Under him the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent, although his policies helped lead to its dissolution. His testimony during the trial after the 1857 Revolt and Bahadur Shah Zafar’s own testimony are further corroborations of his betrayal. As long as there remains the scent of Iman in the hearts of our Ghazis, so long shall the sword of Hindustan flash before the throne of London. The last refuge of Mughal Emperor Humayun reminds rather of a luxurious palace, than a tomb. Aurangzeb’s reign falls into two almost equal parts. The rest of Aurangzeb’s life was spent in laborious and fruitless sieges of forts in the Maratha hill country. The Marathas, however, then adopted guerrilla tactics, spreading all over southern India amid a sympathetic population. Bahadur Shah and his family betrayed the cause not only of the mutineers, but also of the whole country. When it was biggest it ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, then known as Hindustan, [source?] Notable among the Himalayan delusions he harboured is a bizarre self-belief described by Syed Ahmad Khan, one of the original forerunners of Pakistan: [Bahadur Shah Zafar] had a fixed idea that he could transform himself into a fly or gnat, and that he could in this guise convey himself to other countries, and learn what was going on there. Agrarian discontent often took the form of religious movements, as in the case of the Satnamis and the Sikhs in the Punjab. All this apart, Bahadur Shah Zafar was a great betrayer of the Great Revolt of 1857 or the First War of Independence. However, one of his most macabre acts in this treachery occurred after a month the Great Revolt erupted. The King also offered to arrange to have any other of the city-gates opened at any time the British might wish. This in turn was followed by a Rajput revolt in 1680–81, supported by Aurangzeb’s third son, Akbar. The British exiled the last Mughal. It must take cosmic levels of delusion to compose a couplet like this after being comprehensively crushed. Prior registration mandatory. Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb in Agra is considered a landmark in Mughal architecture © Mughal dynasty, Muslim dynasty of Turkic-Mongol origin that ruled most of northern India from the early 16th to the mid-18th century. Open from 5 Feb- 8 Mar, 2021. Jahan's son Aurangzeb was the last great Mughal Emperor. Aurangzeb maintained the empire for nearly half a century and in fact extended it in the south as far as Tanjore (now Thanjavur) and Trichinopoly (now Tiruchchirappalli). Majumdar’s analysis is quite decisive: The sepoys were not perhaps solely to blame for this sorry state of things. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge; Lecturer in History, University of Cambridge, 1963–69. Aurangzeb, also spelled Aurangzib, Arabic AwrangzÄ«b, kingly title ʿĀlamgÄ«r, original name Muḥī al-DÄ«n Muḥammad, (born November 3, 1618, Dhod, Malwa [India]—died March 3, 1707), emperor of India from 1658 to 1707, the last of the great Mughal emperors. Greathed recorded in his diary that. His descendants, the Mughal emperors, built a long-lasting empire that covered much of the subcontinent until 1868, … The Muslim confession of faith, for instance, was removed from all coins lest it be defiled by unbelievers, and courtiers were forbidden to salute in the Hindu fashion. Badshahi (Imperial) Mosque, one of Aurangzeb's architectural achievements, in Lahore, Pakistan. He was their third son. The Dharma Dispatch is now available on Telegram! In general, Aurangzeb ruled as a militant orthodox Sunni Muslim; he put through increasingly puritanical ordinances that were vigorously enforced by muḥtasibs, or censors of morals. Seriously, he firmly believed that he possessed this power of transformation. The Deccan kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda were conquered in 1686–87, but the insecurity that followed precipitated a long-incipient economic crisis, which in turn was deepened by warfare with the Marathas. Aurangzeb was a serious-minded youth and a devout Muslim. As a British historian notes, Bahadur Shah “assumed the responsibility of the position which had been forced upon him. Behind this imposing facade, however, were serious weaknesses. In the first, which lasted until about 1680, he was a capable Muslim monarch of a mixed Hindu-Muslim empire and as such was generally disliked for his ruthlessness but feared and respected for his vigour and skill. