In 'Understanding Mughal India', Meena Bhargava writes about how Aurangzeb patronised several Hindu institutions & was supported in the war of succession by Rajputs.
After the Battle of Chamkaur in 1704, the Khalsa founder penned 111 verses in Persian that praised God, criticised the Mughal emperor and detailed the battle.
Controversial Indologist Audrey Truschke says that many Hindutvawadis feel genuinely injured today by Aurangzeb's very existence and what they believe he did in the...
Dice have been found dating to the Bronze Age in various Harappan sites in present-day northwest India and throughout Pakistan. And it’s very possible that some had female owners.
On 4 November 2025, NCLAT bench, comprising Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Member Arun Baroka, noted that WhatsApp and Meta are distinct legal entities.
This world is being restructured and redrawn by one man, and what’s his power? It’s not his formidable military. It’s trade. With China, it turned on him.
Aurangzeb had only two hindu generals jai Singh and Jaswant Singh , jai singh helped him against dara Shikoh when Jaswant Singh fighting for dara ,jai Singh fought all hindu Kinks for Aurangzeb including shivaji maharaj but what happen to him ,after shivaji maharaj escape ,he poisoned him ,after Jaswant Singh death he annex mmarwar and destroyed temples but durgadas Rathore fought him ,he imposed jaziya after Jaswant Singh death ,it is not a joke ,he was terrorist ,how he destroyed temples all over India ,banned hindu festivals , imposed jaziya , he banned construction of new hindu temples ,he issue fatwa e alamgir ,lord shirnath moved from vrindavan to udaipur because of Aurangzeb ,he wanted to destroy jaganth puri and he also destroyed temples in jai singh kingdom amer who supported him against dara after shivaji death thanks God he moved to Deccan and died there. otherwise north India would have become islamic state.
Very well makeup for the image of aurangjeb to paint in good light….
But he was that good
Why did he imposed jajiya tax…
Hahahahah lol you changed the history so that generation of hindus remain clueless.and fall for the trap again
I am a physician & a scientist and part of my regular patient care involves evaluating the judgement and insight & reasoning of the patient. I am also a history buff, not just of India but the world. The human condition interests me. As a result, I think I am qualified to comment on this article as well as the author of this article.
The article mentions facts which supports the author’s own prejudices. The author does not present reasons as to why so many kingdoms rose up in rebellion during Aurangzeb’s reign if he was so generous. Also, the author seems to take the Rajputs alone as representive of the non-Muslim population of undivided India, conveniently forgetting jizya etc & forced conversion through jizya.
Author also fails to explain why Aurangzeb was such a huge fan of torture. Akbar defeated his enemies and either imprisoned them or executed them, did not torture them & rarely massacred civilian populations. This habit started from Jahangir [ who blinded his eldest son, Khusro Mirza & tortured 5th Sikh guru, Arjun Dev just because he blessed Khusro Mirza, when he visited his home.] and then reached the pinnacle with Aurangzeb.
Both the author & Sekhar Gupta need to understand that there is a far more educated population in India who have free access to reading material through the revolution of the internet. I do not need someone to tell me what Hitler believed like in old days, I can read Mein Kampf myself and understand it as I am reading it now. So, continuing to peddle false interpretations of historical facts is not going to work anymore.
Again Sekhar Gupta sir, with all due respect, if you want subscriptions to support good journalism, you really need to get writers who have both sides of the story in their heads and evaluate it dispassionately rather than those who handpick historical facts to support their own prejudices. They demean both academic debate as well as journalism and as editor, you are also doing the same.
There is nothing great about madness, let me tell you. Go and ask the family living with a madman. Then you will understand how frustrated educated youth becomes when someone like this author claiming to be a rational academic writes such drivel and someone with the experience & journalistic integrity of Sekhar Gupta backed by a similar Ratan Tata, permits this on his own channel.
The dera in Dehradun was not Sikh. It was a son of one of the Gurus attempting to claim power who established it. The son was jealous as his younger brother was given the Guruhood, instead of him. The son, named Ram Rai, was favored by Auranzeb and he was willing to change Sikh scripture as Aurangzeb pleased and if given the Guruship, was willing to adjust Sikh thought and practice. This has gotten Ram Rai excommunicated and banished from the Sikh community. Aurangzeb gave land and support to Ram Rai in what is now known as Dehradun, so that he can start a parallel Guruship to try and reduce the influence of the rebellious Sikhs living in Punjab. This ultimately failed, and his dera essentially became a Mandir. The caretakers of the dera do not consider themselves to be sikh, nor do they reference the dera as a gurdwara. I know you did not write this, however it is important to point out as it is essentially a rewriting of Sikh History, which can okay our badly in a community who’s history is already marginalized.
