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Chapter VIII – The Hindus

The expeditions into Assam and Arakan did not disturb the general peace of Hindustan. A profound tranquillity, broken by no rebellion of any political importance, reigned throughout northern India for the first twenty years of Aurangzib’s rule. The Deccan troubles, which will be described later, awoke no corresponding excitement in the north. So quiet, indeed, was the country, so absolute the security of the crown, that Aurangzib was able with an easy mind to allow himself a rest and change of scene, after the dangerous illness which prostrated him in 1664. Leaving his father still a captive at Agra, but fearing no revolution in his behalf, the Emperor set out in December, 1664, upon the journey to Kashmir, of which Bernier has preserved a vivid diary. The holiday was to last eighteen months, at least six of which were consumed in coming and going. The Mughal travelled in a leisurely manner, as befitted his state, and often stopped for a few days’ hunting, or deviated from the direct route to search for water. It would have been impossible to hurry with such an

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unwieldy following as always accompanied the Emperor on his journeys. His regular body-guard of 35,000 horsemen of course went with him, besides over 10,000 infantry, and the heavy and light artillery, consisting of 100 or 120 brass pieces, some of which were dragged over the rugged places of the road with considerable difficulty. A large body of Amirs and Rajas and lesser vassals was always in close attendance on the royal person, mounted on horseback, to their infinite disgust, instead of their usual comfortable palankins. The Emperor himself travelled either in a throne borne on men’s shoulders, or mounted on his horse or elephant:–

‘Imperial Delhi op’ning wide her Gates,

Pours out her thronging Legions, bright in Arms,

And all the Pomp of War. Before them sound

Clarions and Trumpets, breathing Martial Airs

And bold Defiance. High upon his Throne,

Borne on the Back of his proud Elephant,

Sits the great Chief of Tamur’s glorious Race:

Sublime he sits, amid the radiant Blaze

Of Gems and Gold. Omrahs about him crowd,

And rein th’ Arabian steed, and watch his Nod:

And potent Rajahs, who themselves preside

O’er Realms of wide Extent; but here submiss

Their Homage pay, alternate Kings and Slaves.

Next these with prying Eunuchs girt around,

The fair Sultanas of his Court; a Troop

Of chosen Beauties, but with Care concealed

From each intrusive Eye; one Look is Death49.’

The Seraglio formed a striking feature in the procession, with the gilded and silken palankins and

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travelling couches of the princesses, the gorgeous litters hung between two camels or elephants, or the high howdahs loaded with eight women, and covered with rich silks and embroidery.

‘I cannot avoid dwelling on this pompous procession of the Seraglio,’ wrote Bernier. ‘Stretch imagination to its utmost limits, and you can imagine no exhibition more grand and imposing than when Raushan-Ara Begam, mounted on a stupendous Pegu elephant, and seated in a meghdambhar blazing with gold and azure, is followed by five or six elephants with meghdambhars nearly as resplendent as her own, and filled with ladies attached to her household, [and succeeded by the most distinguished ladies of the Court] until fifteen or sixteen females of quality pass with a grandeur of appearance, equipage and retinue, more or less proportionate to their rank, pay, and office. There is something very impressive of state and royalty in the march of these sixty or more elephants; in their solemn and as it were measured steps, in the splendour of the meghdambhars, and the brilliant and innumerable followers in attendance: and if I had not regarded this display of magnificence with a sort of philosophical indifference, I should have been apt to be carried away by such flights of imagination as inspire most of the Indian poets, when they represent the elephants as conveying so many goddesses concealed from the vulgar gaze50.’

Bernier was fortunate in seeing so much of the procession, for it was as much as a man’s life was worth to be found too near the Seraglio, and once the French doctor had to fight his way through the eunuchs, sword in hand, to escape a merciless beating.

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Besides these important members of his family and suite, the Emperor’s march was followed by an innumerable multitude of servants and tradespeople. Indeed the whole of Delhi turned out to follow its customers, since there was no alternative but to join the procession of its sole employers or to stay at home and starve in a deserted city. The same tradesmen who kept shop in town, were obliged to keep shop in the field, while

Delhi mourns

Her empty and depopulated Streets.

