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In his personal life, Aurangzeb was a staunch, law-abiding Muslim. He lived a very pious life. He observed the Roza and Namaz. He abstained from wine and the other vices of his age. He had faith and trust in God. He was simple in his dress and diet. He had great respect for Muslim ideals and he w6uld like to rule according to the ideals of the Caliphs. He believed that it was contrary to law to equate the Hindus with the Muslims in a Muslim state like India.

He would protect the Hindus without compromising the supremacy and superiority of the Muslims. He was prepared to grant concessions to the Hindus for some time on grounds of expediency but was not prepared to make it a part of his policy. He was prepared to grant to the Hindus all the privileges of Zimmis but as the Head of the Islamic state of India, he considered it as his pious duty to protect and promote Islam.

The result was that he followed the policy of systematically persecuting the Hindus and treated India as an Islamic state. While taking action against the Hindus, he was not bothered about the consequences to himself or the Mughal Empire.

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V. A. Smith writes about Aurangzeb, “This Puritan Emperor aimed at the creation of a state in which Mohammad and Quran should be supreme and should guide the life of man. The ideal of Aurangzeb was the creation of Muslim theocracy and extinction of all other religions.”

Dr. K.M. Panikkar says that “Aurangzeb from the beginning was determined to restore the Islamic character of the stae. To him, Akbar’s policy of national state seemed to be the very negation of Islamic ideas.”

Sir Jadunath Sarkar Points out that “The most important feature of the internal administration of Aurangzeb was his deliberate reversal of the policy of his predecessors towards his non-Muslim subjects and vassal princes which change of policy is generally held to have caused the swift downfall of the Mughal Empire after his death. Aurangzeb believed that it was the duty of every pious Muslim to wage holy war (Jihad) against non-Muslim countries (Dar-ul- harb) till they were turned into realms of Islam (Dar-ul-Islam).

Soon after his accession to the throne, Aurangreb sought to remove all those anti-Islamic practices which had come into vogue under Akbar or Jahangir. He stopped the use of Kalma on the coins. He stopped appearing for Jharokha Darshan. He stopped his weighment against precious articles. He increased the powers of the Muhtasib and directed him to force the Muslims to conform to the principles of Islam. He stopped the drinking of wine.

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All defaulters were to be brought to the court of the Qazi for trial and punishment. Aurangzeb stopped the use of Hindu Form of salutation. He discontinued the practice of placing a Tilak on the forehead of the New Rajas. He put a ban on music and disbanded the entire staff of court musicians and he stuck to this decision in spite of opposition and demonstrations. He abandoned the Nauroz festivities. He forbade the covering of tombs with roofs and prohibited women from visiting them.

He repaired and renovated old mosques and appointed for each one of them the necessary staff such as Muazzin, Imam etc. The length of the beard was fixed by the state.. The length of the trousers was also prescribed by the state. The representation of the figures of birds, animals, men and women on the occasion of Hindu and Muslim festivals was disallowed. The practice of lighting lamps on the tombs of the saints was stopped.

Aurangzeb stopped the celebration of Muharram in 1669. The Governor of Ahmedabad was removed because he celebrated it. Similar action was taken against many other Mansabdars. A Portuguese was put to death because he first became a Muslim and then again became a Christian.

A person was put to death because he abused the three Khalifas. Hussain Malik was put to death because he used disrespectful language for the companions of the Prophet. Faquir was executed in 1694 because he claimed to be God. The Khojas were persecuted.

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Aurangzeb prohibited the celebration of Holi in public streets and the raising of subscriptions for it. He made Sati a penal offence. He imposed restrictions on Hindu Fairs, Hindu Festivals and Hindu Pathshalas. In 1695, all Hindus except Rajputs were forbidden to bear arms or go about riding elephants, quality horses or in palanquins.

In 1659, Aurangzeb issued a Farman stating that it was the duty of the state to protect old Hindu Temples but they were not allowed to build new temples. When his position was stabilized after the disposal of his rivals, Aurangzeb issued an order in 1665 forbidding the construction of human and animal statues. All temples recently built or renovated in Gujarat were to be demolished. In 1666, the stone railing of the Keshava Rai Temple at Mathura was pulled down.

