Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Gardens: The Emperor Who Planted Paradise
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- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Aurangzeb the warrior, the administrator, even the letter-writer. But there's a side of him that rarely comes up in the chronicles of battles and court politics: his gardens. Luna: Gardens? I thought he was too austere for that kind of thing. Lucas: That's the common image, right? The stern, mosque-building, Quran-copying emperor. But actually, the maasir i alamgiri, the official court history, is full of references to gardens he laid out, visited, and even ordered planted with specific trees. He wasn't just a destroyer of gardens — he was a creator of them, on a massive scale. Lucas: Take Kashmir. Everyone knows the Shalimar Bagh, but that was built by his father Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb, though, he went further. On his visits to the valley, he ordered the construction of new gardens and the restoration of old ones. He was really taken by the place — the mountains, the springs, the cool air. Luna: So he wasn't just about war in the Deccan. He had a soft spot for scenic beauty. Lucas: Absolutely. And it wasn't just Kashmir. In the Deccan, where he spent the last twenty-five years of his life, he established gardens around Aurangabad. The maasir i alamgiri mentions orchards and vineyards he had planted there. He even brought in fruit trees from different parts of the empire — mangoes from the Gangetic plains, grapes from Persia, pomegranates from Kandahar. Lucas: The point is, these gardens weren't just decorative. They were practical, productive spaces. They supplied the court with fruit and shade, and they were also a symbol of paradise on earth — a concept that mattered deeply to a Muslim ruler like Aurangzeb. Luna: Right, the whole idea of the charbagh, the four-part garden. But wasn't that more of a Timurid thing? Lucas: It was, yes. The charbagh layout — a quadrilateral garden divided by water channels — goes back to Timur's gardens in Samarkand. The Mughals inherited that tradition and made it their own. Aurangzeb, though, he put his own stamp on it. He wasn't as flamboyant as his predecessors, but he was just as serious about the practicalities of water management. Lucas: Consider the bagh i jahanara in Delhi, which he built in memory of his sister. The name means 'garden of the world's adorner' — she was Jahanara Begum. He laid it out near the old city, with cypress avenues and flowing channels. It was a place he could retreat to, away from the Red Fort's formality. Luna: That's touching, actually. A garden in memory of his sister. Lucas: And it wasn't just for sentiment. He also built gardens for more practical reasons. The French traveller Francois Bernier, who was in India during Aurangzeb's reign, describes how the emperor would establish gardens along his military routes, so that his armies could find fresh fruit and vegetables on the march. It was a logistical move as much as an aesthetic one. Lucas: And there's another layer. In the later years, as he became more withdrawn and focused on his faith, the garden became a place of contemplation. He was known to walk in his private gardens in the evening, sometimes with a lantern, reflecting on the Quran. I think for him, the garden was a way to taste paradise while still on earth — a quiet echo of the afterlife that his faith promised. Luna: That's a beautiful way to put it. But wasn't there some tension? I mean, he was also famous for cutting down trees, wasn't he? Like at some temples? Lucas: That's a fair point, and it's a complex part of his legacy. There are accounts of him ordering trees to be felled, particularly in the context of military camps, or as punishment during rebellions. But that doesn't erase the fact that he also planted thousands of trees. The maasir i alamgiri records that in one year alone, he ordered over a hundred thousand fruit trees to be planted in the crown lands. That's an enormous number. Lucas: So the picture is not simple. He could be a destroyer and a creator at the same time, depending on the circumstance. The gardens show us a side that often gets lost in the focus on his religious policies and his wars. Luna: It's like you said — he was a man of contradictions. He could order a temple demolished and also plant an orchard. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes him so endlessly fascinating, isn't it? He wasn't a one-dimensional figure. He was an emperor who believed in the divine right of his rule, but who also found solace in the simple act of planting a tree. Lucas: You know, when I think about all the things we've covered in these episodes — the wars, the taxes, the letters, the gardens — it makes me appreciate how much we can learn from just looking at the spaces he created. And it also makes me appreciate the work we do here, digging into these stories that often get overlooked. Luna: For sure. And it's listeners like you who make it possible for us to keep exploring these hidden corners of history. If you enjoy these conversations and want us to keep going, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps us keep making episodes just like this one. Lucas: We really do appreciate it. And now, let's get back to the gardens. Because there's one place that stands out: the Shalimar Bagh in Kashmir, which Aurangzeb didn't build, but which he spent a lot of time in — and he even had repairs done to it. Lucas: The Shalimar Bagh was built by Shah Jahan in 1619, but Aurangzeb visited it several times during his stays in Kashmir. The maasir i alamgiri mentions him ordering the restoration of the garden's water channels and the planting of new chinar trees. Chinar — those are the great plane trees that give Kashmir its autumn colours. Luna: So even in a garden he didn't create, he left his mark. Lucas: Yes. And it's interesting to think about what those gardens meant to him as he grew older. He was spending more and more time in the Deccan, far from the cool valleys of Kashmir. But in his letters to his sons, he would often ask about the gardens in Kashmir, and he would give detailed instructions on how to care for them. Lucas: One of his letters to his son Bahadur Shah includes advice on how to irrigate the orchards during the dry months, and which trees needed more shade. It's a side of him that's almost domestic — a man who cared about the welfare of a few fruit trees even while he was commanding armies. Luna: That's such a personal detail. It makes him feel more human. Lucas: It does. And it's a reminder that the past is full of these small moments that don't make it into the grand narratives. When we imagine Aurangzeb, we usually picture the battlefield or the court. But maybe we should also picture him walking through a garden, checking on the growth of a mango sapling, or watching the water flow through a channel he had ordered cut. Lucas: There's a phrase that comes to mind, from a Persian poem that was popular at the time: 'the garden is a mirror of the world.' For Aurangzeb, I think that mirror showed him both the order he wanted to create and the tranquility he craved. Luna: That's a lovely way to end, actually. Lucas: Thanks. Gardens are such a rich subject, and I'm glad we got to explore this side of him. Next time we think of Aurangzeb, maybe we'll remember that he wasn't just the emperor who expanded and broke the Mughal Empire — he was also the emperor who planted trees.