Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Deccan Forts: The Mughal War of Attrition
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Aurangzeb's policies and his wars, but one thing that really defined the last two decades of his reign was his obsession with capturing Maratha hill forts in the Deccan. These weren't just symbolic victories — they were strategic strongholds that controlled trade routes and water sources. Luna: Hill forts — like Sinhagad and Rajgad, right? I've seen pictures of those. Lucas: Exactly. Sinhagad, Rajgad, Torana — these were massive fortifications perched on sheer cliffs. The Marathas under Shivaji had made them nearly impregnable through clever design: narrow approaches, multiple gates, and internal water tanks that could sustain a garrison for months. Lucas: Aurangzeb, after decades of campaigning, decided he had to take them one by one. But the Mughal army was used to open-field battles, not scaling cliffs. So they resorted to a strategy of siege and blockade — essentially surrounding the fort, cutting off supplies, and waiting for starvation to do the work. Luna: That sounds incredibly slow and expensive. How long did these sieges last? Lucas: Some went on for years. The siege of Sinhagad, for example, lasted from 1703 to 1705 — over two years. The Mughals built a ring of blockhouses and trenches, and even constructed a new fort at Paranda nearby to serve as a forward supply base. But the Marathas would slip out at night to raid Mughal supply lines, so the Mughals had to guard every mile of road. Lucas: And the cost was staggering. According to the maasir i alamgiri, the court chronicle, Aurangzeb was pouring lakhs of rupees into these campaigns — paying soldiers, transporting heavy artillery like the huge zamzama gun, and feeding thousands of camels and elephants. Luna: The zamzama — that's the giant cannon, right? The one that later ended up in Lahore? Lucas: Same family of guns, yes. The zamzama was a massive bronze cannon that needed dozens of oxen to move. Getting it up the ghats into the Deccan was a logistical nightmare. But the Mughals needed heavy artillery to breach fort walls, because the Marathas had learned to repair breaches overnight. Lucas: The Maratha commander Khanderao Dabhade was particularly adept at this guerrilla warfare. He would harass Mughal foraging parties, poison wells, and burn crops — all while avoiding a pitched battle. The maasir i alamgiri calls him a 'troublesome rebel' but admits his tactics were effective. Luna: So Aurangzeb was essentially fighting a war of attrition that he couldn't win. Lucas: Precisely. The Mughal Empire was bleeding money and manpower. Each fort taken required a garrison to hold it, which tied down more troops. And the Marathas simply melted away into the countryside, only to reappear elsewhere. By 1705, Aurangzeb had captured many forts, but the Maratha resistance was as strong as ever. Luna: It reminds me of what we discussed about the Deccan famine — the war machine just consuming everything. Lucas: Exactly. The famine of 1702-1704 was partly caused by the Mughal army's demand for grain and fodder. Peasants fled, fields lay fallow, and the countryside was devastated. Niccolao Manucci, the Venetian traveler who served in the Mughal court, wrote that the roads were littered with bones. Lucas: But Aurangzeb refused to relent. He personally oversaw campaigns into his eighties, living in a tent and traveling with the army. The court chroniclers praise his endurance, but it was a strategic dead end. Luna: Speaking of things that help us understand history — if today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support. Buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small way to keep this going. So back to the forts — by the time Aurangzeb died in 1707, the Marathas had reoccupied many of the forts he'd taken. The war had exhausted the Mughal treasury and left the empire vulnerable to the very forces it sought to crush. Luna: So in the end, the hill forts became a symbol of Mughal overreach. Lucas: Absolutely. The Maratha Confederacy, led by figures like Tarabai and later the Peshwas, used those same forts as bases to expand their power. Within decades, they would challenge Mughal authority in Delhi itself. Aurangzeb's war of attrition didn't just fail — it accelerated the empire's decline.