Aurangzeb, Emperor (b. Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad, October 24, 1618-d. February 20, 1707, Aurangabad), sixth ruler of the Mughal dynasty of North India (r. 1658-1707); third son of Emperor SHAH JAHAN and Mumtaz Mahal. Upon taking the throne at age 40, he adopted the title of Alamgir (Seizer of the Universe). Considered to be the last of the Great Mughals, he was best known in Europe by his princely title, Aurangzeb (Ornament of the Throne). Although this pious Muslim extended the Empire's boundaries he also ensured its downfall. With frightening zealotry he oppressed or destroyed all things pertaining to infidels (Hindus and all others who did not embrace Islam). In many parts of India there are mosques which Aurangzeb had built on the foundations of temples that had been destroyed due to his fanatical beliefs. In April 1669, he was informed that the Brahmans of Varanasi and other Hindu centres were teaching their "wicked sciences" to Muslims as well. Unable to tolerate this, the orthodox Emperor destroyed the Vishnu temple at Varanasi. In 1671, he turned his attention to the splendid Krishna shrine at Mathura and razed it to the ground to make room for a magnificent mosque. The Hindu idols were taken to Agra and buried under the steps of the mosque there, so that Muslims might have the satisfaction of treading them underfoot. However, a famous statue of the god was saved, thanks to the efforts of Maharana RAJ SINGH I of Mewar (see NATHDWARA'S STATUE OF KRISHNA).

The next step in the policy of persecution was the re-imposition of the hated jizya, a tax that early Muslim invaders had imposed upon every Indian who did not conform to Islam-a tax that Aurangzeb's grandfather, AKBAR removed and his father, SHAH JAHAN refused to touch. Hindus were outraged. Whenever the Emperor attended the mosque in Agra, crowds of Hindu rioters blocked his way. Though his elephants forced a their path over their bodies, Aurangzeb could not subdue their hostility. Later, his dealings with the Rajput princes kindled these sparks of discontent into a raging fire. He brought the two young sons of Marwar's Jaswant Singh to Delhi to be educated (and doubtless converted to Islam) under his own supervision. Rajput loyalty and pride forbade such insult to their hereditary chiefs. This, along with the re-imposition of the jizya and the destruction of their temples, drove the Rajputs to rebellion. Aurangzeb marched at once to Rajputana, where he found two of the leading states, Mewar and Marwar united against him. At one time the Rajputs seemed to be at the point of a decisive victory, and the Emperor's cause appeared lost. Directing operations from Ajmer, he placed his main body under his fourth son Akbar, at the same time recalling his elder sons, Muazzam and Azam and their armies from the Deccan and Bengal. With the three princes busy ravaging Rajputana, Aurangzeb was left at Ajmer with hardly one thousand men, when news arrived that Prince Akbar had been seduced by Rajput diplomacy. He had gone over with the main army to the Hindus, proclaimed himself Emperor of India, and was marching upon his father at the head of seventy thousand men. Yet Aurangzeb was more than a match for the rebels: the Mughal deserters flocked back to the Imperial standard; the Rajput army melted away; and Prince Akbar fled to Persia.

The Rajputs were down but far from out. The insults to their chiefs and to their religion, plus the ruthless and unnecessary severity of Aurangzeb's campaigns in their country, left a sore that never healed. The war continued. The Mughals ravaged the rich lands of Udaipur, and the Rajputs retaliated by pulling down mosques and insulting the Muslims. Aurangzeb even marched into Udaipur. The cities were indeed in his hands, but the mountain defiles were thronged with implacable foes, who lost no opportunity of dealing a blow at the invaders (see JAI SINGH I vs. AURANGZEB). The Maharana of Udaipur finally made an honourable peace with the Emperor, who was tired of the struggle and anxious to give his whole mind to the affairs of the Deccan. But while the treaty enabled Aurangzeb to beat a fairly creditable retreat, it did not appease the indignant Rajputs, and all Rajputana, save Jaipur and the eastern parts, was perpetually in a state of revolt until the end of Aurangzeb's reign. Quitting Rajputana, Aurangzeb continued on to subdue the kingdoms of the Deccan and do battle with the ambitious MARATHAS, all which overextended Mughal finances. Actually, Aurangzeb's first visit to Udaipur had been in 1623, when he was a boy. His father, Prince Khurram (later called Shah Jahan) had revolted against his father, Emperor Jahangir. His longtime friend, Maharana KARAN SINGH I gave him refuge for a few months in 1623 at the newly completed JAG MANDIR. With Khurram were his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and two of their young sons, Dara and Aurangzeb. Not long after this, Khurram sent the two boys as hostages to the Imperial Court in an effort to placate his father. Emperor Aurangzeb retired, old, exhausted, lonely, and virtually broke, to Aurangabad in Maharashtra State where he died in 1707 aged 89. After this, the once great Mughal dynasty went into rapid decline.

Austin, Ian (b. January 22, 1936, Sydney, Australia), playwright, actor, theatre critic and author; commissioned in early 1999 by Arvind Singh Mewar to write Mewar-the World's Longest Serving Dynasty (Roli Books, Delhi, December 1999). For many years Austin worked in advertising as a commercial and documentary copywriter, radio and TV director and announcer, and in television as a drama series producer, story-liner and scriptwriter. During that period, he began winning awards for stage plays that he was writing in his spare time. At age 40, he retired from commercial enterprise to concentrate on becoming a full-time writer. He has had, at the time of writing, over 30 plays published, and has won many awards for acting, stage direction, and playwriting. In 1980, he was commissioned to write and direct six one-hour documentaries for international television under the collective title of Hidden India. While on this assignment (1982), he first met the then Maharaj Kumar Arvind Singh of Udaipur, an interviewee for one of the episodes. Later, Austin wrote travel articles on India for international periodicals, which culminated in the publication of a book, City of Legends, the Story of Hyderabad (Penguin Books, India, 1992). Following this, he began researching and writing two books set in Mewar, which took him back to India on several occasions and led to Arvind Singh's commission, above, followed by The Mewar Encyclopaedia, The Mewar Plays and The Mewar Storyteller.