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Women in Aurangzeb's life

Aurangzib had four wives:

I. Dilras Banu Begam, a daughter of Shah Nawaz Khan (whose
   great-grandfather was a younger son of the Persian king Shah Ismail I
   Safavi). She was married to Aurangzib at Agra on 8th May 1637 with the
   most gorgeous ceremonies. She died at Aurangabad on 8th October 1657
   from illness following the birth of her son Muhammad Akbar, and was
   buried outside that city, with the title of Rabia-ul-dauAni or the
   modern Saint Rabia.  Her tomb, popularly called the Deccani Taj Mahal,
   was repaired by her son Azam under order of Aurangzib.  She seems to
   have been an imperious lady, proud of bearing the 'Royal blood of
   Persia,' and her husband stood in awe of her. [Anecdotes of Aurangzib,
   No. 27.]


bibi ka maqbara: tomb of dilras banu begum at aurangabad


2. Rahmat-un-nisa, surnamed NawAb BAi, was the daughter of Rajah Raju of
   the Rajauri State in Kashmir, and came of the hill-Rajput blood. But on
   her son Bahadur Shah's accession to the throne of Delhi, a false
   pedigree was invented for her in order to give that Emperor the right
   to call himself a Sayyid. She built a sarai at Fardapur, at the foot of
   the pass, and also founded Baijipura, a suburb of Aurangabad.  The
   misconduct of her sons, Muhammad Sultan and Muazzam, who disobeyed the
   Emperor under the influence of evil councllors, embittered her latter
   life. Her advice and even personal entreaty had no effect on Muazzam,
   who was at last placed under arrest. Nawah Bai seems to have lost her
   charms and with them her husband's favour rather early in life, and
   ended her days in 1691 at Delhi. after many years of separation from
   her husband and sons.
   [After Aurangzeb, Dilras Banu's son Muhammad Azam was crowned
   emperor.  But Muazzam defeated his step-brother, and took the crown
   as emperor Bahadur Shah I.] 

3. Aurangabadi Mahal, so named because she entered the prince's harem in
   the city of Aurangabad. The bubonic plague carried her off at Bijapur
   in October or Novemher 1688.

4. Udaipuri Mahal, the mother of Kam Bakhsh.  Manucci speaks of her as a
   Georgian slave-girl of Dara Shukoh's harem. who, on the downfall of
   her first master, became the concubine of his victorious rival.
   [elsewhere, JS writes that this is unlikely to be true.  She was most
   likely from Kashmir, because the Masir-i-Alanigirl calls her Bai, a
   title which was applied to Hindu women only.]

   She joined Aurangzeb after his accession, and must have been a very
   young woman at the time, as she first became a mother in 1667. She
   retained her charms and influence over the Emperor till his death. and
   was the darling of his old age. Under the spell of her beauty he
   pardoned the many faults of Kam Bakhsh and overlooked her freaks of
   drunkenness which must have shocked so pious a Muslim as he.  [Kam
   Baksh would be killed in the war of succession after Aurangzeb.]

Hira Bai Zainabadi

[The other notable woman in Aurangzib's life was the dancer
Hira Bai.  She was initially in the harem of his aunt's husband Mir
Khalil.  After Aurangzeb was struck by her, Mir Khalil agreed to trade
Hira Bai for a woman in the prince's harem. ]

During his viceroyalty of the Deccan [second phase, 1653-57], the prince
paid a visit to his aunt [Saliha Banu, his mother's sister] at Burhanpur.
There, while strolling in the deer park [Ahukhanah] in Zainabad on the
other side of the Tapti, he beheld Hira Bai unveiled among his aunt's
train. The artful beauty "on seeing a mango-tree laden with fruits,
advanced in mirth and amorous play, jumped up. and plucked a mango, as if
unconscious of the prince's presence."

The vision of her matchless charms stormed Aurangzib's heart in a
moment; "with shameless importunity he took her away from his aunt's
house and became utterly infatuated with her," so much so, that one day
she offered him a cup of wine and pressed him to drink it.  All his
entreaties and excuses were disregarded, and the helpless lover was
about to taste the forbidden drink when the sly enchantress snatched
away the cup from his lips and said, "My object was only to test your
love for me, and not to make you fall into the sin of drinking!" 

Death cut the story short when she was still in the bloom of
youth.  Aurangzib bitterly grieved at her loss and buried her close to
the big tank at Aurangabad.



scene from the play Begum Zainabaadi by Kshtij, based on
a Hindi novel by historical novelist Sharad Pagare.  the play
suggests that Hirabai was murdered. 
[photo: http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/12/03/stories/2010120350390300.htm ]

Young Aurangzeb in the Deccan

On 4th November, 1656, Muhammad Adil Shah, the seventh of rhe royal line
of Bijapur, died. Through the efforts of his chief minister Khan Muhammad
and the Queen Bari Sahiba, the crown was placed ou the head of Ali Adil
Shah II, a youth of l8 years, and the only son of the late king. 

