Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb

Agra is only concerned with the first seven years of Aurangzib's reign,for, after the death of Shah Jahan, the court was removed to Delhi,and Agra was left with only a provincial governor to maintain itsformer magnificence. The unhappy Dara, after his defeat by Aurangzib,made fruitless attempts to retrieve his fortunes, but was at lastbetrayed into the hands of his brother, who immediately put him todeath. Aurangzib lost no time in disposing of his other two brothers,and thus placed his succession to the throne beyond dispute.

The Princess Rushanara, as a reward for her treachery, was raisedto the position formerly enjoyed by her sister Jahanara. The Frenchphysician Bernier, who resided twelve years at the Mogul court in thetime of Aurangzib, has left many minute and graphic records of thetimes. Here is a picture of Rushanara when she accompanied Aurangzibon the march from Delhi to Kashmir.

"Stretch imagination to its utmost limits, and you can conceiveno exhibition more grand and imposing than when Rauchenara-Begum,mounted on a stupendous Pegu elephant and seated in a _mikdember_,blazing with gold and azure, is followed by five or six other elephantswith _mikdembers_ nearly as resplendent as her own, and filled withladies attached to her household. Close to the Princess are the chiefeunuchs, richly adorned and finely mounted, each with a wand of officein his hand; and surrounding her elephant a troop of female servants,_Tartars_ and _Kachmerys_, fantastically attired and riding handsomepad-horses. Besides these attendants are several eunuchs on horseback,accompanied by a multitude of _pagys_, or lackeys, on foot, withlarge canes, who advance a great way before the Princess, both tothe right and left, for the purpose of clearing the road and drivingbefore them every intruder. Immediately behind Rauchenara-Begum'sretinue appears a principal lady of the court, mounted and attendedin much the same manner as the Princess. This lady is followed by athird, she by a fourth, and so on, until fifteen or sixteen femalesof quality pass with a grandeur of appearance, equipage, and retinuemore or less proportionate to their rank, pay, and office. There issomething very impressive of state and royalty in the march of thesesixty or more elephants; in their solemn and, as it were, measuredsteps, in the splendour of the _mikdembers_, and the brilliant andinnumerable followers in attendance; and, if I had not regarded thisdisplay of magnificence with a sort of philosophical indifference, Ishould have been apt to be carried away by such flights of imaginationas inspire most of the Indian poets when they represent the elephantsas conveying so many goddesses concealed from the vulgar gaze."

Dramatic justice overtook the scheming Princess at last. In 1664Aurangzib fell dangerously ill, and, while he was unconscious,Rushanara, believing him to be dying, abstracted the signet ringfrom his finger and issued letters, as under the royal seal, to thevarious Viceroys and Governors, setting aside the succession of theEmperor's eldest son by a Rajput Princess in favour of another son,a boy of six, by a Muhammadan sultana. She hoped by this means to keepthe supreme power in her own hands during the long minority of the newEmperor. Aurangzib unexpectedly recovered, and became suspicious ofhis dangerous sister. The host of enemies she had created at courtwere not slow in taking advantage of the situation, and Rushanarasoon afterwards disappeared--removed, it is said, by poison.

Aurangzeb ruled with a firm hand, and in strict justice accordingto the law of Islam, but though a man of great intellectual powers,of marvellous energy and indomitable courage, he was wanting inimagination, sympathy, and foresight, the highest qualities of areally great ruler. He checked the dissolute conduct of the nobles,and set an example of industry and devotion to duty; but his narrow,bigoted disposition inclined him to distrust even his own ministers,so that, unlike his three predecessors, he was badly served bythe lieutenants in whose hands the administration of the provincesrested. He surrounded himself with religious bigots of the Sunnisect of Muhammadans, who aided him in bitter persecution of theHindus. Hardly anything of artistic or architectural interest wascreated under his patronage. Most of the great artists who attendedShah Jahan's court were dismissed as unorthodox or heretics, and manynoble monuments were mutilated by the Emperor's fanatical followerson the ground that they contravened the precept of the Koran whichforbids the representation of animate nature in art.

He died in 1707, eighty-nine years of age. The Mogul empire, surroundedby hordes of the enemies his bigotry and intolerance had created,was already tottering to its fall, and the star of the British rajwas rising. Seventeen years before his death he had granted to JobCharnock a piece of land at Sutanati, the site of the future capitalof our Indian empire.