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ABSTRACT
The Muslim Mughal Empire of India found itself at the height of its power under the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707), yet the foundations of that power were unstable at the death of the emperor. While Aurangzeb was able to extend his dominion over the majority of the Indian sub-continent the cost of doing so greatly weakened Mughal fortunes in the years following his reign. This situation resulted from a shift in his religious policies towards non-Muslims that alienated groups in the empire that had once been part of a syncretic ruling relationship. The main problem group was the Marathas, whose insurgency Aurangzeb never fully defeated over the course of a twenty-seven-year war. The Marathas used the harsh religious stance of the emperor to mount a campaign for the creation of a Hindu kingdom in the area south of the Deccan Plateau. The failure to completely quell this revolt led to Maratha domination of large swaths of the northern Mughal Empire following the death of Aurangzeb. This heralded a decline in Mughal fortunes that were ultimately exploited by foreign powers, chief among them Great Britain.
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Notes
1. Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid Empire, which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, and this was the term preferred by the Mughals themselves. The Mughal designation for their own dynasty was Gurkani which meant ‘sons-in-law’). The use of Mughal derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol which emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by some Indian scholars who distinguish the Timurids from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture.
2. Gommans, Mughal Warfare, 56.
3. Wolpert, A New History of India, 133.
4. Kulke and Rothermund, A History of India, 151–3.
5. Eraly, The Mughal Throne, 397.
6. Truschke, Aurangzeb, 78–79. See also Wolpert, 163.
7. Truschke, Aurangzeb, 72.
8. Sarkar, A Short History of Aurangzib, 1618–1707, 133.
9. Trushke, Aurangzeb, 70.
10. Kulkarni, Medieval Maratha Country, 187.
11. Wolpert, A New History of India, 163.
12. Sarkar, A Short History of Aurangzib, 1618–1707, 130.
13. Eaton, “Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States,” 70.
14. Sarkar, A Short History of Aurangzib, 1618–1707, 130.
15. Ibid., 142. See also Hew McLeod, “Sikhs and Muslims in the Punjab,” 155–65.
16. Eraly, The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India’s Great Emperors, 434. See also Duff, The History of the Marathas.
17. Elphinstone, Aurangzeb, 40.
18. Wolpert, ed., Encyclopedia of India, volume 4, 54.
19. Kumar, ed., Maratha Military Systems, 13.
20. Eraly, The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India’s Great Emperors,447.
21. Kulke and Rothermund, A History of India, 164.
22. Ibid., Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire, 1500–1700.
184.
23. Sharma, Mughal Empire in India, 325.
24. Gommans, Mughal Warfare, 61.
25. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas, volume I, Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 222–223. See also Eraly, The Mughal Throne, 463.
26. Eraly, The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India’s Great Emperors, 467. See also Sardesi, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 190.
27. Ibid., 188. See also Kulkarni, Marathas and the Maratha Country, volume 3, 49.
28. Ephinstone, Aurangzeb, 107. See also Kumar, 90–92.
29. Jadunath, Sarkar, A Short History of Aurangzib, 1618–1707, 127–128.
30. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 308.
31. Ibid., 305.
32. Elphinstone, Aurangzeb, 94.
33. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 348.
34. Elphinstone, Aurangzeb,108–109. See also Kulkarni, Marathas and the Maratha Country, volume 3, 48.
35. Gokhale, Chhatraputi Sambhaji, 161.
36. Ibid., 164.
37. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 351.
38. Gokhale, Chhatraputi Sambhaji, 186.
39. Ibid., 189.
40. Ibid., 197.
41. Moraes, ‘A Portuguese Embassy to Sambaji-1684,’ 303–313, for a full account of this situation.
42. Gokhale, Chhatraputi Sambhaji, 222.
43. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 325.
44. Elphinstone, Aurangzeb,103.
45. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600-1707, 338-39.
46. Ibid., 332–33.
47. Pagdi, Lectures on Mughal-Maratha Relations, 1680–1707, 93, 147.
48. Gommans, Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire, 1500–1700, 190, 193–94.
49. Ibid., 192–93.
50. Pagdi, Lectures on Mughal-Maratha Relations, 1680–1707, 85.
51. Trushke, Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India’s Most Controversial King, 93.
52. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 351.
53. Ibid., 352.
54. Pagdi, Lectures on Mughal-Maratha Relations, 1680–1707, 116.
55. Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India’s Most Controversial King, 89.
56. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 357.
57. Khafi Khan, History of Alamgir, 410. See also Elphinstone, 128.
58. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas. Volume I. Shivaji and His Line, 1600–1707, 335. See also Pagdi, Lectures on Mughal-Maratha Relations, 1680–1707, 144.
59. Richards and Johnson, The New Cambridge History of India, 254. See also Sarkar, A Short History of Aurangzib, 1618–1707, 314.
60. Sarkar, A Short History of Aurangzib, 1618–1707, 267.
61. Ibid., 261.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Eric W. Osborne
Eric W. Osborne is a professor of history at the Virginia Military Institute teaching various topics in the history of the Indian sub-continent, World War I, and Naval Warfare. He is the author of four books in his fields of expertise.