Sunday, December 23, 2018

Emperor of great simplicity failed to win hearts of Hindustan

Emperor with great simplicity failed to win hearts of Hindustan

He was the sixth emperor of Mughal extended the Mughal Empire to 40 lakh sqkm area and over 16 crore people with an annual revenue of ₹288 crore (in 1690), made the economy world largest and rule the empire for 49 years until his death in 1707. He succeeded the throne of Delhi by killing his brothers and keeping father Shahjahan in imprisonment. His administration had 31% Hindus and he had great relations with Jodhpur King Jaswant Singh. His Nobel Jai Singh played an important role in bringing Shivaji under Mughal commands. His tenure was a tenure of prosperity, wars and rebellions.

From all of his opponents, Shivaji was proved to be the most difficult to win. However, with the help of Jai Singh, by treaty of Purandar in 1665, Shivaji had to give up 23 forts, paid compensation, accepted vasal of Mughals and sent his son and troops to fight for Mughals. When Shivaji and his son were called in Delhi in 1666, they were put under arrest but they managed escaping through the large baskets. With the mediation of Raja Jaswant Singh, their relations settled by conferring Raja title to Shivaji and Shabhaji was restored as Mabsabdar. But the peace didn’t last long and Shivaji came in confrontations with Mughals again, raided their important posts including Surat and became Chatrapati in 1674. He died of fever and dysentery or of a blood vomit due to poison given by his second wife Soyarabai in 1680. It opened a way and opportunity for Aurangzeb to move to South and command Maratha, Bijapur, Golkonda and other kingdoms. He deployed 7 lakh soldiers in Deccan and moved himself to take charge of the operation. When one day, Shambhaji, the eldest son of Shivaji sent his wife to Raigarh under the protection of the Maratha army, he was left with few hundred soldiers. Knowing this, his enemies attacked and cordoned him and was arrested and was told to change the faith to survive. But when he denied to became Muslim even there would be an offer of marrying with the daughter of Aurangzeb, he was tortured and executed in 1689. Shahu the grandson of Shivaji was kept under Mughal prison for 25 years and was released only after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707.

Aurangzeb came to Aurangabad to win the South and couldn’t move to Delhi till his death in 1707. He was an orthodox Muslim and was a strong believer of the orders of Quran, Hadid and Shariya. As orthodox Muslim, he might became fanatic, didn’t allow construction of new temples. Under his order, some temples were demolished. His men started a conversion drive to force people to change their faith. He imposed Jazia tax over non Muslims. Either they pay tax or convert or fight with Mughals and die. That had created hatred of majority against him.  As Governor of Gujarat, he had executed Dawoodi Bohra 32nd Sayedna Qutubkhan Qutbuddin in 1648, executed his brother Dara Sukhoi in a war of succession in 1659; as emperor, executed his brother Murad Baksh for murdering a Diwan of Gujarat in 1661, executed 9th Shikh Guru Teg Bahadur when he denied changing his faith in 1675, brutally executed Shambhaji in 1689. He created many enemies though expanded the Mughal Empire.

When he visited the dargah of Hazrat Khwaja Makhdum Sayed Shah Zenunuddin Dawood Hussain Sirazi, 22nd in the raw after Prophet Hazrat Muhammad, he bow his head before the kabra and accepted him a Guru. He lived a life of simplicity, didn’t use government revenue for his living. He was making caps and calligraphed Quran and from selling them saved ₹12 to buy a burial land, near the burial of his Guru in Khuldabad. He lived a life of simplicity in a Sunahari Mahal in Aurangabad but was active till his last breathe died in a military cantonment in Ahmednagar in 1707. As per his wish, he was buried near his Guru and the grave was kept kaccha open to the sky without any monument.

He failed to understand the purpose of his deeds and confessed before his son Azam Shah in February 1707: "I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing.” It was too late, he made the empire the largest but with his acts and omissions created the weaknesses of it’s fall. Mughals were ruined by the succession wars, commands over emperors by the two Sayed Brothers and the loots and massacre by Nadir Shah. After the failure of 1857 revolt, the Outsourcing Company became the King and the last emperor of Mughals, Bahadur Shah Jafar was exiled to Rangoon (Burma) in a bullock cart on 7 October 1858 at 4 AM, where he died in 1862 at the age of 87. In his words: “कितना है बदनसीब “ज़फ़र″ दफ़्न के लिए दो गज़ ज़मीन भी न मिली कू-ए-यार में।”

There is a Punchakki (water mill) a medieval engineering mill by a religious teacher Hazrat Baba Shah Musafir, came from Russia in 1744, brought water from 6kms away through water chamber and with the help of slops and raised by a siphon to the pillar, from where it is made to falls in the reservoir below at Aurangabad. It runs the flour mill with the help of turbine wings made from five metals. It was a miracle for the common people and were easily impressed by the Baba. A young man was distributing a small booklet and was explaining the teachings of Islam to the tourists. Meantime a Kazi Saheb a retired teacher of a high school in his 80s came and started explaining the teaching of Islam of one God Allah similar to Vedas of Hindu. He further explained that humans have been created and made masters of all the creatures to pass the examination of God. There are two things: a body and a spirit. When a person dies, the spirit depart and wait till the day of justice, the day when the Almighty Allah will ask about the deeds during the life on earth (the examination hall) and accordingly will send the spirits into heaven or hell. Therefore, life of human is very important and one shouldn’t lose a minute and do wrong for the want of body. They shall live a life of honesty and goodness so that the spirit gets the heaven on the day of justice. He was giving references of Vedas and teachings of Hindus of one God but was very insistent on believing the teachings of Quran presented by the last prophet Hazarat Muhammad, before whom 1.25 lakh prophets came but their teachings were not preserved.

One may look at it as a mini picture of the days of Aurangzeb, how would the religious teachers of those days might had tried to persuade people to change their faith under the fear of the power. It had created resentments against the Muslim rulers and from that suppression the seeds of freedom planted by Shivaji, then grew as a tree through the bravery of Peshvas, weakens the Mughals and opened the way for the rule of British East India Company then of UK and with the freedom struggle we became a nation of democratic independence, where the people of India are deciding their fate by adult franchise of pushing a button of the EVM.

Punamchand
23 December 2018
Aurangabad

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