In 1669, a circular order was addressed to all appropriate officers in the Mughal Empire directing them to destroy all newly built temples in their respective areas. The order sent to Orissa directed the demolition of new temples and forbade the repair of old ones. In compliance with that order, many Hindu Temples were demolished including the Keshava Rai Temple at Mathura.

Thousands of temples at Prayag, Kashi, Ayodhya, Haridwar and other holy places were destroyed. When these temples were destroyed, there were disturbances at many places on account of resistance of the Hindus against the demolition of their temples.

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There was a prolonged fight between the Hindus and Muslims centring round the mosque built on the ruins of the Veni Madhava or Bindu Madhava Temple at Banaras. The rioters destroyed some mosques in retaliation and when the Muslims got reinforcements, they destroyed all temples, whether new or old.

Aurangzeb came to know that the Brahmans of Multan, Sindh and Banaras were using their temples for purposes of instruction. He passed orders for the punishment of those who were giving instructions in the temples. The Temple of Vishwanath at Banaras was completely demolished. The same was the case with the Temple of Gopinath at Banaras.

In 1679, orders were passed for the sequestration of the State of Jodhpur after the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh. Khan-i-Jahan destroyed many temples and brought cart-loads of gold from those temples to Delhi. The temple in front of the palace of the Maharana of Udaipur was destroyed. Temples on the edge of Udaipur Lake were destroyed. In all, 235 temples were destroyed in the state of Udaipur.

Orders were passed for the destruction of Hindu Temples in the State of Jaipur. When one of the temples was being demolished, there was stiff resistance by the Rajputs and the work of demolition could not proceed till all of them were killed. When Aurangzeb marched from Amber to the Deccan, he ordered the destruction of all the temples in the way. This was one of the special duties of the Superintendent of Labourers attached to the army.

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After the conquest of Bijapur and Golconda, temples in those states were destroyed and mosques were built on them out of the material of the temples. Aurangzeb appointed an officer on special duty to destroy the Hindu Temples in Maharashtra. He also stopped worship at the Hindu Temple of Dwarka.

The pilgrim tax which had been abolished by Akbar was reimposed on the Hindus. The Hindus were not allowed to burn their dead on the banks of River Sabarmati in Ahmednagar. Similar restrictions were imposed in Delhi for burning the dead on the Jamuna River.

Orders were passed that Muslim engravers were not to engrave the names of Hindu Gods and Goddesses on the seals of the rings of the Hindus. The Muslims were ordered to pay half the customs duties realised from the Hindus. Two years after, customs duties were abolished altogether from the Muslims. A tax on produce from gardens was raised at the rate of 20% from the Hindus and 16.6% from the Muslims.

On 12 April 1679, Aurangzeb promulgated an order re-imposing Jizya on the Hindus “with the object of spreading Islam and overthrowing infidel practices.” This was done on the representation of Anayat Khan, Diwan-i-Khalsa. Jizya was to be paid by all non-Muslims in India. Even the Brahmans were not exempted. It was realised from the Indian states also.

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No distinction was made in favour of officials, clerks or soldiers. Every Hindu was required to pay the Jizya personally by appearing before the collector. There was a lot of humiliation at the time of payment. Elaborate arrangements were made for the assessment and collection of Jizya. The imposition of Jizya was a part of the anti-Hindu policy of Aurangzeb. Its object was to have converts to Islam by harassing th^ Hindus. Any Hindu could escape from Jizya by becoming a Muslim.

Aurangzeb employed many other methods to have converts to Islam. Converts to Islam were given recognition by the Emperor. They were given high posts in the state. Thousands of Hindus were removed from various Departments of the Government and Muslims were recruited in their places.

They were given the option of retaining their jobs by becoming Muslims. Rebels were pardoned if they became Muslims. If there was a quarrel between two persons and one of them became a Muslim, he who became a Muslim got the property.

During the Reign of Aurangzeb, the number of Hindu Mansabdars fell although their total increased considerably. Aurangzeb systematically made use of the policy of appointing Muslims in place of Hindus in various Departments of the Government. No Hindu was made the head of a Department in which Muslims worked. Hindus in the army were not allowed to employ Muslim servants. All the provincial Governors were ordered to replace the Hindu clerks by Muslims.

Aurangzeb put every kind of pressure on the Hindus in order to induce them to become Muslims. He even used force to gain converts. He threw political wisdom to the winds and made the propagation of Islam the chief aim of his administration. The state under Aurangzeb became a missionary centre.

