Aurangzeb - The Great Ruler

[Jackdaws]

Not to mention, didn't he torture and kill Shivaji's son when he refused to embrace Islam?

 

[Kedardel]

No empire last for ever, Mughals ruled subcontinent more then Mauryas 40 years of rule.

Thank God for Aurangzeb else Mughals would have lasted more years.

 

[MULUBJA]

Really a great ruler who killed his father, His sister, his brother and did lots of atrocities on Hindus and lead Mughal empire to collapse. Really a very great ruler.

Aurangzeb was thrashed by Shivaji the great!! What great he was? LOL

Shivaji really made his life a hell and beat him everywhere with guerrilla warfare.

 

[Divergent]

Beside all this oppressing Hindu stuff, I consider him an Complete idiot because starting a war against all the Southern Kingdoms because they were shias ! And rajput rebellion did not help either.

Due to this he lost all the wealth his Father's have created on Mindless fighting against our own Shia brothers.


You have attitude issues

And you just got banned.

 

[Hamza913]

All those generations from Babur to Aurangzeb where competent .Right?
I dont think so.They had something that Auramgzeb destroyed with his expansionist policies ..
Once you lost the trust of majority people you will lost the rule be it in monarchy or in democracy.

They were just bad rulers. Not much to do with their predecessors.

 

[Kedardel]

I missed a point: Aurangzeb was actually equally cruel on Shia, some of the Shia consider him their mortal enemy.

 

[SrNair]

They were just bad rulers. Not much to do with their predecessors.

Not all them were bad rulers .
They were much helpless because Hindus wouldnt trust them anymore .
And all of those Rajputs that supported Mughals turned their back and began to support Marathis.

 

[Luffy 500]

undoubtedly one of the greatest Muslim rulers in the past 1000 years and definitely the greatest mughal and subcontinental ruler. He was a humble human being and unlike his apostate great grandfather Akbar & anti-islamic brothers, he was firm on Islam and fought for it. May Allah (swt) have mercy on Sultan Aurangzeeb , forgive his sins and grant him one of the highest levels in paradise.

 

[Well.wisher]

What a greaf king ..

He banged all these evil hindus to the core that these indians are still crying over here in the thread against hi .

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Commonly known by his title of Alamgir (he who siezes the universe), Aurangzeb was a Mughal emperor who ruled the empire for almost 50 years, from 1658 to 1707. Under his leadership, the Mughal empire reached its peak in terms of size due to Aurangzebs notable expansionist policies, with over 3,000,000 square km of land and 150,000,000 subjects. Along with this large population, came late amounts of revenue for the state. A whopping £100,000,000+ of taxes was received on an annual basis, giving the Mughals a vast amount of wealth and power.

Early life:

Aurangzeb was born in 1618, in Gujarat. As a child, he spent his allowance mostly on religious education, cementing his renowned status as a devout Muslim. On the 28th of May in 1633, Aurangzeb escaped death when a powerful war elephant stampeded through a Mughal encampment. He rode against the elephant and stabbed it with a lance, successfully killing the wild beast without injury. Aurangzeb's valour and capability in combat was appreciated by his father who conferred him the title of Bahadur (meaning brave).

As he grew older, Aurangzeb became an integral part of the Mughal army, commanding the force which subdued the rebellious ruler Jhujhar Singh and removed him from his place of power in Orchha. Aurangzeb soon also became the viceroy of Deccan, and eventually also became the governor of several regions such as Multan, before once again becoming the viceroy of Deccan.

Eventually, during the war of succession, Aurangzeb managed to quickly and efficiently take the Mughal throne, killing his brothers and imprisoning his father in the process. Once he had assumed power in 1658, Aurangzeb was arguably the most powerful man in India.

Rule of India:

As a devout Muslim, Aurangzeb chose not to follow the liberal religious viewpoints of his predecessors and instead chose to make the Mughal empire more Islamic. He compiled a version of Sharia law known as Fatwa-e-Alamgiri, which he used to rule the empire. This contained laws such as the banning of music, alcohol, drugs, gambling, castration and certain types of dancing. It also reinstated the Jizya for non Muslims who didn't fight in the Mughal army. Fatwa-e-Alamgiri also prevented the creation of new places of worship for people who weren't Muslim, and Aurangzeb also took things a step further by destroying numerous temples and building Masjids in their place.

