A new controversy has started about Aurangzeb.
Vice Chancellor of Mohan Lal Sukhadia University in Udaipur, the historic city of Rajasthan, Prof. Sunita Mishra, describing Aurangzeb as a skilled ruler, compared him to Maharana Pratap and Prithviraj Chauhan. Protests have started in the entire state since his statement. Seeing the controversy growing, Prof. Mishra has withdrawn his statement. He has publicly apologized and said that Rajasthan is the land of heroes, but the dispute is not yet completely stopped. Let us know what was the real situation of Aurangzeb? Was he really a skilled ruler or unskilled?
The name of Aurangzeb Alamgir (reign 1658–1707 AD) is recorded as a highly controversial ruler in the history of India. On the one hand, he is considered to be a staunch religious ruler, opposed to arts and rigorous emperor, on the other hand, many historians also call him a disciplined administrator, a military -competent enabled and hard -working king. Here, taking the support of the opinion and facts of historians, try to understand a balanced approach.
1. Aurangzeb from administrative point of view
Aurangzeb kept the Mughal administrative structure the same by his predecessors. He carried forward the planned system established by Akbar, the revenue mechanism of Todarmal and a large -scale bureaucracy. Aurangzeb was known for personal honesty and discipline. It is said that he used to avoid extravagance on the royal treasury and stayed away from appearance in the court. But, his biggest fault at the administrative level was religious intolerance. Where Akbar laid the foundation of Hindu-Muslim unity by adopting the policy of ‘Sulah-e-Kul’. At the same time, Aurangzeb re -implemented Jaziya Kar (in 1679). This spread dissatisfaction among the Hindu subjects of his rule and many Rajput kings.
2. Religious policies and effects
Aurangzeb is considered a staunch Sunni Muslim ruler. He banned alcohol and intoxication, banned music in the court and followed the policies of breaking temples. Contemporary sources show that some temples were demolished in Kashi, Mathura and other major cities on his orders. This deepened socio-religious dissatisfaction. Scholars like historians Irfan Habib and Atish Taimur believe that their religious policy gave birth to rebellions in the empire and this became the major cause of Aurangzeb’s untouchability.
3. Aurangzeb from military point of view
Aurangzeb was undoubtedly a competent military strategist. He gained the throne by winning a war against his brothers, Dara Shikoh, Shahshuja and Murad Bakhsh. He was able to carry out a successful military campaign against the Sultans of Deccan. However, his biggest crisis was frequent war with the Marathas and other local powers. Especially the guerrilla warned by Shivaji Maharaj and his successors proved to be tired of Aurangzeb. Despite being camping in the Deccan for almost 27 years, he could not decide the Marathas decisively. This made the roots of the Mughal Empire hollow.
4. Economic status and financial mistakes
• Continuous wars put the burden on the treasury of the state. • The agricultural revenue system was strong in the time of Akbar and Jahangir, but Aurangzeb’s long military operations deteriorated the balance of income and expenditure. • Excessive spending was also spent in suppressing the rebellions of Rajputs, Jats, Sikhs and Marathas, while revenue collections decreased. Due to this, the administrative structure gradually started to crumble.
5. Royal artistic traditions become weak
Aurangzeb was anti-art. He removed the musicians from the court and reduced painting protection. In contrast, some records show that the art was not completely destroyed, but she went from the court to the public. It also enriched folk art. The policies of the emperor certainly weakened royal artistic traditions.
6. Opinion of contemporary and modern historians
The famous Indian historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar believes that Aurangzeb was a hardworking and strict administrator, but his staunch religious policy weakened the empire. According to Alfred Layl and other British historians, he was a supporter of personal morality and discipline, but he failed to understand the diverse nature of the empire.
7. Aurangzeb’s policies ruined
Modern historians agree that Aurangzeb’s policies did not allow the central power of the Mughal Empire to remain sustainable. Aurangzeb was undoubtedly hard working, disciplined and military -capable ruler. At the administrative level, he did not give up any major structural weakness. But his biggest mistake was religious intolerant policies and long wars, which lost public confidence and weakened the economic, social and cultural foundation of the Mughal Empire.
8. Aurangzeb’s mixed effect in Indian history
It can be said in this way that both skill and inefficiency were present under his rule. Her skill had strong discipline, administrative control, military capacity in the account, while religious partiality, lack of political foresight, the waste of resources from long military campaigns sees her as unskilled ruler. Historians have also recorded the same. Therefore, Aurangzeb’s reign presents a mixed result in Indian history. It can neither be called a fully skilled administrator nor completely disable; Rather, his policies eventually pushed the empire to the path from where his collapse was fixed soon.
Also read – Who is Prof. Sunita Mishra? Told Aurangzeb to a skilled ruler