History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c36.s1: §1. The contrast between the two halves of Aurangzib's reign.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c36.s1
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§1. The contrast between the two halves of Aurangzib's reign.
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The reign of Aurangzib is naturally divided into two equal parts of about 25 years each, the first of which he passed in Northern India and the second in the Deccan. During the earlier of these two periods the centre of interest lies unmistakably in the North, not because the Emperor lived there, but because the most important developments, civil and military, concerned this region, while the South figured as a far-off and negligible factor. In the second half of the reign the situation is reversed : all the resources of the empire are concentrated in the Deccan ; the Emperor, his Court and family, the bulk of the army, and all his best officers live there for a quarter century, and Hindustan sinks back to a place of secondary importance. True, the administration goes on in the North as before, but the empire's centre of life is now in the South ; Delhi, Agra and Lahor lose their proud position as the abode of royalty, the throbbing heart of the State, and the centre of the wit and wisdom of the land; they become mere provincial cities, the seats of viceroys; their palaces still stand but are untenanted; the imperial furniture and upholstery are packed and kept under lock and key, and a curious visitor has difficulty in viewing them even with an imperial permit.
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The generals and soldiers in their enforced exile in the Deccan sigh for a return to their northern homes; one homesick noble offers the Emperor a lakh of Rupees for leave to spend only one year at Delhi; the Rajput soldiery complain that their breed is dying out by reason of their lifelong stay in the Deccan away from home and family; even the Prime Minister diplomatically suggests that the imperial arms in the South have been crowned with success and therefore the Court may now go back to Delhi without loss of prestige. But nothing can shake Aurangzib’s obstinate resolve to “root out” the Marathas.*
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During this period, practically extending over one human generation, the administration in Northern India naturally falls into decay at the withdrawal of the master’s eye and the ablest officers; the people grow poorer; the upper classes decline in morals, intelligence and useful activity; finally, lawlessness breaks out in most parts, and we notice the first rudimentary beginnings of that political economic and cultural breakdown which has rightly given the name of "the Great Anarchy" to the 18th century in Northern India. In the closing years of Aurangzib's life, Hindustan merely meant a place where the much-needed money for the Deccan wars was to be raised and from which disturbances were reported with annoying frequency.
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∗ Imperial furniture packed up in Delhi, M. A. 383. Homesick noble, M. U. i. 457. Prime Minister’s advice, Anecdotes § 46.
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During the first half of the reign the centre of interest in Northern India shifts with startling rapidity and range. The imperial banners march from Kabul in the extreme west to the Namrup hills in the extreme east of India, from Tibet beyond our northern limits to Bijapur across the southern boundary of the empire. We see wars with the Mongoloid Ahoms of Assam and Burmese of Arracan, with the aboriginal Cheros of Palamau in South Bihar and the hillmen of Morang and Kumaun northward of North Bihar, with Marathas and Bijapuris, Rajputs and Afghans, besides many operations on a smaller scale against lawless peasants and chiefs in several widely separated districts. We see the Emperor's religious intolerance fully unmasked, and we also see the first signs of the Hindu revival which was the natural response of a living creed to the stimulus of persecution by Government.
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This frequent change of scene and subject is apt to bewilder the reader by its variety and suddenness, and give him the impression of a set of detached political acts, unless he keeps his eyes fixed on the centre of the entire political machinery, the Emperor, whose will guided the whole administration and whose policy gave the only possible unity to seemingly unconnected acts in various provinces.
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But the affairs of the Deccan during these 25 years are excluded from the present volume, because they did not affect the administration in Northern India nor influence the fate of the empire in general, as they did in the second quarter century of the reign. Moreover, there was such intricate action and reaction between the four Powers in the Deccan,—namely, Bijapur, Golkonda, Shivaji and the Mughals,—that the history of the Peninsula can be studied only as a whole. It is impossible to get a proper historical perspective and to trace events to their real causes if we follow the Mughals only—their wars and alliances with any of the Deccani kingdoms, without taking note of what was happening in the other two kingdoms at the same time. The internal history of each of these three States as well as their foreign relations must be studied if we wish to understand the true course of affairs in the Deccan from the rise of Shivaji to the fall of Shambhuji. There is an organic unity in the theme and it will form the subject matter of a volume by itself.