The story of the relations of the Marathas with Aurangzeb is given in the next chapter. Suffice it to say that Aurangzeb sent Shayista Khan against Shivaji in 1663, but the latter failed to subdue him and with great difficulty escaped with his life. Later on, Prince Muazzam and Raja Jai Singh were sent against Shivaji. Jai Singh forced Shivaji to sign the treaty of Purandhar in 1665. Shivaji attended the Mughal Court at Agra in 1666. Although he was placed under detention, he managed to escape to his headquarters in the Deccan. Prince Muazzam and Jaswant Singh were sent against him.

After the death of Shivaji in 1680, Aurangzeb carried on the struggle against Sambhaji. The latter was arrested and put to death. His son, Sahu, was put in prison where he remained till 1708.

After the execution of Sambhaji in 1680, the struggle was carried on by Raja Ram up to 1700. After his death, the same struggle was successfully carried on by his widow, Tara Bai. In spite of his best efforts, Aurangzeb failed to crush the Maratha resistance. He had completely failed in his mission.

About Aurangzeb’s war against the Marathas, Dr. K. M. Panikkar says that “For about 20 years, the Emperor chased his own shadow. He marched up and down, attacked and conquered fortresses but the Maratha resistance became stronger as years went by. It was a nation at war against an enemy.

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The Maratha campaign became what the Spanish campaign was to become for Napoleon, a running sore where his superiority in almost every calculable factor counted for nothing against a country in arms. After a strenuous campaign led by the Emperor in person against Maratha strongholds, lasting for over 6 years, Aurangzeb came back a broken and defeated man and died. The Marathas had not only not been put down, but were in effective possession of a greatest territory and had attained enormous national prestige by their successful resistance.

Consequences of the Deccan Policy of Aurangzeb

Some of the main consequences of the Deccan Policy of Aurangzeb were as under:

(1) The Deccan Policy of Aurangzeb had far-reaching consequences. If Napoleon could say that “It was the Spanish ulcer which ruined me.” Aurangzeb could also say that the Deccan wars not only undid his own work but also those of his predecessors. No wonder, V. A Smith remarks that the Deccan was not only the grave of his body but also of his Empire.

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It was foolish on the part of Aurangzeb to have conquered the States of Bijapur and Golconda. It is true that their Rulers were Shias, but Aurangzeb ought to have subordinated his religious zeal to statesmanship. He ought to have known that in practical politics many things are done by statesmen which are hardly approved of by them.

Anyhow, the annexation of Bijapur and Golconda destroyed the check on the Marathas. It was difficult for Aurangzeb to deal with the Marathas from so distant a place as Delhi. No wonder, he had to spend the rest of his life in the Deccan to subdue the Marathas.

It was a fatal step which Aurangzeb took. On account of his absence from the North for a quarter of a century, the administration of the country was thrown out of gear. It led to the breakup of the Mughal Empire after his death. The Provincial Gove-nors and Faujdars defied the Central Authority and there was nothing to curb them. The result was that towards the end of his life, Aurangzeb could see his own Empire breaking up.

A lot of money was wasted in the Deccan wars. Ai: the top of it, when money was most needed to carry on the war in the Deccan, not much could be realised from the various provinces on account of the weakening of the Central Authority. It was during this period that the Jats and Sikhs got an opportunity to strengthen their hands.

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(2) The operations of the Imperial Armies, especially the numerous sieges, led to a total destruction of forests and grass. The huge Mughal Forces, totalling 1, 77,000 including non- combatants, ate up everything green. The Maratha raiders destroyed whatever they could not carry. They fed their horses on the standing crops and brunt the houses and property which they could not carry on account of their weight.

When Aurangzeb retired in 1705, the country presented a scene of Uttar desolation. According to Manucci, “He left behind him the fields of these provinces devoid of trees and bear of crops, their places being taken by the bones of men and beasts.”

The total deforestation injured agriculture. The power resistance of the common man was weakened on account of the long duration of war. Everything they produced or stored up was swept away by the hordes on both sides. The result was that when famine or drought came, the peasants and landless labourers perished helplessly like flies.

