Two of the highest ranked generals, Jaswant Singh and Jaya Singh, in Aurangzeb%u2019s administration were Hindus. Other notable Hindu generals who commanded a garrison of two to five thousand soldiers were Raja Vim Singh of Udaypur, Indra Singh, Achalaji and Arjuji. One wonders if Aurangzeb was hostile to Hindus, why would he position all these Hindus to high positions of authority, especially, in the military, who could have mutinied against him and removed him from his throne? Most Hindus like Akbar over Aurangzeb for his multi-ethnic court where Hindus were favored. Historian Shri Sharma states that while Emperor Akbar had 14 Hindu Mansabdars (high officials) in his court, Aurangzeb actually had 148 Hindu high officials in his court. (Ref: Mughal Government) But this fact is somewhat less known. It does not require much intelligence to understand the difference between 14 and 148. But when truth is hostage to bigotry, facts are substituted for fiction, 148 may appear to be smaller than 14 to disingenuous historians, and that is an unfortunate reality we face.
RE:THE GREAT MOGHUL EMPEROR - AURANGZEB
by jatin on Jun 07, 2007 11:05 AM Permalink
aurangzebs empire was larger than that of akbar and without the help of hindu kings he would not have been able to rule this vast country. so he had to rely on the hindu kings and generals ,to use their armies and keep them fighting among each other, in this he was a cunning and brilliant strategist but definitely not secular. thats precisely the reason why the moghul empre collapsed after his death, those hindu kings who had joined him out of fear immediately shifted loyalties and no longer supported his sons, so mughals lost control over much of india.
7 .aurangzebs reign was marred by large scale rebellions all over the country, Sikhs , Jats , Marathas , Gujratis ,assamese all were rebelling simultaneously. even afghans/pashtuns rebelled against aurangzebs atrocities. ( he sent rajputs to crush pashtuns) his predecessors like akbar did not have to face this large scale rebellion. this being the case aurangzeb was smart enough to understand that his mughal/muslim soldiers were not numerically enough to quell all the rebellions simultaneously all over this vast country. so he had to depend on hindu generals. it was a marriage of convenience and not very different from the shameless political alliances and coalitions we see in india today .
RE:THE GREAT MOGHUL EMPEROR - AURANGZEB
by jatin on Jun 07, 2007 11:18 AM Permalink
From: "Mughal warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire 1500-1700" by Jos J. L. Gommans. Page 40.
... even in the more settled regions of empire we find a gentry thar is never sure about it's position and, in case of need is ready to shift habitation, allegience and identtity... for the Mughals to gain access to India's immense resources and rural production and military labour, they had to come to terms with the powerful Indian zamindars, who mediated the payment of the land revenue. ... Although at times Muslims and Hindus plublicly pledged to fight each other, in practice the were more usually fighting amongst themselves in one or the other pragmatically inspired alliance... a great deal of power had to be delegated to numerous administrator warriors (Rajputs). [even clerks and accountants had to enrol in the army because the Mughal administration was military in origin] .. every high [administrtive official] had to be enrolled in the armylist as he was given a mansab, or rank as the nominal commander of a certain number of horsemen which determined his pay or status. For there military rank-holders wielding the pen was considered as useful for military purposes as wielding the sword...for about two centuries, the Mughals successfully managed to seduce these peoply with imperial ranks (mansabs) into becoming dedicated co-shares in their realm and taking part in its prodigious wealth in cash and land...the empire could not do without the [Hindu] zamindars
