Introduction 

Copying holy Koran and making caps for livelihood! Wealthiest emperor with annual tribute in  hundreds of millions pounds. Greatest emperor in terms of territory from Kandahar (Afghhanistan)  to South India. What is the paradox?  Abdul Muzaffar Muhuddin Mohammad Aurangzeb was great not only in terms of wealth and territory. He was rich in thought and character.  Mahatma Gandhi came with theory of trusteeship for capitalists  in twentieth century.  But Aurangzeb believed in trusteeship of emperor, who had no right to use  the money collected from his subjects for his personal purpose.  Contrast this not only with his predecessors but also with present day politicians and bureaucrats. He was the last great Mughal emperor who lived as a fakir.

Early childhood

Aurangzeb was born on fourth November 1618 at Dahod Gujarat. He was the third son and sixth child of Prince Khurram who later became emperor and was better known as Shah Jahan. His father was governor of Gujarat.  On unsuccessful rebellion by his father, he and his brother Dara shikoh were kept by  their grandparents Jehangir and Noorjehan as  hostages in Lahore court. When Shahjehan became emperor, Aurangzeb returned to Agra to live with his parents. Aurangzeb was very sharp in studies. He studied Arabic and Persian languages. He mastered Islamic religious scripture that he could cite with ease. He was an expert in drafting letters and comments on petitions. Obviously, these skills added to his administrative capability. He had also a very beautiful handwriting. Some of his manuscripts are located in Mecca and Medina. A copy of his manuscript is also preserved in Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah.

He was not only intelligent and studious. He was very brave and fearless. Just at age of fifteen years, he bravely faced a war elephant who had run amok and stampeded imperial encampment. Aurangzeb risked his life and faced the elephant. He killed the elephant with a lance (a kind of spear). He was given title of 'Bahadur'  after this brave act.  

His career as prince and emperor

Aurangzeb was a very ambitious, hardworking, clever, religious person. He received monthly allowance Rs. 500/- per day as prince. This amount was very valuable in those days. Aurangzeb spent the allowance on religious education and study of history. He did not like that his brothers were more interested in womanizing and drinks. Although Aurangzeb was a Muslim, it will not be wrong to say that he was a Raja Yogi in the meaning of Hindu tradition. It will not be out of place to mention that once he gave up his assignment as Viceroy of Deccan and left for wild region in western Ghats to live as a Faqir(yogi in Hindu terminology). This clearly shows that he was not an individualist. He worked for people and not himself.

During his long career, he held several assignments. He worked as Viceroy of Deccan. He also worked in remote areas like Afghanistan. Although Dara Shikoh was his favorite, Shah Jahan, the emperor, recognized the ability of Aurangzeb. He gave him command of army in 1634. Aurangzeb had the honor to use red tent- a symbol of prestige. He was appointed viceroy of Deccan in 1636. Aurangzed got notable success in Ahmedabad.

Shah Jehan had deep affection for his daughter Jahan Ara. Once she got burnt. Aurangzeb delayed in reporting this event to shah Jahan for considerable period. The emperor was annoyed and he stripped Aurangzeb of all honors. He sent Aurangzeb to far away region- Afghanistan. There were logistics problems. Murad Baksh, his predecessor had been ineffective. Aurangzeb was undoubtedly very capable but in view of several problems and stiff resistance from the Uzbeks, Mughal army suffered heavy loss. Somehow the Mughal forces saved face by getting nominal acceptance of authority as emperor at a heavy price.

As viceroy and later emperor, Aurangzeb expanded his territory far and wide- Afghanistan,Ladakh, Gujarat, South including Bijapur and Golconda. However, he was not an individualist. Expansion of empire was for glory of Mughal rule and not his personal gain. He himself lived very simple. Contrast this with his predecessors. His predecessors built buildings and gardens for personal satisfaction. Shah Jahan even got built a memorable building for his beloved wife at cost of state. Jehangir was a womanizer and drunkard. Akbar had no faith in any religion. He even toyed with so called Din e elahi that he himself founded.      

Aurangzeb became an emperor by clever use of his tactics and bravery. When shah Jahan fell ill, there was wide spread rumor that his days were numbered. Then there was armed conflict between brothers. Aurangzeb succeeded in turning events to his favor. Dara Shikoh was main contender but he was no match to Aurangzeb in military strategy. Murad, one of his brothers was executed for murder of Diwan of Gujarat. In fact, Aurangzeb  motivated the relatives of the Diwan to seek justice under shariat law. Dara shikoh was arrested and humiliated. He was brought in chains to Delhi and executed on 30th August 1659. Shah Jahan Emperor was confined in Agra Fort where he was looked after well by his daughter Jahanara.

