HISTORY OF INDIA.

CHAPTER VII.

MOGHUL EMPIRE: AURANGZEB, A.D. 1658 TO 1707.

FIRST PERIOD: Aurangzeb at Delhi, 1658-64.

rangzeb.

AURANGZEB had achieved the object of his ambition. CHAP. VII. By craft, hypocrisy, and bloodshed, he had gained the Terrors of Auempire of Hindustan. His three brothers had perished in the fratricidal war. His eldest son had suffered death as a punishment for rebellion. His father, Shah Jehan, was still alive, imprisoned in the fortress at Agra. The vision of Shah Jehan at Agra was a constant terror to Aurangzeb; it poisoned his pleasures and paralysed his ambition; it was the skeleton that haunted the palace at Delhi. Aurangzeb was in constant alarm lest Rajpúts or Shíahs should release Shah Jehan, and restore him to the throne of the Moghuls.1

1 The state of affairs described in the text refers to the period when Aurangzeb had overcome all his rivals. It follows on the preceding chapter. In 1658 Aurangzeb had ascended the throne; he had not destroyed all his rivals until two or three years afterwards.

Throughout the following pages the name of " Aurungzeb" has been altered to "Aurangzeb," and that of "Rajpoot" to "Rajpút," to suit modern orthography.

CHAP. VII.

Aurangzeb ascended the throne at Delhi in 1658. Sherif of Mecca. He did not take the title of Emperor until two years afterwards. The chief Kází of the empire refused to acknowledge him as the rightful sovereign, seeing that Shah Jehan was still alive. The Sherif of Mecca, the great spiritual authority throughout the world of Islam, told the Mecca pilgrims that he knew of no sovereign of Hindustan except Shah Jehan. Aurangzeb sent an embassy to Mecca with a large sum of money to decorate the tomb of Muhammad. The Sherif was inexorable; he refused to receive the envoys or accept the money; the envoys were compelled to carry back the money to Aurangzeb.2

Aurangzeb Padi. shah.

Temporising policy.

The difficulty as regards the chief Kází was surmounted. A council of Mullahs was assembled at Delhi; the chief Kází was deposed, and a more compliant divine was appointed in his room. In October 1660 Aurangzeb was proclaimed Padishah from the pulpit, and the Khutba was read and money coined in his name. Henceforth he was the acknowledged Emperor of Hindustan.*

Aurangzeb had made his religion a stepping-stone to the throne. He professed to be a strict Sunní, whilst his predecessors, if anything, were lax Shíals. By so doing, he won the support of all orthodox Mu

2 Manouchi through Father Catrou. It is stated by Catrou that Aurangzeb did not take the title of Padishah until after the death of Shal Jehan. This is contradicted by the united authority of Khafi Khan and Tavernier.

3 It will be seen hereafter that the new chief Kází was anything but a strict Muhammadan. His daily indulgence in wine was the gossip of the

court.

4 Khafi Khan says that Aurangzeb ascended the throne at Delhi in 1658, and was not proclaimed Padishah till the second year of the reign. The Mussulman historian ignores the refusal of the chief Kází to acknowledge Aurangzeb. The real facts are revealed by Tavernier. See Indian Travels, Book ii., chap. 5.

hammadans of the Sunní sect. But after his acces- CHAP. VII. sion he was compelled to dissemble for a while. Many of the grandees were Persian Shíahs. Then again the Hindús were afraid that Aurangzeb would destroy their idol-worship. Meantime there was much carping against Aurangzeb for the slaughter of his brothers and imprisonment of his father. Accordingly, he found it necessary to proceed warily."

towards

Aurangzeb drew the Hindú Rajas to his court at Leanings Delhi by giving them a magnificent entertainment, Hinduism. which lasted nine days. It was a round of elephant fights, pompous processions, and displays of fireworks. The Hindú Rajas paid their court to their new sovereign; presented him with gifts; and congratulated him on his accession. At these audiences Aurangzeb made a show of offering sacrifices. He threw pepper on a burning brazier, and as the smoke arose, he lifted up his to heaven and uttered his prayers. By this breach of the Koran he thought to quiet the Hindú Rajas.

eyes

towards the Koran.

