Aurang zeb pdf

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free ODT. Download Free PDF. Ameen Arimbra. A short summary of this paper. No one is more controversial than the last great ruler of Mughal empire Aurangzeb as he is portrayed as a religious fanatic, a Muslim fundamentalist, a ruthless tyrant and a bigot.

In Indian history, Akbar and Aurangzeb are generally described as the hero and villain of the Mughal period. Whenever one thinks of Aurangzeb, the first important thing which comes to our mind is that of an orthodox fanatic because that is how we were taught. But is it justified in doing so? To answer or attempt these questions, it is important to dwell on Aurangzeb and his attitude towards Islam.

Historians have taken two sides while writing about Aurangzeb, some were keen to represent him as a fanatic and others whom represent him as a liberal or non fanatic ruler.

So lets try to understand if he was actually a biased ruler or is it the biased historians as a part of their hidden agenda interpreted him as a biased fanatic ruler. To understand this, lets try to analyse his rule by looking at various factors like the functional environment of state as he ascended the throne, his religious policies and his approach towards the non Muslims from the sources available.

Lets begin with looking at the various scenarios and events that lead Aurangzeb to the throne of Mughal empire. He ascended the throne after a war of succession with his elder brother Dara Shikoh who was supposed to be the ruler as per the Mughal tradition.

In the battle of Samugarh both the forces of Dara and Aurangzeb fought in which Aurangzeb came victorious. Even though Dara was considered to be a liberal and Aurangzeb, a face of orthodoxy, this battle cannot be seen as a battle of religious orthodoxy and liberal idea because Hindu rajputs and Muslim Rajas were equally placed on both sides.

After the victory, Aurangzeb marched towards Delhi with ailing father Shajahan in the throne, he was forced to surrender and was send to house arrest. But as some sources suggest he was never ill treated, he lived 8 years lovingly nursed by one of his daughter Jahanara confined to the female apartments in fort. This marked the beginning of the most controversial rule in the Mughal history. Aurangzeb then ruled for 49 years from to with the Mughal empire reaching its zenith and territorial climax during his period, stretching from Kashmir in the north to Jinji in the south, and from the Chittagong in the east to the Hindukush ranges in the west.

His rule was strongly marked by highly personalized approach and he followed an expansionist policy to expand the Mughal empire to the east, north east and the deccan. When Aurangzeb ascended the throne in , the state was already getting incorporated into the colonial era, with various areas getting stagnated and it was also a period of various other powers raising with Sikhs and Maratha's coming into the picture.

The royal treasury was also drained due to massive flow of wealth allotted for the construction of Tajmahal by his father Shahjahan. It was also a period in which many important cultural religious revivalist movements were gaining ground in India. The First Phase- to The first phase begins from the year of his succession in to spanning over a period of twenty one years. Shortly after his accession, a number of religious and moral regulations were issued by Aurangzeb. This includes banning of sijda or prostration before the king something which the clerics had maintained was reserved for God.

But these actions could not be described as puritanical because according to Islamic belief sijda should be only done in front of the almighty.

There were officers called Muhtasibs appointed in every province and their duty was to keep a check if people lived according to sharia. Thus it was the duty of these officials to check the consumption of wine and intoxicants such as bhang in public places.

They also had the responsibility to regulate the houses of ill repute, gambling centres and for checking weights and measures. Therefore in some way, they were responsible for keeping a check on the forbidden substances banned by the sharia and the zawabits secular decrees , and not to be defied openly in public spaces.

However if we have to believe the sources written by the Italian traveller, Manucci, who lived in India during the Mughals, he has stated that all these regulations were openly flouted. In case of appointing Muhtasibs, Aurangzeb also emphasized on the fact that the state was also responsible in some way to maintain the moral welfare of its citizens.

But the officials were strictly instructed not to intervene in the private lives of citizens. In , in the 11 th year of his reign, Aurangzeb issued a number of measures which have been called puritanical, but many of which were actually of social and economic character, or against superstitious beliefs.

He is said to have forbidden singing in the court, with most of the court musicians being pensioned off but Naubat Royal band and instrumental music were allowed to be continued in the court. Singing also continued to be patronised by individual nobles and the ladies inside the Haram. In this context, it is also important to note that the largest number of Persian works based on classical Indian music were written during Aurangzeb's reign, and moreover Aurangzeb himself was an expert in playing the Veena.

During this period he also discontinued the practice of Jharoka darshana which means showing himself to the public from the balcony, since Aurangzeb considered it to be a superstitious practice.

Similarly, he also banned the ceremony of weighing the emperor against gold and silver and other goods on his birthdays. Many regulations of related nature, some of a moralistic character and some to create a kind of austerity, and some to ban practices which was considered to be against the Islamic beliefs, were issued. Other orders which he issued were that the courtiers were forbidden from wearing silk gowns, or gowns which had a mixture of silver and cotton.

Even the official department of history writing was discontinued as a measure of limiting economic loss. Although some of these measures display a puritanical frame of mind, most of mentioned above regulations were either personal or related to his royal court as he was not a supporter of the lavish royal lifestyle. These measures were prompted, as a part of a financial crisis which Aurangzeb faced around this time.

