Aurangazeb

Aurangazeb

Subject: History

Section: Medieval India

Context: Tension in Maharashtra’s Ashti Over 14-Year-Old Boy’s Social Media Status Message ‘Praising’ Aurangzeb.

Content:

About Aurangazeb:

• Aurangazeb, the third son of Shah Jahan and the 6^th ruler of Mughal empire, was born in 1618, at Dohad, on the frontier of Gujarat and Rajputana.
• An able administrator, a fearless soldier and a skilful general who learnt all the tactics of diplomacy because of the hostile influence at court of his brother Dara.
• As an emperor (1658-1707), he ruled more of India than any previous monarch, but in a court and he lived a life of austere piety.
• He was known for his devotion to the Muslim religion and thereby appointed censors of public morals in all important cities to enforce Islamic law, and he tried to put down such practices as drinking, gambling, narcotics and prostitution.
• In 1664, he issued his first edict forbidding sati or the self-immolation of women on funeral pyres.
• In the economic sphere, he abolished the inland transport duty, which amounted to ten percent of the value of goods, and the octroi on all articles of food and drink brought into the cities for sale.
• In 1668, he forbade music at his court with the exception of the royal band and the ceremony of darshan, or the public appearance of the emperor to the people, was abandoned in 1679 along with reimposition of Jizya.
• In sharp contrast to Aurangzeb’s image of a temple destroyer in history books and tried to convert all Hindus to Islam, an Allahabad-based historian has claimed that he had offered lavish grants and land to the ancient Someshwar Mahadev temple on the banks of Sangam in Arail.
• His Conquests: Earliest were in the Eastern parts of the empire including Hindu rulers of Cooch Behar and Assam, followed by NW frontier, then with the Sikhs (The ninth guru, Tegh Bahadur was put to death by Aurangazeb in 1675), the Marathas and the Muslim South Kingdoms like Bijapur and Golconda.
• Aurangzeb ordered the seizure of the Surat factory established by the East India Company because of the English control of the pilgrim trade in the Arabian Sea. Later, he levied a fine of one and a half lakhs of rupees and allowed them to return to their factories; and for the next fifty years, the English merchants refrained from any further attempts to establish themselves as a territorial power.
• Some of his failures include: Lack of hardy soldiers and resourceful improvisers, treachery was rampant in the Mughal army, stringent religious policy, remission of some eighty taxes led to the financial burden and mostly he was inspired by high motives, but the policy created many problems.