Shah Jahan – The Legacy

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Aurangzeb, as a reward for his military success was appointed governor of Multan and he began a protracted military struggle against the Safavid army in an effort to capture the city of Kandahar. He failed, and fell again into his father's disfavour.

In 1652, Aurangzeb was re-appointed governor of the Deccan. But both man and place had changed. The Deccan produced poor tax revenue for the Mughals. In his previous term, Aurangzeb ignored the problem, allowing state-sanctioned corruption and extortion to grow. This time Aurangzeb set about reforming the system, but his efforts often placed additional burdens on the locals and were poorly received.

It was during this second governorship that Aurangzeb first recounts destroying a Hindu temple. In addition, Aurangzeb's officers began treating non-Muslims harshly, and he defended these practices in letters to Shah Jahan's court. The practices would become constant themes in Aurangzeb's rule as emperor which witnessed the destruction of thousands of Hindu temples and the rise of religious intolerance.

When Shah Jahan became ill in 1657 it was widely reported that he had died. With this news, the struggle for succession began. Aurangzeb's eldest brother, Dara Shikoh, was regarded as heir apparent but the succession proved far from certain. when Shah Shuja, the second son, declared himself emperor in Bengal. Shah Jahan did not die and with his eldest, and most favoured son despatched Imperial armies to restrain the uprising and Shuja retreated.

Soon after, Shuja's youngest brother Murad Baksh, with secret promises of support from Aurangzeb, declared himself emperor in Gujarat. Aurangzeb, ostensibly in support of Murad, marched north from Aurangabad, gathering support from nobles and generals. Following a series of victories, Aurangzeb declared that Dara had illegally usurped the throne.

Shah Jahan was determined that Dara would succeed him and handed over control of his empire to Dara. A Hindu lord opposed to both Aurangzeb and Murad, Maharaja Jaswant Singh fought both at Dharmatpur near Ujjain, leaving them heavily weakened.

Aurangzeb eventually defeated Singh and concentrated his forces on Dara. A series of bloody battles followed, with troops loyal to Aurangzeb battering Dara's armies at Samugarh. In a few months, Aurangzeb's forces surrounded Agra. Fearing for his life, Dara departed for Delhi, leaving behind Shah Jahan.

The old emperor surrendered the Red Fort of Agra to Aurangzeb's nobles. Aurangzeb, declaring that Dara was his enemy, refused any meeting with his father and instead imprisoned his father in Red Fort at Agra, from when Shah Jahan could only gaze upon the Taj Mahal on the other side of the river until his death.

In a sudden reversal, Aurangzeb then had Murad arrested after intoxicating him then executed him. Murad's former supporters joined Aurangzeb. Meanwhile, Dara gathered his forces, and moved to Punjab. The army sent against Shuja was trapped in the east, its generals Jai Singh I and Diler Khan, submitted to Aurangzeb, but allowed Dara's son Sulaiman to escape via the Himalayan foothills to join his father in Punjab.

Aurangzeb offered Shuja the governorship of Bengal. This move isolated Dara, causing more troops to defect to Aurangzeb. Shuja, however, uncertain of Aurangzeb's sincerity, continued to fight Aurangzeb but his forces suffered a series of defeats and Shuja went into exile where he subsequently died.

With Shuja and Murad disposed of, and with his father Shah Jahan confined in Agra, Aurangzeb pursued Dara, chasing him across the northwest bounds of the empire. After a series of battles, defeats and retreats, Dara was betrayed by one of his generals, who arrested and bound him.

In 1659, just two years after his father’s reported death, Aurangzeb arranged a formal coronation in Delhi. He had Dara openly marched in chains back to Delhi. When Dara finally arrived, he had his brother executed. Legends about the cruelty of this execution abound, including stories that Aurangzeb had Dara's severed head sent to the dying Shah Jahan.

With his succession secured, Aurangzeb kept Shah Jahan under house arrest at the Red Fort in Agra.