The total number of persons in the camp was estimated at between three and four hundred thousand. They had to carry all necessaries with them, except forage; for to pillage the country they passed through, would have been to rob the Emperor, who was, at least in theory, its sole owner; and but for the extreme simplicity of the Indian soldiers’ diet and their avoidance of animal food, the camp must have exhibited a scene of appalling starvation. The usual Eastern plan of double camps was observed, one to sleep in, the other, called Paish-khana, to go on in front to be pitched ready for the following night. In each was pitched a travelling Audience and Presence Chamber, where the Emperor held his daily levees and councils, under silk and velvet canopies, exactly as he did at Delhi or Agra. The royal tents were red, lined with hand-painted chintz from Masulipatan, beautifully embroidered and fringed with gold and silver and silk; and the tent poles were painted and

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gilt. Hard by the Emperor’s were the Begams’ tents. The whole was enclosed in a square fenced in with wooden screens; and outside the gate were the quarters of the guard, the music, and the principal officers of state, while the smaller folk ranged their tents at proper distances, the entire camp forming a circle of about five or six miles’ circumference. Over all, shone the light of the Akasdiah, or Lamp of Heaven, an imperial beacon, consisting of a lantern hanging at the top of a mast forty yards high, to guide wanderers to their tents by night, while watch-fires blazed round the camp and the sentinel paced his silent round.

On his return from his long repose in Kashmir, where he seems to have spent the greater part of 1665, Aurangzib found his empire as tranquil as he had left it, and a source of danger was removed early in 1666 by the death of his father Shah-Jahan in his splendid prison at Agra. The news of Shayista Khan’s successes in Arakan reached him in the same year, and the most troublesome of his antagonists in the Deccan, the Maratha Sivaji, made his submission and actually ventured to present himself at Court. Soon afterwards, in 1668, the greatest of the friendly but formidable Rajput Rajas died: Jai Singh, who had been a loyal and energetic servant of the Emperor ever since his accession, and had led many a campaign in the Deccan at the head of his valiant tribesmen. The other famous Rajput general, Jaswant Singh, was far away in his government at Kabul, and was also approaching his end. At last the Emperor was free

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to carry out the repressive policy towards the Hindus which must be the aim of every good Muslim. So far there had been no persecution, no religious disabilities: but there can be no doubt that Aurangzib was only nursing his zeal for the Faith, until it should be safe to display it against the unbelievers.

It seems to have been in 1669 that the storm began to gather51. In April of that year Aurangzib was informed that the Brahmans of Benares and other Hindu centres were in the habit of teaching their ‘wicked sciences,’ not only to their own people but to Muslims. This was more than the orthodox Emperor could tolerate; but the severity of his measures shows that he had been only waiting for a pretext to come down like a thunderbolt upon the unfortunate ‘heathen.’ ‘The Director of the Faith,’ we are told, ‘issued orders to all the governors of provinces to destroy with a willing hand the schools and temples of the infidels; and they were strictly enjoined to put an entire stop to the teaching and practising of idolatrous forms of worship.’ It is not for a moment to be supposed that these orders were literally carried out. Even the English Government would not dare to risk such an experiment in India. All that was done was to make a few signal examples, and thus to warn the Brahmans from attempting to make proselytes among the True

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Believers. With this object the temple of Vishnu at Benares was destroyed and a splendid shrine at Mathura was razed to the ground, to make room for a magnificent mosque. The idols found in the temples were brought to Agra and buried under the steps of the mosque, so that good Muslims might have the satisfaction of treading them under foot.

Three years later the fanaticism of the Hindus found vent in an insurrection of four or five thousand devotees, who called themselves Satnamis, in Mewat, which gave the imperial officers no little trouble to subdue. The quarrel arose from a blow given by one of the Government inspectors, but the hostility of the sect must have been already at fever-heat to fire up at so slight a provocation. The Satnamis assembled in their thousands, wreaked their vengeance on the officials, occupied Narnol, and began to levy the taxes and administer the district themselves. The ordinary provincial forces were repeatedly worsted; even several expeditions despatched from Delhi only met the rioters to be discomfited and put to flight. ‘It was said that swords, arrows, and musket balls had no effect on these men, and that every arrow and ball which they discharged brought down two or three men. Thus they were credited with magic and witch-craft, and were said to have magic wooden horses like live ones, on which their women rode as an advanced guard52.’ The neighbouring Rajputs and other Hindus began to become infected with the spirit of rebellion,

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and every day saw fresh additions to the strength of the rioters.

