Muhi al-Din Muhammad (3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb,[f] and also by his regnal name Alamgir I,[g][h] was the sixth Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707.

In September 1657, Shah Jahan nominated his eldest and liberalist son Dara Shikoh as his successor, a move repudiated by Aurangzeb, who proclaimed himself emperor in February 1658.

[25] Aurangzeb was nominally in charge of the force sent to Bundelkhand with the intent of subduing the rebellious ruler of Orchha, Jhujhar Singh, who had attacked another territory in defiance of Shah Jahan's policy and was refusing to atone for his actions.

[14][15] That same year, Aurangzeb dispatched an army to subdue the Portuguese coastal fortress of Daman, however his forces met stubborn resistance and were eventually repulsed at the end of a long siege.

[citation needed] It is recorded that during the battle against the Uzbeks during this campaign, Aurangzeb dismounted from his elephant ride to recite prayer to the surprise of the opposing force commander.

The logistical problems of supplying an army at the extremity of the empire, combined with the poor quality of armaments and the intransigence of the opposition have been cited by John Richards as the reasons for failure.

"[53] Marc Gaborieau, professor of Indian studies at l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales,[54] explains that "The loyalties of [officials and their armed contingents] seem to have been motivated more by their own interests, the closeness of the family relation and above all the charisma of the pretenders than by ideological divides.

Subsequently, these younger sons took military actions seemingly in response but it is not known whether these preparations were made in the mistaken belief that the rumours of death of Shah Jahan were true and that Dara might be hiding it for political gain, or whether the challengers were taking advantage of the situation.

While Shah Shuja was defeated at Banares in February 1658, the army sent to deal with Murad discovered to their surprise that he and Aurangzeb had combined their forces,[55] the two brothers having agreed to partition the empire once they had gained control of it.

The army sent against Shuja was trapped in the east, its generals Jai Singh and Dilir Khan submitted to Aurangzeb, but Dara's son, Suleiman Shikoh, escaped.

[81] Historian Katherine Brown has noted that "The very name of Aurangzeb seems to act in the popular imagination as a signifier of politico-religious bigotry and repression, regardless of historical accuracy."

[86] The chief qazi refusing to crown him in 1659, Aurangzeb had a political need to present himself as a "defender of the sharia" due to popular opposition to his actions against his father and brothers.

[91][92][93] Aurangzeb had also banned the celebration of the Zoroastrian festival of Nauroz along with other un-Islamic ceremonies, and encouraged conversions to Islam; instances of persecution against particular Muslim factions were also reported.

[100][101][102] The specific amount varied with the socioeconomic status of a subject and tax-collection were often waived for regions hit by calamities; also, Brahmins, women, children, elders, the handicapped, the unemployed, the ill, and the insane were all perpetually exempted.

[100] A majority of modern scholars reject that religious bigotry influenced the imposition; rather, realpolitik – economic constraints as a result of multiple ongoing battles and establishment of credence with the orthodox Ulemas – are held to be primary agents.

[115] After the Jat rebellion in Mathura (early 1670), which killed the patron of the town-mosque, Aurangzeb suppressed the rebels and ordered for the city's Kesava Deo temple to be demolished, and replaced with an Eidgah.

[115] The Jama Masjid at Golkunda was similarly treated, after it was found that its ruler had built it to hide revenues from the state; however desecration of mosques are rare due to their complete lack of political capital contra temples.

[127] The 32nd Da'i al-Mutlaq (Absolute Missionary) of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Musta'lī Islam Syedna Qutubkhan Qutubuddin was executed by Aurangzeb, then governor of Gujarat, for heresy; on 27 Jumadil Akhir 1056 AH (1648 AD), Ahmedabad, India.

[133] In 1663, during his visit to Ladakh, Aurangzeb established direct control over that part of the empire and loyal subjects such as Deldan Namgyal agreed to pledge tribute and loyalty.

Eventually, Aurangzeb and his forces managed to penetrate the walls by capturing a gate, and their entry into the fort led Abul Hasan Qutb Shah to surrender; he died after twelve years of Mughal imprisonment.

When news of the capture reached the mainland, a livid Aurangzeb nearly ordered an armed attack against the English-governed city of Bombay, though he finally agreed to compromise after the Company promised to pay financial reparations, estimated at £600,000 by the Mughal authorities.

The delegation reportedly presented several valuable offerings to the Mughal Emperor, such as slaves, ivory, horses, a set of intricately adorned silver pocket pistols, a zebra and various other exotic gifts.

François Bernier, describes the presents as consisting of: :“twenty-five choice slaves, nine or ten of whom were of a tender age and in a state to be made eunuchs [...]; fifteen horses, esteemed equal to those of Arabia, and a species of mule, whose skin I have seen: no tiger is so beautifully marked, and no alacha [a piece of cloth] of the Indies, or stripped silken stuff, is more finely and variously streaked; a couple of elephant’s teeth [i. e. tusks], of a size so prodigious that it required, it seems, the utmost exertion of a strong man to lift either of them from the ground; and lastly, the horn of an ox, filled with civet, which was indeed enormously large, for I measured the mouth of it at Delhy, and found that it exceeded half a foot in diameter”[186]After 1679, the Tibetans invaded Ladakh, which was in the Mughal sphere of influence.

[187] Aurangzeb received an embassy from Muhammad Amin Khan of Chagatai Moghulistan in 1690, seeking assistance in driving out "Qirkhiz infidels" (meaning the Buddhist Dzungars), who "had acquired dominance over the country".

[208] In 1657, while Aurangzeb attacked Golconda and Bijapur in the Deccan, the Hindu Maratha warrior, Shivaji, used guerrilla tactics to take control of three Adil Shahi forts formerly under his father's command.

Though the Mughals managed to regain Guwahati briefly after a later Borphukan deserted it, the Ahoms wrested control in the battle of Itakhuli in 1682 and maintained it till the end of their rule.

Approached by Kashmiri Pandits to help them retain their faith and avoid forced religious conversions, Guru Tegh Bahadur sent a message to the emperor that if he could convert Teg Bagadur to Islam, every Hindu will become a Muslim.

Switching to diplomacy and bribery along with force of arms, the Mughals eventually split the rebels and partially suppressed the revolt, although they never managed to wield effective authority outside the main trade route.

[254][255][256][257][258][259] G. N. Moin Shakir and Sarma Festschrift argue that he often used political opposition as pretext for religious persecution,[257] and that, as a result, groups of Jats, Marathas, Sikhs, Satnamis and Pashtuns rose against him.

Some argue that his policies abandoned his predecessors' legacy of pluralism and religious tolerance, citing his introduction of the jizya tax and other policies based on Islamic ethics; his demolition of Hindu temples; the executions of his elder brother Dara Shikoh, King Sambhaji of Maratha[261][262] and Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur[263][264][k] and the prohibition and supervision of behaviour and activities that are forbidden in Islam such as gambling, fornication, and consumption of alcohol and narcotics.