History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c72.s1: § 1. The tragedy of Aurangzib's life, how developed.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c72.s1
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§ 1. The tragedy of Aurangzib's life, how developed.
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The life of Aurangzib was one long tragedy,—a story of man battling in vain against an invisible but inexorable Fate, a tale of how the strongest human endeavour was baffled by the forces of the age. A strenuous reign of fifty years ends in colossal failure. And yet this king was one of the greatest rulers of Asia in intelligence, character, and enterprise. He was, in an extraordinary degree, hardworking, active, moral, and inspired by the sense of duty. He denied himself pleasure and repose, steeled his heart against the seductions of the senses and the appeals of pity and human weakness, and governed his people according to the best ideals of his age and creed. And yet the result of fifty years of strong and good administration by this Puritan in the purple was the hopeless breaking up of his empire. This tragedy in history was developed with all the regularity of a perfect drama.
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The first forty years of his life were spent in steady and arduous self-training and preparation for the supreme office in the realm. This seed-time was followed by a year of sharp contest for the throne, which put all his powers to the test and rewarded his energy, courage and sagacity with the golden crown of Delhi. Then came twenty-three years of peaceful and prosperous reign and settled residence in the great capitals of Northern India. With every enemy removed from his path, the whole empire of India obeying his command, and wealth and culture increasing from the peace and order that his firm and vigilant rule had ensured to the country,—Aurangzib seemed now to have attained to the summit of human happiness and glory. This was the third Act of his life, and after it began his decline. A pitiless Nemesis, like that of the Greek tragedy, raised against him an enemy in the very bosom of his family. The rebel son of Shah Jahan cannot long enjoy his triumph because he is confronted by the rebellion of his own son Muhammad Akbar (1681.)
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The flight of the defeated rebel to the Maratha king drew Aurangzib to Southern India, where he was destined to spend the last 26 years of his life in tents and wear out the empire's revenue, army, and organised administration as well as his own health in an unending and fruitless struggle. But the irony of Fate at first veiled from him and his contemporaries the futility of his efforts and the tragic close of his career. In the fourth Act of his life, which is comprehended in the fourth volume of this History, all seemed to go well with him;— Bijapur and Golkonda were annexed, the Berad chieftain of Sagar was forced to submit, and the troublesome Maratha king was brought to the block and his capital and entire family captured (1689). In this result nothing seemed to be wanting to complete the triumph of Aurangzib. But a few thoughtful observers could already discern ominous signs of the coming doom, peeping out here and there, while others were still blinded as to the future by the brilliancy of the empire. The seeds that had been sown in the third stage of his life, unnoticed and in ignorance of their fruits, began to sprout up in the fourth and he had to gather their baneful harvest in the fifth and closing period of his life.
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Therefore, the tragedy of Aurangzib is concentrated in the last eighteen years of his life (1689-1707), which form the theme of the present volume. Not that any one could at its outset forecast the exact course of the future, nor that events moved steadily in one direction only. Slowly but pitilessly his Fate works itself out, finally defeating all his efforts, though the invisible cause of his failure lay in his character and past deeds. Slowly but with increasing clearness does the tragic plot unfold itself, till Aurangzib realises the true nature of the forces arrayed against him and the real trend of affairs. But he does not abandon the struggle; even when the hopelessness of the contest forces itself on him and his Court, his endeavour is as strenuous as before. He tries new remedies; he changes his tactics with changes in the political situation and in the distribution of the enemy forces. At first he sends out his generals, while himself occupying a central position for their control and guidance. His generals fail to achieve a decision; very well, then this old man of eighty-two must go out to conduct the war in person for six years (1699-1705); and he retires to Ahmadnagar only when the first summons of death reaches him. Then, and then only does he mournfully recognise Ahmadnagar as destined to be his "journey's end" (khatam-us-safar.)*
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In this chapter I propose to take a general survey of Aurangzib's movements and policy during these last eighteen years,—how the situation developed at different times and in different theatres,—what steps he took to meet each of these new developments and with what results,—what leading actors arose at different stages of the contest and how they influenced the scene,—and how slowly but surely the moral decline of the empire passed into the actual dissolution of government and of social order at his death.
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§2. Aurangzib's movements during his last 20 years.
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When Golkonda fell to him (on 21st September 1687), a year after the conquest of Bijapur, Aurangzib's work in the Deccan seemed to have been completed. The long dream of the Mughal Emperors ever since the days of Akbar seemed at last to have been fully realised. No rival Muslim Power was left in the Deccan, and all India now bowed beneath the sceptre of Delhi. True, there was a Hindu king still unsubdued; but he was an upstart of limited means and his soldiers no better than brigands; their suppression, so it seemed, was only a question of time, now that the Mughal army was set free and the Marathas had no ally left to them anywhere in India.
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∗ Hamid-ud-din's Ahkam, § 56. K. K. (540) has Ikhtitam-i-safar.
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After the capture of Golkonda, Aurangzib lay encamped near that fort till 25th January 1688, in order to settle the administration of the conquered country, and then he returned to Bijapur (on 15th March) by way of Bidar and Kulbarga. At Bijapur he lived for the next nine months, till driven out (on 14th December) by a terrible outbreak of the plague. By way of Akluj and Bahadur-garh (on the Bhima) he reached Koregaon in the Puna district, where he encamped from 3rd March to 18th December 1689, and then returned to Bijapur (on 11th Jan. 1690), this being his third visit to the Adil Shahi capital. But he soon left it, and after spending February, March and April at different places south of that city, near the bank of the Krishna, he finally encamped at Galgala, on the southern side of that river and 34 miles south-west of Bijapur, about 21st May 1690. The rest of this year and the first two months of the next year were passed by him here; and then he went back to the environs of Bijapur for fourteen months (March 1691—May 1692). Thereafter, Galgala was again his residence, for nearly three years (May 1692—March 1695). Here the Venetian doctor Gemelli Careri visited him (21st March 1695) and has left a graphic account of his Court and personal habits.
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Finally, after a fifth and last visit to Bijapur for five weeks (April-May 1695), he settled at Brahmapuri on the southern bank of the Bhima, (some 20 miles south-east of Pandharpur), which his pious zeal renamed Islampuri. Here he lived for four years and a half (21 May 1695—19 Oct. 1699), travelling to Sholapur every year in Ramzan in order to spend the holy month there in prayer, fasting and meditation. At Islampuri his encampment was walled round, and here he left his family in charge of his wazir when he set out on 19th October, 1699, on that endless campaign against the Maratha forts which was to wear out the last years of his life, and from which he returned to Ahmadnagar (20 Jan. 1706), only to die a year later (20 Feb. 1707).
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Such briefly were Aurangzib's movements during the last twenty years of his reign. We shall now survey the changes in the military situation during this time.