Aurangzib saw that his troops were demoralized by fear of the enemy’s supposed magic, and he resolved to counteract witchcraft by holy charms. He wrote some pious texts, and had them sewn to his banners. To him, the device probably meant no more than the expression of his zeal: ‘In the name of the Lord will I destroy them.’ But to his soldiers the blessed words from the Koran were sure amulets against the sorcery of the enemy. Led by Persian nobles, always keen to do battle with Hindus, the imperial troops fell upon the badly armed rebels like avenging zealots, and soon the conflict became a massacre. The Satnamis fought with the courage of despair and the exaltation of martyrs, but the end was not doubtful: thousands were slain; and the insurrection was suppressed.

It is very difficult to trace the cause and effect of Aurangzib’s successive steps in his reactionary policy towards the Hindus. In the eleventh year of his reign he suddenly put a stop to the system of official chronicles, which had been minutely recorded by historiographers royal since the time of Akbar. Now, it was strictly forbidden to write any chronicles at all, and those that have come down to us were recorded in secret, or merely treasured in the memory, and have all the confusion and fragmentary character of haphazard reminiscences. There are probably several links missing in the chain of events which connected

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the first destruction of Hindu temples in 1669 with the imposition of the hated jizya or poll-tax on unbelievers, a few years later53. The revolt of the Satnamis is one of the few links that have been preserved by the secret chroniclers, who were naturally disinclined to soil their pens with the doings of ‘ unclean infidels.’ Another event is the rash interference of the Emperor in the matter of Jaswant Singh’s children.

The death of a powerful Raja would naturally lead to a fresh encroachment against the Hindus, and the desire of Aurangzib to meddle in the family affairs of the Rajputs is a sign that he felt himself strong enough to impose a strict Muhammadan rule all over India. He was not deterred by the hostile demonstrations which the re-imposition of the hated poll-tax aroused at Delhi. In vain the people wailed and cursed around the palace. Aurangzib had by this time abandoned the salutary custom of appearing at stated hours before his subjects at the levee window: the adulation of the multitude savoured of idolatry to his puritanical mind. But seclude himself as he might – and thereby lose the sensitive touch of the populace which had been his father’s strength – he could not shut his eyes to the uproar which the new enactment excited. When he

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went to the mosque, crowds of expostulating and even riotous Hindus blocked his way; and though his elephants forced their way over their bodies, he could not subdue their invincible repugnance to the new instrument of bigotry. His dealings with the Rajput princes kindled these sparks of discontent into a flame. He endeavoured to get Jaswant Singh’s two sons sent to Delhi to be educated, and doubtless made Muslims, under his own supervision. Of course the Rajputs would not hear of this: their loyalty and their pride alike forbade such ignominy to their hereditary chiefs. And when they learned that the bigoted Emperor had revived the ancient law of Muhammad which imposed a tax upon every soul who did not conform to Islam – a tax which Akbar had disdained, and Shah-Jahan had not dared to think of – their indignation knew no bounds. They repudiated the religious tax, and they contrived to spirit away the infant princes of Marwar out of the Emperor’s reach.

It was the first serious rebellion during the reign, and its provoker little realized the effects which his fanatical policy would produce. He marched at once upon Rajputana, where be found two out of the three leading States, Udaipur (Mewar) and Jodhpur (Marwar) united against him, and only Raja Ram Singh of Jaipur (Amber) still loyal to the empire. The Rajputs kept 25,000 horse, mostly Rahtors of Jodhpur, in the field, and although frequently driven into their mountains were never really subdued. At one time they seemed to be at the point of a decisive

