Aurangzeb: Religious Policies and Mughal Decline
Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707) was the last great Mughal emperor whose reimposition of the jizya, destruction of Hindu temples, prolonged Deccan wars, and Rajput and Maratha revolts generated fiscal and political crises that accelerated the Mughal Empire's 18th-century disintegration.
Aurangzeb (Abul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb, r. 1658–1707) was the sixth and last great Mughal emperor, whose reign of nearly fifty years (the longest of any Mughal emperor) expanded the empire to its greatest territorial extent but simultaneously generated the political, fiscal, and military crises that caused its rapid disintegration after his death. A devout Sunni Muslim who viewed the preceding Mughal emperors' religious syncretism as heterodox, Aurangzeb reversed many of Akbar's policies — reimposing the jizya (poll tax on non-Muslims), banning music and dancing at court, destroying Hindu temples, and applying Sharia more strictly in imperial administration. Historians debate whether the Mughal decline was primarily caused by Aurangzeb's religious policies or by structural fiscal and military problems that would have weakened any empire of its size.
Aurangzeb came to power by defeating and imprisoning his father Shah Jahan and eliminating his three brothers in the War of Succession (1657–58). The war was not purely about religious ideology — Aurangzeb's brother Dara Shikoh (Shah Jahan's favourite and likely successor) represented the Sufi-influenced syncretic tradition of Mughal culture, and Aurangzeb's victory was also the victory of the orthodox Sunni faction over the liberal-mystical faction at court. Dara Shikoh had translated the Upanishads into Persian (Sirr-i-Akbar, 1657) and written on the common mystical heritage of Hinduism and Islam (Majma-ul-Bahrain, "Meeting of Two Seas") — works that represented exactly the religious synthesis Aurangzeb opposed.
Aurangzeb's reign had two distinct phases. In the first phase (1658–c. 1680), focused on northern India, he was an able administrator — he abolished numerous illegal levies, reorganised the revenue system, and maintained military discipline. The second phase (from 1681) was defined by his move to the Deccan and the prolonged, ultimately unsuccessful campaigns against the Maratha confederacy and the Deccan Sultanates. Aurangzeb's court spent 26 of his last 27 years of life in the Deccan — a military commitment that consumed the empire's resources without producing decisive victory, creating the jagirdari crisis and the military exhaustion that opened north India to regional successor states.
What Were Aurangzeb's Controversial Religious Policies?
| Policy | Date | Detail | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jizya reimposition | 1679 | Poll tax on non-Muslims (abolished by Akbar in 1564) reimposed; applied across the empire | Mass protests in Delhi; alienated Hindu subjects; economically burdensome on peasant artisans |
| Temple destruction | Throughout reign | Destruction of Kashi Vishwanath temple (Varanasi), Mathura Keshav Dev temple; thousands of smaller temples destroyed or converted to mosques | Provoked intense Hindu resistance; hardened Maratha, Sikh, and Rajput opposition |
| Ban on music and performing arts | 1668 | Banned music, dancing, and musical instruments at court; court musicians dismissed | Dispersal of Mughal musical tradition to provincial courts; contributed to decline of imperial cultural patronage |
| Rajput war | 1679–81 | War with Jodhpur and Mewar over temple destruction and jizya; Jodhpur prince Ajit Singh sheltered in Maratha territory | Alienated the Rajput military allies who had been crucial to Mughal imperial expansion |
What Caused the Mughal Empire's Decline After Aurangzeb?
The Mughal Empire's rapid collapse after Aurangzeb's death in 1707 resulted from multiple interconnected factors:
- Jagirdari crisis: The Deccan campaigns created thousands of new mansabdars without equivalent new revenue sources; jagir demands exceeded available jagir lands by the late 17th century, demoralising the nobility and reducing military effectiveness
- Maratha expansion: The Marathas — never definitively defeated by Aurangzeb — expanded rapidly after his death, eventually becoming the dominant power of the subcontinent and exacting tribute (chauth, sardeshmukhi) from Mughal provinces
- Nadir Shah's invasion (1739): The Persian ruler Nadir Shah invaded India, defeated the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal, sacked Delhi, massacred 30,000 people, and carried away the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond — a blow from which Mughal prestige never recovered
- Weak successors: Aurangzeb was followed by twelve emperors in 150 years, most of whom were pawns of competing noble factions; by 1760 the emperor ruled only the red fort of Delhi and its immediate environs
- Rise of successor states: The Nizam of Hyderabad, the Nawabs of Awadh, Bengal, and Arcot, the Maratha Confederacy, and the Sikh Misls all carved out effectively independent territories from the Mughal framework
Frequently Asked Questions
What were Aurangzeb's main religious policies and why are they controversial?
Aurangzeb reimposed the jizya (non-Muslim poll tax abolished by Akbar), destroyed Hindu temples including the Kashi Vishwanath and Mathura Keshav Dev temples, banned music at court, and enforced Sharia more strictly; these policies are controversial because they reversed Mughal religious pluralism and generated Maratha, Rajput, and Sikh resistance that contributed to imperial decline.
Why did Aurangzeb spend the last decades of his life in the Deccan?
Aurangzeb moved to the Deccan in 1681 to campaign against the Maratha confederacy (following Shivaji's death) and to complete the conquest of the Deccan Sultanates (Bijapur and Golconda); the campaigns were never conclusively successful — Maratha guerrilla resistance prevented lasting pacification and drained Mughal resources for 26 years.
What was the War of Succession (1657–58) and what were its long-term consequences?
The War of Succession was the conflict among Shah Jahan's four sons — Dara Shikoh, Shuja, Murad, and Aurangzeb — after Shah Jahan fell ill; Aurangzeb won by strategic alliance-making, military skill, and eliminating his brothers; the war also represented the victory of orthodox Sunni over syncretic Sufi religious cultures at court, shaping Aurangzeb's subsequent religious policies.
What was Nadir Shah's invasion (1739) and its impact on the Mughal Empire?
Nadir Shah, the ruler of Persia, invaded India in 1739, defeated the Mughals at the Battle of Karnal, occupied Delhi, massacred approximately 30,000 people in a single day's carnage, and carried away the Peacock Throne, Koh-i-Noor diamond, and vast treasures; the invasion demonstrated the Mughal Empire's military bankruptcy and accelerated the collapse of central authority.
Was Aurangzeb responsible for the Mughal decline?
Historians debate this question: traditionalist accounts blame Aurangzeb's religious policies for alienating Hindu, Sikh, and Rajput subjects; revisionist historians (Irfan Habib, Satish Chandra) argue the decline was primarily structural — jagirdari crisis, fiscal overextension, and the Deccan campaigns — and that religious policies were a secondary factor; the current consensus sees both structural and policy factors as interconnected causes.
Sources and Further Reading
According to IGNOU's BHIC-133, Aurangzeb's reign represents the fundamental paradox of the Mughal Empire — the greatest territorial extent coinciding with the beginning of institutional collapse — and the debate over the relative weight of his religious policies versus structural fiscal problems in causing the empire's decline remains one of the most important controversies in medieval Indian historiography.
- IGNOU BHIC-133: Units on Aurangzeb and Mughal Decline
- Satish Chandra, Mughal Religious Policies, the Rajputs and the Deccan
- Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India
- Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King