Last Man Standing

The year 2007 brings to us a number of anniversaries. It is exactly 400 years since the foundation of the first British colony in the New World, Virginia named after Queen Elizabeth I, with its capital at Jamestown, named after her cousin James I. It is 300 years since the Union between England and Scotland. And, it is 300 years since the last indigenous King ruled North India, like a true monarch. On March 3, 1707, Aurangzeb, the son of Shah Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal, slid into the final throes of life unto death itself, leaving the entire subcontinent open to foreign domination. And now that it is 300 years, we look back at the legacy the last Great Mughal left on our lives.
Born on November 3rd, 1618, when Shah Jehan was governor of the south in Dahod, Maharashtra, Aurangzeb was a somewhat sickly child. He hardly possessed any of the martial qualities which had been endowed in his family for generations. However, he possessed a cunning which would go onto serve him extremely well later in life.
Aurangzeb was comparatively dour and dispassionate. He was the complete anti-thesis of his visionary father, who was dreamer first and a romantic at heart. The father was much more inclined to the brilliant scholar that Dara Shikoh, the eldest son was. In fact Dara was the best scholar that this branch of Temur’s clan produced. Dara was liberal, Aurangzeb was orthodox. In fact the latter was extremely pious in many ways and followed the Quran to the hilt. It had its advantages, but proved more to be a calamity for the nation which he ruled, where the vast majority of the population was Hindu, as far as religious affiliation is concerned. Unlike some of his forebears who led lives full of women, and alcohol, he completely abstained from alcohol and considered sex as only a regrettable necessity in life. He was also, somewhat kind to his courtiers, servants and soldiers, never reveling as an emperor with pomp and show. But, his biggest failing may well have been his imposition of the Jaziya or the Tax on non-Muslims. This and his other destructive elements completely undid all his otherwise mild mannered demeanour.
Aurangzeb has often been thought of as a great conqueror and military general who didn’t posses the nuances to rule by the pen. But that was hardly true. Yes, he ruled over an area of land greater in area than any previous Indian born emperor, but most of his military victories may simply be considered Pyrrhic. Victories where the winner lost as much as the vanquished. He led a campaign to unite the whole of India under the Mughal sword, where the primary target was the deep south. However, the south could never be tamed by Islamic armies in India the way the north was. Much is often said about the martial culture existing in the north. But it was the south where Aurangzeb’s army met defeat after defeat. The conditions were absolutely alien to the Pathans and Rajputs from the north. The army was in fact a gargantuan unit, too large and unmanageable, a far cry from Babur’s efficient compact unit. The units were boosted by numbers of camp followers, and servants. Each year, he kept losing about a 100,000 troops. It was a huge strain on the nation’s treasury. Towards the end of his reign, Aurangzeb had himself lost the plot, and the meaning of the ongoing war. He considered himself to be a sinner for having been the cause of so many deaths and for ruining the work of his family. The administration had broken up and corruption was rampant.
And yet, Aurangzeb remains one of the greatest emperors of India ever. He was the last true Indian to rule over this vast area for so long. And as long as he was there, the British could never rove their eyes towards the vast riches as means of conquest. India’s colonization by foreign powers was still a long way off.
And, so ultimately, on a March morning, he passed way and in the town of Khuldabad in Maharashtra remains his tomb. A quiet sepulcher, a far cry from the glorious jewel encrusted tombs of his fathers. Indeed, an austere end, for a man forever committed to simple living.