UPSC History The Mughal Empire NCERT Extracts - Aurangzeb

 Aurangzeb

• The last years of Shah Jahan's reign were clouded by a war of succession among his sons.
• There were many reasons for Aurangzeb's success. The victory of Aurangzeb at Dharmat (15 April, 1658) emboldened his supporters and raised his prestige, while it dispirited Dara and his supporters.
• The battle of Samugarh (29 May, 1658) was basically a battle of good generalship.
• Shah Jahan lived there for eight long years, lovingly nursed by his favourite daughter Jahanara, who voluntarily chose to live within the fort.
• A panel of jurists decreed that Dara could not be suffered to live.
• Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb did not like ostentation. His personal life was marked by simplicity. He had the reputation of being an orthodox, God-fearing Muslim.
• In course of time, he began to be regarded as a zinda pir, or "a living saint".
• While taking his stand on the Hanafi school of Muslim law which had been traditionally followed in India, Aurangzeb did not hesitate in issuing secular decrees, called zawabit.
• Muhtasibs were appointed in all the provinces. These officials were asked to see that people lived their lines in accordance with shara.
• Later, in the eleventh year of his reign (1669) Aurangzeb took a number of measures which have been called puritanical, but many of which were really of an economic and social character, and against superstitious beliefs.
• Thus he forbade singing in the court and the official musicians were pensioned off.
• Instrumental music and naubat (the royal band) were, however, continued.
• Aurangzeb discontinued the practice of jharoka darshan or showing himself to the public from the balcony since he considered it a superstitious practice and against Islam.
• Similarly, he forbade the ceremony of weighing the emperor against gold and silver and other articles on his birthdays.
• Mustaid Khan is the author of the Maasir-i-Alamgiri.
• Mustaid Khan, wrote the history of Aurangzeb in the early eighteenth century and had been closely associated with Aurangzeb.
• In 1679, in the twenty-second year of his reign, Aurangzeb re-imposed Jizyah.
• Mir Jumla, who had been appointed the governor of Bengal by Aurangzeb, wanted to make his mark by bringing Cooch Bihar and the entire Assam under Mughal rule.
• Mir Jumla occupied the Ahom kingdom, Garhgaon, and held it for six months.
• The Mughals had more success elsewhere in the east. Shaista Khan, who succeeded Mir Jumla as the governor of Bengal after his setback at the hands of Shivaji, proved to be a good administrator and an able general. He odified Mir Jumla's forward policy.
• In 1669, the Jats of the Mathura region broke out in rebellion under the leadership of a local zamindar, Gokla. The rebellion spread rapidly among the peasants of the area and Aurangzeb decided to march in person from Delhi to quell it.
• However, the movement was not completely crushed and discontent continued to simmer Meanwhile, in 1672, there was another armed conflict between the peasants and the Mughal state at Narnaul, not far from Mathura.
• The Satnamis were mostly peasants, artisans and low caste people.
• Aurangzeb approached Raja Bishan Singh, the Kachhwaha ruler to crush the uprising,
• In 1667, Bhagu, the leader of the Yusufazai tribe, proclaimed as king a person named Muhammad Shah who claimed descent from an ancient royal lineage, and proclaimed himself his wazir.
• A religious revivalist movement called the Raushanai, which emphasised a strict ethical life and devotion to a chosen pir had provided an intellectual and moral background to the movement.
• However, in 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur was arrested in Punjab with five of his followers, brought to Delhi, and beheaded.
• The beheading of Guru Tegh Bahadur forced the Sikhs to go back to the Punjab hill. It also led to the Sikh movement gradually turning into a military brotherhood.
• Guru Govind Singh had made his headquarters at Makhowal or Anandpur in the foothills of the Punjab.
• Jahangir continued Akbar's policy of giving favours to the leading Rajput rajas and entering into matrimonial relations with them.
• Shah Jahan maintained the alliance with the Rajputs.
• The last phase began when Aurangzeb despaired of getting the cooperation of Bijapur and Golconda against the Marathas and decided that to destroy the Marathas it was necessary first to conquer Bijapur and Golconda.
• On coming to the throne, Aurangzeb had two problems in the Deccan: the problem posed by the rising power of Shivaji, and the problem of persuading Bijapur to part with the territories ceded to it by the treaty of 1636. Kalyani and Bidar had been secured in 1657.
• Jai Singh was the only Mughal politician who advocated an all-out forward policy in the Deccan during this period. Jai Singh was of the opinion that the Maratha problem could not be solved without a forward policy in the Deccan - a conclusion to which Aurangzeb finally came 20 years later.
• A last desperate effort ofDiler Khan, the Mughal Viceroy, to capture Bijapur in 1679' 80 also failed, largely because of Mughal viceroy had the means to contend against the united forces of the Deccani states.
• Even then, it took 18 months of siege, with Aurangzeb being personally present during the final stages, before Bijapur fell (1686).
• In 1685, despite stiff resistance, the Mughals had occupied Golconda. The emperor had agreed to pardon the Qutb Shah in return for a huge subsidy, the ceding of some areas and the ousting of Madanna and Akhanna.
• The Qutb Shah had agreed and Madanna and Akhanna were dragged out into the streets and murdered (1686).
• After the downfall of Bijapur and Golconda, Aurangzeb was able to concentrate all his forces against the Marathas.
• Rajaram, the younger brother of Sambhaji, was crowned as king, but had no escape when the Mughals attacked his capital.
• Rajaram sought shelter at Jinji on the east coast and continued the flight against the Mughals from there. Thus, Maratha resistance spread from the west to the east coast.
• Undaunted, Aurangzeb set out to win back all the Maratha forts. From 1700 to 1705, Aurangzeb dragged his weary and ailing body from the siege of one fort to another.
• Floods, disease and the Maratha roving bands took fearful toll of the Mughal army. Weariness and disaffection steadily grew among the nobles and the army.
• In 1703, Aurangzeb opened negotiations with the Marathas.
• He was prepared to release Shahu, the son of Sambhaji, who had been captured at Satara along with his mother. Shahu had been treated well. He had been given the title of raja and the mansab of 7000/7000.
• By 1706, Aurangzeb was convinced of the futility of his effort to capture all the Maratha forts. He slowly retreated to Aurangabad.
• Thus, when Aurangzeb breathed his last at Aurangabad in 1707, he left behind an empire which was surely distracted, and in which all the various internal problem of the empire were coming to a head.