🕌 Aurangzeb Alamgir – The Last Great Mughal: Expansion, Orthodoxy & Exhaustion

1. Birth and Early Life: The Making of a Puritan Prince

Muhi al-Din Muhammad, later known as Aurangzeb Alamgir, was born on November 3, 1618, in Dahod, Gujarat, as the third son of Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. From childhood, he exhibited austere piety that distinguished him from his pleasure-seeking brothers. He memorized the Quran by age 10 and developed deep expertise in Islamic jurisprudence, foreshadowing his future religious policies. At just 18, he was appointed viceroy of the Deccan (1636-1644), where he demonstrated military acumen by crushing the Nizam Shahi dynasty and implementing strict fiscal discipline. A defining moment came in 1633 when he confronted a rampaging war elephant during a royal procession - an act of bravery that earned him the title "Bahadur" (Brave) from his father.

2. Brutal Struggle for Succession: Path to the Throne

The 1657-1659 war of succession stands as one of history's most ruthless power struggles. When Shah Jahan fell seriously ill, Aurangzeb outmaneuvered his liberal brother Dara Shikoh (Shah Jahan's preferred heir) through strategic alliances and military brilliance. Key turning points included the Battle of Dharmat (1658) where he defeated a Rajput-Maratha coalition, and the decisive Battle of Samugarh (May 1658) where he crushed Dara's forces. Following his victory, Aurangzeb imprisoned his ailing father in Agra Fort and executed brothers Murad and Shuja. His coronation on July 31, 1658, marked the triumph of realpolitik over Mughal tradition, though he waited until June 1659 for formal recognition as "Alamgir" (Conqueror of the World).

3. Military Expansion: Forging the Mughal Zenith

Aurangzeb's 49-year reign witnessed the Mughal Empire reaching its greatest territorial extent, spanning 4 million km² - nearly the entire Indian subcontinent. Major conquests included the year-long siege of Bijapur (1686) ending the Adil Shahi dynasty, and the capture of diamond-rich Golconda (1687) after an eight-month siege. His northeastern campaigns against the Ahoms in Assam (1671) demonstrated Mughal reach, though control proved difficult to maintain. By 1690, the Mughals controlled 25% of global GDP - surpassing Qing China and Europe combined - with Bengal alone contributing 12% of world industrial output through textiles and shipbuilding.

4. The 27-Year Deccan Campaign: A War of Attrition

Aurangzeb's relocation to the Deccan in 1681 ignited a generational conflict against the Marathas that would become the empire's bleeding wound. This campaign mobilized 500,000 troops - the largest Mughal army ever assembled - and targeted Maratha leadership including Sambhaji (executed 1689) and successor Rajaram. The prolonged conflict devoured 65% of imperial revenue, bankrupting the treasury while failing to achieve decisive victory. Despite capturing 200+ forts, Mughal forces were crippled by Maratha guerrilla tactics and scorched-earth resistance. By 1705, an aged Aurangzeb lamented in letters: "I came alone and depart as a stranger" - acknowledging the campaign's human and strategic cost.

5. Religious Policies: Sharia Law and Its Discontents

Aurangzeb's orthodoxy fundamentally reshaped Mughal governance. His 1672 Fatawa-e-Alamgiri codified Hanafi jurisprudence as state law, creating India's most comprehensive Islamic legal framework. In 1679, he reinstated the jizya tax on non-Muslims - abolished by Akbar a century earlier - triggering widespread resentment. His temple destruction policy targeted politically symbolic sites like Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi) and Keshav Rai (Mathura), though modern scholarship disputes claims of "thousands" demolished. Paradoxically, he employed more Hindus in bureaucracy (including as mansabdars) than any predecessor - a contradiction highlighting the tension between his piety and administrative pragmatism.

6. Economic Engine: Revenue Reforms and Strain

Aurangzeb inherited the world's wealthiest empire but strained it through endless military campaigns. He expanded Todar Mal's zabt land revenue system and promoted cash crops like opium, while maintaining exceptional coinage purity (96% silver in rupees) that attracted global bullion. However, by 1700, 80% of state revenue funded military operations, sparking peasant revolts and agrarian collapse. The Deccan wars triggered a 30% decline in land revenue from occupied territories - an economic hemorrhage that would ultimately prove fatal to imperial stability.

7. Administrative Tightening: Control and Consequences

His governance fused micromanagement with orthodoxy. Aurangzeb appointed muhtasibs (censors) to enforce bans on alcohol, gambling, and music in public spaces. He restructured the nobility by favoring hereditary nobles (khanazadas) while paradoxically integrating Maratha commanders into imperial service. In symbolic breaks with Akbar's legacy, he replaced the solar dating system with the Islamic Hijri calendar and discontinued the policy of Sulah-e-Kul (universal tolerance). Despite centralization efforts, provincial governors grew increasingly autonomous as resources drained southward to fund the Deccan campaigns.

8. Personal Life: The Ascetic Emperor

Aurangzeb's personal simplicity contrasted sharply with his predecessors' opulence. He wore hand-spun clothes, copied Quranic manuscripts for sale, and rejected the lavish court ceremonies that defined earlier Mughal rule. Despite banning court music as un-Islamic, he privately sponsored calligraphy and Persian literature, and historical records suggest he played the veena. His family life proved turbulent: he imprisoned daughter Zebunissa for Sufi leanings and faced rebellion by son Prince Akbar. At his death at age 88, his possessions amounted to 14 rupees and 306 books - a stark contrast to Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal.

9. Controversies and Resistance: The Unraveling

Orthodox policies fueled rebellions that fractured imperial unity. The 1675 execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur triggered Sikh militarization under Guru Gobind Singh, who founded the Khalsa in 1699. Rajput allegiance crumbled after Aurangzeb's interference in Marwar succession (1678), ending a century-old strategic alliance. Jat and Satnami peasant uprisings (1669, 1672) protested oppressive land taxes and religious persecution. As historian Audrey Truschke notes: "Temple destruction was political theater, not theological genocide" - though this interpretation remains contested in India's modern culture wars.

10. Death and Legacy: Twilight of the Mughals

Aurangzeb died in Ahmadnagar on March 3, 1707, during the Deccan stalemate. His will partitioned the empire among sons, sparking a succession free-for-all that accelerated imperial fragmentation. Within decades, the Mughals shrunk to a Delhi city-state while the Marathas secured chauth (revenue rights) by 1719. European powers filled the vacuum, with the British East India Company establishing control over Bengal by 1757. Aurangzeb remains historically polarized: Hindu nationalists decry "bigotry" while some Muslims laud Islamic consolidation. As J.N. Sarkar noted: "The life of Aurangzeb was one long tragedy, the story of a man battling in vain against an invisible but inexorable fate."

11. Modern Lens: Wealth and Power Reassessed

At its 1700 peak, the Mughal economy under Aurangzeb represented a global powerhouse that outproduced industrial Britain in textiles and shipbuilding. The empire attracted 80% of global silver through trade surpluses and wielded GDP 10× larger than France's. Yet this "proto-industrialized" economy - which inspired Europe's later manufacturing systems according to economist Immanuel Wallerstein - collapsed from internal exhaustion. Aurangzeb's empire exemplified the paradox of imperial overstretch: maximal territorial expansion coinciding with irreversible institutional decline.

❓ Untangling Aurangzeb's Complex Legacy: FAQs