Ayodhya Revisited

by Kunal Kishore

  “So long these fetters cling to my feet!

  My friends have become enemies, my relations are strangers to me.

  What more have I to do with being anxious to keep my name undishonoured,

  When friends seek to disgrace me?

  Seek not relief from the prison of grief, O Makhfi; thy release is not politic.

  O Makhfi, no hope of release hast thou until the Day of Judgment come.

  [Sarkar’s book “Studies in Aurangzeb’s Reign” p. 96]

  She asked her father as to why she fell from her father’s grace, although she was a blessed child. She was ready to beg forgiveness hundred or thousand times, if she committed any offence to her father. She informed him that she had only two desires in life touching her father’s feet and going on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. But the cruel father did not relent and forced her to die in confinement which lasted for more than 21 years.

  Aurangzeb had five sons and the Emperor’s behaviour to his sons is explained in brief:

  (1) Muhammad Sultan was Aurangzeb’s eldest son from his wife Nawab Bai and was born on 19th December, 1639. He had fought valiantly along with his father in the battles at Dharmat and Samugarh. He was present in the battle at Khajwah near Allahabad where Shuja was defeated and thereafter on run. Muhammad Sultan was asked to chase Shuja in Bihar and Bengal. But Shuja succeeded in getting Sultan lured to his side by marrying his daughter to the Prince in June 1659. However, after a few months he realized his folly in deserting his father. So, he returned to his father’s camp. But Aurangzeb never pardoned him. He was kept in confinement from April, 1660 till his death on 3rd December, 1676. He died at a young age of 37 years.

  (2) Prince Muhammad Muazzam alias Shah Alam was the second son of Aurangzeb from his wife Nawab Bai. He was born on 4th October, 1643. Although he succeeded his father Aurangzeb after the latter’s death in 1707 A.D., he, too, had been kept in confinement for long by his father from 21st February, 1687 to 9th May, 1695 A.D. His fault was that he wanted to have peace with Shia Kingdoms of Bijapur and Golkunda. He was accused of intriguing with the besieged kings of Bijapur and Golkunda. After his spirit was subdued substantially, his captivity was relaxed slowly in a very amusing style. He ascended the throne in the name of Bahadur Shah I.

  (3) Aurangzeb’s third son was Prince Muhammad Āzam who was born of the emperor’s wife Dilras Banu on 28th June 1653. During Prince Muazzam’s disgrace Azam was almost elevated to the post of the heir apparent. However, after the death of Aurangzeb, he lost the throne in the war of succession and died after bravely fighting in the battle against Bahadur Shah I on 8th June, 1707 A.D.

  (4) Prince Akbar was the fourth son of Aurangzeb and was born on 11th September, 1657 from Begum Dilras Banu. He had rebelled against Aurangzeb and declared himself the emperor in 1678 A.D. He was on the verge of victory against his father Aurangzeb. But the sudden death of the Rana of Mewar Raj Singh, the delayed march of Akbar and the successful trick of a letter written by Aurangzeb to the prime but sent to the Rathod Chieftain ruined his almost success against his father. However, he succeeded in reaching the Maratha territory with the chivalrous effort of Durga Das Rathod and then to Iran where he died in exile in November 1704. So long he lived at Farah on the Khurasan frontier, he was a constant menace to the emperor Aurangzeb because the latter always feared an Irani invasion in support of Akbar.

  (5) The fifth and youngest son of Aurangzeb was Muhammad Kam Baksh from his wife Bai Udipuri. He was born on 24th February, 1667. Sir Jadunath Sarkar calls him the spoilt child of his father’s old age, worthless, self-willed and foolish. He was first put under restraint for his misconduct during the siege of Jinji and was again kept in captivity for his fatuous attachment to his foster-brother. He unsuccessfully fought the war of succession after Aurangzeb’s death and was killed on 3rd January, 1709 two years after his father’s death. ‘Saqi Must’ad Khan writes,

  “He fell fighting like a Rustam or an Ãsfandiyar.”

  From the above analysis it appears that out of his five sons, one rebelled against him and died in exile in Persia before Aurangzeb’s death; the eldest one Muhammad Sultan was kept in confinement until his death; one more son Muazzam was kept in captivity for more than 8 years from 1687 to 1695. Aurangzeb’s most favourite and spoilt child Kam Baksh, too, had to be kept under restraint for his misconduct on two occasions. Only Azam was never confined. However, after Aurangzeb’s death he along with Kam Baksh were killed in the war of succession in which Muazzam was victorious and assumed the name of Bahadur Shah I. When Aurangzeb was cruel to his sons and daughter to such an extent that two of them died in captivity and one in exile; then it is unfair to expect from him any sympathy for his subjects, particularly for non-Muslims. Now one can understand easily as to how apt was Manucci’s remark on the emperor:

  “Aurangjeb had been born to trouble others and be troubled by them.”