Sir Wolseley Haig observes that the religious policy of Aurangzeb was disastrous. His great grandfather had striven to remove the religious and social barriers which divided the various classes of his subjects. His grandfather held liberal views on religion. His father was a better Muslim than either Akbar or Jahangir, but except in the case of political offenders, bridled his zeal.

However, Aurangzeb was a bigot to whom religion of the great majority of his subjects was an anathema, mischief, idolatry which it was his duty before heaven to persecute and if possible to stamen out. His methods were iconoclasm, sacrilege, economic repression, bribery, forced conversion and restriction of worship.

The consequences of the religious policy of Aurangzeb were disastrous. The Rajputs revolted in 1679 after the imposition of Jizya and the Rajput war continued till 1681. This war was the result or an attempt on the part of Aurangzeb to bring up the son of Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur as a Muslim. The young Rajput Prince was taken away from Delhi through the bravery of Durga Das Rathore.

Prince Akbar who was sent to fight against the Rajputs, revolted against his father. It is true that Aurangzeb made peace with the Rajputs in 1681 but he had committed a blunder. In future, he could not count upon the loyalty and active support of the Rajputs.

The Rajput war was the height of the political unwisdom of Aurangzeb. He provoked the rebellion in Rajputana while the Afghans on the frontier were still far from being pacified. The struggle between the Rajputs and the Muslims continued till Ajit Singh was recognised in 1709 as the ruler of Mewar.

The anti-Hindu Policy of Aurangzeb led to the revolt of Satnamis. The revolt took a religious colour and assumed the form of a war for the liberation of the Hindus by an attack on Aurangzeb himself.-The Faujdar of Narnaul was defeated. The revolt was crushed with great effort.

The Jats of Mathura revolted against Mughal Tyranny under the leadership of Gokul. They killed the Faujdar and plundered the Pargana. The Jats were defeated with great effort. The stronghold of the Jats was captured in 1691 but they continued their struggle till the end of the Reign of Aurangzeb under the leadership of Churaman.

The Bundelas also revolted against the Mughals. Champat Rai was hard pressed and he committed suicide. One of his sons Chhatrasal “lived to defy the Imperial Government with success.” The people of Budelkhand and Malwa hailed Chhatrasal “as the champion of the Hindu faith and Kshatriya honour.” He won many victories against the Mughals and was able to set up an independent state in Eastern Malwa. He died in 1731 “with the complete effacement of the Mughal Rule in Bundelkhand”.

Aurangzeb had to fight against the Sikhs also in the Punjab. The atrocities and tyranny of the Mughal Government against the Hindus excited the Sikhs against the Mughals and their leader, Guru Tegh Bahadur, decided to offer tough resistance to the Mughals in support of the Hindus and Hinduism. Sher Afghan, the Mughal Governor of Kashmir, had forcibly converted all the families of the Kashmiri Hindus with the exception of seven families.

Those who had refused to embrace Islam had been put to death by the orders of the Governor. The remaining seven families reached Anandpur, the headquarters of the Guru and sought refuge with him. Guru Tegh Bahadur openly declared that he was the chief supporter of the Hindus and Hindu Religion and he was prepared even to sacrifice his life. He strongly criticised the anti-Hindu policy of Aurangzeb who got the Guru arrested and put in jail. Aurangzeb ordered him to accept Islam and on his refusal to do so, he was put to death in 1675.

Aurangzeb issued instructions to the Governors of Lahore and Sirhind to take necessary measures against Guru Gobind Singh. His head-quarters at Anandpur were besieged five times by the Mughal Forces and at last he was forced to take refuge in the plains of the Punjab. As a fugitive, he was pursued by the royal troops from place to place.

Two of his sons fell into the hands of Wazir Khan, Governor of Sirhind who got them bricked alive in the walls at Sirhind, while two of his other sons died fighting against the Mughals. Guru Govind Singh continued to fight against the Mughals and was still fighting when Aurangzeb died in 1707.

The anti-Hindu policy of Aurangzeb antagonised the Marathas also against the Mughal Rule in India. They started a National War of independence against the Mughals. The Maratha Wars in the Deccan which lasted for about a quarter of a century dealt a severe blow to the power and prestige of the Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb. Ultimately, it was the anti-Hindi policy of Aurangzeb which proved ruinous to the Mughal Empire.