Aurangzeb, one of the greatest of the Mogul emperors of Hindustan, was the third son of Shah Jahan, and was born in November 1618. His original name, Mahommed, was changed by his father, with whom he was a favorite, into Aurangzeb, meaning ornament of the throne, and at a later time he assumed the additional titles of Mohi-eddin, reviver of religion, and Alam-gir, conqueror of the world.
At a very early age, and throughout his whole life, he manifested profound religious feeling, perhaps instilled into him in the course of his education under some of the strictest Mahommedan doctors. He was employed, while very young, in some of his father's expeditions into the country beyond the Indus, gave promise of considerable military talents, and was appointed to the command of an army directed against the Uzbeks. In this campaign he was not completely successful, and soon after was transferred to the army engaged in the Deccan. Here he gained several victories, and in conjunction with the famous general, Mir Jumla, who had deserted from the king of Golconda, he seized and plundered the town of Hyderabad, which belonged to that monarch.
His father's express orders prevented Aurangzeb from following up this success, and, not long after, the sudden and alarming illness of Shah Jahan turned his thoughts in another direction. Of Shah Jahan's four sons, the eldest, Dara, a brave and honourable prince, but disliked by the Muslims on account of his liberality of thought, had a natural right to the throne. Accordingly, on the illness of his father, he at once seized the reins of government and established himself at Delhi. The second son, Shuja, governor of Bengal, a dissolute and sensual prince, was dissatisfied, and raised an army to dispute the throne with Dara. The keen eye of Aurangzeb saw in this conjuncture of events a favorable opportunity for realising his own ambitious schemes.
His religious exercises and temperate habits gave him, in popular estimation, a great superiority over his brothers, but he was too politic to put forward his claims openly. He made overtures to his younger brother Murad, governor of Gujarat, representing that neither of their elder brothers was worthy of the kingdom, that he himself had no temporal ambition, and desired only to place a fit monarch on the throne, and then to devote himself to religious exercises and make the pilgrimage to Mecca. He therefore proposed to unite his forces to those of Murad, who would thus have no difficulty in making him
RE:ALAMGIR AURANGZEB
by Secular Indian on Mar 08, 2007 04:38 AM Permalink
It quickly disintegrated after his death actually it was more or less on the decline halfway through his reign, if one goes simply by the number of rebellions in his kingdom.
RE:RE:ALAMGIR AURANGZEB
by mohammed safiuddin on Mar 08, 2007 07:26 AM Permalink
No it did not disintegrate 'quickly' after his death; nor did it 'begin to disintegrate' during his reign. In fact Alamgir's successor Bahadur Shah I(1707-1712) had retained all of the territory and much of the influence all through his short reign.A few more years of his reign and he would rightly have been considered the seventh great Mughal.The actual disintegration started when Nizam-ul-mulk decided to pull out Hyderabad from the empire in 1724. That was the first time in 200 years that a prominent general (and establishment insider) thought nothing of depriving his territory of the safety and prestige which flowed from the Emperor in Agra/ Delhi. That trickle turned into a deluge in no time with far flung provinces declaring independence from the emperor and a once glorious empire collapsed like a pack of cards.The influence took a little longer to wane though. Apart from scores of Kings and Nawabs, even the British East India Company struck it's coins in the name of the nominal Emperor of Hindustan--as late as 1818. Hatred for the partition and pakistan should not automatically translate to hatred for all things Muslim. Before the separatist mentality took over, there were things Muslim that were beautiful. As with other good things in life those didnt last long. Peace. Safi-ul-Islam, Mohammed
RE:RE:RE:ALAMGIR AURANGZEB
by Secular Indian on Mar 08, 2007 10:27 AM Permalink
People were up in arms all around him, the Jats are one notable example. The decay set in during his lifetime, most likely due to his Jihadi zeal. What you've described are the internal machinations and events that accelerated the decline.
RE:ALAMGIR AURANGZEB
by Dr_Ramanand Rao on Mar 08, 2007 07:08 AM Permalink
Yes, you probably don't know how many millions he converted and how many billions he killed