Aurangzeb became a bigot and mad after1969 he ordered to desyroy thousands of temples , gurudwaras etc. He even removed the islamic writings from the coins so that kafirs do not touch them, he said it is kufr even to look at temples. In his earlier life he was alright and used Rajputs just like his predecessors. The author has mentioned instances when he was young but became mad but after 1969 . He is the one who destroyed the mughal legacy and jailed all his sons except one. He was a super cunning and change his colour regularly, he planned to take rajput mansabdars to Iran and convert them but they became suspecious and burnt the boats at attock river, Auranzeb fell on the feet of Rajputs and apologized. He never produced a capable ruler who would rule India after him, his son Akbar was close to remove him as the king with help of Durga dass but supersmart Aurangzeb played his game and foiled it. Okay the sikh religion came into existance during his rule becaue of the atorcities also Maratha swabhiman also begun during his rule by Shivaji. If he was peaceful then why so revolt? Satnamis and Jats were also against him. King Chatrasaal also.
History is something which is in past , for it is important to read and forget … But today’s politicians had changed the history for there political career, so rather fighting for history let us fight for present and future. Our politicians are uneducated not even a single degree but gives us the knowledge of history.. for becoming an IS officer one should have good knowledge in everything and should crack civil service exam wic s so though .. then y there s no qualifications for politicians .
Shameful. Disgusting article. Just because you have right to express doesn’t not mean you write shit. Just because Aurangya had Hindu ‘servants’ in his office doesn’t erase his sins. He had clear agenda of ‘making Hindus fight amongst themselves’. This is called divide and rule you immature fool. ‘Be my servant or convert to Islam’ was his hidden agenda. And ofcourse he ‘mis’used the talents of Hindus (e.g. war skills of Jai singh) in invading Hindus etc etc. And, what do you want to prove those who faught against Aurangya were fools or what?? You think those great warriors have wasted there life in fighting against so called good human??? Remember you are disrespecting Maharana Pratap, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and many great personalities who lost their lives because of your so called hero. Anger. You can write good things if you want to become famous, why should one choose negative ways to become famous.
Correctly said. Auranjeb Knew if he would express his dislikes to Hindu religion and he would express his willingness to convert entire India to Muslim state. All small kings would have started War against him… So to create that image he kept some cases like this. This is very well known fact and these stupid won’t accept it.
All humanity (homo sapiens) is one. Good and evil – both owe their existence to the human brain. An evil brain can be born anywhere.
Who is “we” and who is “outsider”? Were Aryans insiders or outsiders? Their Sanskrit language? The Gandhara kingdom 3000 years ago, was this South Asian or Central Asian? And what was it when it became part of Persia that extended from Gandhara to the Mediterranean? Then the Greeks. And the Kushan kingdom that extended from Central Asia to South Asia. The Huns? And much later the Mongols.
Where did the 5000 years old (Mehrgarh is 7000 years old) Harapan civilization people come from? Were they Dravidians? Still being studied. Where did the Dravidians &/or Harapans come from? Wars are evil. The subcontinent was rarely united as one country and that too for short periods. Asoka the great Hindu Mauryan King converted to Buddhism after a bloody war with another sister-state. (Buddhism today is gone from Bharat but survives outside) . When Central Asians had converted to Islam they came to the subcontinent. The British traders came from the seas. After 200 years they left in 1947. Two independent states were born: Hindu majority states formed Bharat and Muslim majority states formed Pakistan. Majority of the population of Pakistani Muslims had forefathers who were Hindus. But like all countries, righteous Bharat & Pakistan preach peace and fight wars.
The invasiom and rule by islamist forces changed the fabric of Indian society forever… Sanatana Dharma,the principle torchbearer of human civilization had to suffer at the hands of these bigots …shame on this commie who has penned this article
Disgusting and highly disrespectful to the feelings of Hindus who suffered rape loot violence death and destruction at the hands of this Islamic bigot …for some gains and to win over the chieftems he might have given concessions here and there ,but that does not take away the character of his rule ….utterly disgusting
Interesting article by someone who has done research. Thats how history is to be read analysed and understood not on the basis of biased discussions of our immature preexisting notions. Since none of us lived in those times…my request to all those commenting here is to leave this subject to those who do research and never ever to see history from the prism of present.
What will u do when the so called researchers misrepresent the facts in order to push their agenda
What will you do when non historian person claims false things to be true?
Perfectly n Wisely Said
Why is the author trying to glorify this aurangzeb? Doing 10 things criminally wrong and 1 or 2 things good doesn’t make you saint. Aurangzeb is as good as a terrorist for Indian people be it any religion.
It is disgusting to find that spaces are provided for eulogizing a lowly bigot like this man who had no quality of a king!! India has accommodated many outsider kings who had qualities of a king which are : 1) They saw the grandeur of Indian culture and in stead of forcing their own, they decided to convert themselves, 2) They did not allow their forces to loot, murder and rape the civil societies 3) They did not indulge in armtwistin tactics like Zizya!!
