The Moguls Decadence

8/6/2019 The Moguls Decadence

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Aurangzebs reigny

Many were the regulations of Aurangzeb thatreinforced the islamization started by Sha Jahan.

y No law can be just he claimed- if it is not strictly according to Islam. The Islamic laws were known asthe Farman which were contained in the Fatawa-i-

Alamgiri.y This brought a systematic fight against Hinduism. This

soon brought revolts from the Rajput, the Jat, the Sikhand the Marats.

yThus, a process of internal fragmentations wouldcommence leading in the decades to come to thepossibility for the penetration of external forces.



y

Among the Farman the following decisions could befound: The Emperor could not be seen by the people(to avoid the possible worshiping of a human); music

was forbidden at palaces and ceremonies; the suncalendar was abolished; alcohol, prostitution and

dancing were forbidden; and the construction of newtemples was banned.

y However: it was permitted to bath in the Ganges (afterpaying for permission), if two Indians were in dispute,

the Indian laws and tradition were applied, and thedestruction of Indian temples was forbidden



y

This farman was yet not followed and its braking wastolerated de facto.

y Such temples as the one in Benares and Mathura wereturned down by fanatics.

y Many others were as well destroyed and sacked duringpunishing military operations.

y Temples that were used as schools were Muslims andIndians attended together were as well turned down.

y All this remained printed in the minds of the Indians,thus Auzrangzeb is taken as a destroyer more than asanything else.



y Y

et, the heretic Muslims suffered the decisions takenby Aurangzeb in a harsher way.

y An example of it was the public execution of Sarmad, aconverted Jewish Persian who advised Dara Shikoh.The charges: his beliefs in reincarnation.

y Shiites began being persecuted and harrassed, becausethe advisors of Aurangzeb were Sunnites. The Khoja,the Bhora were closely observed and controlled.



y The Sikh (who had fought on the side of Dara), aMuslim community that mixed their convictions withHinduism was particularly chased.

y Ted Bahadur, their guru, was publicly executed for

declaring that he had healing powers.y His successor, Guru Govind, transformed the Sikh

community in an army of religious men and began to wear their characteristic turbans and swords to

publically express their combative decision and Sufiroots.



y All these decisions lead to a pronounced state of warafter 25 years lead, mainly by the Rajputs, that slowly eroded the Mogul empire who soon would besubstituted by the Marat.



Who were the Marat?y The Marat were the peoples that lived in the mountain

region south to Bombay.

y Their national identity had existed since the early 13th

Century due to several factors: Own language, own culturalproduction, own religious interpretation of the holy texts,

own usages and customs.y They were allocated in Pandharpur and built up a

sanctuary to worship their main divinity: Vithoba.

y Their main leaders had been Namdev (14th C), Eknath (16th

C) and Tukaram (16th and 17th C).

y Their language, the Marat, is considered already a modernone.

y They count with their own literature.



y

Politically, the ruling family of the Marat (the Bhonsle) were descendants of soldiers that had helped theMuslim states established in the Deccan as politiciansand warriors.

y

These states gave them enormous peaces of land aspayment for their services, and the Marat didnthesitate to declare themselves independent from them(S ivaji proclaimed himself as chief of a new state)

when they got weak during the Mogul times.



yThe Marat fought several defensive and offensive warsagainst the Moguls who were never able to defeatthem. Sivaji was even named a honorary Mansabdarand given 5000 raiders to try to chill him out. But he

soon used tat force and respect to attack the Mogulsagain.

y In 1674, Sivaji made himself be crowned Chattrapati ina ceremony that resembled the Indian glorious times.

y

Shortly after that, an assembly of Hindi wise mendeclared that Sivaji was the resurrection of theKsatriyas (although he was a Sudra).



yThe next ten years of his life, until his death, Sivajidedicated himself to liberate the west southern coastof India from the Moguls: Ghat, Bangalore, Mysoreand Tanjore were again under Indian ruling.

y

As soon as his power grew bigger, he organized hisbrand new Empire according to the advises of the

Arthasastra.



The end of the Mogul Empirey The wars against the powerful Marat continued even

after Sivajis death.

y The Mogul Empire was drained out and tired of continuously trying to maintain control.

y

Even Aurangzebs son, Akbar II, joined the Marat tofight his father after a failed coup dEtat. He fled to thesouth, inside Marat territory, and from there heproclaimed himself Emperor of the Moguls. Notsurprisingly, Akbar obtain the legitimacy of the vastmajority of the populations.



y

Bijapur and Golkunda joined Akbar II in his rebellion.y This forced Aurangzeb to personally lead his army and

penetrated into the territories of the Deccan were Akbar was now hiding. He completely destroyed

Bijapur in 1686 and Golkunda in 1687.y After that, Auragzeb directed his military actions

against the Marat and was even able to capture andexecute Sivajis son Sambhuji. Satan has been

chained.



yThe Marat initiated guerilla war stratagems attackingthe Empire from lots of different flanks, forcing

Aurangzeb army to spread and divide.

y This war extended itself the next 18 years, after which

Aurangzeb recognized himself as a bad ruler: I dontknow anything about myself, or what I am, or wheremy fate comes from. My time of power has only leftpain behind me. I havent been a guardian neither a

protector. He died in 1707 leaving India in a state of chaos and confusion.

The Moguls Decadence

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