New History of the Marathas v1.c12.5

v1.c12.5

Aurangzeb was obsessed with the vain belief that Providence had given him his position and power only for exalting his own religion and putting down other faiths. In his view other religions could not stand in equality with his own. Soon after his father’s death when he felt himself firm in his seat, he started on his life’s mission with all the earnestness and vehemence he was possessed of. In this spirit of fanaticism he turned his arms first against the Bundellas, then against the Rajputs and lastly against the southern peoples to whom he was drawn by the rebellion of his son Akbar. Shivaji did not fail to remonstrate strongly and publicly against the mistaken policy of the Emperor which received its first formal demonstration in 1669 when the famous Kashivishveshvar temple was demolished. The Keshorai temples of Mathurā suffered a similar fate. So furious was Aurangzeb against the Krishna worship at Mathurā that he changed the name of the town to Islamabad. Ahmadabad and Ujjain were similarly treated. “Officers were appointed in a systematic plan, in all the cities and sub-divisions of the Empire, as Censors of Morals to enforce the regulations of Islam. The festivals of Divali and Holi were ruthlessly suppressed. A Director General was placed over the large number of officers employed in this grand task. The provinces of Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Rajputana suffered the same fate. The temples of Ambar, the capital of the loyal state of Jaipur were broken down later in 1680.”