Originally posted by: history_geek
Devki,
Akbar shifted capital to Lahore in mid 1580's. There are remains of Akbar's era in Lahore Fort till present day. Some remains of temples in fort hojras are also present there. The fort suffered lots of damage during the Anglo-Sikh wars in mid 19th century.
Do visit the blog at leisure. :)
Akbar's successors did follow his policies, especially Jahangir and Shah Jahan did to a great extent, barring some incidents which are present in Akbar's reign also. We can blame Aurangzeb for many reasons, but the picture is not so easy to understand as we all believe.
All the rulers wanted to increase their dominions, like Akbar. Same was done by Jahangir and Shah Jahan also. All of them had good as well as bad in varying proportions. The "good" of Akbar exceeds all of them. That's the major difference.
Shah Jahan even wanted to reclaim the lost Central Asian frontiers, because that was his ancestors' home land. Aurangzeb wanted to do the same - expansion of empire, in the process he made enemies. While his Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan had almost settled the issues of Northern India, Aurangzeb was left to handle the Southern part. This would certainly bring him in conflict with the various dynasties which were ruling there.
Another thing - North India is mostly a plain. Armies can fight easily in plains. Mughals had superior numbers. But South India, right from Vindhya Ranges, starts with a tough terrain and that territory was new in comparison, for the Mughals. So it was tough to fight there, though in the end Aurangzeb reached right deep into South.
Otherwise we know, Shivaji gave great trouble to Aurangzeb as he had hill forts. Similarly, earlier Pratap did the same against Akbar, as he had his abode in the Aravalli hills. Both used guerilla warfare to a great extent.
Akbar, Jahangir and Aurangzeb made "friends" also along with "enemies".
Jahangir recruited Marathas in Mughal army in his times. {Fact not known to many.}
Shah Jahan speaks fondly of his Rathore cousins of Jodhpur from mother's side in his biography Padshahnama.
But, Aurangzeb made more enemies than friends. Jodhpur and Amer were his staunch supporters earlier, later they too deserted him. You must be knowing how Raja Jai Singh of Amer brought Shivaji to Mughal court on respectable terms ; but what happened later on.
His "Intolerance" was his weapon to achieve those objectives, when he could not achieve them easily. You must be remembering the Fathanama of Akbar till now.
The rule of monarchs is same - First try to achive the objective easily and when it is not possible then go for any means.
On his death bed, Aurangzeb said - I am responsible for the destruction of this empire. He was sure, that he made many enemies and his successors would not be able to cope up. He could foresee. One thing - the empire was very big and secondly there was no "loyal" supporter left who could stand along with his successors.
His successor, his 67 year old son, tried hard to win the Marathas and Rajputs to his side, though it was too late. The power of Peshwas was on the rise and BajiRao simply gave a fatal blow, and there was continuous fratricide in Delhi at the same time, which made the former's work easy.
If you are free, do have a look here. Brief one --
http://mariam-uz-zamani.blogspot.in/2014/12/aurangzeb-personality-assessment.html
@All
I am coming to the forum for a short time, so will be late in replies. :)
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