Aurangzeb & the Decline of the Mughal Empire

Why This Chapter Matters

SSC and RRB papers love Aurangzeb because he sits at the hinge point of the syllabus: the last of the "Great Mughals" and the start of the empire's fall. Expect 2 to 4 questions from this chapter in a typical SSC CGL/CHSL General Awareness set, and similar numbers in RRB NTPC. Questions cluster on four points: the war of succession and the Battle of Samugarh, the reimposition of jizya (1679), his conflict with Shivaji (Shivaji's escape from Agra, 1666) and later Sambhaji's execution, and the list of causes for Mughal decline that examiners ask as "which of the following is NOT a reason" type questions.

The later Mughals (Bahadur Shah I onward) rarely get their own dedicated question, but their names and rough dates show up in "arrange in chronological order" questions, so this chapter gives you a working list even though the detailed 18th-century collapse belongs more to the run-up covered in the Modern India book.

1. The War of Succession (1657–1659)

Shah Jahan fell seriously ill in September 1657. Mughal succession had no fixed law of primogeniture, so all four of his sons by Mumtaz Mahal, Dara Shikoh, Shuja, Aurangzeb, and Murad Baksh, moved to claim the throne.

Dara Shikoh, the eldest, was Shah Jahan's favourite and held Agra with him. He had translated the Upanishads into Persian (the Sirr-i-Akbar) and was seen as liberal in religious outlook. Shuja was governor of Bengal, Murad Baksh of Gujarat, and Aurangzeb of the Deccan.

Key battles of the succession war:

• Battle of Dharmat (1658): Aurangzeb, allied with Murad Baksh, defeated Jaswant Singh of Marwar, who was fighting for Dara.
• Battle of Samugarh (1658): Aurangzeb and Murad defeated Dara Shikoh near Agra. This was the decisive battle. Dara fled westward.
• Aurangzeb then imprisoned Shah Jahan in the Agra Fort in 1658, where the old emperor lived under house arrest until his death in 1666.
• Aurangzeb had Murad Baksh arrested (1658) and later executed (1661) once he was no longer useful.
• Dara Shikoh was captured, paraded through Delhi, and executed in 1659 on a charge of apostasy.
• Shuja was pursued into Arakan (present Myanmar) and disappears from record after 1660, believed killed.

Aurangzeb crowned himself emperor at Delhi in 1658 with the title Alamgir ("world seizer"), and held a second, grander coronation in 1659 after eliminating his rivals. His reign lasted nearly 49 years (1658–1707), the longest of any Mughal ruler.

2. Aurangzeb's Early Reign and Personality

Aurangzeb was a capable general and an unusually disciplined administrator. He worked long hours, avoided the lavish court ceremonial his father loved, and lived simply compared to earlier Mughals. He knew the Quran by heart and copied it in his own hand.

But his reign also marks a shift in style: less patronage of syncretic culture, tighter religious orthodoxy in state policy, and continuous, ruinous warfare in the Deccan during his last 25 years. Exam-writers frame him as the ruler under whom expansion (the empire reached its largest territorial extent, covering nearly the whole subcontinent by 1690s) and decline (financial exhaustion, administrative breakdown) happened at the same time.

3. Religious Policy

This is the single most tested theme from Aurangzeb's reign. Remember the general direction: reversal of Akbar-style tolerance, in favour of stricter orthodox Sunni Islamic administration.

Key measures:

• Jizya reimposed (1679): Akbar had abolished this tax on non-Muslims in 1564. Aurangzeb brought it back in 1679, a fact SSC asks directly with the year.
• Ban on construction of new Hindu temples, and destruction of some existing temples in specific political contexts (for example, action connected to the Kashi Vishwanath temple at Varanasi and the Keshava Rai temple at Mathura, both associated with 1669–1670 orders).
• Abolition of certain customs duties concessions that had favoured Hindu merchants, though some economic historians note his overall land revenue policy did not target Hindus as a class.
• Ban on court music and painting patronage was reduced, though this was not absolute and varied through his reign.
• Celebration of Hindu festivals at court, common under Akbar and Jahangir, was discouraged.
• He appointed muhtasibs (censors of public morals) to enforce Islamic conduct in towns.

