A report on Dara Shikoh, Aurangzeb and Mumtaz Mahal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb in early 18th century

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aurangzeb Receives Prince Mu'azzam. Chester Beatty Library

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

Dagger (Khanjar) of Aurangzeb (Badshah Alamgir).

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

In the war of succession which ensued after Shah Jahan's illness in 1657, Dara was defeated by his younger brother Prince Muhiuddin (later, the Emperor Aurangzeb).

- Dara Shikoh

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.

- Mumtaz Mahal

He was the first son and third child of Prince Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram and his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

- 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

Aurangzeb's mother Mumtaz Mahal was the daughter of the Persian noblemen Asaf Khan, who was the youngest son of vizier Mirza Ghiyas.

- Aurangzeb