  Now his failures in the field of diplomacy and strategy are enumerated in brief. Despite the clear warning by the Darogah of Delhi that Sivaji along with his son would escape through baskets of gifts and therefore this system should be stopped, he did not take any decision and Sivaji exactly escaped on the predicted line. For this one lapse on his part, he had to remain in Deccan for more than 25 years without a single day’s return to his capital Delhi and even then, he could not subdue the Maratha State or spirit. He had to repent throughout his life for this lapse. He wrote it in document which is claimed by many to be his will. In the 11th para of the will he wrote,

  “Negligence for a single moment becomes the cause of disgrace for long years. The escape of the wretch Shiva took place through (my) carelessness, and I have to labour hard (against the Marathas) to the end of my life (as the result of it).”

  (Ahkam-i-Alamgiri ascribed to Hamid-ud-din Khan Bahadur and quoted in the Sarkar’s book on Aurangzeb)

  The non-recognition of Ajit Singh, the posthmous child of Jaswant Singh as his heir antagonized the entire chivalrous race of Rathods forever. Despite the clear order of the Emperor, his commander could not keep two Ranis of Jaswant Singh and one small child in confinement and the gallant Rajputs under the superb command of Durgadas Rathod and supreme sacrifice of a number of loyal commanders succeeded in taking Ajit Singh safely from Delhi to Jodhpur. The foolish emperor was satisfied with an imposter boy whom he got converted to Islam and brought him up for several years in the hope that he would be accepted as the legitimate heir of Jaswant Singh. The legitimacy of Ajit Singh was established clearly when the Sisodia Rana of Mewar gave the hand of a daughter of his family to Ajit Singh in marriage. The author of the epic ‘Ajitodayam’, however, asserts that she was the daughter of Rana Raj Singh.

  When his son Akbar revolted, Aurangzeb succeeded in creating mistrust amongst the opposite camp by resorting to tricks and falsehood. Though he survived himself from meeting the ignominious end of his father Emperor Shah Jahan, yet his vast army and experienced officers failed to capture Akbar in either Marwar, Mewar or Maratha territory. Prince Akbar left for Persia through Bombay, where the royal contingent was present in two small ships. Nevertheless, he could not be prevented from going to Persia, even when his movement was known to the officers of Aurangzeb.

  Despite the contrary advice of his many commanders, ministers and Prince Muazzam, Aurangzeb completely annihilated the Shia kingdoms of Golkunda and Bijapur which gave the Marathas such an upper hand that despite the fact that he went on chasing them like mirage for two decades, he could not contain their attacking spirit in the least with the result that on the eve of his death the Maratha armies were plundering Mughal cantonments near his camp and he could not do anything except getting some forts here and there on the payment of a fixed amount of bribery to some Maratha leader by his army commander and that equal amount used to be reimbursed subsequently by the Emperor.

  Jadunath Sarkar has quoted the following excerpt from Khafi Khan’s ‘Muntakhab-ul-Lubab’ to show how the bribery played an impor
tant role in capturing the Maratha forts by Mughal commanders:

  “Most of Aurangzeb’s generals, whether posted in far off provinces or conducting sieges under his eyes, after some fighting used in the end to secure the capitulation of the forts by bribing the qiladar. The Emperor was informed of it by his spies and used to pay to the officer who had thus contrived the surrender the exact amount of the bribe (neither more, nor less), under the name of reward.” (II pp. 411-12)

  In 1704 A.D. the Italian traveller Manucci observed and wrote:

  “These (Maratha) leaders and their troops move in these days with much confidence, because they have cowed the Mughal commanders and inspired them with fear. At the present time they possess artillery, musketry, bows and arrows, with elephants and camels for all their baggage and tents. In short, they are equipped and move about just like the armies of the Mughal.”

  Bhimsen, a contemporary Hindu historian of Aurangzeb’s camp, succinctly places Aurangzeb’s miserable failure against the Marathas in these words:

  “I have heard that every week they (Marathas) gave away sweets and money in charity, praying for the long life of the Emperor, who had proved (to them) the feeder of the Universe.”

  It is said that both Maratha and Mughal officers, after a cordial meeting or an encounter, used to part with a mocking prayer for the long life of Aurangzeb Alamgir!

