Aurangzeb

The Mughal Empire was one of the most powerful rulings that took over India during the period of 1600. They had a huge military and superior strategies that were designed to take over different places in India. The reign was initiated by Babur and almost ended after Aurangzeb’s reign; the other successors were less effective. Mughals’ ruling melted into the British Raj after they took over the administration of India. Aurangzeb is the emperor who took the Mughal reign to the zenith with his superior and dynamic administrative strategies.

Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb

Emperor Aurangzeb was the last effective ruler in the Mughal era. His real name is Muhi-ud-din- Muhammad, but he was commonly known as Aurangzeb, which means ‘Ornament of the Throne’. He was the third son and sixth child born to Emperor Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal on 3rd November 1618. He had 6 siblings, 3 brothers and 3 sisters. He married Rubia Daurani and had 6 children.

Learnings of Aurangzeb

In terms of Aurangzeb’s competence and intelligence, he was superior to his elder brothers. He was a great scholar in Persian, Arabic and Hindi Languages. His curriculum included scholarly studies like Turkish literature. He was good at setting different tactics and implementing them in appropriate circumstances. He had completed his combat pieces of training. He had good military and administrative abilities. He showed qualities like judiciousness and industriousness. He was highly religious, had a huge affection for Holy Quran and promoted Islam.

History of Aurangzeb 

Aurangzeb was firstly appointed as the in charge of the force sent to Bundelkhand for defeating King Jhujhar Singh, who attacked the territory under Shahjahan’s power. The attack was successful, and Jhujhar was removed from power. Then Aurangzeb was appointed as Viceroy of Deccan in 1636. But due to Aurangzeb’s carelessness in wearing the military attire in front of the vassals who came to pay respects during his sister Jahanara’s fire accident, Shahjahan got outraged and dismissed him from his position. 

As his father used to show favour towards his brother Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb took his father under his custody in Agra Fort, Uttar Pradesh. Afterwards, he ascended the throne in 1658 and won the conflicts against his brothers. He tried to bring the entire subcontinent under his power. He was a capable ruler of the Hindu-Muslim empire, but he was disliked by the citizens who respected him due to fear. He was much occupied with safeguarding the northwest places such as Turks and Persians and less with Maratha Chief, Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji employed guerrilla tactics for defying the Mughal force till death. But still, Aurangzeb was being threatened by Marathas because the rebellions were continued by Shivaji’s sons. However, Aurangzeb is the only ruler besides the British who captured a single largest state under his power in Indian History. 

Land Revenue Administration

The central feature of the Mughal Land Revenue System was the alienation of good surplus produced by the peasant in the form of land revenue. So, it is different from the tax on the soil for doing agriculture, but (British administration) according to Mughal rule, it means the tax for the crop growing. Abul Fazl has stated in his Ain-i-Akbari that the imposition of taxes is the remuneration given back in return for the protection and justice provided. There were various methods to collect the revenues.

Patwari- Patwari and Muqaddam were the village level officials from which Muqaddam was the village head. He can receive 2.5% of the total revenue collected by him. At the same time, patwari was the official who had the information about the fallow lands in the village. 

1. Patwari collects and maintains the records of all the lands in the village, both residential and commercial.
2.  Also knows about the holdings of specific village cultivators and the variety of crops and grains grown on the land. 
3. Patwari usually keeps these records in a ledger which is called Bahi.
4. The necessary and essential records and papers were studied, and on the basis of this, the assessment and collection were carried out. This is called Bitikchi.
5. They collect dues on irrigation and act as arbiters in the issues of land management.

Conclusion

Mughals were the ones who ruled over India from 16th to the mid-18th century. Aurangzeb was the one known for his mindful strategies and had a strong hand till his death on 3rd March 1707. He was an efficient and vigorously skilful administrator who had a lot of bitter enemies. His reign underwent a transformation of attitude and policy as he ruled as a militant orthodox. The death of Aurangzeb led to the downfall of the Mughal empire as the Maratha imperial forces continued, and the failure of the Mughals to cope with them resulted in the collapse of the entire Mughal Dynasty in the mid-18th century.