At the same time, Aurangzeb continued to employ Rajputs and other Hindus in his administration and army; the mansabdari system remained open to them. Exam-relevant nuance: his policy was a mix of orthodoxy in state symbolism and pragmatism in personnel, and "he banned all Hindus from his administration" is a wrong-option trap you should recognise.

4. Aurangzeb and the Rajputs

Relations with Rajput states, generally cooperative under Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, worsened sharply.

• Marwar (Jodhpur) succession dispute (1679 onward): When Raja Jaswant Singh of Marwar died in 1678 without a surviving adult heir, Aurangzeb tried to bring Marwar under direct Mughal control rather than recognise the infant Ajit Singh. This triggered the Rathore rebellion, led by Durgadas Rathore, who protected the infant Ajit Singh.
• Mewar joined the Rathores against Aurangzeb in what is called the Rajput Rebellion (1679–1681).
• Aurangzeb's son Prince Akbar rebelled against his father during this conflict and allied briefly with the Rajputs and later fled to the Deccan and then to Persia.
• The prolonged Rajput conflict tied down Mughal resources and damaged the traditional Mughal-Rajput alliance that had been a pillar of imperial stability since Akbar's reign.

5. The Deccan Wars and Maratha Conflict

The Deccan dominated the last 25 years of Aurangzeb's reign (from around 1682 until his death in 1707), and he personally camped there for this entire period, never returning to Delhi or Agra.

5.1 Shivaji and Aurangzeb

Shivaji Bhonsle (see Chapter 13 for his full career) built a Maratha kingdom in the Western Ghats through the mid-17th century. His clashes with the Mughals began under Shah Jahan's Deccan viceroyalty and intensified once Aurangzeb became emperor.

• 1665: The Mughal general Raja Jai Singh I of Amber besieged Shivaji's forts and forced the Treaty of Purandar (1665), under which Shivaji surrendered 23 forts to the Mughals and agreed to visit the Mughal court.
• 1666: Shivaji visited Aurangzeb's court at Agra, was allegedly insulted by being placed among lower-ranking nobles, and was placed under house arrest. He famously escaped from Agra in 1666, hidden in a basket of sweets according to popular tradition, and made his way back to Maharashtra. This escape is a favourite SSC fact.
• 1674: Shivaji crowned himself Chhatrapati at Raigad, asserting sovereign, independent kingship rather than Mughal vassalage.
• Shivaji died in 1680. His son Sambhaji succeeded him.

5.2 Sambhaji and the escalation

• Sambhaji continued resistance to the Mughals through the 1680s.
• He gave shelter to the rebel Prince Akbar (Aurangzeb's son) for a time, which deepened Aurangzeb's hostility.
• Aurangzeb personally led the final Mughal campaign into the Deccan from 1682, aiming to crush both the Marathas and the remaining Deccan sultanates.
• 1686–1687: Aurangzeb annexed the two major Deccan Sultanates that had survived from the Bahmani break-up, Bijapur (1686) and Golconda (1687). This removed the buffer states between Mughal territory and Maratha lands and brought Mughal power into direct, permanent conflict with the Marathas.
• 1689: Sambhaji was captured by Mughal forces, tortured, and executed on Aurangzeb's orders. This did not end Maratha resistance; it hardened it. Sambhaji's brother Rajaram and later Sambhaji's widow Tarabai kept up guerrilla resistance from forts and mobile columns for years, a war the Mughals never fully won.
• Aurangzeb spent his final two decades besieging Maratha forts one by one, at enormous cost in money and men, without ever destroying Maratha power. Historians call this prolonged, inconclusive Deccan campaign one of the biggest drains on the Mughal treasury and army.

6. Why the Mughal Empire Declined After Aurangzeb

This is the most examined theme of the chapter, usually as "which factor is NOT responsible" or "arrange factors" style questions. Learn these as a list.

