Shows / Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb Alamgir, the sixth Mughal emperor, ruled for nearly half a century (1658–1707) and oversaw the empire's greatest territorial expansion—and its most rapid unraveling. This show traces his life from the fratricidal War of Succession that brought him to power to his relentless campaigns in the Deccan against the Maratha king Shivaji and his successors. We explore the imposition of jizya tax, the destruction of Hindu temples, the execution of Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur, and the long rebellion…
Episodes
Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo HistoryAurangzeb vs the Rathores: The 1679 Siege of Jodhpur
In 1679, Aurangzeb personally led a campaign against the Rathore Rajputs of Marwar, triggered by a succession dispute after the death of Maharaja Jaswant…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Elephant: The Battle of Samugarh's Hidden Turning Point
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore a pivotal moment in the Mughal war of succession that is often overlooked — the role of war…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Campaigns: The War That Broke the Mughal Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's Deccan campaigns, the prolonged conflict with the Maratha Empire that drained Mughal resources and…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Water Policy: Canals, Wells, and an Empire Thirsting for Control
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's ambitious water management policies across the Mughal Empire. They discuss the digging of the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Secret Police: The Imperial Intelligence Network
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's extensive intelligence network, the backbone of his authoritarian rule. They discuss the role of the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Mughal-Portuguese Alliance: Guns, Jesuits, and Diplomacy
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's strategic alliance with the Portuguese, focusing on the supply of European artillery and the role of…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Failed Mogul Campaign in the Hindu Kush
In the late 1660s, a decade before the Deccan campaigns consumed him, Aurangzeb launched a costly and largely forgotten expedition into the high passes of the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's War of the Daur: The Afghan Rebellion That Started It All
In 1667, before the Deccan campaigns, before the Marathas, before the empire began to crack, Aurangzeb faced a rebellion that would set a dangerous precedent —…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Jizya Tax: The Edict That Reshaped Mughal India
In 1679, Aurangzeb reimposed the jizya tax on non-Muslims, a decision that scholars still debate. Was it religious fervor, political calculation, or something…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Music Ban: The Emperor Who Silenced the Court
In 1668, Aurangzeb banned music from his court. But did he really silence an entire empire? In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the emperor's complex…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Bureaucracy: The Mansabdari System Under Strain
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore the inner workings of Aurangzeb's Mughal bureaucracy, focusing on the mansabdari system—the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Last Will: The Emperor Who Died Writing Letters
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's final years through the lens of his personal letters and the will he dictated on his deathbed. They…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb vs the Sikhs: The Execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur
In 1675, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb ordered the public execution of the ninth Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur, in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. This episode explores the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's War with the Ahoms: Assam's Last Stand
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's costly and inconclusive war with the Ahom kingdom of Assam. After decades of Mughal expansion into the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Persian Letters: The Emperor's Private Voice
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a rarely examined facet of Aurangzeb's reign: his personal correspondence. Drawing on the collection known as the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Fatwa-e-Alamgiri: Codifying Hanafi Law in an Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the creation of the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, the monumental legal code compiled under Emperor Aurangzeb's patronage…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's War of the Throne: The 1658 Siege of Kabul
In 1658, while Aurangzeb marched north to claim the Mughal throne, his loyal general Mir Jumla faced a desperate siege in Kabul against the Uzbeks and Abdali…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Architectural Legacy: Mosques, Tombs, and the Politics of Marble
Emperor Aurangzeb is often remembered as a temple destroyer, but what did he build? In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's architectural…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's War of Succession: The Final Act and the End of an Era
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore the bloody final chapter of Aurangzeb's war of succession. They focus on the clash at Samugarh…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Coin War: The Economics of an Empire in Overdrive
In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack a little-known front of Aurangzeb's Deccan obsession: the currency war. While the Mughal emperor poured men and…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Coin War
In the 1690s, Aurangzeb waged a desperate currency war across the Deccan. The Mughal emperor struck new silver rupees and copper dams to pay his massive army…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Rajput Wars: The Alliance That Fractured an Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's fraught relationship with the Rajput kingdoms, focusing on the long siege of Chittor in 1658 and the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Slave Generals Eunuchs and Military Slaves
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the shadowy world of slave generals in Aurangzeb's Mughal Empire. They focus on two extraordinary figures: the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Famine Tax: The Grain That Never Grew
In 1660, just two years after Aurangzeb took the throne, a devastating famine struck the Mughal Empire. The emperor's response was not to waive taxes, but…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Execution of Sambhaji: The Killing That Fueled the Maratha War
In 1689, after a decade of hunting him across the Deccan, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb finally captured the Maratha king Sambhaji. What followed was not just an…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Mughal Navy: The Emperor Who Abandoned the Sea
Episode 76 of our Aurangzeb series explores the one frontier the emperor never conquered: the sea. While Aurangzeb's armies marched across the Deccan, his…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Elephant Corps War Beasts of the Mughal Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the role of war elephants in Aurangzeb's campaigns, focusing on their tactical use, logistics, and symbolic…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Campaigns: The War That Broke the Mughal Empire
In this episode, we explore the grueling twenty-five-year Deccan campaign that drained the Mughal treasury and ultimately fractured the empire. Lucas and Luna…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Forts: The Mughal War of Attrition