What a subverted motive to write an article like this!! Sad, Aurangzeb was not an honourable human being!!
People seems to have little understanding about Nehruji. I was also on the same page in growing up years. One should read his Discovery of India where he writes about India’s rich history for many years. So where is the question of Nehruvian history. We need to read history with open mind and one sided bring spread by some leaders of ruling party as PM himself has read history from RSS school and this is what being spread now.
Dont know what kind of sick reprobate writes these ridiculous justifications for psychopathic Mughals and what kind of reprobates allow such articles on their websites but it is evident now that whitewashing Islamic history and genocides is now a leftist cottage industry. Perhaps the Govt can apply GST for this “islamic gentrification” service.
Another il”liberal” attempt to paint an equally illiberal, bigoted emperor as not anti-Hindu but just a shrewd political manipulator.
If she can exonerate Aurangzeb for razing several temples just on political grounds, perhaps she should also argue in favour of those karsevaks who razed Babri Masjid. After all it is oft repeated by the liberal media that the right wing bodies did the act for political gains.
There is innumerable evidence to Aurangzeb’s bigoted outlook. Read his letters, how he described Hindus in them.
Secondly how does it matter whether he did for political gains or religious reasons. Either way it doesn’t show him in great light. I simply don’t understand the attempts of this Eaton ilk to undo a historical wrong committed on Hindu communities of India.
a rajput named Jai Singh has helped him to accession to throne. He fought with fellow hindu Kings for him and he got poisoned on instructions of Aurangzeb and his killer was pardoned because he concerted to Islam. What a great sense of Justice in this case by Aurangzeb.
Another supporter and brother in law of Aurangzeb was Jaswant singh of Marwadi. He fought for him from Kondhana to Kandahar. He had no male heir but at a time of his death his wife was pregnant. Aurangzeb wants to annex his kingdom, but he puts a condition that to save kingdom, his heir must accept Islam. Thanks to a valiant warrior Durga das Rathore, Jaswant Singh’s lineage was saved. Later mighty Marathas distracted Aurangzeb for 27 years hence his son was saved. Ironically same son has joined mughals as governor of Gujarat.
Correct… These bigoted souls never Mention Veer Durgadas Rathod .. I doubt they ever read Great Rajput and Maratha History… No matter what, I cannot like a person who tortured and killed Dharmaveer Sambhaji Raje , And It was Aurangzeb….
Every kingdom had its own people to thrive and exist during those days so also Aurangzeb. The author has tried to tilt this fact with a single example in portraying Aurangzeb as Hindu well-wisher. There exist abundant historical pieces of evidence in the Bikaner museum about the atrocities committed by Aurangzeb on Hindus including mass killings of Hindus especially of Brahmins, conversion of Hindus into Islam and destruction of places of worship of Hindus including thousands of Jain temples. A failed attempt to glorify one of the cruelest Muslim rulers.
Do we inherit the sins and liabilities of our ancestors? Yes, because we inherit their virtues and their assets. Like other conquerors, our medieval ancestors ruled their subjects against their will. Hindus never went out of the subcontinent to invade or rule others, while invasion and domination were genetic to Muslims. They preferred to dominate rather than befriend. Conquest and killing leaves lasting scars. Those who are disgraced and defeated pass their memories of pain to the posterity,that breeds new conflicts. Only an admission of misdeeds opens the path to redemption. The contemporary descendants of Vikings, Romans and Mongols do not take pride in the violent history of their ancestors. In contrast, the boastful pride of our past makes us crudely unique and alienates us from the world. An honest admission instead can work as the recipe for coexistence. Such civilized attitudes are not humiliating; they can win us respect among nations. But that is not possible without a strong dismissal of the terrorists who represent the darkest aspects of our psyche. DAWN
Finding good even in destruction of temples ,
Even when you find the majority is hindus,
U guys need to be slaved again and again like it was done for thousand years,
Cannot find good in our hindu culture and religion.
Can you expect the same in muslim majority country..
Need to think and act before publishing such rubbish article
Do not agree at all. It was a policy hefollowed to kill all Hindu generals. When he had so many great Muslim generals he sent Hindu generals to fight Hindus n their destruction. It was his strategy n not generosity or tolerance. Jai Singh’s son was poisoned. Farmans were issued to fool public. Each farmans followed by another farmans. Band Bhadur’s son was killed n his heart forced fed into the mouth of Banda Bhadur. We cannot forget his curelty intolerance n efforts to make India an Islamic country. The Marathas posed a major hurdle n he died fighting them n seeing his dreams shattered. Aurangzeb spinner n made his own (taqiyah )skull caps, shows his strong belief in religion n in policy of establishing da ul Islam. One has to understand Islam to know the hidden agenda. It very well known that to lie n stab in back for Islam is perfectly forgiven n a way to spread Islam. Taqiyah or kitman. It is well known Islam spread more by sword than words. The writer is wrong n following appeasement policy.