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victory, and the Emperor’s cause appeared lost. Directing operations from Ajmir, he had placed his main body under his fourth son Akbar, at the same time calling up his elder sons Mu’azzam and A’zam with their contingents from their commands in the Deccan and Bengal. The three princes were busy ravaging the Rajput country, and Aurangzib was left at Ajmir with hardly a thousand men, when tidings came that Prince Akbar had been seduced by the diplomacy of the Rajput leaders, had gone over with the main army to the enemy, and proclaimed himself Emperor of India; nay, more, he was now marching upon his father at the head of 70,000 men. Aurangzib must have thought of the fate of Shah-Jahan, and feared that it was now his turn to make room for an ambitious son: but his presence of mind did not desert him even at this crisis. Summoning Prince Mu’azzam to come to his aid with such troops as he could gather, the Emperor essayed a counter-move in the game of diplomacy. He wrote a letter congratulating the rebel Prince upon his success in deceiving the Rajputs and luring them on to their destruction, and contrived that this compromising epistle should be intercepted by one of the rebellious Rajas54. The effect of his plot exceeded all expectations. The Mughal deserters flocked back to the imperial standard, led

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by their repentant general Tuhawwar Khan, who was at once decapitated; the Rajput army melted away; and Prince Akbar, with a following of 500 men, fled to the Deccan (June, 1681), and became the guest of the Maratha chief at Rahiri, whence he eventually sailed for Persia, and never again set foot in the realm of his fathers.

The Rajput snake was scotched, but far from killed. The insults which had been offered to their chiefs and their religion, the ruthless and unnecessary severity of Aurangzib’s campaigns in their country, left a sore which never healed. A. race which had been the right arm of the Mughal empire at the beginning of the reign was now hopelessly alienated, and never again served the throne without distrust. The war went on. The Mughals ravaged the rich lands of Udaipur, and the Rajputs retaliated by throwing down mosques and insulting the Muslims. The cities were indeed in the hands of Aurangzib, but the mountain defiles were thronged with implacable foes, who lost no opportunity of dealing a blow at the invaders. The Rana of Udaipur, who was the chief sufferer on the Rajput side, succeeded at last in making an honourable peace with Aurangzib, who was tired of the struggle and anxious to give his whole mind to his affairs in the Deccan. The hated jizya was not even named in the treaty; a small cession of territory was made by the Rana as an indemnity for siding with Prince Akbar; and Jaswant Singh’s son, the young Raja of Jodhpur, was acknowledged heir to his

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father’s principality. But while the treaty enabled Aurangzib to beat a fairly creditable retreat, it did not appease the indignant Rajputs of the west; even the Rana of Udaipur soon rode his elephants through the treaty; and all Rajputana, save Jaipur and the eastern parts, was perpetually in a state of revolt until the end of the reign. Tantum, relligio potuit! But for his tax upon heresy, and his interference with their inborn sense of dignity and honour, Aurangzib might have still kept the Rajputs by his side as priceless allies in the long struggle in which he was now to engage in the Deccan. As it was he alienated them forever. No Rajput Raja would again marshal his willing mountaineers to support a Mughal throne, as had been seen in the days of Jai Singh. So long as the great Puritan sat on the throne of Akbar, not a Rajput would stir a finger to save him. Aurangzib had to fight his southern foes with the loss of his right arm.

Footnotes

49. Somervile, The Chace, Bk. ii. (‘Constable’s Oriental Miscellany.’ vol. iii. p. 208).

50. Bernier. pp. 37a-3.

51. The first notice of any religious persecution occurs in the Maasir-i Alamgiri of Musta’idd Khan, under the date 17 Zu-l-kada 1079 (18 April, 1669); but the dates become very hazy after Aurangzib’s prohibition of official chronicles in the eleventh year of his reign.

52. Khafi Khan, l. c. vol. vii. p. 295.

53. Dr. Fryer, writing in 1675, mentions the new tax on Hindus, which, he says, amounted to as much as a gold mohur, or 31s. 6d. for a Brahman. Manucci states that the tax ranged from 3½ rupees levied on the poor to 131 on merchants, i.e. from about 8s. to 3os. 4d.

54. Khafi Khan questions the accuracy of this story. It is clear, however, that by some means Aurangzib contrived to win back the deserters, and the letter is as probable a ruse as any other.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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