Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh

A painting from c. 1637 shows the brothers (left to right) Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh in their younger years.

The Mughal Army under the command of Aurangzeb recaptures Orchha in October 1635.

Dara's brothers (left to right) Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh in their younger years, ca 1637

A painting from Padshahnama depicts Prince Aurangzeb facing a maddened war elephant named Sudhakar.

Young Dara Shikoh (Left) and Mian Mir (Right)

Sepoys loyal to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb maintain their positions around the palace, at Aurangabad, in 1658.

The marriage of Dara Shikoh and Nadira Begum, 1875–90

Wedding procession of Dara Shikoh, with Shah Shuja and Aurangzeb behind him. Royal Collection Trust, London.

Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb in early 18th century

Aurangzeb compiled Hanafi law by introducing the Fatawa-e-Alamgiri.

Humayun's Tomb, where the remains of Dara Shikoh were interred in an unidentified grave.

A page from the Majma-ul-Bahrain, Victoria Memorial, Calcutta.

Aurangzeb seated on a golden throne holding a Hawk in the Durbar. Standing before him is his son, Azam Shah.

Dara Shikoh (with Mian Mir and Mullah Shah Badakhshi), ca. 1635

Aurangzeb Receives Prince Mu'azzam. Chester Beatty Library

A painting from the Persian translation of Yoga Vasistha manuscript, 1602

Dagger (Khanjar) of Aurangzeb (Badshah Alamgir).

A Prince in Iranian Costume by Muhammad Khan. Dara Shikoh Album, Agra, 1633–34.

Manuscript of the Quran, parts of which are believed to have been written in Aurangzeb's own hand.

The Birthday of the Grand Mogul Aurangzeb, made 1701–1708 by Johann Melchior Dinglinger.

Josiah Child requests a pardon from Aurangzeb during the Anglo-Mughal War.

By 1690, Aurangzeb was acknowledged as: "emperor of the Mughal Sultanate from Cape Comorin to Kabul".

Aurangzeb spent his reign crushing major and minor rebellions throughout the Mughal Empire.

The tomb of Akbar was pillaged by Jat rebels during the reign of Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb leads the Mughal Army during the Battle of Satara.

Raja Shivaji at Aurangzeb's Darbar- M V Dhurandhar

Aurangzeb dispatched his personal imperial guard during the campaign against the Satnami rebels.

Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi is built at the place where Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded.

Zafarnama is the name given to the letter sent by the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh in 1705 to Aurangzeb. The letter is written in Persian script.

Aurangzeb in a pavilion with three courtiers below.

Bibi Ka Maqbara, the mausoleum of Aurangzeb's wife Dilras Banu Begum, was commissioned by him

Aurangzeb's tomb in Khuldabad, Maharashtra.

The unmarked grave of Aurangzeb in the mausoleum at Khuldabad, Maharashtra.

Tughra and seal of Aurangzeb, on an imperial firman

In the year 1689, according to Mughal accounts, Sambhaji was put on trial, found guilty of atrocities and executed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mehta |first=J. L. |title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India: Volume One: 1707{{snd}}1813 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&pg=PA50 |access-date=29 September 2012 |date=2005 |publisher=Sterling Publishers |isbn=978-1-932705-54-6 |pages=50–}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{cite book |last=Stein |first=Burton |author-link=Burton Stein |year=2010 |orig-year=First published 1998 |editor-last=Arnold |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Arnold (historian) |title=A History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&pg=PA180 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |edition=2nd |page=180 |isbn=978-1-4051-9509-6}}</ref>

Guru Tegh Bahadur was publicly executed in 1675 on the orders of Aurangzeb in Delhi<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/Sikh-Guru-Ji'/Sri-Guru-Tegh-Bhadur-Sahib-Ji.html |title=A Gateway to Sikhism {{!}} Sri Guru Tegh Bhadur Sahib |website=Gateway to Sikhism |access-date=28 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327223831/http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/Sikh-Guru-Ji'/Sri-Guru-Tegh-Bhadur-Sahib-Ji.html#12 |archive-date=27 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Sarmad Kashani, a Jewish convert to Islam and Sufi mystic was accused of heresy and executed.<ref name="David Cook 2007">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=David |author-link=David Cook (historian) |year=2007 |title=Martyrdom in Islam |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=80 |isbn=978-0-521-85040-7}}</ref>

Seventeenth-century Badshahi Masjid built by Aurangzeb in Lahore.

Tomb of Sufi saint, Syed Abdul Rahim Shah Bukhari constructed by Aurangzeb.

Shawls manufactured in the Mughal Empire had highly influenced other cultures around the world.

François Bernier, was a French physician and traveller, who for 12 years was the personal physician of Aurangzeb. He described his experiences in Travels in the Mughal Empire.

Map of the Mughal Empire by Vincenzo Coronelli (1650–1718) of Venice, who served as Royal Geographer to Louis XIV of France.

Aurangzeb leads his final expedition (1705), leading an army of 500,000 troops.

Mughal-era aristocrat armed with a matchlock musket.

Aurangzeb, in later life, hunting with hounds and falconers

1628 – 1658)). In the war of succession which ensued after Shah Jahan's illness in 1657, Shikoh was defeated by his younger brother Aurangzeb ((r.

- Dara Shikoh

In September 1657, Shah Jahan nominated his eldest and liberalist son Dara Shikoh as his successor, a move repudiated by Aurangzeb, who proclaimed himself emperor in February 1658.

