Portrait of Aurangzeb Complex than Hindutva’s Political Project Will Admit

[niaz]

I wish I had time to post a lengthy post, but I shall put down a few lines:

1. Aurangzeb was a very capable king, just look at the length of his reign.
2. The empire had grown too big for one person to manage. South Asia is indeed too big to be manageable and that is why it has never existed as a single country, ever.
3. The extent of Mughal empire under Aurangzeb was the maximum and it could only be downhill from there.
4. Every considerable king in Mughal dynasty came to power via fratricide and bloodshed. When this stopped, the quality of rule declined. Those decrying Aurangzeb's conduct should look at the conduct of Shahjahan & Jahangir also.
5. Aurangzeb's son who came to power after a bloody struggle, was already in old age and died in about 4 years, unleashing another civil war. This was too much for the unwieldy Mughal Empire and the decline accelerated dramatically.
6. Aurangzeb came to power because he was the most capable, following the precedent which was followed by princes of Turkish descent else-where (Ottoman empire, Central Asia,...)

There is a delightful little book by the name of Ahkamat-e-Alamgiri, penned by one of his viziers after after Aurangzeb's death. It was meant to instruct princes in ways of state-craft as practiced by Aurangzeb. I read an Urdu translation about 20 years or so ago. I have lost it now, but I would recommend anyone interested in Aurangzeb to read it. One can clearly see his mind-set in this book. The conclusions drawn by Audrey Truschke are indeed correct. Ambassador MK Bhadrakumar did a short piece recently as a review of her book and it is insightful. I shall post it if I find time later today.

Honourable Chak Bamu,

My objections against Aurangzeb don’t relate to fratricide. Wars of succession are a common occurrence in most empires and kingdoms. My complaint against Aurangzeb is because he also dethroned and imprisoned his father. You will agree that this is very rare.

I haven’t come across “Ahkamat e Alamagiri”. However I have “Adaab e Alamgiri” in my personal collection. This is a collection of letters by Munshi ul Mumaalik Sh. Abul Fateh Qabil Khan Thatvi who was munshi (secretary) of Prince Aurangzeb for about 10 years from the time when Prince Aurangzeb was Subedar (governor) of Multan & Sindh and later Deccan till the first 2 years of Aurangzeb as the emperor.

The letters were written on behalf of Aurangzeb by his munshi to various people including his father Shahjehan. The letters are in Persian along with a brief description in Urdu.

The manuscript was published by Zafar Sons, 9 Cooper Road Lahore in 1971 and complied on behalf of Research Institute of the Punjab University by Sadiq Ambalvi.