Aurangzeb ruled as Emperor for forty nine years viz. 1658 to 1707. The total area in Mughal empire at end of Aurangzeb's reign was more than 3.2 million Square kilometers, population 100-150 million subjects. In a way, we may say that credit for unifying India under a single monarch goes to Aurangzeb. Although he can be rightly credited with virtue of simplicity and austerity unlike his forefathers who mercilessly wasted public money, he spent most of the public money on wars. Impact was the same. He had employed latest weapons like rockets, cannons. It is a pity to contrast him with modern shah Jahanas, who waste public money on building their statues and for personal comforts. We need more aurangzebs and no shahjahans.  

In spite of virtues of austerity and simplicity, the fact remains that his pursuit of  mindless expansion of territories had reached climax. In those days when means of transport and tracks were slow and rough, the public money got exhausted in war efforts only. Expansion of territory is not enough. It is better to rule well and earn public good will in a smaller territory.  A small beautiful garden is better than a big uneven thick forest.

It is said that at fag end of life, Aurangzeb himself could not understand the purpose for which he had lived. He faced very tough resistance by various groups- Sikhs, jats, Satnamis and so on. Shivaji, Maratha warrior, adopted hit and run tactics to fight Mughal  Empire. Aurangzeb left a very vast empire with several enemies and weak successors. Consequently, his vast empire almost vanished after his demise.          

Was Aurangzeb a fanatic temple demolisher

The most hated Mughal emperor among non Muslims- Hindus and Sikhs and even non Sunni Muslims is undoubtedly Aurangzeb. It is said that best government is that which governs the least. But Aurangzeb made decisions that annoyed many. He introduced zazia tax on non Muslims. However is this really tyrannical?  The Muslims pay Zakat. The non muslims paid zazia instead of zakat. Obviously there is nothing wrong with this. However, he forced puritanism on his subjects. He banned wine, music and songs.  He felt that various dance forms, vulgar music and nudity were polluting society. This is clealy a gross violation of human rights. But we should not judge him by modern standards of democracy, human rights and liberalism. In those days, emperor was supposed to work in best interests of his subjects as he considered right. It is true that his subjects were mostly non Muslims and so forcing Islamic Puritanism on them was anti secular. But secularism is also a modern concept. The state religion in Aurangzeb's reign was Islam and so he was theoretically right in forcing his beliefs on his subjects. However this is not a pragmatic approach. British rulers later proved most pragmatic. They never interfered with local practices. Even on Sati, they acted only when Raja Ram Mohan Roy intervened. However, we have also to consider that Aurangzeb was an Indian unlike British who never considered India as their home land. His continuous efforts for expansion of empire allowed him very little time to consolidate his gains and give good administration. Had he limited his ambition for expansion, he could give very good administration. In this context, it will be worthwhile to mention Sher Shah Suri who is credited with many achievements including construction of Grand Trunk Road and planting trees.

The worst criticism is that Aurangzeb demolished many temples. However, there is high exaggeration in figure of temples demolished. According to Historian Harbans Mukhia, "In the end, as recently recorded in Richard Eaton's careful tabulation, some 80 temples were demolished between 1192 and 1760 (15 in aurangzeb's reign)". He also comments that Hindu nationalist propagandists claim 60,000 demolitions. Notable temples demolished were Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Kesava Deo temple and somnath temple. Large mosques were constructed in their place.

Ram Puniyani, another historian hold that Aurangzeb was not fanatically anti Hindu. He changed policies from time to time. He banned construction of new temples but permitted repair and maintenance of the existing ones. He is credited with generous donation of jagirs to temples, several firmans (orders) supporting temples and Gurdwaras (sikh religious temples). These include Mahakaleshwar temple of Ujjain, Balaji temple of chitrakoot, Umananda temple (Guwahati) and the shatrunjaya Jain temples. Apparently, there could be purpose in demolishing certain temples. These could be places where anti state elements got shelter. We have seen this even in not so distant past. The terrorists used religious buildings for unholy activities. They understand that they can safely operate from religious place where army and police would not enter without arousing public wrath.  It is very probable that during his reign, Aurangzeb had to demolish certain temples for driving out anti state and notorious elements hiding therein.  

Conclusion

We need to evaluate the role of Great Fakir Emperor Aurangzeb. He was the greatest emperor who for the first time practised simplicity and austerity and developed the principle that emperor is not owner but trustee of  wealth lying in treasury. Even his open air grave in Khuldabad (Aurangabad Maharashtra)   is a mark of his simplicity.  

Images are from wikipedia