1. Prolonged Deccan wars: 25 years of continuous campaigning against the Marathas and Deccan Sultanates drained the treasury and exhausted the army without a decisive Mughal victory.
2. Weak and short-reigned successors: After Aurangzeb, the throne changed hands rapidly among weak rulers, none able to command the loyalty Akbar or Aurangzeb once had.
3. No clear law of succession: Every succession meant a war among princes, as seen already in 1657–1659. This recurring pattern kept repeating and weakening central authority each time.
4. Rise of regional powers: The Marathas, the Sikhs in Punjab, the Jats around Agra-Mathura, and the Rajputs all grew stronger as Mughal central control weakened, carving out autonomy or independent territory.
5. Decline of the mansabdari and jagirdari system: Expansion under Aurangzeb meant far more mansabdars than the empire had jagirs (revenue assignments) to support, a problem historians call the "jagirdari crisis". This bred corruption and discontent among nobles.
6. Economic strain: Constant warfare meant heavy taxation without matching productivity gains, and peasant revolts (Jat and Satnami uprisings during Aurangzeb's own reign are examples) followed.
7. Weakening of the alliance system: Aurangzeb's harder line with Rajputs removed a support base earlier emperors had carefully built.
8. Foreign invasions in the 18th century: Nadir Shah's invasion (1739, sack of Delhi, took the Peacock Throne and Koh-i-Noor) and Ahmad Shah Abdali's repeated invasions (1748–1767) further crippled the later Mughals. These fall slightly beyond this chapter's core scope but are worth remembering as the visible symptoms of decline.
9. Rise of the English East India Company and other European trading companies: Their growing commercial and, later, political footholds exploited Mughal weakness, a process the Modern India book covers in detail from 1757 (Battle of Plassey) onward.

Aurangzeb himself is debated by historians: some blame his religious and Deccan policies directly for the decline, others argue the empire's problems (over-extension, the jagirdari crisis, a succession system prone to civil war) were structural and would have surfaced under any ruler. For exam purposes, know both the specific Aurangzeb-era causes and the general structural causes as a combined list.

7. Later Mughals — Brief List

After Aurangzeb's death in 1707 at Ahmadnagar, the throne passed through a rapid, unstable line of emperors. You do not need deep detail on each, but the names and rough order come up in sequencing questions.

Emperor	Approx. reign	One key fact
Bahadur Shah I (Muazzam)	1707–1712	Aurangzeb's son; tried to conciliate Rajputs and Marathas; also called Shah Alam I
Jahandar Shah	1712–1713	Weak ruler, dominated by noble Zulfiqar Khan
Farrukhsiyar	1713–1719	Placed on the throne by the powerful Sayyid Brothers ("king-makers"); granted trading privileges to the English East India Company in 1717
Muhammad Shah "Rangila"	1719–1748	Long but weak reign; Nadir Shah's invasion and sack of Delhi occurred in 1739 during his rule
Ahmad Shah Bahadur	1748–1754	Faced repeated Abdali invasions
Alamgir II	1754–1759	Murdered by his own wazir
Shah Alam II	1759–1806	Present in name at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) period; later became a pensioner figure, effectively controlled by regional powers and eventually the British; his reign bridges into the Modern India period

