Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's War of Succession: Brothers, Blood, and the Peacock Throne
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Aurangzeb's long reign — the Deccan campaigns, the jizya, the architecture. But one thing we haven't really touched on is how he actually got the throne in the first place. And that story is brutal. Luna: The war of succession, right? Four brothers, one empire. Lucas: Exactly. Shah Jahan fell ill in September 1657. He wasn't even dead yet, and the succession race was on. The four princes were Dara Shikoh, the eldest and Shah Jahan's favorite; Shuja, the governor of Bengal; Murad Baksh, governor of Gujarat; and Aurangzeb, who was in the Deccan at the time. Lucas: Dara was in Agra, at court, and he immediately took control of the capital and the treasury. But he wasn't a military man — he was a scholar, a mystic, very much like his great-grandfather Akbar in his open-mindedness. That made him popular with some, but also made enemies among the orthodox ulama. Luna: So Aurangzeb saw his opening. Lucas: He did. But he was cunning. Instead of striking out alone, he formed an alliance with Murad Baksh. They agreed to divide the empire between them — Aurangzeb would get the northwest, Murad the rest. Of course, Aurangzeb had no intention of keeping that promise. Lucas: Their combined armies marched north. Shuja had already declared himself emperor in Bengal and was marching on Agra, but Dara sent a force under his son Sulaiman Shikoh to deal with him. That left the path open for Aurangzeb and Murad. Luna: Where did they meet Dara's army? Lucas: At Samugarh, just outside Agra, on May 29, 1658. It's one of the most decisive battles in Mughal history. Dara had a huge army — maybe 50,000 men — and war elephants, cannons. But he made a fatal mistake: he dismounted from his elephant early, thinking he'd been killed, and his troops panicked. Lucas: Aurangzeb, on the other hand, stayed on his elephant the whole time, rallying his men. The battle turned into a rout. Dara fled on horseback, leaving his family and his treasure behind. He would spend the next year as a fugitive, eventually being betrayed and handed over to Aurangzeb. Luna: What happened to Murad after that? I mean, they were allies. Lucas: That's where it gets really dark. After Samugarh, Aurangzeb invited Murad to a banquet. Plied him with wine, then had him arrested. Murad was later executed in 1661 on charges of murder — trumped up, of course. Aurangzeb had no use for a rival, even his own brother. Lucas: Shuja was defeated later that year at the Battle of Khajwa, and he fled to Arakan, where he was killed by local rulers. Dara was paraded through Delhi in chains and then executed in August 1659 on charges of heresy. Aurangzeb even had his head sent to Shah Jahan in Agra Fort. Luna: That's horrifying. And Shah Jahan was still alive? Lucas: Yes, he lived another eight years, imprisoned in the Agra Fort, with a view of the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb treated him well enough — he had servants, his wives, but he was a prisoner. Some accounts say Shah Jahan spent his last years reading the Quran and weeping. Lucas: Now, what's interesting is how Aurangzeb justified all this. He claimed Dara was a heretic who had abandoned Islam — Dara had translated the Upanishads into Persian and was deeply influenced by Sufi mysticism. Aurangzeb got a fatwa from the ulama declaring Dara a threat to Islam. That gave his execution a religious veneer. Luna: But it was really about power, wasn't it? Lucas: Absolutely. The war of succession set a pattern for Aurangzeb's reign: ruthlessness, political maneuvering, and a willingness to use religion as a tool. It also alienated many of the nobility who had supported Dara, especially the Rajputs and the more liberal Mughal elites. That resentment festered for decades. Lucas: And here's the thing — this fratricidal war wasn't unusual. Almost every Mughal succession involved brothers killing brothers. But the scale and the brutality of this one, and the fact that it came at the height of the empire's wealth and power, made it a turning point. The empire never really recovered the unity it had under Shah Jahan. Luna: So in a way, Aurangzeb's path to the throne sowed the seeds of the empire's decline? Lucas: Exactly. The war drained the treasury, killed off the best generals, and created deep divisions. Aurangzeb spent the next 49 years trying to hold it all together, but the cracks were already there. And it all started with that bloody summer of 1658. Lucas: You know, it's stories like this that make me appreciate what we're doing with this show — digging into the real, human decisions behind the grand historical narratives. And the fact that we can do it without any ads, just exploring history for its own sake, is something I'm really proud of. Luna: Yeah, it's a luxury, isn't it? No sponsors, no interruptions — just us talking history. Lucas: If any of you listening want to help keep it that way, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small gesture, but it makes a big difference in keeping this ad-free. Luna: Absolutely. And now, back to the succession — what about the aftermath for the empire? How did Aurangzeb's victory change the way he ruled? Lucas: That's a great question. One of the first things he did was consolidate his base. He expanded the mansabdari system, promoted loyal officers like Mir Jumla, and purged Dara's supporters. But he also kept some of Shah Jahan's administrators — he was pragmatic when it suited him. Still, the shadow of the succession never really lifted.