There is a concreted effort to portray Aurangzeb as a saint ever since the rise of BJP. But in the end truth will triumph.
It is also to be noted that Hindu rulers seldom destroyed mosques even after victories.
So the lesson to be drawn from these historical analysis is that Hindus should learn from these Muslim behaviours and destroy mosques as punishment whenever possible. Will liberal historians then be kind to the Hindus? I doubt.
The absence of positive performance was compensated with boastful pride of the ability to destroy. That is perhaps an inherited attitude when our orators in Pakistan proudly talk of what we destroyed: our ancestors destroyed Indian idols and kings followed by the recent smashing of the peaceful Buddha; recently we destroyed the Soviet Union, we have pushed America to disaster, we shall destroy India, Europe and every system of “Jahiliah”, including our own systems and people in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This mindset hardly ever asks: what did we create or build? DAWN
What about his dogged drive to over-expand his empire.? The 27 year old war against the Marathas eventually finished the Mughal empire. The brutal manner in which he tortured and killed Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj is pointer to this. The unwarranted brutality sparked a wave of disgust against Aurangzeb. What followed was an unparalleled chapter in the history of India – 27 years of brave resistance by the Marathas against the Mughal tyranny, which brought the empire on its knees. Aurangzeb was pinned to Maharashtra, never went back to Agra, his capital in the north. Lakhs of Mughal soldiers lost their lives, the Mughal treasury was emptied due to the seemingly endless war. Aurangzeb died as a frustrated and defeated emperor. His successors were nothing more than bunch of jokers. In effect, Aurangzeb caused the death of his own empire due to his brutality and futile ambition to conquer the Deccan. No matter what this historian writes, 12 crore Maharashtrians will always hate and despise Aurangzeb, the tyrant who murdered their Chhatrapati.
Calling Dara as “mushrik ” and levying ‘Jaziya ” on Hindus, was not a plan to make India Darul Islam then what? Calling iconoclasm as aberration when it was a norm and Making norm of questionable patronage of temples is ridiculous. The whole article is making a hero out of a most hated fanatic Islamic jihadi. BS.
Do not run down valour of Rajputs in Indian history by continuing ethnical distortions of the past scripted by few communist historians like Irfan Habibi & Ram Chandra Guha. Please revisit history and read several farmans issued by Aurangzeb to carry out ethnic cleansing of Rajputs in India akin to present days Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir. In your adulations for Mughals the looters and jihadist like Aurangzeb who sent nearly Rupiah 6,60,000 to Mecca collected from Rajputs as Jaziya. For you info, one rupiah could buy you 280 kgs of rice then. Meena Bhargava should not present her Brahmnical & Mughal mind set by concoting false narratives
While historians should continue to do their research and come out with more findings, better analysis and reasoned interpretations, it must be noted that as far as political discourse is concerned, we have to treat Indian history from 711 AD onward till 1947 as a period of foreign rule/ domination irrespective of the religion of the ruler or for that matter, benevolence, contribution to culture, society, or whether they integrated themselves with India eventually etc. Once this issue is settled, anything dealing with them like their monuments, street or city names etc is subject to popular will. This should not be viewed as hatred of other religions, as such acts are against the foreign rulers and not their religions. Thus, changing name of Bombay to Mumbai can not be taken as done out of hatred of Christianity but directed at eliminating at influence of foreign rulers and their acts.
Besides, so called Indic religions have no concept of proselytization and hence, we cannot allow practices of conversion on other religions in India, as it offers no level playing field to Indic religions.
Once these issues are well settled and accepted, we will have much better appreciation of the findings and analysis from historical research.
your all points are right except 711-1947, I think it started in 1206 and was resisted in between dusing Marathas, Rana Sanga, Ranjit etc. Maraths almost took it out, Ranjit and Rana in some parts
Jadunath Sarkar Works published by OBS is a must read by all those who have very little knowledge about positive rules of Mughals. Sarkar’s India Through The Ages is a classic.
Jadunath Sarkar is one of those writers/ historians who were allowed/ promoted to write history as Nehruvian Congress wanted and a part of the systematic destruction of our ancient heritage, especially Hindu Rulers. Our heritage is over 5000 years old but what these so-called historians including Ram Chandra Guha and Romilla Thapar is 100 years of Mughals and 250 years of Britishers. The fact is these rulers won battles against Indian rulers only by bribing other Indians or by stabbing in the back, which was never wrote in the public domain.
