History of India- VII (c.

1600-1750)

Anirudh Shukla
Roll No. 1489
BA(Hons) History

The war of succession between the full sons of Shah Jahan is one of the most interesting
periods of Mughal history because of the elaborate undressing of power it involved, and its
interactions with loyalty, religion and property. Originating from a troubled relationship of a
son and father, it is also a riveting tale of human emotions.

The fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan had a glorious reign but an unestablished succession
tradition resulted in a political crisis in his later years.The Mughals did not recognise
primogeniture, the succession rights of the eldest son. The crown of the father was passed
over with a simple rule: ​ya takht ya tabut,​ either the throne or the grave.

The main contestants were the four brothers Dara Shukoh, resident at court as the
designated heir, against his three younger brothers: Muhammad Shuja, governor of Bengal,
Bihar, and Orissa; Aurangzeb, the governor of four Deccan states; and Murad Bakhsh,
governor of Gujarat and Malwa. Despite Shah Jahan’s expressed preference for his eldest
son, Dara Shukoh, the Timurid appanage system contained no answers.

Shah Jahan’s dislike for Aurangzeb, the most ambitious of the brothers is a debated subject.
Some attribute it to a conspired attempt by Dara Shukoh to influence his father’s rebuke,
others point to Aurangzeb’s real failure at administrative management in an infertile Deccan
plateau. The differences endeared the liberal poet prince more than the others. But all
brothers commanded the same Timurid familial charisma and power further complicating the
rightful claim to the throne. Each brother could draw upon the services of extremely able
military and administrative staffs. Each commanded a power base, possessed ample
treasure and could muster large, well-equipped armies. Only one contender could claim the
throne; all others faced the grave.

While a lot is talked about the Jahanara Begum and her camaraderie with Dara Shukoh,
Roshanara Begum the other sister at the court played an equally important but often
neglected role. She was aware of the lack of reverence for herself because of her sister.
Amidst the gaunt topography of her life, Roshanara is waited for her destiny to reveal itself.
And few at court suspected the extent of her rancour or the depth of her ambition. She
observed and forwarded the many transgressions of Dara to Aurangzeb, how he steadily
antagonised the Ulema and even many of the nobles because of his fascination with
mysticism and eclectic Hinduism, of being constantly in the society of brahmins, yogis and
sanyasis. Roshanara was also aware of the fact that Dara Shikoh has made powerful
enemies within the nobility due to his arrogance. Dara didn’t endear himself to the Ulema
when he declared that “paradise is there where no mullah exists”.
This context of Dara’s antipodal views to Aurangzeb is important when looking at the Islamic
characteristics of the latter’s rule.

The war begins with Prince Muhammad Shuja in Bengal crowning himself king at Rajmahal
and bringing his cavalry, artillery, and river flotilla upriver toward Agra. Near Varanasi, his
forces confronted a defending army sent from Delhi under the command of Dara. In
mid-February, a well-executed early morning surprise attack routed the Bengal troops. Shuja
and his surviving men fled downriver to Monghyr.

In a public ceremony in Gujrat Murad crowned himself and started marching north. The
brother’s had developed an understanding about the division of the throne upon success. If
they defeated their brothers, Aurangzeb would leave to Murad the Punjab, Afghanistan,
Kashmir, and Sind to rule as an independent King and he would rule the remaining
territories. In early 1658, Aurangzeb set his army marching north. He joined forces with
Murad at the village of Dharmat on the Ghambira river. Here they met Shah Jahan’s army
under the command of Jaswant Singh Rathor. In the ensuing battle, Aurangzeb’s
well-handled guns and cavalry outfought the imperial army whose survivors fell back on
Delhi in disarray.

The series of defeats terrified Dara who until now had been too haughty about his chances
against his brothers. He hastily took help from Rajputs and mobilised a 50,000 men army,
waiting in defensive positions at Chambal river south of Agra. Aurangzeb outflanked him by
finding an unguarded fort. The armies met at broad plain at the village of Samugarh on the
Yamuna near Agra. On 29th May, in the blazing heat of Indian summer, the climactic battle
of the succession took place. Aurangzeb’s superior tactics and better-disciplined artillery and
cavalry prevailed against the valor of repeated Rajput cavalry charges.

Realising the unfateful end of his campaign, Dara had to flee the battleground by
dismounting from his war elephant. By cutting off the water supply to the fort in June, he
ensured the surrender of his father as well.

But Aurangzeb was no promise keeper. After tensions between him and his ally brother
Murad grew, he was disarmed, made captive and quietly sent off to prison along with his
son. Aurangzeb enrolled Murad’s leaderless army into his service the next day. Aurangzeb
paused in Delhi long enough to crown himself on 21st July in Shalimar gardens with the title
of Alamgir or “World-Seizer”. Thereafter he dealt with his brothers from an overwhelmingly
strong position.

Aurangzeb had also assured his other brother Shuja of an uncontested rule in the east. With
a force of 25,000 cavalries and a flotilla of riverboats he started marched upriver. In late
December, Aurangzeb joined his son Muhammad Sultan for battle against Shuja. Despite
the last-minute deflection of Jaswant Singh Rother with his Rajput cavalry to Shuja,
Aurangzeb’s army greatly outnumbered and outgunned the Bengal army. Defeated and
routed, Shuja fled with the remnants of the army.
While Dara would flee to first Lahore and then Sindh and finally be captured in Ajmer, he
remained largely inconsequential to the Aurangzeb’s unthreatened rule from this point.

Jahanara Begum berated Aurangzeb for his “unbecoming and improper action” in taking up
arms against his brothers. “Don’t, don’t, for the virtuous do not behave like this,” she
famously advised Aurangzeb and came up with a proposal to partition the Mughal empire
between the four warring brothers and Aurangzeb’s oldest son. Punjab and its territories
would go to Dara, Gujarat would continue to be the fief of Murad Baksh, Bengal would be
Shah Shuja’s, the province of the Deccan would be given to Aurangzeb’s oldest son Sultan
Muhammad, and the rest of the empire, along with the title of Buland Iqbal and heir apparent
is to be Aurangzeb’s. This is an old Timurid solution towards warring mirzas, all of whom are
equally entitled to rule. Aurangzeb paid no heed to such requests and Jahanara Begum
spent most of her time with her ailing father until his demise seven years later.

In the eyes of many fellow rulers across the Islamic world, the act of usurping his father
branded Aurangzeb an illegitimate king. The Safavid king of Persia taunted that Aurangzeb
had proclaimed his seizure of the world (alam-giri) with his regnal title of Alamgir when he
had merely seized his father (pidar-giri). For as long as Shah Jahan lived, the Sharif of
Mecca refused to recognise Aurangzeb as a legitimate Muslim. Aurangzeb’s usurpation of
his father was, according to Islamic ideas of the time, unjust.

Event hough today Aurangzeb’s severe treatment of his brothers and confinement of his
father seems barbaric, recent scholarship has highlighted how princely fighting for the throne
strengthened the Mughal state, by allowing the most capable son to rise to power and
incentivising princes to recruit new groups into Mughal service in their competition to be the
next emperor. Thus, Aurangzeb ascended to the helm of a strong empire, armed with the
leadership, and the administrative and battle experience and skills, that would make him an
effective king.