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into Aurangzeb's relentless campaign to capture Maratha hill forts in the Deccan, focusing on the sieges of Sinhagad…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Temple Destruction: Politics, Piety, and Propaganda
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore one of the most contentious aspects of Aurangzeb's reign: the destruction of Hindu temples. Was it driven by…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Kashmir Summer Retreats
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's relationship with Kashmir — not just as a pleasure retreat, but as a strategic and…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Sufi Turn: The Emperor Who Sought Saints
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore a lesser-known side of Aurangzeb: his deep engagement with Sufi saints and mysticism. Despite his…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Jizya Tax: Reinstating the Islamic Poll Tax
In 1679, Aurangzeb reinstated the jizya tax on non-Muslims, a decision that has been debated for centuries. This episode explores the actual implementation of…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Brothers: The War of Succession That Shaped an Empire
Aurangzeb's path to the Mughal throne was paved with blood—and not just from his rivals. This episode dives into the bitter war of succession between the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Kashmir Summer Retreats
In episode 67, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's relationship with Kashmir—a side of the emperor rarely discussed. While he spent decades in the Deccan…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Court: The Poet-Son Who Defied the Emperor
Aurangzeb's eldest son, Muhammad Sultan, once stood as the empire's brightest hope — until he betrayed his own father and died in prison. This…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Fatwa-e-Alamgiri: The Islamic Legal Code That Shaped India
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, the massive compilation of Islamic law commissioned by Aurangzeb. Known as the 'Alamgiri…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Failed Diplomacy: The Emperor Who Lost the Marathas
This episode peels back the military campaigns to examine Aurangzeb's catastrophic diplomatic failure with the Marathas. We explore the 1666 Treaty of…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Siege of Chittorgarh: When Faith and Empire Collided
In 1657, Prince Aurangzeb — not yet emperor — set his sights on the fortress of Chittorgarh, the legendary stronghold of the Sisodia Rajputs. This episode…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Fatehpur Sikri: The Ghost City He Built from a Dream
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's little-known connection to Fatehpur Sikri — not the abandoned city of Akbar, but a new imperial…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Sikh War: Guru Tegh Bahadur and the Rise of the Khalsa
In 1675, Aurangzeb ordered the public execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru, in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. This episode explores the escalating…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Bengal Policy and the Rise of the Nawabs
Emperor Aurangzeb's conquest of Bengal in the 1660s reshaped the richest province of the Mughal Empire. This episode traces how his punitive expedition…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Music Ban: The Emperor Who Silenced the Mughal Courts
In 1668, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb issued a decree banning music from his court. This episode explores the motivations behind this controversial edict…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Road: The Emperor Who Paved His Own Doom
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the impact of Aurangzeb's ambitious road-building project through the Deccan plateau. They discuss the 1665…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Wine Ban: How the Mughal Emperor Tried to Dry Up His Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a lesser-known but revealing chapter of Aurangzeb's reign: his sweeping prohibition of alcohol across the Mughal…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Currency: The Copper Coins That Bankrupted an Empire
From 1682 to 1707, Aurangzeb fought a grinding war in the Deccan that drained the Mughal treasury. To pay his massive army, he minted millions of copper dams —…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Elephant Corps War Beasts of the Mughal Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the role of war elephants in Aurangzeb's campaigns, from the siege of Golconda to the Deccan wars. They discuss…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Famine: When the Mughal War Machine Starved Millions
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the devastating Deccan famine of 1702–1704 that unfolded during Aurangzeb's relentless campaign in the south. They…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Bidar: The Emperor Who Died in a Commoner's Hut
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the final months of Aurangzeb's life in the Deccan — not at a grand capital, but in a simple mud-brick house in…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Rajput Wars: The Rathore Rebellion of Marwar
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's devastating conflict with the Rathore Rajputs of Marwar, a war that bled the Mughal treasury and…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Maratha War: The Guerrilla Tactics That Broke an Empire
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the Maratha rebellion that consumed Aurangzeb's final decades. They explore the guerrilla warfare pioneered by…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Temple Destruction: Politics, Piety, and Propaganda
In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the most contested aspects of Aurangzeb's reign: his policy toward Hindu temples. They explore the…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Astronomical Observatory: The Emperor Who Measured the Heavens
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a lesser-known facet of Aurangzeb's reign: his patronage of astronomy. They discuss the construction of…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Band of Eunuchs: The Power Behind the Throne
Episode 48 of Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire peels back the curtain on a shadowy pillar of Mughal power: the eunuch…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Deccan Campaigns: The Siege of Golconda
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Mughal siege of Golconda in 1687, one of the most dramatic and costly campaigns of Aurangzeb's Deccan wars…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Last Words: The Emperor's Final Testament
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the final months of Aurangzeb's long reign, focusing on his letters, his will, and the haunting phrase…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Secret Hindu Generals: Mirza Raja Jai Singh
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the complex career of Mirza Raja Jai Singh I, the Kachhwaha Rajput ruler of Amber who became one of Aurangzeb's…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Fatwa on Slavery: Islamic Law and Mughal Captives
In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into Aurangzeb's controversial fatwa on slavery, issued in the late 17th century. They explore the legal framework…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's Kashmir Summer: The Emperor's Mountain Refuge
This episode explores Aurangzeb's lesser-known relationship with Kashmir — his five extended summer stays in the valley between 1663 and 1666, the Mughal…
- Aurangzeb: The Emperor Who Expanded and Broke the Mughal Empire — Fexingo History
Aurangzeb's War of Words: The Imperial Censorship Machine
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Aurangzeb's extensive system of censorship and surveillance, from the banning of historical chronicles to the…