AURENG-ZEBE. 



Ill 



under Dara was overthrown in the plains of Samon- 

 ghes, and the victorious brothers stopt not till they 

 reached the gates of Agra. Aureng-zebe now saw 

 a throne at his disposal. He had gained over to his 

 interest the chief omrahs of the empire ; and none 

 were allowed to enter the presence of Shaw Jehan 

 without his permission. At the same time, he made 

 great protestations of affection and submission to his 

 father, and laid all the blame of what had happened 

 upon the ambition and evil designs of Dara. He 

 had as yet treated Morad with the affection of a bro- 

 ther, and the respect of a subject, always addressing 

 him with the title of king. But the mask was soon 

 to be withdrawn, and the hypocritical fakier was to 

 appear in his real character. Morad having inadver- 

 tently drunk too much wine at an entertainment given 

 by Aureng-zebe, fell asleep. While in this state, his 

 servants were ordered to withdraw, and his sabre and 

 poignard were secured. Aureng-zebe, who had re- 

 tired early, now entered the chamber, and awakening 

 his Brother, upbraided him with his indiscretion and 

 debauchery so unbecoming a king ; then addressing 

 liis attendants, " Take this infamous drunkard ; tie 

 him hand and foot, and throw him into that room, 

 there to sleep out his wine." The remonstrances of 

 Morad were ineffectual. He was carried in chains 

 to the fortress of Gualiar, where he soon after fell a 

 victim to the fears of his brother. By the exertions 

 of Jumla, Dara was also reduced to submission, and 

 afterwards murdered ; and his remaining brother Su- 

 ja soon experienced the same fate. 



Aureng-zebe was proclaimed emperor in 1659, du- 

 ring the lifetime of Shaw Jehan, whose pardon and 

 paternal blessing he had obtained by his indulgent 

 behaviour and respectful letters, but whose death 

 neither increased nor diminished the power of Aureng- 

 zebe. Securely seated on the throne of Delhi, there 

 remained no competitor to dispute with him the em- 

 pire ; and for a period of nearly twenty years, the 

 profoundest tranquillity reigned throughout Hindo- 

 stan. The latter part of his life, however, was spent 

 hi constant activity and alarm. The rebellion of his 

 ons, the revolt of some of the dependent provinces, 

 and the insurrections of the Hindoos, whom he at- 

 tempted to convert to Mahometanism, kept him al- 

 most continually in the field for the last fifteen years 

 of his life. During that time he quelled a rebellion 

 of the Rajapoots in Agimere ; of the Patans beyond 

 the Indus ; and of the Jates in Agra : He reduced 

 Bengal ; annexed to his territories the Carnatic, with 

 the kingdoms of Visiapour, Golconda, and Assam, 

 and extended his authority over the whole peninsula 

 within the Ganges. Aureng-zebe died 27th Fe- 

 bruary 1707 at Ahmednagur, where he had taken up 

 his winter quarters, in the 90th year of his age, and 

 the 50th of his reign. His body, according to his 

 own directions, was deposited in the cell of a holy 

 dervise, near that city, in a plain tomb, without either 

 pomp or ornament. 



Destitute of that elegance of person, and winning 

 behaviour, which instantly attracts our regard, Au- 

 reng-zebe acquired popularity by the decency of his 

 character and the sanctity of his life. He was of a 

 low stature, and slender make, with a large nose, and 

 .omplexion. When the traveller Gemelli saw 



him in 1695, he was stooping with age, and support- -Wav- 

 ed himself on a staff. From the severe austerity of z;Ik, 

 his manners, and his zealous endeavours in the cause ga ' 



of religion, his memory is held in great veneration by v 

 the Mahometans, and numerous pilgrims resort to 

 Ahmednagur to pay their devotions at his tomb. 



The character of A uren g- zeDe has been drawn in 

 very different colours. While some have represented 

 him as a monster of cruelty, who waded to the throne 

 through the blood of his family ; who persecuted an 

 inoffensive people from bigotry and hypocrisy ; and 

 whose remorse for his crimes was the bane of his fu- 

 ture life : he has been painted by others as the great- 

 est warrior and statesman which India ever produced ; 

 as having raised Hindostan to its highest glory ; and 

 as having lived and ruled for the happiness of his 

 people. For our part, we agree implicitly with nei- 

 ther ; and when we attempt to rescue his memory 

 from the calumnies of the one, we must not be un- 

 derstood as acceding to the commendations of the 

 other. In the government of Hindostan, where the 

 succession to the throne is undecided by law, the 

 death of the reigning monarch is always the signal 

 for a civil war among the surviving branches of his 

 family, and the safety of each depends upon the ex- 

 tinction of the rest. Aureng-zebe's severity to his 

 brothers, therefore, was what the security of his per- 

 son, and the tranquillity of the empire demanded, and 

 can be viewed in no other light, than as a measure of 

 self-defence, a measure dictated by the urgency of 

 the times, which his predecessors had taught him, 

 and which succeeding monarchs have been compelled 

 to imitate. His persecution of the helpless Hindoos, 

 however it may call for our reprehension, must be at- 

 tributed to the religion which he professed, and to 

 the dictates of that prophet which he obeyed. But 

 his hypocritical and perfidious treatment of the un- 

 suspicious Morad, we can neither justify nor pal- 

 liate. Though in Aureng-zebe we may discover 

 much to blame, we find more to admire. If his obe- 

 dience to the customs of his country have lowered, 

 him in our esteem, his abilities as a warrior and a 

 statesman, claim our admiration, and we cannot re- 

 fuse our praise to his strict observance of religious 

 duties, to his mild and equitable distribution of jus- 

 tice, to the abstemious severity of his life ; , to that 

 nobleness of mind, which made him disdain not to 

 labour for his subsistence with his own hands ; and to 

 that benevolence and humanity of disposition, which 

 led him to declare " that the food was bitter which 

 was drawn from the sweat of his subjects." He ne- 

 ver did an act of injustice till he aspired to the throne; 

 and the moderation and equity of his government 

 make us regret that he did not obtain it without a 

 crime. His name will ever be revered in Hindostan, 

 of which empire he may be said to be the real foun- 

 der and legislator. See Mod. Un. Hist. vol. vi. 

 p. 386455. Gemelli Trav. apud Churchill's Col- 

 lect, vol. iv. p. 232. Dow's Hist, of Hindostan, 

 p. 218, Sec. RenneH'8 Memoir of a Map of Hin- 

 dustan, introd. p. 61 6k Fraser's Hist, of Nadir 

 Shaw, &c. p. 2939. (p) 



AURIGA, or the WACiGONEit, the name of one 

 of the constellations in the northern hemisphere, con- 

 taining 66 stars in the Britannic catalogue, (w) 



