Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / The Mughal Navy That Never Was: Aurangzeb vs the Angre
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you know Aurangzeb spent decades fighting on land—the Marathas, the Rajputs, the Deccan sultanates. But there's a side of his reign that barely gets mentioned, and it happened entirely at sea. Luna: Aurangzeb had a navy? I always thought the Mughals were a land power. Lucas: That's exactly the point. They were a land power, but they needed the sea—especially the port of Surat, the gateway for pilgrims going to Mecca and for all that trade in textiles and spices. And starting in the 1690s, a Maratha admiral named Kanhoji Angre began systematically attacking Mughal shipping. Luna: Kanhoji Angre—I've heard that name. Wasn't he the one who built a fortress at Vijaydurg? Lucas: That's right. Vijaydurg, on the Konkan coast, became his headquarters. But he also controlled Suvarnadurg, Khanderi, Underi—a whole chain of coastal forts. From there, his fleet would swoop down on merchant ships, demand tribute, often take the cargo. By 1700, he was calling himself the 'Admiral of the Maratha Navy', and he had about two hundred vessels, from small grabs to large ghurabs. Lucas: Aurangzeb, of course, saw this as a direct challenge. Not only was it hurting revenue, but it also disrupted the Hajj pilgrim ships, which was a religious and political embarrassment. So he ordered his governors to build a navy to crush Angre. Luna: But how do you build a navy when you've never had one? Did he just start from scratch? Lucas: More or less. The Mughals had a few ships—mostly for patrolling the Indus and the Ganges—but nothing for the open ocean. Aurangzeb's first move was to commission European shipbuilders in Surat to construct warships. He also tried to hire European captains and crews. The Dutch and the English were happy to sell ships, but they weren't keen on fighting for him. Meanwhile, the Portuguese in Goa offered an alliance, but they had their own grudges against Angre. Luna: So it was a patchwork fleet. Did it actually fight? Lucas: The first major confrontation came in 1702. Aurangzeb's governor of Surat, a man named Muhammad Amin Khan, assembled a fleet of about fifty vessels—some Mughal-built, some hired from the Siddi of Janjira, who were African-origin Muslims with a long maritime tradition. They sailed to Vijaydurg and tried to blockade the port. Luna: The Siddi of Janjira—they were basically a naval state themselves, right? Lucas: Exactly. The Siddi had ruled Janjira island since the 16th century, and they had a powerful fleet. They were nominally loyal to the Mughals, but they also played their own game. In 1702, they joined the Mughal expedition, but Kanhoji Angre was too clever. He lured the Mughal ships into a narrow channel near Vijaydurg, where his smaller, more agile boats could attack from all sides. The result was a disaster for the Mughals—they lost several ships and had to retreat. Luna: So the first real Mughal naval campaign ended in defeat. What did Aurangzeb do next? Lucas: He doubled down. He ordered more ships from the English and the Dutch, and he tried to secure a formal alliance with the Portuguese. In 1704, a combined Mughal-Portuguese fleet—around eighty ships—set out against Angre. But again, Kanhoji used the coastal geography to his advantage. He knew the shallow waters, the reefs, the monsoon winds. The Portuguese ships were too heavy, and the Mughal crews were inexperienced. The campaign fizzled out after a few skirmishes. Luna: It sounds like Aurangzeb was fighting a war he couldn't win on a frontier he didn't understand. Lucas: That's a perfect way to put it. And it got worse. By 1705, Angre started raiding not just Surat but also the Mughal-held ports of Daman and Diu. He even blockaded the mouth of the Tapti River, which is how goods got from Surat inland. The Mughals tried to hire British East India Company ships to escort their convoys. The British agreed, but at a steep price—and they often demanded trading privileges in return. Lucas: This is where things get really interesting for the long term. The Mughals, by outsourcing their naval defence to the British, were essentially giving the Company a foothold on the west coast. The British used these escort contracts to build alliances with local rulers, and they learned the Maratha naval tactics. Eventually, they'd turn that knowledge against both the Marathas and the Mughals. Luna: So Aurangzeb's failure at sea didn't just hurt him—it helped the British. Lucas: Exactly. And it wasn't just military failure; it was strategic blindness. Aurangzeb never set foot on a ship in his life. He saw the ocean as an afterthought, something to be managed by governors and mercenaries. Meanwhile, Kanhoji Angre was building a maritime tradition that lasted for decades—he even trained his sons, Sekhoji and Sambhaji, to carry on the fight. The Angre family continued to harass European and Mughal shipping until the 1750s. Luna: And all this while Aurangzeb was sinking his resources into the Deccan land war. He must have been furious. Lucas: He was. The chronicles say he complained about the Angre constantly—he called them 'pirates' and 'infidels', but he couldn't stop them. One of his last acts regarding the navy was to issue a firman in 1706 ordering the construction of ten new warships at a huge cost. But by then, the treasury was already strained from the Deccan war, and the ships were never fully completed. Luna: Speaking of resources—I want to be honest with our listeners. We're able to dive into these deep, niche topics because a small group of listeners chips in each month to keep Fexingo ad-free. If you've been enjoying these deep dives, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It really makes a difference. Lucas: Yeah, it's what keeps these conversations going. And we're grateful. So back to the sea—after Aurangzeb died in 1707, the situation actually got worse for his successors. Kanhoji Angre allied with the Maratha Chhatrapati Shahu, and he expanded his raids even further. By 1712, he was bold enough to capture a British East India Company ship, the 'Derby', and ransom it. That led to the first Anglo-Maratha naval conflict, but that's another story. Luna: So the Mughal navy essentially died with Aurangzeb. Was there any revival later? Lucas: Not really. The later Mughals were too weak to maintain a fleet. The British and the Marathas filled the vacuum. By the time the British Raj began, the Mughal navy was a historical footnote. But for a few decades under Aurangzeb, there was a real attempt—however flawed—to become a naval power. It's a reminder that the Mughal Empire wasn't just a land empire; it had coastal ambitions, and its failure to secure the seas was one of the cracks that eventually brought the whole structure down. Luna: It's interesting to think about how different things might have been if Aurangzeb had succeeded at sea. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's the thing about history—the paths not taken. But for now, that's our story on the Mughal navy that never was. Until next time.