Aurangzib immediately wrote to Shah Jahan, urging au invasion on the plea
that Ali was not really a son of the deceased Sultan, hut a boy of obscure
parentage whom Muhammad Adil Shah had brought up in the harem. 38

On 20th November, Shah Jahan sanctioned the invasion and gave Aurangzib a
free hand to "settle the affair of Bijapur in any way he thought fit." A
force of 20,000 troopers, partly from the Court and partly from the
jagirs, with a large staff of officers and Mir Jurnla himself was
despatched to reinforce the army of Aurangzib.

[the fort of Bidar falls after a 27 day siege in March 1657.  The fort
of Kaliani [Basavkalyan] falls in May.]

After the fall of Kaliani, the king of Bijapur opened negotiations for
peace.  Bijapuri agents intrigued at Delhi and secured the intercession of
Dara with the Emperor. It was agreed that Adil Shah would cede to the
Mughals the forts of Bidar, Kaliani and Parenda with their dependent
territories, as well as a war-indemnity of one krore of Rupees.

On these terms Shah Jahan ordered Aurangzib to make peace and to return
with his army to Bidar, while the reinforcements sent to the Deccan from
Malwa and Northern India were recalled to their former posts.  Thus
Aurangzib received a sharp check in the hour of his triumph: he had gained
only the northern fringe of the vast Bijapur kingdom when his father cried
halt to him. The Bijapuris profitcd by his distraction and weakened power
and delayed and finally refused to surrender Parenda.

To complete the misfortune of the Mughal cause in the Deccan, Shah Jahan
fell ill on 6th September and rumours of his death spread through the
empire.  Aurangzib, harassed by anxiety and distracted by conflicting
plans, began his retreat from Kaliani on 4th October, 1657.

Battle against Dara at Samugarh: May 1658

[Aurangzeb joins forces with Murad. At the Chambal, they learn that Dara
had placed guns overlooking the main fording points.  Marching 40km east
at night, they ford the river at an unguarded point.]

Dara's forces numbered about 50,000. Its backbone was composed of the
Rajput contingent and Dara's own retainers, all devoted to his
interests. But nearly half of his army belonged to the Emperor's
service, and these men could not be relied on; several of their chiefs,
notably Khalilullah Khan had been corrupted by Aurangzib.

In opposition to this host stood Aurangzib's hard-bitten troops,
seasoned veterans on seasoned horses, and his excellent train of
field-pieces handled by the European gunners of Mir Jumla.

[In the battle, Dara's vanguard charge Aurangzib-Murad forces, Rustam Khan
on Dara's left wing and Chhatra Sal Hada on the right.  The left wing is
decimated and Rustam Khan killed; Dara's son Sipihr Shikoh manages to
return with a small group {he will spend most of his life imprisoned at
Gwalior].]

[On the right wing, a group of Rajput soldiers led by Raja Ram Singh
wearing the gay yellow robes of Holi, manage to reach Murad's
elephant... Murad receives three wounds in his face ; his driver was
killed, and the flawda of his elephant bristled with arrows like the back
of a porcupine; but Aurangzib's forces came in to support, and the Rajputs
fell as they swarmed round Murad's elephant, and with their robes "made
the ground look yellow like a field of saffron!"  The Rajputs forced their
way to Aurangzib himself, but his guards prevailed over the Rajputs who
were worn out and thinned by their struggle against Murad.]

One by one all their leaders fell,- Chhatra Sal Hada, Ram Singh Rathor,
Bhim Singh Gaur and Shivaram Gaur.  Raja Rup Singh Rathor in reckless
audacity jumped down from his horse, with his drawn blade hewed a way to
the elephant of Aurangzib, and tried to cut the girths of the hawda in the
hope of hurling the prince down to the ground. He slashed the beast's leg,
but was himself cut to pieces by the bodyguard.  The rest of the Rajputs
perished. Thus both the left and right wings of Dara had been annihilated
by this time.

Dara's flight

Dara had learnt of the death of his best generals, and now Aurangzib's
troops, "like the waves of the sea, approached him with countless guns in
front of them." Their heavy and well· directed fire mowed down the troops
still around him every minute. Dara's own elephant now became "a target
for the enemy's balls," which began to carry off his personal attendants.

The wretched prince had no help but to get down from this elephant and
take horse.