By the mid-18th century, the Mughal emperor's real authority barely extended beyond Delhi, a state summed up by a later popular saying about the emperor's writ running "from Delhi to Palam." The empire's political and military weight had shifted to the Marathas, Sikhs, Rajputs, Nawabs of Bengal and Awadh, and increasingly the English East India Company. That transition into colonial dominance is where the Modern India book picks up the story.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• War of succession fought among Dara Shikoh, Shuja, Aurangzeb, and Murad Baksh, 1657–1659.
• Battle of Dharmat (1658): Aurangzeb-Murad defeated Jaswant Singh, who fought for Dara.
• Battle of Samugarh (1658): decisive battle where Aurangzeb defeated Dara Shikoh.
• Shah Jahan was imprisoned in Agra Fort by Aurangzeb from 1658 until his death in 1666.
• Dara Shikoh was executed in 1659 on a charge of apostasy; he had translated the Upanishads (Sirr-i-Akbar).
• Murad Baksh was executed in 1661; Shuja died fleeing into Arakan around 1660.
• Aurangzeb took the title Alamgir and reigned 1658–1707, the longest Mughal reign.
• Jizya, abolished by Akbar in 1564, was reimposed by Aurangzeb in 1679.
• Aurangzeb appointed muhtasibs to enforce public morality.
• Marwar succession dispute after Jaswant Singh's death (1678) led to the Rathore rebellion led by Durgadas Rathore.
• The Rajput Rebellion (1679–1681) saw Mewar and Marwar unite against Aurangzeb.
• Prince Akbar, Aurangzeb's son, rebelled and fled to the Deccan and then Persia.
• Raja Jai Singh I forced Shivaji to sign the Treaty of Purandar in 1665.
• Shivaji visited Aurangzeb's court at Agra in 1666, was placed under house arrest, and escaped the same year.
• Shivaji crowned himself Chhatrapati at Raigad in 1674.
• Shivaji died in 1680; his son Sambhaji succeeded him.
• Aurangzeb annexed Bijapur in 1686 and Golconda in 1687, ending the last major Deccan Sultanates.
• Sambhaji was captured and executed by Aurangzeb's forces in 1689.
• After Sambhaji, Rajaram and then Tarabai led continued Maratha resistance from Maratha forts.
• Aurangzeb spent the last 25 years of his reign (from 1682) camped in the Deccan.
• The "jagirdari crisis" refers to too many mansabdars competing for too few available jagirs under Aurangzeb.
• Aurangzeb died in 1707 at Ahmadnagar.
• Bahadur Shah I (Shah Alam I) ruled 1707–1712, right after Aurangzeb.
• The Sayyid Brothers acted as "king-makers" during Farrukhsiyar's reign (1713–1719).
• Farrukhsiyar granted major trading concessions to the English East India Company in 1717.
• Nadir Shah invaded and sacked Delhi in 1739, during Muhammad Shah's reign, taking the Peacock Throne.
• Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded India repeatedly between 1748 and 1767.
• Shah Alam II's reign (1759–1806) overlaps with the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) and the rise of British power.
• Causes of Mughal decline include weak successors, no fixed succession law, prolonged Deccan wars, the jagirdari crisis, and rising regional powers such as the Marathas, Sikhs, and Jats.

Memory Tables

Table 1: Key events of Aurangzeb's reign

Year	Event
1658	Battle of Samugarh; Aurangzeb imprisons Shah Jahan; first coronation
1659	Second, formal coronation; Dara Shikoh executed
1661	Murad Baksh executed
1665	Treaty of Purandar between Shivaji and Jai Singh I
1666	Shivaji's Agra visit, house arrest, and escape; Shah Jahan dies in captivity
1674	Shivaji's coronation as Chhatrapati at Raigad
1679	Jizya reimposed; Rajput Rebellion begins
1680	Death of Shivaji; Sambhaji becomes Maratha ruler
1686	Annexation of Bijapur
1687	Annexation of Golconda
1689	Execution of Sambhaji
1707	Death of Aurangzeb at Ahmadnagar

Table 2: Later Mughal emperors after Aurangzeb

Emperor	Reign	Associated fact
Bahadur Shah I	1707–1712	Aurangzeb's son, sought peace with Rajputs/Marathas
Jahandar Shah	1712–1713	Dominated by noble Zulfiqar Khan
Farrukhsiyar	1713–1719	Placed by Sayyid Brothers; 1717 trade concessions to English
Muhammad Shah	1719–1748	Nadir Shah's sack of Delhi, 1739
Ahmad Shah Bahadur	1748–1754	Faced Abdali's invasions
Alamgir II	1754–1759	Murdered by his own wazir
Shah Alam II	1759–1806	Reign spans Third Battle of Panipat, 1761

Table 3: Causes of Mughal decline after Aurangzeb

Cause	Explanation
Weak successors	No emperor after Aurangzeb matched his administrative or military capacity
No fixed succession law	Every transition triggered a war among princes
Deccan wars	25 years of costly, inconclusive campaigns against the Marathas
Jagirdari crisis	Too many mansabdars, too few jagirs to assign
Rise of regional powers	Marathas, Sikhs, Jats, Rajputs, and Bengal/Awadh Nawabs grew autonomous
Foreign invasions	Nadir Shah (1739) and Ahmad Shah Abdali (1748–1767) exposed Mughal weakness
European trading companies	English East India Company expanded influence as central authority weakened

Practice MCQs

Q1. In which battle of the war of succession did Aurangzeb decisively defeat Dara Shikoh? (a) Battle of Dharmat (b) Battle of Samugarh (c) Battle of Khanwa (d) Battle of Talikota

Q2. Aurangzeb kept Shah Jahan imprisoned until his death in which fort? (a) Red Fort, Delhi (b) Gwalior Fort (c) Agra Fort (d) Daulatabad Fort

