Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Buddhist Tango: The Little-Known War in the Himalayas
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've spent a few episodes now deep in the heart of Aurangzeb's empire — the Deccan wars, the temple policies, the Sikh rebellion. But there's a whole other theater of his reign that almost nobody talks about, and it took place in one of the most dramatic landscapes on earth. Luna: The Himalayas, I'm guessing? Lucas: Exactly. While Aurangzeb was grinding down the Marathas in the south, he also launched campaigns into the high mountains of Ladakh and Bhutan. These were Buddhist kingdoms, and they had been loosely tied to the Mughals through trade and tribute. But in the 1660s and 1670s, things got very complicated. Lucas: The trouble started in Ladakh. The king there was Sengge Namgyal — his name means 'Lion Victorious' — and he was a serious builder. He constructed the famous Leh Palace and the Hemis Monastery. But he also wanted independence from Mughal suzerainty. Luna: So this is like a Himalayan version of the Maratha rebellion. Lucas: In some ways, yes, but the terrain made everything much harder. In 1663, Aurangzeb sent a Mughal army north under the general Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat — a descendant of the Mughal historian Mirza Muhammad Haidar, who wrote the Tarikh-i-Rashidi. The Mughals marched up the Indus Valley, and they besieged the fort at Basgo. Lucas: Basgo is this incredible fortress perched on a cliff, about 40 kilometers west of Leh. The siege lasted three months. The Ladakhi defenders held out, but eventually they ran out of food and water. Sengge Namgyal had to surrender. Luna: What happened to him? Lucas: He was forced to accept Mughal overlordship, pay an annual tribute, and — this is key — he had to convert to Islam. But the conversion was probably just a political move. He remained Buddhist in practice, and he kept building monasteries. The Mughals didn't really enforce it. Luna: So it was a pragmatic conversion, not a real one. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where the weird diplomatic dance begins. Because the Mughals weren't just dealing with Ladakh — they were also concerned about Bhutan and Tibet. And the Tibetan Buddhist establishment, especially the Gelug school under the Dalai Lama, had its own agenda. Lucas: In fact, the Dalai Lama's regent at the time, Sonam Rapten, actually allied with the Mughals against the Bhutanese. Bhutan was a rival Buddhist kingdom that followed the Drukpa Kagyu school, and they had been raiding into Tibet. So the Tibetan lamas saw the Mughals as useful allies. Luna: Wait — the Dalai Lama allied with the Muslim Mughals against fellow Buddhists? Lucas: Yes. It's a perfect example of politics overriding religion. In 1646, long before Aurangzeb, the Mughals and Tibetans had even exchanged embassies. The Tibetans sent gifts of musk, gold, and Tibetan mastiffs. The Mughals sent back fine textiles and cash. It was a mutual benefit arrangement. Lucas: But Aurangzeb's reign changed the tone. He was much more aggressive about asserting Mughal authority. In 1667, he sent another army into the hills, this time against the Bhutanese. The Mughal general was a man named Mirza Muhammad Haidar — same name as the earlier general, actually his grandson — and he led a force into the Duars, the lowland passes into Bhutan. Luna: The Duar Wars — I've heard that term. Lucas: Right. The Mughals managed to capture some Bhutanese territory, but then the monsoon hit. The Bhutanese used the terrain brilliantly — they knew the mountain paths, they used guerrilla tactics. The Mughals were bogged down, and eventually they had to withdraw. It was a stalemate. Lucas: What's fascinating is that during all this, Aurangzeb also corresponded with the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso. Letters survive in the Mughal archives. Aurangzeb calls him 'the chief of the monks of Tibet,' and asks him to pray for the success of Mughal arms. But there's also a hint of pressure — he warns the Dalai Lama not to harbor any of Aurangzeb's enemies. Luna: So it's a mix of diplomacy and threat. Lucas: Exactly. And the Dalai Lama played along, but he also kept his own interests. He never fully submitted. Meanwhile, back in Ladakh, after Sengge Namgyal died in 1670, his son Delek Namgyal took over and immediately tried to reassert independence. That led to another Mughal campaign in 1679, this time led by the Mughal prince Muhammad Akbar — Aurangzeb's own son. Luna: What happened? Lucas: The Mughals again laid siege to Basgo. This time, the Ladakhis held out for nearly a year. The fort almost fell, but then a Tibetan army arrived — sent by the Dalai Lama to help the Ladakhis! The Tibetans had switched sides. They realized a strong Mughal presence in Ladakh was a threat to Tibetan autonomy. Lucas: So now you have Mughals fighting a combined Ladakhi-Tibetan force. The Mughals were outnumbered and in unfamiliar terrain. They had to retreat. In 1681, a treaty was signed — the Treaty of Basgo — which basically restored the status quo. Ladakh remained independent but nominally tributary to both the Mughals and Tibet. Luna: So Aurangzeb's Himalayan wars ended in a draw. Lucas: More or less. It's a reminder that even the mighty Mughal army had limits. The mountains, the climate, the guerrilla tactics — these were forces that no amount of gunpowder could overcome. And it shows that Aurangzeb's religious policies were not always consistent. He demanded conversion from Sengge Namgyal, but he also allied with the Dalai Lama. It was all about power, not just piety. Luna: It makes you wonder — if the Mughals had focused more on the Himalayas, could they have held on longer? Lucas: That's a great question. Probably not. The empire was already overstretched. But these forgotten campaigns tell us that Aurangzeb's vision of conquest knew no bounds — not even the roof of the world. And in the end, the Himalayas won.