At once all was over with him.  His remaining troops all over the field,
finding his hawda empty, concluded that their master had fallen. Already
they were half dead with fatigue and thirst, and now a desolating hot wind
sprang up and struck Dara's fainting troops in the face. Many of them died
of thirst, without strength to use their arms.  What still remained of the
imperial army had been only waiting for a decent pretext for flight, and
the sudden disappearance of Dara from the back of his elephant gave them
the wished for opportunity. At once the whole army broke and fled in the
utmost disorder. Dara stood almost alone, deserted by all ~ave a few
hereditary followers.  They took him out of the field to Agra.

[FN. That Dara dismounted from his elephant at a time of extreme danger,
when he had lost all hope of victory, is assertcd by A. N. (104), Aquil
(48), Masum (63b), and Kambu (15a). These contemporary and first-rate
authorities refute the bazar gossip reproduced by Manucci and Bernier that
Dara changed his elephant for a horse at the treacherous advice of
Khalilullah Khan at a time when he had almost completely defeated
Aurangzib, and that this act on the part of Dara turned his assured
victory into a rout.  (Storia, i. 281-282 : Bernier, 53-54, also
Ishwardas, 24a-25b.)]

Economic drain of Aurangzib's ceaseless warfare in the Deccan

In a predominantly agricultural country like India, the tillers of the
soil are the only source of national wealth.  Directly or indirectly,
the land alone adds to the "annual national stock."... Hence, the ruin
of the peasants means in India the ruin of the non-agricultural classes
too.  Pauvres paysans pauvre royaume, is even truer of India than of
France. Public peace and security of property are necessary not only for
the peasant and the artisan, but also for the trader, who has to carry
his goods over wide distances and give long credits before he can find a
profitable market. 420

The economic drain caused by Aurangzib's quarter century of warfare in the
Deccan was appalling in its character and most far-reaching and durable in
its effect.  The operations of the imperial armies, especially their
numerous sieges, led to a total destruction of forests and grass.

The huge Mughal forces, totalling 1,70,000 troops according to the
official records with perhaps ten times that number of non-combatants,
soon ate up everything green wherever they moved. In addition, the Maratha
raiders destroyed whatever they could not carry off,- feeding their horses
on the standing crops, and burning the houses and property too heavy to be
removed.  Hence, it is no wonder that when at last in 1705 Aurangzib
retired after his last campaign, the country presented a scene of utter
desolation. "He left behind him the fields of these provinces devoid of
trees and bare of corps, their places being taken by the bones of men and
beasts."  (Manucci).  This total and extensive deforestation had a most
injurious effect on agriculture.  The financial exhaustion of the empire
in these endless wars left Government and private owners alike too poor to
repair the buildings and roads worn out by the lapse of time.

The labouring population suffered not only from violent capture, forced
labour, and starvation, but also from epidemics which were very frequent
during these campaigns.  Even in the imperial camp, where greater comfort,
security and civilization might have been expected, the annual wastage of
the Deccan wars was one lakh of men, and three lakhs of horses, oxen,
camels and elephants.  At the siege of Golkonda (1687) a famine broke out.
"In Haidarabad city the houses, river and plain were filled with the
dead. The same was the condition of the imperial camp ...... Kos after kos
the eye fell only on mounds of corpses. The incessant rain melted away the
flesh and skin ...... After some months when the rains ceased, the white
ridges of bones looked from a distance like hills of snow."

The same desolation overtook tracts which had hitherto enjoyed peace and
prosperity.  The acute observer Bhimsen writes about the Eastern Karnatak,
"During the rule of the Bijapur Golkonda and Telinga [dynasties] this
country was extensively cultivated. But now many places have been turned
into wilderness on account of the passage of the imperial armies, which
have inflicted hardship and oppression on the people." And he noticed the
same thing in Berar also.

In 1688, Bijapur was visited by a desolating epidemic of bubonic plague,
which is estimated to have carried off a hundred thousand lives in three
months. So, too, we read of a plague in Prince Azam's camp in
Aug. 1694. The English factotum at Surat report similar devastating
epidemics throughout Western India in 1694 and 1696 (when 95,000 men
perished). To take one example only, the drought and piague of 1702-04
killed two millions of men.

In addition to disease, great natural calamities like flood, drought and
excessive and unseasonable rainfall were frequent in the Deccan at the
beginning of the 18th century, which aggravated the sufferings of invaders
and natives alike and still further reduced the population. The state o£
war, spread over nearly a generation of time, had left no savings, no
power of resistance in the common people; everything they produced or had
stored up was swept away by the hordes on both sides, so that when famine
or drought came, the peasants and landless labourers perished helplessly
like flies.  Scarcity was chronic in the imperial camp and often deepened
into famine. The former remarkable cheapness of grain now became a
forgotten myth in many parts of India.

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