When was aurangzeb born

His beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal had died in and he never really got over her loss. As his condition worsened, his four sons by Mumtaz began to fight for the Peacock Throne. Shah Jahan favored the eldest son Dara, but many Muslims considered him too worldly and irreligious. Shuja, the second son, was a hedonist who used his position as governor of Bengal as a platform for acquiring beautiful women and wine.

Aurangzeb, a much more committed Muslim than either of the elder brothers, saw his chance to rally the faithful behind his own banner. Aurangzeb craftily recruited his younger brother Murad, convincing him that together they could remove Dara and Shuja and place Murad on the throne.

Aurangzeb disavowed any plans to rule himself, claiming that his only ambition was to make the hajj to Mecca. Later in as the combined armies of Murad and Aurangzeb moved north toward the capital, Shah Jahan recovered his health.

Dara, who had crowned himself regent, stepped aside. The three younger brothers refused to believe that Shah Jahan was well, though, and converged on Agra, where they defeated Dara's army.

Dara fled north but was betrayed by a Baluchi chieftain and brought back to Agra in June Aurangzeb had him executed for apostasy from Islam and presented his head to their father. Shuja also fled to Arakan Burma and was executed there.

Meanwhile, Aurangzeb had his former ally Murad executed on trumped-up murder charges in In addition to disposing of all of his rival brothers, the new Mughal Emperor placed his father under house arrest in Agra Fort. Shah Jahan lived there for eight years, until He spent most of his time in bed, gazing out the window at the Taj Mahal.

Aurangzeb's year reign is often cited as a "Golden Age" of the Mughal Empire, but it was rife with trouble and rebellions. Although Mughal rulers from Akbar the Great through Shah Jahan practiced a remarkable degree of religious tolerance and were great patrons of the arts, Aurangzeb reversed both of these policies.

He practiced a much more orthodox, even fundamentalist version of Islam, going so far as to outlaw music and other performances in Both Muslims and Hindus were forbidden to sing, play musical instruments, or to dance—a serious damper on the traditions of both faiths in India. Aurangzeb also ordered the destruction of Hindu temples, although the exact number is not known.

Estimates range from under to tens of thousands. In addition, he ordered the enslavement of Christian missionaries. Aurangzeb expanded Mughal rule both north and south, but his constant military campaigns and religious intolerance rankled many of his subjects. He did not hesitate to torture and kill prisoners of war, political prisoners, and anyone he considered un-Islamic. To make matters worse, the empire became over-extended and Aurangzeb imposed ever higher taxes in order to pay for his wars.

The Mughal army was never able to completely quash Hindu resistance in the Deccan, and the Sikhs of northern Punjab rose up against Aurangzeb repeatedly throughout his reign. Perhaps most worryingly for the Mughal emperor, he relied heavily on Rajput warriors , who by this time formed the backbone of his southern army and were faithful Hindus.

Although they were displeased with his policies, they did not abandon Aurangzeb during his lifetime, but they revolted against his son as soon as the emperor died. Perhaps the most disastrous revolt of all was the Pashtun Rebellion of — Babur , the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, came from Afghanistan to conquer India, and the family had always relied upon the fierce Pashtun tribesmen of Afghanistan and what is now Pakistan to secure the northern borderlands.

Charges that a Mughal governor was molesting tribal women sparked a revolt among the Pashtuns, which led to a complete breakdown of control over the northern tier of the empire and its critical trade routes. On March 3, , the year-old Aurangzeb died in central India. Because of this, there was a Rajput revolt against the Mughal emperor in After the death of Sambhaji, the Marathas fled towards the south and were inactive for some time. Aurangzeb then went on and captured forts of the Maratha hill country.

Aurangzeb then went on and expanded the Mughal empire in both south and north but his military campaigns and the religious intolerance he showed towards people annoyed many of his subjects. He started losing control of the administration in the north to and as the matter worst the empire became over-extended and Aurangzeb imposed higher taxes on the agricultural lands in order to pay for the wars.

The agricultural revolt of the Sikh began as he started taking additional taxes on the land. Many Sikhs revolted in Punjab and in he executed the Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, who refused to work under his name. In general, Aurangzeb was considered to be very ruthless and a militant orthodox Sunni Muslim. He forcefully tried to make his beliefs and morals be accepted by his subject which led to many revolts and in the end his fall.

Aurangzeb maintained the empire for half a century and he also started extending the territory in the south and came as far as Tanjore and Trichinopoly. While Aurangzeb was busy expanding the territory in the south, the Marathas drained all imperial resources in the North. The rebellion started by the Sikhs and the jat also added extra pressure in the north. Aurangzeb was 88 years old when he died in central India on March 3, When he died the Mughal empire was at its breaking point as it was filled with the many rebellions who were against him and his beliefs.

Under his son, Bahadur Shah 1 the Mughal empire slowly started declining and finally ended with British rule when the last Mughal emperor was sent into exile in Many critics say that his ruthlessness and religious behavior made him unsuitable to rule the mixed population in his empire. The imposition of the sharia and jizya religious taxes on non muslim and doubling of the custom duties on Hindus and the destruction of temples caused the birth of a religious rebellion against him which led to his fall.

During this second viceroyalty his relations with his eldest brother, Dara Shukoh, who was Emperor Shah Jahan's principal adviser, deteriorated. Aurangzeb believed in territorial expansion and Moslem orthodoxy; Dara stood for imperial consolidation and a secular empire. Thus a clash for succession became inevitable. When Shah Jahan fell ill in September , Aurangzeb challenged Dara, defeated him, imprisoned their father, and assumed imperial authority on July 21, After liquidating his three brothers, he crowned himself emperor of India, assuming the title Alamgir Conqueror of the World on June 5, Committed to making India an orthodox Moslem state, Aurangzeb restricted Hindu festivals and destroyed many Hindu temples.

In the practice of sati immolation of widows on funeral pyres was enjoined. Poll tax on Hindus was imposed in Censors were appointed to enforce morals, and edicts were issued against drinking, gambling, prostitution, and narcotics.

When a defiant Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur, refused to embrace Islam, he was executed. Employment of non-Moslems was restricted in the imperial bureaucracy. Such discriminatory policies naturally led to rebellions.