Throughout his rule, Aurangzeb engaged in almost constant warfare. He had created a colossal army and expanded his empire to its peak size, crushing any and all who got in his way. He pushed into the Punjab and also drove south, conquering two further kingdoms. These new territories were administered by the Mughal Nawabs who were loyal to Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb also began advancements against Bijapur, utilising rockets as well as grenades in his campaign. During the siege of Bijapur Fort, the Mughals reached a stalemate which deeply infuriated Aurangzeb. This caused him to lead another siege onto the fort, allowing the Mughals to decisively take it over in 8 days. Bijapur was successfully conquered in less than a month, with its leader surrendering. Aurangzeb also put down numerous uprisings within his empire, such as the Jat uprising, and had managed to defeat the Marathas.

Being rather religious, Aurangzeb encouraged Islamic calligraphy. He also built the Lahore Badshahi Masjid, and Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad for his wife Rabia. He had also handwritten copies of the Quran himself, further testifying his religiosity.

The textile industry in the Mughal Empire emerged very firmly during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and was particularly well noted by Francois Bernier, a French physician of the Mughal Emperor. Francois Bernier writes how Karkanahs, or workshops for the artisans, particularly in textiles flourished by "employing hundreds of embroiderers, who were superintended by a master". He further writes how "Artisans manufacture of silk, fine brocade, and other fine muslins, of which are made turbans, robes of gold flowers, and tunics worn by females, so delicately fine as to wear out in one night, and cost even more if they were well embroidered with fine needlework".

Death and future of the Mughal empire:

He died in Ahmednagar in 1707 at the age of 88, having outlived many of his children. His modest open-air grave expressed his deep devotion to his Islamic beliefs. It is sited in the courtyard of the shrine of the Sufi saint Shaikh Burhan-u'd-din Gharib. He is widely regarded as one of the (if not the) greatest rulers of the Mughal empire as well as the Indian sub continent as a whole. After his death, the Mughal empire struggled to find another competent ruler and by 1719 started to decline rapidly due to numerous uprisings, the continual expansion of the Marathas as well as a foreign invasion from Nader Shah of Persia. Eventually, the Mughal empire was restricted to the city of the Delhi and was finally finished off by the British in 1857, who ousted the final Mughal ruler to Burma.

He was a great (and was pretty much the ideal) Muslim ruler.

Yup he gave patronage to several temples as well.

Stop spewing utter nonsense please.

 

[Hamza913]

He was a great (and was pretty much the ideal) Muslim ruler.


Stop spewing utter nonsense please.

Great? Yes. Ideal? Nah not really. But he was the best available at the time, and probably the closest this sub continent will ever get to a truly Islamic ruler.

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

Its a serious issue that whenever Aurangzeb is mentioned, Indians end up having a twist and look it from a lenses that is beyond black and white.

Quite frankly there is no discussion to be had bcz many are blinded. One of my fav mughal emperors, he was not that awesome nor was he like what the Hindus portray.

The jizya was imposed by many great rulers not just in India but all over the Muslim world and I feel many scream jizya jizya without even understanding what is it or even comprehending that Muslims paid additional taxes like zakat, kharaj e.t.c along with other taxes like pasture tax, horse tax e.t.c. I don't think jizya needs anymore definition or explanation as @Mian Babban has already done it very well.

Then we come to his treatment of father. In 1657 shah jehan fell I'll and a tussle began between murad, Shuja,dara and Aurangzeb. If I am correct didn't shuja start the brother war by invading Dara's governance. The biggest mistake posters make is that they look at history from a lense of today sitting in their comfort and rules of today and they fail to understand or comprehend the feeling of the situation and the feelings of a person in that situation. Look at it from this point of view. You are with your army and your three brothers have their armies. Your father suddenly fell I'll and it looks like he won't make it. The throne is empty and rumors are growing and reports are increasing that your brothers are moving their forces and readying their forces. The nobles and clergy are supporting you to take the initiative and then what happens. You see one brother invade the other. What will you do? Obviously not say my brothers love bcz somebody in the court highlights that your great great grandfather did the same thing when he divided his empire and took no action when his brother invaded his territory and annexed Punjab and the result was that he was thrown out of subcontinent hunted for his life and sought refuge in Persia and you can't even do that bcx your father and the Persian shah Abbas II annexed qandahar which threw the relations down.