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The selfsame Ahsanullah Khan wrote some of these letters. And the entry for August 23 reads as follows: An emissary came out from Zeenut Muhul, the favourite wife of the King…offering to exercise her influence with the King, to bring about some arrangement. To return to R.C. Even as the sepoys were engaged in intense fighting with the British in and around Delhi, a fight they fought in Bahadur Shah’s name, he sent a message to General T. Reed, Commander-in-Chief who headed the British unit besieging Delhi. The administration weakened, and the process was hastened by pressure on the land by Mughal grantees who were paid by assignments on the land revenue. Shivaji’s son Sambhaji was captured and executed in 1689 and his kingdom broken up. After this victory, the BEI took political control of much of the subcontinent, marking the start of the British Raj in India. The story of how he was flung into Burma and spent his last days wallowing in misery and squalor need not be narrated here. The Last Days of the Mughal Empire . In response, the petrified Mughal scampered into his private apartment, assembled some servants and began hollering about the misfortune that had struck him and wept copious tears about his sorry fate. During this period he was much occupied with safeguarding the northwest from Persians and Central Asian Turks and less so with the Maratha chief Shivaji, who twice plundered the great port of Surat (1664, 1670). The Maratha campaign continually drained the imperial resources. Aurangzeb, emperor of India (1658–1707), under whose reign the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent but whose policies began its demise. Aurangzeb applied his great-grandfather Akbar’s recipe for conquest: defeat one’s enemies, reconcile them, and place them in imperial service. However, the British ruthlessly crushed the Great Revolt before Bahadur Shah could carry out his betrayal and had to abjectly surrender. Aurangzeb was the third son of the emperor Shah Jahān and Mumtaz Mahal (for whom the Taj Mahal was built). The sepoys bestowed this title on him only because they were looking, desperately hoping for leadership. From 1636 Aurangzeb held a number of important appointments, in all of which he distinguished himself. After the escape of the Maratha chief Shivaji from the imperial court and implementation of a poll tax on non-Muslims, his reign saw resistance from Rajputs, Marathas, and Sikhs. Whereas the sepoys demanded steely leadership, Zafar gave them this pious advice: leave this worldly life and adopt the life of Fakirs. Under him the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent, although his policies helped lead to its dissolution. South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir paid tribute to Tahir Mughal during Quetta Gladiators vs Multan Sultan in PSL 2021. However, Bahadur Shah Zafar knew that he was firmly caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Following his victory over the Rajputana, Akbar brought in Gujarat (1584), Kabul (1585), Kashmir (1586-87), Sindh (1591), Bengal (1592) and Kandahar (1595) within the Mughal territory. Aurangzeb’s parents were the emperor Shah Jahān and Mumtāz Maḥal. Even as Bahadur Shah maintained the façade of leading the fight against the British, he opened a secret parallel track with them: he offered them full support to crush the sepoys. Entry Ticket/Fee for Mughal Garden is Zero. The failure of the Mughals to cope with them after the reign of his son Bahādur Shāh I led to the collapse of the empire in the mid-18th century. Hira Mahal – Built in 1842 by Bahadur Shah II, the Hira Mahal is probably one of the last structures to have been built by a Mughal emperor before the invasion of the British. Bahadur Shah Zafar reluctantly took the leadership but betrayed the sepoys. This sight revealed the full extent of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s powerlessness. Updates? After about 1680, Aurangzeb’s reign underwent a change of both attitude and policy. The “Jerdarojah” is a private entrance into the Palace under the Summund Boorj on the river side. For original and insightful narratives on Indian Culture and History, subscribe to us on Telegram. He was also a prisoner of a sicker sort: even at that ripe age, Bahadur Shah Zafar had become an accomplished puppet of his favourite wife, Zeenat Mahal who called the shots. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aurangzeb, Aurangzeb - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Lahore, Pakistan: Badshahi (Imperial) Mosque. Other agrarian revolts, such as those of the Jats, were largely secular. 9 am - 4 pm. The pious ruler of an Islamic state replaced the seasoned statesman of a mixed kingdom; Hindus became subordinates, not colleagues, and the Marathas, like the southern Muslim kingdoms, were marked for annexation rather than containment. Mirza Mughal (1817–1857), fifth son of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal emperor Mughal-e-Azam , a 1960 Indian film, a romantic epic about the early life of Emperor Jahangir Moghul, Iran , a village On August 19, the Commissioner of Meerut, H.H. In the struggle for power (1657–59), Aurangzeb showed tactical and strategic military skill, great powers of dissimulation, and ruthless determination. In consolidating his power, Aurangzeb caused one brother’s death and had two other brothers, a son, and a nephew executed. He grew up as a serious-minded and devout youth, wedded to the Muslim orthodoxy of the day and free from the royal Mughal traits of sensuality and drunkenness. He commanded troops against the Uzbeks and the Persians with distinction (1646–47) and, as viceroy of the Deccan provinces in two terms (1636–44, 1654–58), reduced the two Muslim Deccan kingdoms to near-subjection. A band of triumphant sepoys had burst right inside the palace after killing British troops in Meerut and now stood beneath his windows clamouring that Zafar should now take leadership of the Great Revolt. But the more sickening postscript to his betrayal was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bahadur Shah Zafar’s grave in 2012 at Yangoon where he offered a Fateha (prayer) to the traitor. This was how he became the “emperor of Hindustan,” and supposedly led the First War of Independence from the front. Mughal Garden can be visited with Delhi Tourism's Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour of Delhi. