Aurangzeb and his religious policies: Take home lesson

Aurangzeb and his religious policies: Take home lesson

Dr Vivek Arya

Akbaruddin Owaisi's visit to Aurangzeb’s tomb at Khuldabad in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district has brought the historical figure into the news again.

Owaisi once issued a controversial statement “remove police for fifteen minutes, we will teach Hindus.” Owaisi Brothers have been seen as competing with other Muslim leaders in spreading hatred against Hindus, and wanting to project themselves as 20th century Jinnah.

Why they want to align themselves with the image of Aurangzeb is a natural question? The answer lies in the religious policies of Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb was a true believer in the Islamic theory of Jihad. According to Islamic theology, a true believer’s highest duty is to follow in the path of God, by waging war against infidel lands (Dar-ul-harb) until they become a part of the realm of Islam (Dar-ul-Islam) and the people are converted into ‘true believers’.

Aurangzeb’s reputation suffered greatly in the Muslim world after he executed all his brothers and their sons and for imprisoned his father. To combat this image he became a ruthless puritan who took on the aim of restoring Islam to its original glory.

In the beginning of his reign Aurangzeb ordered “the local officers in every town and village of Orissa from Katak to Medinipur”, to pull down all temples, including even clay huts, built during the last 10 or 12 years, and to allow no old temple to be repaired. He then proceeded to demolish many other Hindu temples in the province.

Aurangzeb decided to use all the resources of a vast empire in suppressing Hinduism and converting people to Islam. During his viceroyalty of Gujarat in 1644, he desecrated the recently built Hindu Temple of Chintaman in Ahmadabad by killing a cow in it and then turned the building into a Mosque.

In 1661-62 a big temple was demolished at Mathura and a Jama Masjid was erected in its place in the heart of Hindu population. From April, 1665, Hindus were charged double the customs duty of that paid by Muslims on all articles brought for sale. In May 1667, Muslims were exempted from payment of customs duty altogether, while Hindus had to pay the old rate of five per cent.

In 1668 Hindu fairs and festivals were stopped. On April 9, 1669, a general order applicable to all parts of the Mughal Empire was issued “to demolish all the schools and temples of the infidels and to put down their religious teaching”.

In January, 1670, the biggest temple of Keshav Rae at Mathura was destroyed and the city was named Islamabad.

The destruction of Hindu places of worship was one of the chief duties of the Muhtasibs (Censors of Morals) who were appointed in all parts of the empire. Hindus employed in public services, including clerks and accountants, were dismissed in 1671. The post of Qanungo (insert meaning here) could be retained by a Hindu only if they embraced Islam. Hindus who became Muslims received stipends, rewards, government jobs, release from jails, right to ancestral property and may other privileges.

The new converts were paraded through the streets and bazars, made to ride on elephants followed by bands and flags as a show of Islamic superiority. Jizya was charged from all Hindus from April 2, 1679. Many Hindus, unable to pay the heavy taxes, converted to Islam to obtain relief from the insults of the debt collectors.

In June 1680, the temples of Amber, the capital of Jaipur State, the most loyal Hindu State, were demolished. In March 1695, all the Hindus except Rajputs, were banned from riding on elephants, horses and in palanquins. They were also prohibited from carrying arms.

Syad Muhammad Latifs writes:

