Question

Hawrangkasip goals what?

Answer 1

[[189]] AURANGZEB, the third son of Shah Jahan, was born on October 24, 1618, at Dohad, on the frontier of Gujarat and Rajputana. Industrious and thorough, he had distinguished himself as an able administrator during the years that he spent in the Deccan and other provinces of the empire. He was also a fearless soldier and a skillful general, and because of the hostile influence at court of his brother Dara, he had had to learn all the tactics of diplomacy. As emperor, he ruled more of India than any previous monarch, but in a court that had become a byword for luxury, he lived a life of austere piety. Yet of all India's rulers, few pursued policies that have excited more controversy among successive generations. In large measure, this is the result of his religious policies, for it was these that have colored men's evaluation of his reign.

        Even as a young man, Aurangzeb was known for his devotion to the Muslim religion and observance of Islamic injunctions, and in some of his letters written during the struggle for the succession he claimed that he was acting "for the sake of the true faith and the peace of the realm." As soon as he was securely on the throne, he introduced reforms which could make his dominion a genuine Muslim state. After his second (and formal) coronation on June 5, 1659, he issued orders which were calculated to satisfy orthodoxy. He appointed censors of public morals in all important cities to enforce Islamic law, and he tried to put down such practices as drinking, gambling, and prostitution. He forbade the cultivation of narcotics throughout the empire, and in 1664 he issued his first edict forbidding sati or the self-immolation of women on funeral pyres. He also repeatedly denounced the castration of children so they could be sold as eunuchs. In the economic sphere he showed a determined opposition to all illegal exactions and to all taxes which were not authorized by Islamic law. Immediately after his second coronation he abolished the inland transport duty, which amounted to ten percent [[190]] of the value of goods, and the octroi on all articles of food and drink brought into the cities for sale.

        Although these measures were partly responsible for Aurangzeb's later financial difficulties, they were popular with the people. But gradually the emperor's puritanism began to manifest itself, and steps were taken which were not so universally approved. In 1668 he forbade music at his court and, with the exception of the royal band, he pensioned off the large number of state musicians and singers. The festivities held on the emperor's birthday, including the custom of weighing him against gold and silver, were discontinued, and the mansabdars were forbidden to offer him the usual presents. The ceremony of darshan, or the public appearance of the emperor to the people, was abandoned in 1679.

        During the long struggle for the throne, the central authority had tended to lose administrative control over the distant parts of the empire; and after he had defeated his rivals, Aurangzeb started to reorganize the civil government. He had used the need of revitalizing the instruments of imperial power as a justification for his seizure of the throne, and his intention of making good his promise was soon felt throughout the empire./1/ The provincial governors began to expand the borders of the empire, and local authorities, who had grown accustomed to ignoring orders from Agra, the imperial capital, discovered that the new regime could act swiftly against them. 

The Eastern Borders

        Aurangzeb's earliest conquests were in the eastern parts of the empire. In the years when he had been fighting with his brothers for the throne, the Hindu rulers of Cooch Behar and Assam, taking advantage of the disturbed conditions in the empire, had invaded the imperial dominions. For three years they were not attacked, but in 1660 the time came for restitution. Mir Jumla, the viceroy of Bengal, was ordered to recover the lost territories. He started from Dacca in November, 1661, and occupied the capital of Cooch Behar after a few weeks. The kingdom was annexed, and the Muslim army left for [[191]] Assam. The capital of the Ahom kingdom was reached on March 17, 1662, and the raja was forced to sign a humiliating treaty.