criticaly examine the life of aurangzeb
Answers
Answer:
He introduced the practice of Jaziya (which is one percent of an individual income) and banned the old Hindu practice of suttee.He banned the consuption of alcohol,singing in court . He was popular with traders as he abolished local and 80 sort of taxes levied by the previous rulers.
Answer:
Aurangzeb, who won the war of succession, ascended the throne in 1658. He killed all his three brothers one by one and imprisoned his father Shahjahan at Agra.
By doing so he proved himself as a man of merciless character. His full name was Muhi-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb. He was born on 3rd November, 1618. He ascended the throne in 1658 at the age of just 40 years. He ruled for long 50 years which was up to the end of 1707.
During his long reign, the Mughal empire reached its territorial climax. It stretched from Kashmir in the north to Jinji in the South, and from the Hindu Kush in the west to Chittagong in the east.
Aurangzeb was a man of extraordinary ability, strict discipline and a hard working. He was remarkable on many respects. He possessed extraordinary personal qualities. He led a very simple life and maintained high moral standard. He was far from pleasures, vices and extravagance. He was so puritan that he abolished music from the court and dismissed the singers and musicians.
As he was a hardworking ruler, he devoted himself whole heartedly to the affairs of the state. He remained dutiful till the end of his reign. He was a strict disciplinarian who did not spare his own sons. He was deeply religious. He was an orthodox and God-fearing Muslim. Even in the thick of the battle, he could kneel down to pray when the time for prayer came. Thus he was regarded by many Muslims as a zinda pir or a unity saint.
With all these personal qualities, Aurangzeb become a great failure as a ruler. According to some historians, he reversed Akbar’s policy of religious toleration and thus undermined the loyalty of the Hindus to the empire. As a result, this led to popular uprisings which suppressed the vitality of the empire.
His suspicious nature added to his problems so that in the words of Khafi Khan, “all his enterprises were long drawn out” and ended in failure. However, his orthodox nature, unjust and harsh measures on Hindus, annoyance of Sikhs, Rajput’s and Marathas and Deccan ulcer in fact ruined him and the Mughal empire.