Aurangzeb, pious man, failed emperor.

10 minutes ago

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It's a great tragedy that we ignore or forget noble and good people, usually after getting rid of them.

A greater tragedy is that we routinely glorify and honour people who have murdered millions, ravaged lands, savaged people and destroyed civilisations. We call them Conquerors, Emperors, Great, Magnificent, etc.

Some misguided and misinformed people hail Abdul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, alias 'Aurangzeb', as a great ruler. They claim he was pious and a man of god, simply because of acts like weaving and selling prayer caps to pay for his own funeral.

How sad it is that we consider hatred, intolerance and cruel persecution as piety.

He took the title 'Alamgir Aurangzeb'. 'Alamgir', which means 'world seizer' and 'Aurangzeb', meaning the throne of wisdom/understanding.

Though he was a brave warrior and had some talents, historical facts fail to reveal any wisdom or understanding in this terrible man.

To Aurangzeb's credit, he was cruel to all his subjects, even the Muslims, but he focused his viciousness on the Sikhs and Hindus. Not only was he a cruel bigot, but he also perfected an entire culture based on hatred and intolerance that casts its horrible shadow over the entire Indian subcontinent even today.

Aurangzeb, a man who imprisoned and killed his father, slaughtered all his brothers, uncles and nephews, deserves to be scorned. Waging relentless wars of aggression and acts of destruction, he depleted the fantastically rich treasury he inherited.

He used the state machinery and his personal zeal to contribute to the massive spread of intolerance, hatred and persecution of Hindus and non-Sunni Muslims, even more fanatically than his notorious predecessors.

Many Historians have documented evidence of Aurangzeb's cruelty and atrocities. For example, independent researcher and statistician Matthew White reports in his book, The 100 Deadliest Episodes in Human History, that Aurangzeb's reign was ranked 23rd in the 100 deadliest episodes of atrocities in human history.

Aurangzeb slaughtered more than 4.6 million Indians by his own command and proudly documented and autographed all such murders.

According to Muslim historian Firishta [Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, 1560 -1620], author of the Tarikh-i Firishta and the Gulshan-i Ibrahim, who wrote based on recorded facts of the various courts, over 800-years (by the mid 1500's) about 100 million Hindus were killed in a genocide by Muslim invaders and occupiers. Historian K.S. Lal estimates the figure at 60 to 80 million over 525 years from 1000 to 1525.

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire;

Aurangzeb gave India and her people only misery. His actions forced the formerly docile and tolerant subjects of the empire to rise against him and Islamic rule. All these actions led to the bankruptcy and consequent downfall of the Mughal Empire þo be succeeded by the Maratha Empire. Aurangzeb's actions paved the way for a new wave of invaders and eventual colonisation.

What we sow, so shall we reap. The seeds of arrogance, intolerance, hatred and inhumanity can only yield the bitter fruit of destruction and misery for all but most for the perpetrator himself.

Aurangzeb was an evil man, unfit to be honoured as a great emperor. Hence he is rightly vilified and remembered only as a horrible tyrant, named Abdul Muzaffar Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad. At age 92, at the fag end of his life, he awoke to the true value of his achievements, which amounted to nothing.