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Failing to do so would endanger his physical safety. Once again, Majumdar’s words are definitive: Cynical as it may sound, the terms of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s betrayal were rather cheap, he offered to sell himself for a pittance given his own tall claims about being an emperor and royal pensions. The plan broke down, however; Shivaji fled to the Deccan and died, in 1680, as the ruler of an independent Maratha kingdom. The new Islamic policy alienated Hindu sentiment and undermined Rajput support. Hindus still served the empire, but no longer with enthusiasm. It is a mere pavilion but has an interesting legend associated with it. Scores of such primary evidence exist, all of which lead to the same inescapable conclusion, that Bahadur Shah Zafar, far from “leading” the First War of Indian Independence, actually betrayed it. In 1675 Aurangzeb arrested and executed the Sikh Guru (spiritual leader) Tegh Bahadur, who had refused to embrace Islam; the succeeding Guru, Gobind Singh, was in open rebellion for the rest of Aurangzeb’s reign. That is what India needs to recover from. He was advanced in age and almost a dotard, a plaything in the hands of his favourite Begum Zinnat Mahal. He was the last of the Rajput defenders and fought till his heroic end in the Battle of Haldighati in 1576. The financial pressure on the land strained the whole administrative framework. It must take cosmic levels of delusion to compose a couplet like this after being comprehensively crushed.But then we’re talking about the granddaddy of all delusions, Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Mughal who led the fragmentary remnants of the Mughal Empire to extinction through a potent mix of servility, vice, verse, wine, and wantonness. This prisoner of his own making also lived in constant dread: he knew that the British would take away this pension and other nominal privileges the moment he died. Thus, Shivaji was defeated, called to Agra for reconciliation (1666), and given an imperial rank. Ordinary sepoys, lowly men, fighters for hire, who could never dream of even being in the Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience) had not only barged their way in, but began to abuse Zafar, “Are Badshah!” “Arre Budda!” and yanked his luxuriant old, white beard and pulled his frail hands. In 1757, the BEI defeated the Nawab of Bengal and French company interests at the Battle of Palashi. Aurangzeb’s absence in the south prevented him from maintaining his former firm hold on the north. It was fantastic and unbelievable, something that was not even in the realm of imagination. It must take a special talent in perversion to write a fat tome dedicated to projecting this weakling and traitor as a “tragic figure of the eponymous monarch… and abidingly fond of the arts of peace,” as William Dalrymple has done in The Last Mughal. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. When Aurangzeb died after a reign of nearly 49 years, he left an empire not yet moribund but confronted with a number of menacing problems. Not only had Bahadur Shah no confidence in the sepoys or sympathy for their cause, but even after he had joined them he maintained his loyalty to the British. The Mughal rule over India is called an Empire because it stretched over a large area. Perhaps his delusions are forgivable given the fact that his authority didn’t extend beyond the walls of the Red Fort and the more realistic fact that he was fully aware of his own pathetic condition. Read for more updates. The letter dated 4 July, 1857 reads as follows: The name of the Gomastha was Fateh Mohamed who made the following statement: …the King was most desirous of making terms with the British and if a promise (a formal one) were given to him that his pension of 1 lac Rupees a month and his former position should be secured to him, he would have the “Jerdarojah” opened for the admission of the British troops. Majumdar: Bahadur Shah sent out letters to various British military officers, for example, to the Lieutenant Governor of Agra, informing the location and other details of the sepoys in Delhi. Unexpected recovery, matters had gone too far for either son to retreat located in the realm of imagination old. Solely to blame for this sorry state of things //www.britannica.com/biography/Aurangzeb, Aurangzeb - Student Encyclopedia Ages... Unexpected recovery, matters had gone too far for either son to retreat and.! Who passed away on January 10 at the Battle of Palashi, as in eastern... 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