The Muhammadans took the alarm; they com- Leanings plained of this idolatrous superstition. Aurangzeb amused them with a series of ordinances, which enforced the laws of the Koran at the expense of Christians and Shíahs. He issued an edict against the use of wine. All Muhammadans convicted of drinking wine were deprived of a hand or foot. Christians were allowed to drink wine on their own premises,

The principal authorities for the history of the reign of Aurangzeb, from his accession in 1658 to his journey to Kashmír in 1664, are Bernier, the French physician, and Manouchi, the Venetian physician. Khafi Khan supplies some useful data, but his information is imperfect. Other authorities will be cited.

6 Manouchi through Father Catrou. Manouchi adds that the people believed that Aurangzeb was a magician; that the burning pepper was a sacrifice to the demon from whom he acquired supernatural powers.

Edict against mustachios.

but were forbidden to sell it; and all who broke the law were imprisoned and bastinadoed. But no edict could suppress intoxication, and the use of wine was universal. Aurangzeb himself remarked that there were only two men in the empire who abstained from wine, the chief Kází and himself. Even there he was deceived. Every morning the court physician carried a flagon of wine to the chief Kází, and the pair emptied it together. Even the Kotwal of Delhi, the police magistrate who carried out the ordinances of Aurangzeb, was a notorious toper; but he was none the less zealous on that account in punishing drunkards. The people of Hindustan had always been accustomed to strong drinks. When wine was prohibited they took to bhang-a drug which produced a far more dangerous intoxication.

8

Aurangzeb issued another edict of a more whimsical nature. The Súfís of Persia were accustomed to wear long mustachios after the fashion set by the Prophet Ali. Aurangzeb pretended that the long mustachios interfered with the right pronunciation of the name of Allah, and prevented the sound from ascending to Heaven. He appointed special officers to measure the mustachios of passers-by. Men ran about with scissors to clip them to the orthodox standard. Dignitaries and princes covered their faces with their hands to save their mustachios.10

Aurangzeb next abolished music and singing. Offi

7 The morning time, after the Emperor left the Jarokha window, was the only part of the day when the Moghul courtiers could drink in safety. The animal combats at noon, the durbar in the afternoon, and the evening assembly, might have brought an offending noble within close proximity to the Emperor, and discovery and punishment would have been the result.

Manouchi through Catrou.

• Olearius's Travels, English translation, Book vi.

10 Manouchi through Catrou.

suppressed.

cers were empowered to enter any dwelling-house CHAP. VII. where music was heard and turn out the musicians Musicians and burn their instruments. The object was to suppress all satirical songs. Multitudes of musicians were reduced to beggary; heaps of musical instruments were destroyed. Music could only be performed in secret, and on such occasions Aurangzeb was severely handled in the songs."

suppressed.

Aurangzeb also abolished dancing. The dancing- Dancing-girls girls lived together in bands, occupied mansions as large as palaces, and formed the scandalous class of Hindustan.12 Shah Jehan had delighted in their performances. Aurangzeb ordered them to be all married or banished from his dominions. Probably he wanted to assert his superior morality. Many were dispersed; some married; others continued in the secret practice of their old trade.13

saints.

Aurangzeb, notwithstanding his zeal for Islam, had Muhammadan a spite against the Santons. These men claimed to be descendants of the family of the Prophet. They professed to lead lives of austerity and celibacy; they were reverenced as saints; they were carried in expensive palanquins, or rode on costly horses, accompanied by disciples and followers. The people prostrated themselves before a Santon; they assailed him with

11 Manouchi through Catrou. He adds, that the musicians made a strange appeal to Aurangzeb; that one Friday morning, as the Emperor was going to mosque, he saw a vast crowd of mourners marching in file behind a bier, and filling the air with screams and lamentations. He asked what it all meant. He was told that they were going to bury "Music; " their mother had been executed, and they were weeping over their loss. "Bury her deep," he cried; "she must never rise again." The story is confirmed by Khafi Khan. 12 See a curious description of one of these houses in vol. iii., chap. 6. 13 Marriage is a strange punishment for a dancing-girl. Tavernier tells the story of a Shah of Persia who ordered a dancing-girl to be married as a punishment for having boxed the ears of one of her companions within his Majesty's hearing. Persian Travels, Book iii., chap. 17.