Emperor Aurangzeb was referred to by his subjects as ‘a dervish/fakir in royal attire’. This was due to his remarkably austere and simple personal life, strict adherence to Islamic principles (Sharia) and his rejection of the lavish, extravagant lifestyle characteristic ...
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The famous parallel, “Just as the Spanish ulcer ruined Napoleon, so the Deccan ulcer ruined Aurangzeb,” was coined by the historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar. He argued that Aurangzeb’s relentless and costly twenty-six-year preoccupation with the Deccan campaigns drained the empire’s ...
The prominent modern historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar called Saqi Mustaid Khan’s work, the ‘Maasir-i-Alamgiri’, the ‘Gazetteer of the Mughal Empire’. This Persian chronicle is considered the official history of Aurangzeb’s reign, detailing events from 1658 to 1707 with considerable accuracy, ...
The Jat leader Rajaram was responsible for the infamous desecration of Emperor Akbar’s tomb at Sikandra in 1688. In an act of extreme defiance and revenge against Mughal oppression, Rajaram’s forces looted the tomb, dug up Akbar’s grave and burned ...
Aurangzeb imprisoned his father, Shah Jahan, in the Agra Fort in June 1658, shortly after his victory at Samugarh. Shah Jahan spent the next eight years confined to the palace complex, reportedly in the Musamman Burj, from where he could ...