Aurangzeb’s Iconolasm: Illustrations From Primary Sources

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A urangzeb and many other Mughals, the perpetrators of many atrocities against Hindus and Sikhs alike are constantly being glorified around the world in the writings of many famous and respected fiction and non-fiction authors. The white washing of the crimes of some of the Mughals has reached epidemic proportions.

Case in point is famous author William Dalrymple who has written many books on the Mughals. As per recorded history, Aurangzeb was responsible for the martyrdom of 9th Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur, the four brave sons of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh and many brave Sikh warriors. But Dalrymple considers Aurangzeb "absolutely fascinating"... "very self-aware, very Shakespearean". Speaking about the richest Mughal Emperor who was also the 2nd longest reigning after Akbar, Dalrymple has said on record that: "by end of it he does become a monster of myths, but his final letters are full of regret and awareness about how much he destroyed of what he had inherited". And he adds: "What is little spoken is that he was an extremely generous donor of various ashrams and maths. Just the sheer data that can be gathered about his donations to Hindu monasteries is extraordinary".

Now is that true? Aurangzeb was neither the eldest, nor the favourite son of his father Shah Jahan. To ascend the throne, he killed two of his brothers, dispatched his father to jail and subsequently, it is belived, murdered him by sending him poisoned massage oil, and later had his own son imprisoned (in his will, he admonished: "never trust your sons"). He was also very cruel to the majority of his subjects, the Hindus, in ordering all temples to be destroyed, and making sure that the Hindu Gods and Goddesses were buried under the steps of mosques (like the Jama Masjid in Delhi) so that future generations of Muslims will trample upon them. Aurangzeb did not just build an isolated mosque on a destroyed temple, he ordered all temples to be destroyed, We may now take up the theme of the exhibition as explained through its exhibits - Paintings, Sketches, contemporary documents like the Akhbarat of Emperor Aurangzeb, and extracts from credible Persian works.

Aurangzeb, Emperor Shah Jahan's sixth child, was born on 24th October 1618 at Dohad in Madhya Pradesh, and wrested India's crown from his father before the end of June 1658, after defeating his brother Crown Prince Dara Shukoh's armies, first at Dharmat near Ujjain (15th April 1568) and again at Samugarh on 29th May 1658. The War of Succession to the richest throne in the world was practically over with this victory, and Aurangzeb secured his position by making Murad, his brother and accomplice in his impetuous pursuit for power, his prisoner, by treachery, on 25th June. He had already made his old father Emperor Shah Jahan a prisoner in the Agra Fort (8th June 1658).

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