Latest / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History / Aurangzeb's Farman: The Imperial Order That Ruled an Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you know we've talked a lot about Aurangzeb's policies — his taxes, his bans, his wars. But today I want to look at the tool he used to put all of those into motion: the farman. Luna: The imperial decree. Lucas: Exactly. A farman was basically a written order from the emperor, carrying the force of law. It could appoint a governor, set a tax rate, grant land, or command an army. And for Aurangzeb, who ruled for nearly fifty years and corresponded constantly with his officials, farmans were the nervous system of the empire. Luna: So it's not just one document — it's a whole category of documents. Lucas: Right. And they ranged from one-line orders to lengthy edicts. They were written in Persian, usually in elegant nasta'liq script, on high-quality paper that was often dyed or marbled. The imperial seal — called the al-tughra — was stamped at the top, sometimes in gold. That seal was unique to each emperor, and it carried phrases like 'Alamgir, the Conqueror of the World.' Luna: The seal alone must have carried huge authority. Lucas: It did. A farman without the proper seal was worthless. And forgery was a serious crime — punishable by death in some cases. The whole system was designed to make sure that when a farman arrived in a village in Gujarat or a fort in the Deccan, people knew it came from the emperor himself. Lucas: Now, Aurangzeb used farmans more systematically than his predecessors. He had a whole department called the daftar i farman, staffed by scribes and calligraphers. They would draft the order, then a senior official called the mir i munshi would check it, and finally the emperor would affix his seal. Sometimes he even wrote a short note in the margin in his own hand — we have examples of that. Luna: Aurangzeb personally wrote notes on farmans? Lucas: Yes, especially when he wanted to emphasize something. For instance, when he issued the farman reimposing jizya in 1679, he added a marginal note saying it was a religious duty. Those personal touches show how deeply he was involved in administration. Luna: I can imagine the scribes working under huge pressure — one mistake and the whole empire could be thrown off. Lucas: Absolutely. And there's a famous story about a farman that went wrong. In 1664, Aurangzeb issued a farman to the British East India Company, granting them trading privileges in Bengal. The farman was quite generous — it allowed them to trade duty-free in exchange for an annual payment. But later, Mughal officials in Bengal argued the farman had been misinterpreted or even forged. That dispute simmered for decades and eventually contributed to the conflicts that led to the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Luna: So a single farman ended up shaping the course of colonialism in India. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the paradox: the farman was designed to project imperial authority, but once issued, it could take on a life of its own. Officials far from court might interpret it differently, or local powerbrokers might ignore it. Aurangzeb tried to counter this by sending multiple copies — sometimes dozens — to different officials, so everyone had the same text. Luna: It's like an early version of cc-ing everyone on an email. Lucas: Ha, exactly. And there's a material side to this too. Farmans were often read aloud in public — in the bazaar, in the mosque, at the governor's palace. The physical object itself was sometimes carried in a ceremonial procession. So the farman wasn't just a document; it was a performance of imperial power. Lucas: Now, one of the most important farmans Aurangzeb issued was the series of orders that led to the compilation of the fatawa e alamgiri. That was a massive legal code based on Hanafi jurisprudence. The farman itself set up a board of scholars, and it specified the scope of the work. In a way, the Fatawa was the ultimate farman — a book of laws that would guide judges across the empire. Luna: So by issuing farmans, Aurangzeb was trying to standardize everything — from trade to law to religion. Lucas: Yes. But standardization was hard in an empire as diverse as the Mughal one. In the Deccan, for instance, Aurangzeb's farmans ordering the destruction of temples were often resisted by local Maratha chieftains. Some farmans were simply ignored. Others were followed selectively. The empire's power depended on people accepting that the farman had authority, and that acceptance wasn't always automatic. Luna: So the farman was both a tool of control and a measure of how much control the emperor actually had. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why historians study them so carefully. A farman tells you what the emperor wanted, but the gap between the order and its implementation tells you about the limits of his power. Luna: If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — you can find that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small gesture that keeps us going. So back to the farmans — one thing that's often overlooked is the role of the scribes and calligraphers. They were highly respected. Some of them, like Muhammad Hadi, became famous in their own right. The calligraphy on a farman was an art form, and the choice of paper, ink, and layout all communicated the emperor's stature. Luna: So the visual aspect was as important as the text. Lucas: Absolutely. And we still have thousands of farmans from Aurangzeb's reign, preserved in archives in India, Pakistan, and the UK. They're a goldmine for historians. They tell us about everything from tax rates to religious policy to the price of grain. Each one is a snapshot of the empire in action. Luna: I wonder what Aurangzeb would think if he knew his farmans were still being studied centuries later. Lucas: He'd probably be pleased — he was very conscious of his legacy. But he might also be surprised at how often his orders were bent, ignored, or reinterpreted. The farman was supposed to be the final word, but in practice, the empire was full of conversations, negotiations, and compromises. And that's what makes studying them so fascinating: they show us not just the emperor's will, but the whole messy reality of ruling a vast, diverse realm.