Aurangzeb had only two hindu generals jai Singh and Jaswant Singh , jai singh helped him against dara Shikoh when Jaswant Singh fighting for dara ,jai Singh fought all hindu Kinks for Aurangzeb including shivaji maharaj but what happen to him ,after shivaji maharaj escape ,he poisoned him ,after Jaswant Singh death he annex mmarwar and destroyed temples but durgadas Rathore fought him ,he imposed jaziya after Jaswant Singh death ,it is not a joke ,he was terrorist ,how he destroyed temples all over India ,banned hindu festivals , imposed jaziya , he banned construction of new hindu temples ,he issue fatwa e alamgir ,lord shirnath moved from vrindavan to udaipur because of Aurangzeb ,he wanted to destroy jaganth puri and he also destroyed temples in jai singh kingdom amer who supported him against dara after shivaji death thanks God he moved to Deccan and died there. otherwise north India would have become islamic state.
Very well makeup for the image of aurangjeb to paint in good light….
But he was that good
Why did he imposed jajiya tax…
Hahahahah lol you changed the history so that generation of hindus remain clueless.and fall for the trap again
I am a physician & a scientist and part of my regular patient care involves evaluating the judgement and insight & reasoning of the patient. I am also a history buff, not just of India but the world. The human condition interests me. As a result, I think I am qualified to comment on this article as well as the author of this article.
The article mentions facts which supports the author’s own prejudices. The author does not present reasons as to why so many kingdoms rose up in rebellion during Aurangzeb’s reign if he was so generous. Also, the author seems to take the Rajputs alone as representive of the non-Muslim population of undivided India, conveniently forgetting jizya etc & forced conversion through jizya.
Author also fails to explain why Aurangzeb was such a huge fan of torture. Akbar defeated his enemies and either imprisoned them or executed them, did not torture them & rarely massacred civilian populations. This habit started from Jahangir [ who blinded his eldest son, Khusro Mirza & tortured 5th Sikh guru, Arjun Dev just because he blessed Khusro Mirza, when he visited his home.] and then reached the pinnacle with Aurangzeb.
Both the author & Sekhar Gupta need to understand that there is a far more educated population in India who have free access to reading material through the revolution of the internet. I do not need someone to tell me what Hitler believed like in old days, I can read Mein Kampf myself and understand it as I am reading it now. So, continuing to peddle false interpretations of historical facts is not going to work anymore.
Again Sekhar Gupta sir, with all due respect, if you want subscriptions to support good journalism, you really need to get writers who have both sides of the story in their heads and evaluate it dispassionately rather than those who handpick historical facts to support their own prejudices. They demean both academic debate as well as journalism and as editor, you are also doing the same.
There is nothing great about madness, let me tell you. Go and ask the family living with a madman. Then you will understand how frustrated educated youth becomes when someone like this author claiming to be a rational academic writes such drivel and someone with the experience & journalistic integrity of Sekhar Gupta backed by a similar Ratan Tata, permits this on his own channel.
I think Shekhar needs to look that whom his sub-ordinates are asking to write the articles on History.
The dera in Dehradun was not Sikh. It was a son of one of the Gurus attempting to claim power who established it. The son was jealous as his younger brother was given the Guruhood, instead of him. The son, named Ram Rai, was favored by Auranzeb and he was willing to change Sikh scripture as Aurangzeb pleased and if given the Guruship, was willing to adjust Sikh thought and practice. This has gotten Ram Rai excommunicated and banished from the Sikh community. Aurangzeb gave land and support to Ram Rai in what is now known as Dehradun, so that he can start a parallel Guruship to try and reduce the influence of the rebellious Sikhs living in Punjab. This ultimately failed, and his dera essentially became a Mandir. The caretakers of the dera do not consider themselves to be sikh, nor do they reference the dera as a gurdwara. I know you did not write this, however it is important to point out as it is essentially a rewriting of Sikh History, which can okay our badly in a community who’s history is already marginalized.
Aurangzeb became a bigot and mad after1969 he ordered to desyroy thousands of temples , gurudwaras etc. He even removed the islamic writings from the coins so that kafirs do not touch them, he said it is kufr even to look at temples. In his earlier life he was alright and used Rajputs just like his predecessors. The author has mentioned instances when he was young but became mad but after 1969 . He is the one who destroyed the mughal legacy and jailed all his sons except one. He was a super cunning and change his colour regularly, he planned to take rajput mansabdars to Iran and convert them but they became suspecious and burnt the boats at attock river, Auranzeb fell on the feet of Rajputs and apologized. He never produced a capable ruler who would rule India after him, his son Akbar was close to remove him as the king with help of Durga dass but supersmart Aurangzeb played his game and foiled it. Okay the sikh religion came into existance during his rule becaue of the atorcities also Maratha swabhiman also begun during his rule by Shivaji. If he was peaceful then why so revolt? Satnamis and Jats were also against him. King Chatrasaal also.
