Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Jain Edicts: Faith, Famine, and Imperial Mercy
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Aurangzeb as the warrior emperor, the one who spent decades in the Deccan and issued the jizya. But there's another side to him that doesn't fit the simple picture. In 1681, right as he was gearing up for the big push south, he issued a series of farmans that protected Jain pilgrims, temples, and even allowed Jain merchants to travel freely through his lands. Luna: Wait, Aurangzeb protecting Jains? That feels like it contradicts everything we've heard. Lucas: That's what I thought. But the evidence is right there, etched on copper plates that still survive in Jain temples across Gujarat and Rajasthan. These weren't just symbolic gestures. They were practical answers to a very real crisis. Gujarat was in the middle of a famine, and the emperor needed the Jain merchant networks to keep the economy moving, especially with a long war ahead. Luna: So it was economics, not piety. Lucas: Partially. But the edicts themselves are fascinating. They're written in Sanskrit, which is unusual for Mughal documents. And they go into specific detail — no one should obstruct Jain pilgrims going to Shatrunjaya, the sacred hill, and no one should levy unauthorized taxes on them. This is the emperor personally intervening for a minority community. Luna: I never imagined Aurangzeb signing something like that. Lucas: He was a lot more pragmatic than the caricature suggests. You know, before we go deeper, let me mention something. If you've been following along with these conversations — about South Asia, the Mughals, the complexities of power — and you find yourself thinking about them even after the episode ends, there's a simple way to keep this going. We keep the show ad-free, and listener support is what makes that possible. If you ever want to chip in, you can do that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small gesture that means the world. Luna: Yeah, it's a nice way to keep our conversations alive. Lucas: Now, back to those edicts. The key figure behind them was a Jain monk named Lal Vijayji. He was part of the Shvetambara tradition, and he had the ear of the emperor. How he got that influence is a story in itself. He didn't come from a powerful family; he earned respect through scholarship and by mediating trade disputes. Aurangzeb, despite his reputation, was interested in religious discussions. He invited Jain monks to court, just as his grandfather had. Luna: So he was playing a political game with religion, not just enforcing orthodoxy. Lucas: Exactly. And it wasn't just Gujarat. There are copper plates from as far as Shravanabelagola in the south, which is a major Jain pilgrimage site. Aurangzeb granted land and tax exemptions to support the temple there. Think about that — an emperor who's often painted as the destroyer of temples, but here he's protecting one. Luna: That's a huge nuance. But did these edicts actually work? Was anyone enforcing them? Lucas: That's the question. The edicts were addressed to his own officials — the faujdars and the qazis — and they were told to ensure safe passage. We don't know how strictly they were followed, but the fact that the Jains preserved these plates suggests they mattered. They were proof of imperial protection, and they could be produced in a dispute. So they had real legal weight. Luna: So it was like a legal shield. Lucas: Yes, a shield they could hold up. And here's the thing — this wasn't a one-off. Aurangzeb issued similar farmans to other communities, like the Portuguese at Hugli that we talked about earlier, and even to the Sikhs before the conflict escalated. He was selective, not indiscriminate. The Jains were special because they were crucial to the economy, especially in Gujarat, a major hub for trade. Luna: So it's like he was protecting his own tax base. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes these edicts so revealing. They show an emperor who could balance his personal piety with the needs of the state. He might have banned music at court, but he didn't let his religious views destroy the economy. He needed the Jains to finance his wars. Luna: So there was a limit to his zealotry. Lucas: There was. And it's not just about the edicts. Consider this: when the famine hit Gujarat in 1681, Aurangzeb ordered his officials to distribute grain and open free kitchens, just as he would in any province. The fact that he preceded his Deccan campaign with these protections suggests he understood that stability at home was essential for success abroad. Luna: He was strategizing, not just ruling. Lucas: Right. And this pattern continues. In 1695, he issued another set of farmans for the Shatrunjaya hill, reaffirming the earlier protections. The Jains had to go back and ask again because local officials weren't always respecting the edicts. That tells us that even the emperor's word wasn't absolute on the ground. It's a reminder of the limits of Mughal power, especially in the distant provinces. Luna: So the edicts were as much about negotiating power as they were about policy. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the deeper insight. When we look at Aurangzeb's reign, we tend to focus on the wars and the religious bans. But there's a whole other layer of governance that involved negotiations with merchants, monks, and local elites. The Jain edicts show him as a ruler who could be flexible when it served his interests. Luna: So he wasn't a fanatic, he was a pragmatist. Lucas: He was a complex figure, certainly. And the historian Audrey Truschke has argued that we need to complicate our understanding of Aurangzeb's religious policies. She points out that the Jain edicts are just one of many examples of his engagement with non-Muslim communities. He had Hindu officials, he respected many Hindu ascetics, and he had a Jain monk at court. The picture is more varied than the black and white image we often get. Luna: So why does the caricature persist? Lucas: Partly because the later Mughals and the British colonial historians had their own agendas. They wanted to present Aurangzeb as the villain who brought down the empire, so they highlighted the negative aspects. But the archive is full of documents like these farmans that tell a different story. It's our job as storytellers to bring that nuance to the surface. Luna: I'm glad we're doing this. Lucas: Me too. And I think it's fitting that we end with a small detail from one of those copper plates. It says, 'Let no one cause the least obstruction to this path of the Jinas.' It's a tiny sentence, but it captures the essence of what we've been talking about — that even an emperor at war, in the middle of expanding his empire, could pause to protect a sacred path. Luna: That's a beautiful image. Lucas: It is. And it's a reminder that history is never as simple as we think. Aurangzeb built and broke an empire, but he also left behind these small, human gestures that complicate the story. And that's what makes studying this period so fascinating.