Following the economic loss caused by the civil war, for a succession of years after , there was meagre rainfall which resulted in crop failure in most of the provinces. According to the Maasir-i-Alamgiri, which can be considered as a semi-official history of Aurangzeb, in the 13th year of his reign, it was reported that expenses had surpassed income during the preceding twelve years. Therefore some of the measures of economy followed by Aurangzeb were therefore "the retrenchment of many items in the expenditure of the Emperor, the princes and the Begums" Chandra, Similarly in the year he ordered that Karoris of all crown lands should be compulsively Muslims and also the governors and local officials were ordered to dismiss their Diwans accountants and peshkars clerks and replace them by Muslims.

But this decision lead to a massive uproar among the nobles, because they pointed out that there were not many competent Muslims.

According to the famous historian Khafi Khan, the measure was therefore withdrawn, and this fact remains unnoticed by most of our historians The controversial Temple destruction and Imposition of Jiziyah Two famous measures introduced by Aurangzeb which can be termed as discriminatory and which shows a sense of bigotry towards non-Muslims are destruction of temples, and reintroduction of the Jiziyah tax.

These two allegations are to be the reason why he was framed as a fanatic and puritanical ruler by the historians. This is clear from the sources which shows that he issuing a number extant farmans Royal orders to the brahmanas of Banaras and Vrindavan. Aurangzeb's order concerning the temples was not a new one. It reaffirmed the position which prevailed during the Sultanate period and which had been repeated by Shah Jahan early during his reign.

But in practice, the interpretation of the words "long standing", left wide latitude to the local officials. In , a number of temples in Gujrat which included the famous Somnath temple, which Aurangzeb as a prince of Gujrat had destroyed, but which was rebuilt in the interval, were to be demolished.

Finally, there is no exact reason to believe that later Aurangzeb departed from this policy of limited tolerance, going against the sharia law and ordered a general destruction of temples.

No such orders of destruction have been discovered, nor there is any reference of them in Aurangzeb's letters or the Akhbarat. And reference to such destruction can be only found in Maasir-i-Alamgiri, which was written after Aurangzeb's death. Another evidence which suggest Aurangzeb not to be a fanatic as he was portrayed is that, stone inscription at the historic Balaji or Vishnu Temple, located north of Chitrakut Balaghat, still shows that it was commissioned by the Emperor himself.

Therefore some of the famous temples of Vrindavan, Mathura and Thatta were destroyed as a part of their policy. This reached its climax when in , following the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh, and resistance on the part of Rathors as a protest against bringing Marwar under Mughal administration pending a decision of succession conflict, a number of old standing temples in the area were destroyed.

Unbiased views on Aurangzeb also suggest that destruction of temples were also followed by the demolition of mosques. They were not allowed to attend Muslim Madaras and Maqtabs. For the Hindus the only way to escape from the payment of various taxes like pilgrim tax, trade tax, Jizya, etc. Getting jobs after conversion also became easier.

The Hindu prisoners were freed on their conversion to Islam. All sorts of promises were made to the converted. Aurangzeb issued order that except Rajputs, no Hindu could ride an elephant, a horse and a palanquin. Holi and Diwali festivals were allowed to be celebrated with certain restrictions. The Hindiis could no longer put on fine clothes. The Hindus were not allowed to burn their dead on the banks of the river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. Similar restrictions were placed at Delhi on the river Jamuna.

The religious fanaticism of Aurangzeb overshadowed his virtues. It led to several conflicts and wars in different parts of the country. All these rebellions destroyed the peace of the empire, disrupted its economy, weakened the administrative structure, diminished its military strength, led to the failure of Aurangzeb to make any impact. Ultimately all these contributed to the downfall of the Mughal enterprise.

They state that this policy was the outcome of his political and economic considerations. He was an imperialist and he wanted to strengthen his hold on his subjects. Since several sections of the Hindu society which formed the majority of his subjects did not want to be ruled by him, they revolted.

His Deccan campaigns against the Shia Sultans were also the outcome of his expansionist policy. Regarding special taxes imposed upon the Hindus, it is argued that Aurangzeb was in need of money to carry out his policy of expansion. He therefore, imposed different kinds of taxes. Since Hindus were quite rich, they had to bear the burden of various taxes. But no argument is put forward by the protagonists of this view as why he took pains to demolish temples and break idols.

The following three letters written by him to his sons clearly establish the fact that he was a staunch Musalman and he wanted to promote his religion. These letters also indicate that he himself considered himself a failure as a ruler. About the letters Dr. God has been in my heart yet my darkened eyes have not recognized his light. There is no hope for me in the future.

You should accept my last will. It should not happen that Musalmans be killed and the blame for their death rest upon this useless creature. I have greatly sinned and know not what torment awaits me.

I commit you and your sons to the care of God and bid you farewell. May peace of God be upon you. Though my trust be in the mercy of goodness of God, I deplore my sins.