History is something which is in past , for it is important to read and forget … But today’s politicians had changed the history for there political career, so rather fighting for history let us fight for present and future. Our politicians are uneducated not even a single degree but gives us the knowledge of history.. for becoming an IS officer one should have good knowledge in everything and should crack civil service exam wic s so though .. then y there s no qualifications for politicians .
Shameful. Disgusting article. Just because you have right to express doesn’t not mean you write shit. Just because Aurangya had Hindu ‘servants’ in his office doesn’t erase his sins. He had clear agenda of ‘making Hindus fight amongst themselves’. This is called divide and rule you immature fool. ‘Be my servant or convert to Islam’ was his hidden agenda. And ofcourse he ‘mis’used the talents of Hindus (e.g. war skills of Jai singh) in invading Hindus etc etc. And, what do you want to prove those who faught against Aurangya were fools or what?? You think those great warriors have wasted there life in fighting against so called good human??? Remember you are disrespecting Maharana Pratap, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and many great personalities who lost their lives because of your so called hero. Anger. You can write good things if you want to become famous, why should one choose negative ways to become famous.
Correctly said. Auranjeb Knew if he would express his dislikes to Hindu religion and he would express his willingness to convert entire India to Muslim state. All small kings would have started War against him… So to create that image he kept some cases like this. This is very well known fact and these stupid won’t accept it.
All humanity (homo sapiens) is one. Good and evil – both owe their existence to the human brain. An evil brain can be born anywhere.
Who is “we” and who is “outsider”? Were Aryans insiders or outsiders? Their Sanskrit language? The Gandhara kingdom 3000 years ago, was this South Asian or Central Asian? And what was it when it became part of Persia that extended from Gandhara to the Mediterranean? Then the Greeks. And the Kushan kingdom that extended from Central Asia to South Asia. The Huns? And much later the Mongols.
Where did the 5000 years old (Mehrgarh is 7000 years old) Harapan civilization people come from? Were they Dravidians? Still being studied. Where did the Dravidians &/or Harapans come from? Wars are evil. The subcontinent was rarely united as one country and that too for short periods. Asoka the great Hindu Mauryan King converted to Buddhism after a bloody war with another sister-state. (Buddhism today is gone from Bharat but survives outside) . When Central Asians had converted to Islam they came to the subcontinent. The British traders came from the seas. After 200 years they left in 1947. Two independent states were born: Hindu majority states formed Bharat and Muslim majority states formed Pakistan. Majority of the population of Pakistani Muslims had forefathers who were Hindus. But like all countries, righteous Bharat & Pakistan preach peace and fight wars.
The invasiom and rule by islamist forces changed the fabric of Indian society forever… Sanatana Dharma,the principle torchbearer of human civilization had to suffer at the hands of these bigots …shame on this commie who has penned this article
Disgusting and highly disrespectful to the feelings of Hindus who suffered rape loot violence death and destruction at the hands of this Islamic bigot …for some gains and to win over the chieftems he might have given concessions here and there ,but that does not take away the character of his rule ….utterly disgusting
Interesting article by someone who has done research. Thats how history is to be read analysed and understood not on the basis of biased discussions of our immature preexisting notions. Since none of us lived in those times…my request to all those commenting here is to leave this subject to those who do research and never ever to see history from the prism of present.
What will u do when the so called researchers misrepresent the facts in order to push their agenda
What will you do when non historian person claims false things to be true?
Perfectly n Wisely Said
Why is the author trying to glorify this aurangzeb? Doing 10 things criminally wrong and 1 or 2 things good doesn’t make you saint. Aurangzeb is as good as a terrorist for Indian people be it any religion.
Itnaa jhoot kaha se laate ho be RSS ke atankvadiyo
Terrorists??? ??? Look who is Barking about Terrorism…
Apna chehra dekhle kabhi aaine me… mil jayega aatankwadi tujhe
I think writer is from one of the that slave administrator’s dyanasty.
Seems to be true
Hahaha. Bang on.
Mind your tongue before calling a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with a single name, whitewash all you want, The people remember the history
It is disgusting to find that spaces are provided for eulogizing a lowly bigot like this man who had no quality of a king!! India has accommodated many outsider kings who had qualities of a king which are : 1) They saw the grandeur of Indian culture and in stead of forcing their own, they decided to convert themselves, 2) They did not allow their forces to loot, murder and rape the civil societies 3) They did not indulge in armtwistin tactics like Zizya!!
What a subverted motive to write an article like this!! Sad, Aurangzeb was not an honourable human being!!
The British had also so many Indian administrators.What do you conclude ?
Worst analysis by a leftist writer .It is distortion of history.
So many royal records and farmanas still exist today.
Got it …. So lets be like great Aurangzeb. Destroy a religious structure because someone remotely related to it was involved in rebellion.
Lets start with Shaheen bagh . Which structure should be demolished as a political price? Hmm let the author decide.