- Aurangzeb

9 related topics

Shah Jahan

The fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658.

Shah Jahan, accompanied by his three sons: Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja and Aurangzeb, and their maternal grandfather Asaf Khan IV

Rosette bearing the names and titles of Shah Jahan

The Taj Mahal, the burial place of Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal

The Submission of Rana Amar Singh of Mewar to Prince Khurram, Tuzk-e-Jahangiri.

Shah Jahan on horseback (during his youth).

Shah Jahan at his Durbar, from the Windsor Padshahnama, c. 1657

Throne of king Shah Jahan, Red Fort, Delhi

Painting of Shah Jahan hunting Asiatic lions at Burhanpur, present-day Madhya Pradesh, from 1630

Shah Jahan and his eldest son Dara Shikoh.

The actual tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan in the lower level of Taj Mahal

The elegant Naulakha Pavilion at the Lahore Fort was built during the reign of Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan and the Mughal Army return after attending a congregation in the Jama Masjid, Delhi.

Lahore's Wazir Khan Mosque is considered to be the most ornate Mughal-era mosque.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dani |first=A. H. |date=2003 |chapter=The Architecture of the Mughal Empire (North-Western Regions) |editor-last1=Adle |editor-first1=Chahryar |editor-last2=Habib |editor-first2=Irfan |editor2-link=Irfan Habib |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |volume=V |chapter-url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001302/130205e.pdf |publisher=UNESCO |page=524 |isbn=978-92-3-103876-1}}</ref>

Finial, Tamga of the Mughal Empire (combining a crescent and a spear pendant with the word Allah).

Silver rupee coin of Shah Jahan, from Patna.

In September 1657, Shah Jahan was ailing from an illness and he appointed his eldest son Dara Shikoh as his successor.

This nomination led to a succession crisis among his three sons, after which Shah Jahan's third son Aurangzeb ((r.

Emperor Akbar's depicted with a falcon in the 17th-century

Din-i Ilahi

Syncretic religious tradition propounded by the third Mughal emperor Akbar ((r.

Abu'l-Fazl, one of the disciples of Din-i-Ilahi, presenting Akbarnama to Akbar, Mughal miniature

Akbar's great-grandson and Shah Jahan's eldest son Dara Shikoh made an attempt to re-establish the Din-i-Ilahi.

However, the prospects of an official revival were halted by Shikoh's brother and the sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb ((r.

Genealogy of the Mughal Dynasty. Only principal offspring of each emperor are provided in the chart.

Mughal emperors

The Mughal emperors were the supreme head of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Group portrait of Mughal rulers, from Babur to Aurangzeb, with the Mughal ancestor Timur seated in the middle. On the left: Shah Jahan, Akbar and Babur, with Abu Sa'id of Samarkand and Timur's son, Miran Shah. On the right: Aurangzeb, Jahangir and Humayun, and two of Timur's other offspring Umar Shaykh and Muhammad Sultan. Created c. 1707–12

During the reign of Aurangzeb ((r.

Shah Jahan's eldest son, the liberal Dara Shikoh, became regent in 1658, as a result of his father's illness.

Murad Bakhsh

Mughal prince.

Murad Baksh, younger brother of Aurangzeb

1628 – 1658)) and Mumtaz Mahal, Murad was the Subedar of Balkh, till he was replaced by his elder brother Aurangzeb in the year 1647.

Murad's siblings included his two politically powerful sisters, the princesses Jahanara Begum and Roshanara Begum, as well as the heir-apparent to his father, his eldest brother, Crown Prince Dara Shikoh and the future Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Shah Shuja (Mughal prince)

The second son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Empress Mumtaz Mahal.

The Mughal armies of Aurangzeb and Shah Shuja confront each other.

A painting from circa 1637 shows the brothers (left to right) Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh in their younger years

An etching of Bara Katra by Sir Charles D'Oyly in 1823

Shuja's siblings were the eldest sister Jahanara Begum, Dara Shikoh, Roshanara Begum, Aurangzeb, Murad Baksh, Gauhara Begum and others.

Mumtaz Mahal

The empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Taj Mahal is the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan.

Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal, alongside her husband Shah Jahan

Mumtaz and her husband had 14 children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favorite daughter), and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent, anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeded him until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor in 1658.

Single Leaf of Shah Sarmad (centre) seated with Shahzada Dara Shikoh

Sarmad Kashani

Persian speaking Armenian mystic and poet who travelled to and made the Indian subcontinent his permanent home during the 17th century.

The reputation as a poet and mystic he had acquired during the time the two travelled together, caused the Mughal crown prince Dara Shikoh to invite Sarmad at his father's court.

After the War of Succession with his brother Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb (1658-1707) emerged victorious, killed his former adversary and ascended the imperial throne.

Sulaiman Shikoh

An incomplete draft showing Dara Shikoh (left) with his son Sulaiman Shikoh (right)

Sulaiman Shikoh was a Mughal prince and the eldest son of Crown prince Dara Shikoh.

He was executed in May 1662 at Gwalior Fort on the orders of his paternal uncle, Emperor Aurangzeb.

Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert by François-Joseph Navez, 1820. Hagar was a slave and Abraham's concubine, who gave birth to his son Ishmael.

Udaipuri Mahal

Udaipuri Mahal (died July 1707) was a concubine of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Described as 'the darling of Aurangzeb's old age', Udaipuri Mahal had been a slave girl in the harem of Prince Dara Shikoh, and before entering his harem, she had been a dancing girl.