Aurangzeb ruled the Mughal Empire at its greatest territorial extent, nearly the whole subcontinent, but the wars and religious policies that built that extent strained the empire underneath it. This article covers what is actually documented about his reign: sourced facts on religious policy, his administration, and the Deccan wars that both built and drained his empire.
Must Know
Jizya and Temples: What Is Documented
- StoryAurangzeb reigned from 1658 to 1707, taking the title Alamgir (“Conqueror of the World”) at his own formal coronation on 15 June 1659.
- InsteadHe re-imposed the Jizya tax on non-Muslims on 2 April 1679, roughly a century after Akbar abolished it in 1564. Historians genuinely disagree on the underlying motive: religious conviction, fiscal need to fund the Deccan wars, or some mix of both.
- HowThe near-contemporary court chronicle Maasir-i-Alamgiri documents specific temple demolitions. A general order in 1669 led to the destruction of the Kashi Vishwanath temple at Banaras. The Keshava Deo temple at Mathura followed in 1670. These specific events themselves are not seriously disputed by historians.
- InsteadSeparately, and less commonly known, Aurangzeb also issued documented land grants and protection farmans to specific Hindu temples and Brahmins during his reign. Examples include Benares temples (1659), the Umanand Temple in Guwahati (around 1666-67), and further land grants at Benares (1687, 1691) and in Khandesh (1698).
- ResultHistorian Richard Eaton documents at least 14 temples certainly demolished across Aurangzeb’s 49-year reign, a far smaller number than popular claims of “thousands.” He argues the pattern was tied mainly to political disloyalty. Other historians weight the religious dimension more heavily. This remains a genuine, open historiographical debate over motive, not over whether the demolitions themselves happened.
Good to Know
Personal Austerity and Administration
- StoryAurangzeb was known for personal austerity. Contemporaries note he earned personal income from copying Quran manuscripts by hand and sewing caps, rather than drawing directly on the treasury.
- InsteadAurangzeb is traditionally said to have banned music at his own court in 1668. Historians debate how total this ban actually was, though: music continued in the palace’s own zenana quarters, and among begums and princesses, even after the traditional ban date.
- HowHis own letters to sons and officials, the Ruqa’at-i-Alamgiri, survive as a direct-voice source on his administrative thinking. He commissioned the Fatawa-i-Alamgiri, a massive Hanafi Islamic legal compilation drawing on hundreds of jurists. British colonial administrators later drew on translated portions of this same compilation to build “Anglo-Muhammadan law,” the hybrid legal system applied to Muslim personal law in colonial Indian courts.
- MechanismUnder Mughal military organisation, “Ahadis” were troopers who served directly under the emperor, without a noble intermediary. The “Ijarah” system contracted out tax-collection rights.
- ResultA “Khilat,” bestowed as a mark of imperial favour, was typically an honorary robe presented by the emperor. “Madad-i-Mash” referred to land-revenue grants for religious or scholarly purposes. “Banjaras” were itinerant traders and grain carriers, covered in their own right in MedHist0094 — The Banjaras.
The Deccan Wars
- StoryAurangzeb’s prolonged campaigns against the Deccan Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda absorbed enormous resources. Bijapur fell in July 1686, and Golconda fell in 1687 after an eight-month siege. Both sultanates trace back to the Bahmani Kingdom’s breakup, covered in MedHist0009 — The Bahmani Kingdom and Deccan Sultanates.
- ResultAfter 1682, Aurangzeb moved his own court to the Deccan and never returned north, spending the last 25 years of his reign camped there against the Marathas as well as the remaining sultanates. Shivaji’s son and successor, Sambhaji, was captured in 1689, refused Aurangzeb’s offer of clemency in exchange for conversion, and was executed at Tulapur.
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Great to Know
Territorial Peak and Its Cost
- StoryThe Mughal Empire reached its largest territorial extent under Aurangzeb, around 1690, roughly 4 million square kilometres. This was its biggest footprint in Mughal or pre-colonial Indian history.
- InsteadThe execution of the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, on 11 November 1675 in Delhi marked a major turning point in Sikh-Mughal relations. It contributed to growing unrest that outlasted Aurangzeb’s own reign. His fuller story is covered in MedHist0077 — Guru Tegh Bahadur.
- ResultHistorians broadly agree the Deccan wars, administrative overextension, and religious policy together strained the empire toward the instability that followed 1707. They genuinely disagree, though, on the precise weighting. Some point mainly to a “jagir crisis,” where the nobility grew faster than available land-revenue assignments. Others point more to administrative mismanagement of the conquered Deccan territories.
- LinkFor how this strain played out after Aurangzeb’s death, see MedHist0018 — Mughal Decline After Aurangzeb.
Exam Point of View
What the PYQs Keep Testing
- QuestionUPSC CSP 2016 asked what Banjaras generally were during the medieval period. The answer is traders, not agriculturists, warriors, or weavers — they moved salt, grain, and other goods in bullock caravans called tandas.
- LinkSource: UPSC CSP 2016, General Studies Paper I (see Q38).
CAPF 2020: The NOT-Correct Statement
- QuestionCAPF asked which statement about Mughal religious policy was NOT correct, among four options covering pilgrimage-tax and jizya abolition, Akbar’s religious-toleration instructions, uneven temple grants across emperors, and temple-repair grants under Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.
- AnswerThe temple-repair-grants statement is the one that does NOT match the historical record, unlike the other three, which are well-documented.
- WhyThis ties directly to this article’s own point: Aurangzeb’s documented Hindu-temple land grants (Benares, Umanand, Khandesh) were made to existing temples, not as war-damage repairs, a distinction the question’s wrong option blurs.
- LinkSource: CAPF (ACs) 2020, General Ability and Intelligence (see Q89).
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