“He discouraged the teaching of the Hindus, burnt to the ground the great Pagoda near Delhi, and destroyed the temple of Bishnath at Benares, and the great temple of Dera Kesu Rai at Mathura, said to have been built by Raja Narsingh Deo, at a cost of thirty-three lakhs of rupees. The gilded domes of this temple were so high that they could be seen from Agra 54 kms distant. On the site of the ruined temple, he built a vast mosque at a great cost. The richly decorated idols of the temples were removed to Agra and placed beneath the steps leading to the mosque of Nawab Begum. The name Mathura was changed into Islamabad, and was so written in all correspondence and spoken by the people. Aurangzeb had resolved that the belief in one God and the Prophet should be, not the prevailing, but the only religion of the empire of Hindustan. He issued mandates to the viceroys and governors of provinces to destroy pagodas and idols throughout his dominions. About three hundred temples in various parts of Rajputana were destroyed and their idols broken. The emperor appointed mullahs, with a party of horse attached to each, to check all ostentatious display of idol worship, and, sometime afterwards, he forbade fairs on Hindu festivals, and issued a circular to all governors and men in authority prohibiting the employment of Hindus in the offices of state immediately under them, and commanding them to confer all such offices on Mahomedans only. About the year 1690, the emperor issued an edict prohibiting Hindus from being carried in palanquins or riding on Arab horses. All servants of the state were ordered to embrace the Mahomedan religion, under pain of dismissal, those who refused were deprived of their posts. A large number of jogis, sanyasis and other religious men were driven out of the king's dominions. The emperor reduced the duty on merchandise belonging to Mahomedans to one half the amount paid by Hindus, and remitted a number of other obnoxious taxes. Following the tradition of his house, he, in 1661, married his son, Moazzam, to the daughter of Raja Rup Singh. In the 22nd year of his reign, he renewed the Jazia, or poll-tax, on Hindus, throughout his dominions. The Hindus of Delhi gathered in large numbers beneath the jharoka window, on the banks of the river, and implored his majesty to remit the obnoxious tax; but the emperor was inexorable. The Hindus adopted the expedient of closing the shops in the city, and all business came to a standstill. They thronged the bazars from the palace to the grand mosque, one Friday, with the object of seeking relief. The crowd increased every moment, and the king's equipage was interrupted at every step. He stopped for a while to hear them, but the multitude held their ground. At length under orders from the emperor, war elephants were directed against the mob, and, the retinue forcing its way through, numbers were trodden to death by horses and elephants. After this the Hindus submitted without further demur”.

Conversion of Hindus to Islam was in full swing. Bakhtawar Khan states that Aurangzeb himself administered Kalima to prominent persons and adorned them with Khilats with his own hands.

The persecution of Hindus led to revolts by The Jats, Sainamis, Sikhs, Rajputs and Maratha.

Gokal, a Jat of Tilpat, revolted against the bigoted governor of Mathura, Abdu Nabi and shot him dead in May, 1669. Aurangzeb sent a strong force against him. After fierce resistance Gokal was defeated and hacked to pieces. Women from his family were given away to Muslims. Five thousand Jats were killed and 7,000 were taken prisoners.

Satnamis lived in and around Narnaul. Though they dress like faqirs, most of followed agriculture or small capital trade. One day in 1672 a Mughal soldier picked up a quarrel with a Satnami and broke his head with his baton. Other Satnamis beat the soldier in return. The local officer sent a party of footmen to punish the Satnamis, who came together in retaliation, seized their arms and drove them away. About 5,000 Satnamis continued to repulse troops sent by local officers. The rebels plundered Narnaul and demolished mosques. Aurangzeb sent a artillery of 10,000 strong and after an obstinate battle, two thousand of the Satnamis fell on the battlefield. The rest were slain in the pursuit that followed and the Satnamis were wiped out, without a trace.

Aurangzeb dealt with the Sikhs in a similar manner. In November, 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur was called upon to embrace Islam, and on his refusal he was beheaded. His companions were cruelly murdered. The resistance against the Mughals gave an opportunity to Son of Guru Tegh Bahadur, Guru Govind Rai to transform the Sikhs into Khalsa Army. The establishment of Khalsa army and their struggle against Islam wiped out the Islamic rule form Punjab forever.

In December, 1678, Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur passed away. Aurangzeb immediately proceeded to annex his kingdom to the Mughal Empire and went to Ajmer in January, 1679. Jaswant Singh's two widows gave birth to sons on their way back at Lahore. One of them died soon afterwards. The other child, Ajit Singh, was detained at Delhi to be brought up in the imperial harem. “The throne of Jodhpur was offered to Ajit on condition of his turning Muslim. On the Rani's refusal, Aurangzeb ordered them to be taken under a strong escort to the prison fortress of Nurgarh.”

