Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c7.s2.13

c7.s2.13

In India, in course of time and under the influence of Hindu environment the violence of punishments was mitigated to a great extent. Under Akbar, "the compassionate heart of His Majesty finds no pleasure in cruelties or in causing sorrow to others; he is ever sparing of the lives of his subjects, wishing to bestow happiness upon all..."⁷⁵ So that, by the time of Akbar and Jahangir, "No person was to suffer, for any offence, the loss of nose or ear. If the crime were theft, the offender was to be scourged with thorns, or deterred... by an attestation on the Koran."⁷⁶ In his *Tuzuk*, emperor Jahangir asserts that "I forbade the cutting of the nose or ears of any person, and... made a vow... that I would not blemish any one by this punishment."⁷⁷ This statement, however, inadvertently shows that mutilation of this type was quite prevalent before him. Perhaps the digressions from the letter of the law prompted Aurangzeb to restate once more and clearly, the basic canons of Islamic law in his *Fatawa-i-Alamgiri*, completed in 1670.⁷⁸ Aurangzeb also issued a farman to the Diwan of Gujarat in June 1672 giving a gist of his penal code. in theory and practice mutilation and decapitation was continued under Aurangzeb, but there was greater emphasis on repentance, and flogging was more often resorted to. But that was also to give time to the accused to see the merits of the 'bright religion' and become its adherent. Those who did not show subservience were meted out cruel punishments. In northern India, Gurdwara Sisgunj in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, stands witness to Aurangzeb's idea of punishment to non-Muslims. Here the Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was called upon to embrace Islam, and on his refusal was tortured for five days and then "beheaded on a warrant from the emperor" (December 1675). In South India when the Maratha King Sambhaji and his minister Kavikalash were taken prisoner, "that very night his (Sambhaji's) eyes were blinded and the next day the tongue of Kavikalash was cut out. After a fortnight's torture their limbs were hacked one by one and their flesh thrown to the dogs" (March 1689).