Scarcity was chronic in the imperial camp and often deepened into famine. Raiding bands were locally formed and many got an opportunity of making money and winning glory. Trade almost ceased in the Deccan during this period. Caravans could travel to the South of the Narbada only under strong escort. Even the Royal Mail and baskets of fruits for the Emperor were detained for 5 months at the Narbada. The Provincial Governors enriched themselves at the cost of the traders by snatching away goods and making unreasonable demands on them.

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Village industries and industrial classes almost died out. The Madras Coast was so unsettled by the struggle between the Marathas and the Mughals between 1690 and 1698 that the English and French factors found it difficult to get enough cloth for loading their European going ships. This led to great economic impoverishment of India. It also lowered the mechanical skill and standards of civilization of the Indians.

Referring to the Deccan, Bhimsen, a Noted Historian of Aurangzeb, says. “All administration has disappeared-the realm has been desolated, nobody gets justice; they have been utterly ruined. The riots have given up cultivation; the Jagirdars do not get a penny from the files. Many Mansabdars in the Deccan starving and impoverished, have gone over to the Marathas.”

(3) The Mughal Soldiers on the march destroyed the crops on the way and the government could not and did not compensate the peasants for their losses. The worst oppressors of the peasants were the servants, day labourers and other persons who moved with the Mughal Armies, Particularly the Baluchi Camel-owners who hired their animals to the army and the unattached Afghans searching for employment plundered and beat the countrymen most mercilessly.

The Banjaras or wandering grain dealers, who moved in large numbers, defied the authority of the petty officers of the government and very often looted the people on the wayside and fed their cattle on the crops in the fields with impunity. Even the Royal Messengers who carried government letters, reports of spies and baskets of fruits for presentation to the Emperor robbed the people of the villages on the way. The land-stewards of the rival Jagirdars of the same village were a menace to the people. The incoming and outgoing Jagirdars had no sympathy for the peasants.

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(4) The financial condition of the Mughal Empire became so weak that it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Hundreds of soldiers and several officers fell into arrears for three years. The starving men created scenes in the court of the Emperor. Sometimes they abused and beat the business manager of the General. Although the government made reckless promises of money grants, it was humanly impossible to fulfil them.

Even when grants in lieu of salary were drawn up by the pay office, they remained for years as orders on paper as the actual delivery of the villages to the grantees was impossible. The interval between the order and the actual possession of the Jagir was long enough to turn a boy into a grey bearded man. Aurangzeb spent huge amounts of bribing the Maratha Officers in charge of hill-forts. It was impossible for the Mughal Treasury to meet all the demands.

(5) The spirit of the Mughal Army in the Deccan was utterly broken. Soldiers grew sick of the endless and futile war. Even the most trusted officers of Aurangzeb became home-sick. One such nobleman offered the Emperor a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh for transferring him to Delhi.

(6) Sir Jadunath Sarkar has made the following observation with regard to the effects of the Deccan wars: “All seemed to have been gained by Aurangzeb now; but in reality all was lost. It was the beginning of his end. The saddest and most hopeless chapter of his life now opened. The Mughal Empire had become too large to be ruled by one man or from one centre. His enemies rose on all sides; he could defeat but not crush them forever. Lawlessness reigned in many parts of Northern and Central India.

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The Old Emperor in the far off Deccan lost all control over his officers in Hindustan and the administration grew slack and corrupt; chiefs and Zamindars defied the local authorities and asserted themselves, filling the country with tumult. In the province of Agra in particular, there was chronic disorder. Art and learning decayed at the withdrawal of Imperial Patronage; not a single grand edifice finely written mansuscript or exquisite picture commemorates Aurangzeb’s Reign.

The endless war in the Deccan exhausted his treasury; the Government turned bankrupt; the soldiers starving from arrears of pay, mutinied; and during the closing years of his reign the revenue of Bengal regularly sent by the able Diwan Murshid Quli Khan, was the sole support of the Emperor’s household and army and its arrival was eagerly looked forward to. Napoleon 1 used to say, ‘It the Spanish ulcer which ruined me.’The Deccan ulcer ruined Aurangzeb.”