Aurangzeb Alamgir | History, Age, Death & Facts

 Muhiuddin Muhammad (3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known as Aurangzeb or Alamgir (a royal name given by Muslim subjects meaning world conqueror), was the sixth Mughal ruler to rule India. His reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707. Aurangzeb ruled the Indian subcontinent for almost half a century. He was the longest-reigning Mughal ruler after Akbar. During his lifetime, he tried hard to expand the Mughal Empire in southern India, but after his death, the Mughal Empire began to shrink.

The Mughal Empire reached the peak of its expansion under Aurangzeb's rule. He was probably the richest and most powerful man of his time. During his lifetime, through his conquests in some states of South India, the Mughal Empire spread over twelve and a half million square miles and ruled over 150 million people, which was 1/4 of the world's population.

Aurangzeb imposed a Shariat-based Fatwa-e-Alamgiri on the entire empire and for some time imposed more taxes on non-Muslims. He was the first Muslim ruler to impose Shari'a on non-Muslim subjects. He had killed Guru Tegh Bahadur of the Sikhs.

Aurangzeb Alamgir early life

Aurangzeb was born on 3 November 1618 in Dahod, Gujarat. He was the sixth child and third son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. His father was the Subedar of Gujarat at that time. When his father's rebellion failed in June 1626, Aurangzeb and his brother Dara Shukoh were taken hostage by Nur Jahan in their grandfather Jahangir's Lahore court. When Shah Jahan was proclaimed the Mughal Emperor on 26 February 1628, Aurangzeb returned to live with his parents at the Agra Fort. It was here that Aurangzeb received his formal education in Arabic and Persian.

Aurangzeb enter power

In accordance with Mughal customs, Shah Jahan appointed Prince Aurangzeb as the Subedar of the Deccan in 1634. Aurangzeb went to Khadki (Maharashtra) which he renamed as Aurangabad. In 1637 he married Rabia Durrani. Here Shah Jahan started handing over the affairs of the Mughal court to his son Dara Shikoh. Aurangzeb's sister died in an accident in 1644. Aurangzeb came to Agra three weeks after this incident which made his father Shah Jahan very angry with him. He suspended Aurangzeb from the post of Subedar of Deccan. Aurangzeb did not come to the court for 7 months. Later Shah Jahan made him the Subedar of Gujarat. Aurangzeb ruled smoothly and he also got the result, he was made the governor of Badakhshan (North Afghanistan) and the Balkh (Afghan-Uzbek) region.

After this, he was also made the Subedar of Multan and Sindh. During this, he kept fighting for control of Kandahar with the Safavids of Persia, but he got something other than defeat, it was the neglect of his father. In 1652, he was again made the Subedar of the Deccan. He fought against Golconda and Bijapur and at the crucial moment, Shah Jahan withdrew from the army. This hurt Aurangzeb a lot because Shah Jahan was doing this at the behest of his brother Dara Shikoh.

Aurangzeb Alamgir Banned music

In an attempt to prove Aurangzeb a fanatic, a big argument is also made that he banned music, but this is also not true. Catherine tells that even in the Sultanate, music was not banned even in the court. Every year on the day the emperor ascended the throne, there was a lot of dancing and singing in the festival. Some of the Dhrupads include the name Aurangzeb which suggests that music was patronized during his reign. Some historical facts also point towards the fact that he himself was well versed in music. In Mirat-e-Alam, Bakhtawar Khan has written that the emperor had the knowledge of music masters. The Mughal scholar Faqirullah has recorded the names of Aurangzeb's favorite singers and instrumentalists in a document called Raga Darpan. Azam Shah was very dear to Aurangzeb among his sons and history tells that Shah had become an accomplished musician during his father's lifetime.

Talking about the flourishing of music during Aurangzeb's reign, Catherine writes, 'Aurangzeb's time had the most commentaries on music in Persian, compared to the entire Mughal period of 500 years. Although it is true that towards the end of his life, Aurangzeb had become more religious and had distanced himself from songs and music. But in view of what we have mentioned above, it can be assumed that he never made his personal will the official policy of the Sultanate.

Death of Aurangzeb Alamgir

In the last days of Aurangzeb, the Maratha power in the south had increased tremendously. The imperial army was not getting success in suppressing them. Therefore, in 1683, Aurangzeb himself went south with an army. He remained in the same campaign for the last 25 years of his reign, living away from the capital. After ruling for 50 years, he died in Ahmednagar of the South on 3 March 1707 AD. He was buried in the compound of the tomb of Fakir Buruhanuddin located in Daulatabad. His policy created so many opponents, due to which the Mughal Empire came to an end. Although Aurangzeb considered himself the emperor of the Hindu place and had a lot of wealth, he had different ideas about his own grave. He wrote about his own grave in such a way that it should be made very simple. His grave is located in Khuldabad, Aurangabad district.