Emperor Aurangzeb And Destruction of Temples - Conversions And Jizya (A Study Largely Based on his Court Bulletins or Akhbarat Darbar Mu'alla)

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The present work is intended to give a candid account of Emperor Aurangzeb's attitude and policies towards the Temples, imposition of Jizya, conversion of the Hindus to Islam, and their status and rights in a State being ruled according to the directions of the Shari'at. The study is mainly based on that Emperor's own Court bulletins or Akhbarat and some of the more important Persian and Rajasthani soures, while examining at the same time the extent to which the commands in the Holy Qur'an and Shari'ai could have influenced his outlook and policies towards the non-Muslims. Aurangzeb tried to rule like a true "Faith protecting Emperor", but what it meant to the vast majority of his Hindu subjects and how they looked at his acts of extreme intolerance directed against their faith and culture often receive scant attention of the Historians, some of whom even try to negate most incriminating evidence against him by clever play of words and find alibi for his wrongful acts and policies, which were in total contradiction to the wise and enlightened policies of his ancestor, Emperor Akbar, who believed in complete religious freedom and equality of all citizens of the State.

V.S. Bhatnagar received his Post-graduation degree in 1955 and Doctorate from the University of Rajasthan in 1960. After serving for four years in the Rajasthan Education Service, he joined the Deptt. of History, University of Rajasthan and retired as Professor of History in 1992. Thereafter, he studied as a Fellow at the I.I.A.S., Shimla for two years He has contributed a large number of papers to the Research Journals and Felicitation Volimes etc. Among his works may be mentioned Life and Times of Sawai Jai Singh (Impex India, Delhi, 1974), Tr. and Annotation of Kanhadade Prabandha (Aditya Prakashan, Delhi, 1991), Natha Philosophy and Ashtanga Yoga (Aditya Prakashan, Delhi, 2012), Half- a-Flight (Nuruddin's Memoirs of Crown Prince Dara Shukoh (Literary Circle, Jaipur 2016) and has co-edited The Peasantry through tha Ages in Western India w.sp.ref. to Rajasthan (Jaipur, 1991) and History and Historians of Rajasthan (Jaipur, 1993). For several years, he was closely associated with the Centre for Rajasthan Studies of the University.

The present work is intended to give a candid account of Emperor Aurangzeb's (1659-1707 A.D.) attitude towards the temples, need to re-impose Jizya, and to define the status which the Hindus should have in an Islamic state ruled according to the Shari'at, as also regarding the legitimacy of using the power and the resources of the State in the 'holy' task of converting the Hindus to Prophet Muhammad's faith, treating the means employed for this task as irrelevant from moral point of view. For such a study, what source could be more authentic than his own Court Bulletins - the Akhbarat Darbar Mu'alla, which, to some extent, form the basis of this book along with other useful authorities, such as Maasir-i-Alamgiri, Muntakhab-ul-Luab, Futūhat-i-Alamgiri, Nuskha-i-Dilkusha, Aurangzeb's Letters, Vir Vinod, Storia Do Mogor and others which supplement the information provided by the Akhbarat, and in some cases, they alone provide relevant information and evidence.