What will you do in such a situation? I don't blame any of them. Very easy to sit and criticize them in AC rooms while eating chips, completely different to go through it and we don't respect this enough. The situation. I don't any brethren wars fighting for the throne be it in the ottoman or the mughals or the safavids.

It did have massive negative effects. As for stable empire. That's a question. Quite frankly the empire was bankrupt. The army was large and needed money. The expensive artists and singers was a waste of cash. The stupid peacock throne had bankrupted the state and quite frankly the lavish splendor of jehangir and shah jehan had destroyed the economy and the nepotism employed by nur jehan also did not help. A bank rupted empire didn't go to IMF for loans back then. It meant it was dead unless mass reforms take place. Imposition of jizya, the kicking out of patroned singers and artists were required on top of it all they had rebellions in the north east and north west frontier and news were coming that deccan was becoming a threat and was increasing ties with Persia. The area needed to be secured although I am not impressed by the Deccan policy of Aurangzeb ( empire became too large to be controlled from a center and the next rulers were simply too incompetent ) but arguments can be made that it was required. Dont discount qandahar bcz economically and strategically it was a pearl. Lets also not forget the wasteful central asian campaign of balkh and badakshan by shah jehan which were a massive waste and the three times seige of qandahar which destroyed the prestige and moral of the army and the economy. In those times a defeat was a huge sign of weakness which was likely to bring revolts and it did. Both in the north west and north east frontier. You can't discount them and you can't turn the clock at the beginning and end of a reign. Each reign effects the other.

Never black and white. Infact his religious policy was also not black and white.





Very convenient. The images that have been created contradict them all. All the mughal emperors. In reality they were so different and faced so many problems.
@Joe Shearer what do say at the lack of situational sense and glass lenses employed by people when viewing history.

One difference b/w those rulers and present ones - they sacrificed their brothers/sisters/sons/daughters/uncles/aunts etc. for the masses, while the present ones sacrifice masses for their brothers/sisters/sons/daughters/uncles/aunts etc.....

Padishah Alemgir was a great ruler. He lived on very little, ate once a day, fasted 2/3 days a week, earned his own living by copying Kuran-i Kerim etc. He tried his best to rule over a maze called Hindistan with so many religions/races/languages etc. as justly as possible!!!! Like all human beings he had his share of failures too!!! In retrospect, he could have done some staffs in a different way, but anyway these were the decisions made before results appeared!!!!!

 

[hassamun]

No doubt Aurangzeb Alamgir is one of the greatest Emperors of the Mughal Empire. We all know about all the great things that he achieved. However we should not hide his controversial side.

He fought to become the Emperor even though Shah Jehan had already chosen a successor. He killed his sibling and imprisoned his father in a Fort. He alienated his Hindu subjects (majority of the population) which caused many rebellions and was perhaps the start of the end for the Mughal Empire.

Niccalao Manucci, the Venetian traveler who worked in the Moghul court had penned down the details of Dara Shikoh's death. According to him, upon Dara's capture, Aurangzeb ordered his men to have his head brought up to him and he inspected it thoroughly to ensure that it was Dara indeed. He then further mutilated the head with his sword three times. After which, he ordered the head to be put in a box and presented to his ailing father, Shah Jahan with clear instructions to be delivered only when the old King sat for his dinner in his prison. The guards were also instructed to inform Shah Jahan that, “King Aurangzeb, your son, send this plat to let him (Shah Jahan) to see that he does not forget him”. Shah Jahan instantly became happy (not knowing what was in store in the box) and uttered, “ Blessed be God that my son still remembers me”. Upon opening the box, Shah Jahan became horrified and fell unconscious. Shah Jahan was much deeply anguished to the point where he began to pull out his beard and blood started coming out profusely.

This is why I choose the third option (Ok Ruler).

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Great? Yes. Ideal? Nah not really. But he was the best available at the time, and probably the closest this sub continent will ever get to a truly Islamic ruler.

True. Probably the best Islamic ruler in this region. Had he ruled for a few more decades, a greater number of people could have been killed/converted to the OTF.

 

[Hamza913]

True. Probably the best Islamic ruler in this region. Had he ruled for a few more decades, a greater number of people could have been killed/converted to the OTF.

Not just in the region, but of all time. However, he could have been better as I mentioned earlier due to obvious reasons such as the fact that he didn't finish exterminating the polytheist pest infestation. If only he went after the babies, then the job would have been done properly and he could be deemed a true Muslim ruler!

In case you haven't noticed, I caught on to your sarcasm.