People seems to have little understanding about Nehruji. I was also on the same page in growing up years. One should read his Discovery of India where he writes about India’s rich history for many years. So where is the question of Nehruvian history. We need to read history with open mind and one sided bring spread by some leaders of ruling party as PM himself has read history from RSS school and this is what being spread now.
Dont know what kind of sick reprobate writes these ridiculous justifications for psychopathic Mughals and what kind of reprobates allow such articles on their websites but it is evident now that whitewashing Islamic history and genocides is now a leftist cottage industry. Perhaps the Govt can apply GST for this “islamic gentrification” service.
It’s not a reality , fake news .
Another il”liberal” attempt to paint an equally illiberal, bigoted emperor as not anti-Hindu but just a shrewd political manipulator.
If she can exonerate Aurangzeb for razing several temples just on political grounds, perhaps she should also argue in favour of those karsevaks who razed Babri Masjid. After all it is oft repeated by the liberal media that the right wing bodies did the act for political gains.
There is innumerable evidence to Aurangzeb’s bigoted outlook. Read his letters, how he described Hindus in them.
Secondly how does it matter whether he did for political gains or religious reasons. Either way it doesn’t show him in great light. I simply don’t understand the attempts of this Eaton ilk to undo a historical wrong committed on Hindu communities of India.
a rajput named Jai Singh has helped him to accession to throne. He fought with fellow hindu Kings for him and he got poisoned on instructions of Aurangzeb and his killer was pardoned because he concerted to Islam. What a great sense of Justice in this case by Aurangzeb.
Another supporter and brother in law of Aurangzeb was Jaswant singh of Marwadi. He fought for him from Kondhana to Kandahar. He had no male heir but at a time of his death his wife was pregnant. Aurangzeb wants to annex his kingdom, but he puts a condition that to save kingdom, his heir must accept Islam. Thanks to a valiant warrior Durga das Rathore, Jaswant Singh’s lineage was saved. Later mighty Marathas distracted Aurangzeb for 27 years hence his son was saved. Ironically same son has joined mughals as governor of Gujarat.
Correct… These bigoted souls never Mention Veer Durgadas Rathod .. I doubt they ever read Great Rajput and Maratha History… No matter what, I cannot like a person who tortured and killed Dharmaveer Sambhaji Raje , And It was Aurangzeb….
Every kingdom had its own people to thrive and exist during those days so also Aurangzeb. The author has tried to tilt this fact with a single example in portraying Aurangzeb as Hindu well-wisher. There exist abundant historical pieces of evidence in the Bikaner museum about the atrocities committed by Aurangzeb on Hindus including mass killings of Hindus especially of Brahmins, conversion of Hindus into Islam and destruction of places of worship of Hindus including thousands of Jain temples. A failed attempt to glorify one of the cruelest Muslim rulers.
Do we inherit the sins and liabilities of our ancestors? Yes, because we inherit their virtues and their assets. Like other conquerors, our medieval ancestors ruled their subjects against their will. Hindus never went out of the subcontinent to invade or rule others, while invasion and domination were genetic to Muslims. They preferred to dominate rather than befriend. Conquest and killing leaves lasting scars. Those who are disgraced and defeated pass their memories of pain to the posterity,that breeds new conflicts. Only an admission of misdeeds opens the path to redemption. The contemporary descendants of Vikings, Romans and Mongols do not take pride in the violent history of their ancestors. In contrast, the boastful pride of our past makes us crudely unique and alienates us from the world. An honest admission instead can work as the recipe for coexistence. Such civilized attitudes are not humiliating; they can win us respect among nations. But that is not possible without a strong dismissal of the terrorists who represent the darkest aspects of our psyche. DAWN
Finding good even in destruction of temples ,
Even when you find the majority is hindus,
U guys need to be slaved again and again like it was done for thousand years,
Cannot find good in our hindu culture and religion.
Can you expect the same in muslim majority country..
Need to think and act before publishing such rubbish article
Please Read Aurangzeb Facts on great personalities at http://www.kidsworldfun.com
Do not agree at all. It was a policy hefollowed to kill all Hindu generals. When he had so many great Muslim generals he sent Hindu generals to fight Hindus n their destruction. It was his strategy n not generosity or tolerance. Jai Singh’s son was poisoned. Farmans were issued to fool public. Each farmans followed by another farmans. Band Bhadur’s son was killed n his heart forced fed into the mouth of Banda Bhadur. We cannot forget his curelty intolerance n efforts to make India an Islamic country. The Marathas posed a major hurdle n he died fighting them n seeing his dreams shattered. Aurangzeb spinner n made his own (taqiyah )skull caps, shows his strong belief in religion n in policy of establishing da ul Islam. One has to understand Islam to know the hidden agenda. It very well known that to lie n stab in back for Islam is perfectly forgiven n a way to spread Islam. Taqiyah or kitman. It is well known Islam spread more by sword than words. The writer is wrong n following appeasement policy.