Before the Mughal troops could arrive, their residence in Delhi was besieged by Raghu Nath, a noble of Jodhpur, with one hundred devoted soldiers. There were a few Mughal troopers guarding the mansion. In the melee, Durga Das slipped out with Ajit and the Ranis and rode away direct for Marwar. Jodhpur and all the great towns in the plain were pillaged, the temples were torn down and mosques erected on their sites.

The annexation of Marwar was followed by the conquest of Mewar. Aurangzeb's artillery defeated Maharana Raj Singh of Udaipur. Chitor was seized and 63 temples in the town were razed to the ground. At Udaipur 173 temples were demolished.

Aurangzeb then turned his attention towards the Marathas. He reached Aurangabad on March 22 1682, never to return to the north, and died at the same place 25 years later.

The great Shivaji had passed away at the age of 53 on April 4, 1680. His eldest son, Shambhuji, succeeded him. On February 1, 1689, he was captured by Aurangazeb and dragged out by his long hair.

Twenty-five of his leading chiefs along with their wives and daughters were also captured. Shambhuji and his Prime Minister Kavikalash were dressed as buffoons with long fool's caps and bells placed on their heads, mounted on camels, and brought to Bahadurgarh with drums beating and trumpets pealing. Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the roads to gaze at Shambhuji. Thus degraded, the captives were slowly paraded through the entire camp and finally brought to Aurangzeb who was sitting in full durbar for the occasion.

Shambhuji did not bow before the Emperor though pressed hard by the courtiers to do so. He was immediately blinded and the tongue of Kavikalash was cut off. They were tortured for a fortnight. On March 11, 1689, their limbs were hacked to pieces, and dogs fed on their flesh. Their heads were fixed on spears and exhibited in all the major towns and cities of the Deccan with the beat of drums and blowing of trumpets. Aurangzeb then seized the surviving widows of Shivaji, wives of Shambhuji and of his younger brother Raja Ram and their sons and daughters including seven-year-old Shahu.

With no proper leader, hundreds of Maratha chiefs at the head of their own small bands began to harass the Mughals anywhere and everywhere. It became a people's war. Aurangzeb and his generals could not be present at all places. The emperor had to face an enemy all pervasive from Bombay to Madras across the Indian Peninsula, elusive as the wind, without any headman or stronghold whose capture would naturally result in the extinction of their power.

The Empire's leading chiefs and men suffered terribly. Porters disappeared, elephants and horses died of hunger and overwork, scarcity of grain was ever present in his camps. The endless war in the Deccan exhausted his treasury, the Government was bankrupt, and the soldiers starving from arrears of pay mutinied.

The Marathas were supreme. They plundered Mughal territory. Their power increased under the regime of Rajaram, and after his demise, his widow Tarabai became their leader. The detritus of the Deccan war which raged intensely for nearly twenty-years, was one hundred thousand soldiers and three times that number of horses, elephants, camels and oxen on the Mughals side, every single year.

Aurangzeb, a man who once ruled as an unchallenged Emperor from Jamrud to Cuttack was watched the destruction of his kingdom through his old eyes. He became so devastated that he confessed to his son Azam, in February 1707

“I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing.”

Aurangzeb’s Jihad ended, not in a glorified Islamic nation but a long-drawn-out war with no winners or losers. Peace eluded him till the very end, with records indicating that came to regret the endless destruction.

Perhaps then, one wonders, the true lesson that we are to learn from Aurangzeb’s bloody conquests, is that violence against and the desecration of a people will never end in the way we expect. So, is Aurangzeb’s policy truly the answer?

[This article is based on book History of the Sikhs, The Sikh gurus 1469-1708, Volume 3 by Hari Ram Gupta published from Munshi Ram Manoharlal]