army, and their ability to collect revenue.”
Aurangzeb was an excellent military tactician who believed
in his own brand of justice, upheld Mughal traditions and expanded his grip
over subcontinent. He died expanding the Mughal dynasty to its maximum. He is
considered to play a very important role in the Indian medieval history.
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