THE WAR OF SUCCESSION (AURANGZEB)

A topic of extreme debate is the War of Succession among Shah Jahan’s sons -
an event which shook the Mughal Empire when it was at its height. This event
has been studied by many historians but it’s an event which stands in need of
scientific analyses. Nationalist historian Jadunath Sarkar was the first
historian to provide a coherent view of the war of succession by picking out
the most reliable accounts and rejecting those based on hearsay and tradition.
The chief problem with Sarkar’s work was that it suffered from an emphasis
on pure description and there was little attempt at analysis. This standard
viewpoint sees the war of succession as a liberal(Dara Shikoh) vs
orthodox(Aurangzeb) conflict. However was it a really religious conflict?
Subsequent studies by historians such as Athar Ali critique this view point
saying that the war of succession was not a religious battle.

A short chronology of events post Shah Jahan’s illness(1657):

Shah Jahan had four sons, Dara, Murad, Suhja and Aurangzeb. The eldest son,
Dara, was his father's favourite, and this soon led to resentment against him
by the other three brothers who gradually came together in a kind of a
coalition against him. There is no clear tradition of succession among the
Muslims and over time the right of nomination of a successor by a ruler had
come to prevail. Dara Shikoh was given a miniature throne by his father – it
was pretty evident that he would become emperor. Bein the ‘ideal’ and the
most preferred son, Dara got the titles ‘Shahi-buland-Iqbal’ and ‘Wali-
ahad’(heir). He participated in the major decisions of the state and his mansab
was also raised to 60,000/ 40,000 by 1748. Aurangzeb has enough
achievements to his name, but Dara was always preferred over him.
According to the Alamgir Nama, coins, firmans, seals were all issued in Dara’s
name –however, these were all forged by himself. This text also charges him of
cutting of lines of communication between Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb and not
letting anyone near the empire. However one must take into account, the
biases in this account as its writing was influenced by Aurangzeb. Mir Jumla(a
member of court) was removed because he was close to Aurangzeb.
In 1657, Shah Jahan falls ill and stops attending Jharokha Darshan. This adds
to the rumour and confusion about his whereabouts and the issue of
succession since it was clear that Shah Jahan had little time to survive. . It was
being said that Shah Jahan had already died, and Dara was concealing the
reality to serve his own purposes. Meanwhile, the princes, Shuja in Bengal,
Murad in Gujarat and Aurangzeb in the Deccan started to make preparations
for what they saw as the inevitable war of succession. The conflict between
Dara, and Aurangzeb, was further complicated by Aurangzeb's suspicion that
Dara had influenced Shah-Jahan to try to humiliate him.

Shu Jahan(Governor of Indore) declared independence. A huge contingent was

sent to quell it . Murad the (Governor of Gujarat) rebelled.Meanwhile,
Aurangzeb remained quiet and wrote a letter to Shah Jahan-expressing
tension over his father’s illness. In these letters, he quietly hid his real motives
– he just said that his only wish in life was to go to Kaba.He decided to support
Murad albeit quietly. Therefore a full-fledged war of succession emerged
started by Shu Jahan followed by Murad.

Sulaiman Shikoh defeated Shu Jahan and Murad’s rebellion was countered by
Jaswant Singh. Aurangzeb’s take on it was that his participation was confined
to his father’s ill health only. He said if Murad won, he himself would get 2/3 rd
and Murad 1/3rd.

Aurangzeb moves towards Agra to meet his father but Jaswant Singh does not
give him passage to do so. This led to a battle with Jaswant Singh. Jahanara
Begum wrote a letter to Aurangzeb ensuring his father’s good health and
requests him to stop the campaign. But Aurangzeb continues his campaign.

The Battle of Samugarh(1658) was the first abdication of power of Shah

Jahan- it was a full-fledged battle between Aurangzeb and Dara. The latter
was defeated and fled.

Shah Jahan tried to make peace between the two. Aurangzeb was invited by
Shah jahan-he was offered the position of heir+title Almagir+gifts etc.
However Aurangzeb was receptive. He reaches Agra and there is a huge siege.
His father, Shah jahan shuts himself up in the fort. The fort is captured by
Aurangzeb and Shah Jahan is forced to lead a ‘retired’ life in the harem
quarters. The common view that Shah Jahan was captured and ill treated is
highly exaggerated.

Aurangzeb was coronated in 1658. All his rivals were eliminated. Dara Shikoh
was defeated again in the Battle of Deorai(1659). In 1651, he was executed.

The War of Succession was not impulsive- Aurangzeb does not start it. He just
participates later and wins it. It is very difficult to attribute specific causes for
the war of succession because there are many factors which caused it.

The war of succession has been considered a decisive turning point by

historians who choose to view the whole history of medieval India as largely a
struggle between two communites. Shibli favoured this interpretation – the
Hindus, benefitting from Akbar’s tolerant policies were getting out of hand
and even persecuting the muslims . Dara was a traitor within the Islamic
political community who sought to open the gates fully to the Hindus.
Aurangzeb rallied the Muslims together and fought essentially for faith and
not for the throne. Another group who does not share the same partisan
feeling towards Aurangzeb attributed the war to his later policy and Dara’s
intellectual electicism. They declared that the war was a struggle between two
opposite policies, those of religious tolerance and muslim orthodoxy. Recent
works accept this interpretation but with only minor qualifications –RP
Tripathi only to the extent that religion served as a war cry to rally
Aurangzeb’s supporters.This old tradition has been enlarged and embellished
with facts and theories. This interpretation has become a set dogma with
nothing to shake it.