There is a concreted effort to portray Aurangzeb as a saint ever since the rise of BJP. But in the end truth will triumph.
It is also to be noted that Hindu rulers seldom destroyed mosques even after victories.
So the lesson to be drawn from these historical analysis is that Hindus should learn from these Muslim behaviours and destroy mosques as punishment whenever possible. Will liberal historians then be kind to the Hindus? I doubt.
Whitewashing a religious fanatic. Nice. This is today’s secularism. Cheers.
The absence of positive performance was compensated with boastful pride of the ability to destroy. That is perhaps an inherited attitude when our orators in Pakistan proudly talk of what we destroyed: our ancestors destroyed Indian idols and kings followed by the recent smashing of the peaceful Buddha; recently we destroyed the Soviet Union, we have pushed America to disaster, we shall destroy India, Europe and every system of “Jahiliah”, including our own systems and people in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This mindset hardly ever asks: what did we create or build? DAWN
What about his dogged drive to over-expand his empire.? The 27 year old war against the Marathas eventually finished the Mughal empire. The brutal manner in which he tortured and killed Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj is pointer to this. The unwarranted brutality sparked a wave of disgust against Aurangzeb. What followed was an unparalleled chapter in the history of India – 27 years of brave resistance by the Marathas against the Mughal tyranny, which brought the empire on its knees. Aurangzeb was pinned to Maharashtra, never went back to Agra, his capital in the north. Lakhs of Mughal soldiers lost their lives, the Mughal treasury was emptied due to the seemingly endless war. Aurangzeb died as a frustrated and defeated emperor. His successors were nothing more than bunch of jokers. In effect, Aurangzeb caused the death of his own empire due to his brutality and futile ambition to conquer the Deccan. No matter what this historian writes, 12 crore Maharashtrians will always hate and despise Aurangzeb, the tyrant who murdered their Chhatrapati.
Calling Dara as “mushrik ” and levying ‘Jaziya ” on Hindus, was not a plan to make India Darul Islam then what? Calling iconoclasm as aberration when it was a norm and Making norm of questionable patronage of temples is ridiculous. The whole article is making a hero out of a most hated fanatic Islamic jihadi. BS.
Do not run down valour of Rajputs in Indian history by continuing ethnical distortions of the past scripted by few communist historians like Irfan Habibi & Ram Chandra Guha. Please revisit history and read several farmans issued by Aurangzeb to carry out ethnic cleansing of Rajputs in India akin to present days Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir. In your adulations for Mughals the looters and jihadist like Aurangzeb who sent nearly Rupiah 6,60,000 to Mecca collected from Rajputs as Jaziya. For you info, one rupiah could buy you 280 kgs of rice then. Meena Bhargava should not present her Brahmnical & Mughal mind set by concoting false narratives
Don’t ever try to belittle the fact that he is a jihadi, mass murderer who killed sikh gurus and their children, murders hindus and destroyed temples
Fake
Another attempt to distort history.
While historians should continue to do their research and come out with more findings, better analysis and reasoned interpretations, it must be noted that as far as political discourse is concerned, we have to treat Indian history from 711 AD onward till 1947 as a period of foreign rule/ domination irrespective of the religion of the ruler or for that matter, benevolence, contribution to culture, society, or whether they integrated themselves with India eventually etc. Once this issue is settled, anything dealing with them like their monuments, street or city names etc is subject to popular will. This should not be viewed as hatred of other religions, as such acts are against the foreign rulers and not their religions. Thus, changing name of Bombay to Mumbai can not be taken as done out of hatred of Christianity but directed at eliminating at influence of foreign rulers and their acts.
Besides, so called Indic religions have no concept of proselytization and hence, we cannot allow practices of conversion on other religions in India, as it offers no level playing field to Indic religions.
Once these issues are well settled and accepted, we will have much better appreciation of the findings and analysis from historical research.
your all points are right except 711-1947, I think it started in 1206 and was resisted in between dusing Marathas, Rana Sanga, Ranjit etc. Maraths almost took it out, Ranjit and Rana in some parts
Jadunath Sarkar Works published by OBS is a must read by all those who have very little knowledge about positive rules of Mughals. Sarkar’s India Through The Ages is a classic.
Jadunath Sarkar is one of those writers/ historians who were allowed/ promoted to write history as Nehruvian Congress wanted and a part of the systematic destruction of our ancient heritage, especially Hindu Rulers. Our heritage is over 5000 years old but what these so-called historians including Ram Chandra Guha and Romilla Thapar is 100 years of Mughals and 250 years of Britishers. The fact is these rulers won battles against Indian rulers only by bribing other Indians or by stabbing in the back, which was never wrote in the public domain.