Aurangzeb 1618 - 1658 - 1707
Aurangzeb was an intolerant religious (Muslim) zealot and kill-joy. He forbade music, put a stop to Mughal painting and left behind none of the architectural wonders that earlier members of his dynasty had produced.
The Hindus and Sikhs fared even worse, with suppression, destruction of temples, the reintroduction of a poll tax and public executions.
Just a generally unpleasant little man as far as most of the population were concerned, and it is not surprising that his 50 year reign was the beginning of the end for the Mughal dynasty.
The Hindus and Sikhs fared even worse, with suppression, destruction of temples, the reintroduction of a poll tax and public executions.
Just a generally unpleasant little man as far as most of the population were concerned, and it is not surprising that his 50 year reign was the beginning of the end for the Mughal dynasty.
This photo of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore was taken by Grandmother Paradox in 1922. The mosque, also known as The Emperor's Mosque, was built by Aurangzeb and completed in 1673. Grandmother had been told that it was Jahangir's Tomb, which it is how it is titled in her little photo album and how we originally described it here - our thanks to an astute paradoxplace visitor for picking this up and letting us know.
In 1739, India was invaded by the legendary Iranian soldier Nadir Shah. Despite having superior numbers, the Mughal forces were defeated by the Persians. Later, after an attempt was made on Nadir Shah's life, the Persian forces retaliated with a bloody vengeance and sacked Delhi in the style of the Venetian led 4th Crusade's sack of Constantinople 500 years earlier in 1203. Amongst the loot they took was the famous Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan.
In 1756 the Nawab of Bengal, aged 27 and wanting to register his dislike of British administration, captured Calcutta from the British East India Company. Amongst other things he imprisoned 146 Brits in a 20' square airless cellar, and by the next morning all but 23 were dead and the "Black Hole of Calcutta" had sealed the Nawab's and India's fates.
Robert Clive's forces beat the Nawab decisively at the Battle of Plassey the next year (June 23 1757), and Clive became the first British Governor of Bengal. Actually the so called (and famous) "battle" lasted only a couple of hours, if that, as many of the Nawab's soldiers had previously been bribed to throw away their weapons and surrender prematurely.
Jawaharlal Nehru, in "The Discovery of India" (1946), pointedly describes Clive as having won the battle "by promoting treason and forgery", and notes that British rule in India had "an unsavoury beginning and something of that bitter taste has clung to it ever since."
Another commentator states that "Clive thought of the battle as the climax to his career, a striking testimony to the extraordinary shallowness of his character ..... but in one fundamental respect, the battle of Plassey signified the state of things to come: few British victories were achieved without the use of bribes, and few promises made by the British were ever kept."
In 1756 the Nawab of Bengal, aged 27 and wanting to register his dislike of British administration, captured Calcutta from the British East India Company. Amongst other things he imprisoned 146 Brits in a 20' square airless cellar, and by the next morning all but 23 were dead and the "Black Hole of Calcutta" had sealed the Nawab's and India's fates.
Robert Clive's forces beat the Nawab decisively at the Battle of Plassey the next year (June 23 1757), and Clive became the first British Governor of Bengal. Actually the so called (and famous) "battle" lasted only a couple of hours, if that, as many of the Nawab's soldiers had previously been bribed to throw away their weapons and surrender prematurely.
Jawaharlal Nehru, in "The Discovery of India" (1946), pointedly describes Clive as having won the battle "by promoting treason and forgery", and notes that British rule in India had "an unsavoury beginning and something of that bitter taste has clung to it ever since."
Another commentator states that "Clive thought of the battle as the climax to his career, a striking testimony to the extraordinary shallowness of his character ..... but in one fundamental respect, the battle of Plassey signified the state of things to come: few British victories were achieved without the use of bribes, and few promises made by the British were ever kept."
Anyway, after this the already fracturing Mughal Empire started to crumble, and before too long was reduced to a symbolic presence in Northern India until, 100 years after Plassey and in the wake of the Indian Mutiny, the British took over everything and the last Mughal Emperor (Bahadur Shah Zafar II (1775 - 1862 (87)) (below - portrait c1854 in Lahore Fort - taken from the excellent book "The Last Mughal" by William Dalrymple), hiding in Humayun's tomb in Delhi, was run to earth by Lieutenant Hodson.
No comments:
Post a Comment