Athar Ali’s critique

The question was-did Aurangzeb ever raise the slogan of ‘Islam in danger’ in
order to gain the throne? This question should not be confused with the
question about whether Aurangzeb later on tried to build an Islamic state or
persecuted the Hindus. What one is asking here is whether a new religious
policy was the chief or at least the declared the objective for which the war of
succession was fought. In this regard, there is an interesting document which
comes to light-the Nishan/Princely order which Aurangzeb sent to Rana Raj
Singh of Mewar. Here Aurangzeb assures the Rana of his sympathy and
pledges himself to restore the Parganas of Mandalgarh etc. He condemns any
attempts at intolerance and religious discrimination in ringing tones. It is
besides the point to see whether he was sincere in making his declaration-
what is significant is that rather than stress the religious issue, he was anxious
to avoid it by declaring himself on the side of the established imperial policy.

In the preamble to Aurangzeb’s agreement with Murad Baksh(called the

ahadnama), Dara is denounced as the principle of heretics. Another historian
states that prior to his marching out of Burhanpur, Aurangzeb sought the
blessing of Shaikh Abdul Latif of Burhanpur on the ground that he was going
to fight a heretic. However these were only formal declarations. Even Akhil
Khan Razi who was a partisan of Aurangzeb did not take them seriously and
nowhere through his account does he refer to Dara’s heresy as a cause of the
war. In a letter to Jahanara after the Battle of Dharmat-this letter contains the
charge sheet against his brother-accusations that Dara had throughout tried
to kill or thwart Aurangzeb. The only possible reference to Dara’s religious
views is in the statement that his actions are always contrary to the principles
of the empire, faith and religion. Therefore, most of Aurangzeb’s allegations
are of political nature.

Manucci has produced a letter from Aurangzeb to Murad where the former
calls the latter to join a campaign against Dara(an infidel and idolator) as well
as Shu Jajah(a heretic). However this is obviously a fruit of his imagination as
Aurangzeb and Murad were in alliance with Aurangzeb. It was only after the
Battle of Samugarh that Dara’s heresy was proclaimed to be a chief and
unpardonable crime. because Aurangzeb had to give a special reason for
justifying Dara’s execution.

There is no proof in either the actions of any contenders or in the behaviour of

any section of the nobility that the war of succession was regarded as a war
between two faiths.

There is no evidence of Muslims officers unanimously siding with Aurangzeb.

IK Ghori on falling ill, Shah Jahan(on Dara’s advice)issued a number of
farmans to the imperial officers serving in Deccan to start for the court at
once. Mahabat Khan and Satar Sal Hada at once left for the court. Najabat Khan
and Mir Jumla were sympathetic to Aurangzeb and decided not to leave the
Deccan. Shah Nawaz Khan Safvi, a leading noble of Shah Jahan refused to side
with Aurangzeb. On the contrary many Rajputs supported Aurangzeb-Rana
Raj Singh of Mewar was in sympathy with Aurangzeb. A bargain was struck
wherby in return for the Rana’s support, Aurangzeb was to restore him the
pargnas lost by him in 1654. This correspondence reveals that Mirza Raja Jai
Singh was a secret partisan of Aurangzeb who sabotaged the whole military
effort of Dara. This has been established by Qanungo.

According to Bernier and Manucci, for the Shias, their favourite was Shuja.
However, Iranian nobles like Mir Jumla and Shaista Khan were on the side of
Aurangzeb Shah Nawaz Khan Safvi on that of Dara. Therhe fore, there was
very little evidence of Shias who sided with Shuja.

Also, it was important to see whether the nobles were actually divided in their
loyalties to the contending princes on communal or racial lines. Athar Ali has
made lists of classification of the supporters of Aurangzeb, Dara and Murad
before the battle of Samugarh from various sources such as the Alamgirnama,
Tarih-i-Aurangzeb, Futuhat-i-Alamgiri. These figures show very conclusively
that religious and racial sections in the nobility were divided in their loyalties.
This is quite clear in the case of Dara and Aurangzeb who had among their
supporters members of all important sections. Twenty three Hindu nobles,
supported Aurangzeb and Murad as against 24 Hindu nobles who backed
Dara. These figures do not show any alignment of nobles on merely religious
lines.

It is interesting to note that the reaction of the ulama to the victory of

Aurangzeb was by no means universally favourable. For instance, the chief
Qazi at the time refused to read the khutba in his name on the grounds that
Shah Jahan was still alive. Aurangzeb was forced to find another Qazi who
would read the khutba and legitimate the succession of Aurangzeb

The absence of Aurangzeb’s anti Hindu or anti-Rajput bias surprises those

who only focus on his later religious policies. However if one looks at his
activities right after the war of succession-it is paints a different picture.
Aurangzeb made Jai Singh the nominal and actual vice roy of the Deccan- this
was perhaps the most important post in the entire empire. Jaswant Singh was
twice appointed the governor of Gujarat. He also appointed Raja Raghunath as
the diwan. This was significant in the sense that since the death of Akbar
never has there been a Hindu diwan.

Clearly therefore, the use of religious terminology is with retrospective

reference to the war of succession and was intended to legitimize some of
Aurangzeb’s more controversial actions including the execution of his
brothers and the imprisonment of his father. One cannot examine why
Aurangzeb changed his policy in later years. One viewpoint says that it began
with the war of succession in reaction to the increasing Rajput or Hindu
penetration of the imperial services under Shah Jahan-this view can no longer
be held as there was no movement against it.