History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c36.s2.8

v3.c36.s2.8

Some European writers have made the mistake of asserting that confusion was introduced into the dating of events and the keeping of accounts in consequence of Aurangzib's frequently changing the time of the official commencement of his regnal years. (Duff, i. 160 n.) But the truth is that every year of his reign began on exactly the same lunar month and day, viz., the first of Ramzan; and official documents and letters dated in the years of the reign, therefore, present no uncertainty at all as to the exact time meant. What Aurangzib did was to change, but only once, the date when the coronation *festivities* were to begin and he repeatedly curtailed their duration as his puritanical moroseness or financial distress increased. A clear statement of the case here will, I hope, set the matter at rest for ever.