Q3. Which prince, executed in 1659, had translated the Upanishads into Persian as the Sirr-i-Akbar? (a) Murad Baksh (b) Shuja (c) Dara Shikoh (d) Prince Akbar

Q4. In which year did Aurangzeb reimpose the jizya tax that Akbar had abolished? (a) 1666 (b) 1674 (c) 1679 (d) 1689

Q5. The Treaty of Purandar (1665) was signed between Shivaji and which Mughal general? (a) Shaista Khan (b) Raja Jai Singh I (c) Jaswant Singh (d) Zulfiqar Khan

Q6. Shivaji is said to have escaped from Mughal custody at Agra in which year? (a) 1665 (b) 1666 (c) 1674 (d) 1680

Q7. Which of the following pairs of Deccan Sultanates were annexed by Aurangzeb in 1686 and 1687 respectively? (a) Ahmadnagar and Berar (b) Bijapur and Golconda (c) Bidar and Ahmadnagar (d) Golconda and Bidar

Q8. Sambhaji, son of Shivaji, was captured and executed on Aurangzeb's orders in which year? (a) 1680 (b) 1685 (c) 1689 (d) 1695

Q9. Who led Maratha resistance immediately after Sambhaji's execution, followed later by Tarabai? (a) Balaji Vishwanath (b) Rajaram (c) Shahu (d) Baji Rao I

Q10. Which rebellion arose from the Mughal attempt to control the Marwar succession after Jaswant Singh's death in 1678? (a) Jat rebellion (b) Satnami rebellion (c) Rathore rebellion (d) Sikh uprising

Q11. Arrange the following in chronological order: 1. Execution of Sambhaji 2. Reimposition of jizya 3. Battle of Samugarh 4. Shivaji's coronation at Raigad (a) 3-2-4-1 (b) 3-4-2-1 (c) 2-3-4-1 (d) 3-2-1-4

Q12. Which Mughal emperor's reign saw Nadir Shah's invasion and the sack of Delhi in 1739? (a) Bahadur Shah I (b) Farrukhsiyar (c) Muhammad Shah (d) Ahmad Shah Bahadur

Q13. The "Sayyid Brothers," known as king-makers, were most powerful during the reign of which emperor? (a) Jahandar Shah (b) Farrukhsiyar (c) Muhammad Shah (d) Alamgir II

Q14. Which of the following is generally NOT considered a cause of Mughal decline after Aurangzeb? (a) Absence of a fixed law of succession (b) Prolonged and costly Deccan wars (c) The jagirdari crisis of too many mansabdars for too few jagirs (d) Abolition of the mansabdari system by Akbar

Q15. Aurangzeb crowned himself emperor and adopted which title? (a) Jahangir (b) Alamgir (c) Shah Jahan (d) Bahadur Shah

Answer Key

Q	Answer	One-line reason
1	(b)	Battle of Samugarh (1658) was the decisive defeat of Dara Shikoh
2	(c)	Aurangzeb held Shah Jahan under house arrest in Agra Fort, 1658–1666
3	(c)	Dara Shikoh authored the Sirr-i-Akbar, a Persian translation of the Upanishads
4	(c)	Jizya was reimposed by Aurangzeb in 1679, having been abolished by Akbar in 1564
5	(b)	Raja Jai Singh I forced the Treaty of Purandar on Shivaji in 1665
6	(b)	Shivaji escaped Mughal custody at Agra in 1666, the year after his 1665 treaty
7	(b)	Bijapur was annexed in 1686 and Golconda in 1687
8	(c)	Sambhaji was captured and executed in 1689
9	(b)	Rajaram, Sambhaji's brother, led resistance after 1689, followed later by Tarabai
10	(c)	The Rathore rebellion, led by Durgadas Rathore, followed the Marwar succession dispute
11	(b)	Correct order: Samugarh (1658), Raigad coronation (1674), jizya reimposed (1679), Sambhaji executed (1689)
12	(c)	Nadir Shah sacked Delhi in 1739 during Muhammad Shah's reign
13	(b)	The Sayyid Brothers placed and controlled Farrukhsiyar (1713–1719)
14	(d)	Akbar never abolished the mansabdari system; it continued and later suffered a resource crisis under Aurangzeb
15	(b)	Aurangzeb adopted the title Alamgir, meaning "world seizer"