  Failure stamped every effort of the Emperor who is ironically called one of the most successful rulers of the world! Within 30 years of the demise of Aurangzeb Delhi was plundered and pillaged by Nadir Shah and its inhabitants were barbarously butchered. King Muhammad Shah, the great grandson of Aurangzeb, was not only kept captive for considerable time by Nadir Shah but had to face unprecedented humiliation also. Within 60 years of Aurangzeb’s death his another descendant Shah Alam suffered the decisive defeat at the battle of Buxer ironically by the East India Company which had been granted license by Aurangzeb in 1690 A.D. to trade and establish an English factory. In 1803 when Lord Lake entered Delhi, he had seen ‘a miserable old imbecile’ Mughal Emperor sitting under a tattered canopy. He was the same Shah Alam, king of the world, about whom there was an idiom in circulation:

  “The writ of Shah Alam

  Runs from Delhi to Palam.”

  Lord Lake could not overlook the great historical travesty that this degenerate descendant of the great Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, was the captive of the same mighty Marathas against whom the Emperor Alamgir had deployed all his force and devoted his twenty-five years of life with little success. Khafi Khan made the exactly correct assessment of Aurangzeb’s personality, when he wrote that “in spite of his devotion, austerity, and justice, courage, long-suffering and sound judgment, every plan and project that he formed came to little good, and every enterprise which he undertook was long in execution and failed of its object.” His success in the war of succession was, of course, an exception.

  The mighty Mughal Empire had been pitiably reduced to such an ignominious condition on account of his myopic policies that there is no wonder that Aurangzeb’s prophetic proclamation ‘Az ma-st hamah fasad-i-baqi’ , i.e. After me, Chaos” came true. It was not mere chaos but a catastrophe for the country.

  Stanley Lane Poole in his work ‘Aurangzib and the Decay of the Mughal Empire’ aptly writes:

  “The ludibrium rerum humanarum was never more pathetically played. No curtain ever dropped on a more woeful tragedy”.

  The Latin ludibrium rerum humanarum means ‘human event becoming the object of fun’.

  

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ayodhyā under Awadh Nawabs

  [(1) Hindu Governors, Chhabile Ram (1714-15) and Girdhar Bahadur (1720-22) at Ayodhya, (2)Sa’adat Khan (1722–1739) (3) Safdar Jung (1739-1754 A.D.) (4) Shuja-ud-daula (1754-75) (5) Asaf-ud-daula (177597 A.D.) (6) Wazir Ali Khan (1797–1798) (7) Sa’adat Ali Khan II (1798–1814) (8) Abul-Muzaffar Ghazi-ud-din Haydar Khan (18141827) (9) Nasir-ud-din Haidar Shah Jahan (1827–1837) (10) Muhammad Ali Shah (1837–1842) (11) Amjad Ali Shah (1842–1847) (12) Wajid Ali Shah (1847–1856) (13) Karl Marx’s indictment of the Annexation (14) Consequences of the annexation]

  (1) Hindu Governors, Chhabile Ram and Girdhar Bahadur at Ayodhyā

  After the death of Aurangzeb on 20th February, 1707 A.D. the Hindus throughout the country heaved a sigh of relief and started asserting their right to perform rituals in public places and renovate temples. The Province of Oudh was no exception. Many local rulers began throwing the yoke of servitude and declaring themselves independent kings. From 1708 to 1719 five Mughal Emperors made their ‘ephemeral appearance’ and disappeared. The Mughal royal court became the centre of conspiracy and Saiyyad Brothers became its past masters.

  With the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 the fire of fanatical fury which had engulfed a vast section of society extinguished itself. Within six years of his demise the despised Jaziya was abolished by the Mughal Emperor Farruksiyar in the first year of his reign, i.e. in 1713 and within seven years of Aurangzeb’s death, i.e. in 1714 a Hindu Governor, Chhabile Ram, a close confidant of the Mughal Emperor Farruksiyar, was appointed the Governor of Awadh. Chhabile Ram spurned many lucrative offers of intriguing Saiyyad Brothers and with his military succour and strategy he assisted Farruksiyar in winning many battles and remained loyal to the King until his death. Muzaffar Alam in his book ‘The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India; Awadh to the Punjab 1707-1748’ writes thus on the appointment of Chhabile Ram as the Governor of Awadh:

  “For the first time in our period, the governor by having his loyal supporter as diwan of the province tried to be virtually supreme in Awadh.” (p. 66)

  He remained the Governor of Awadh until October, 1715. He was later transferred to Allahabad in the same capacity. Chhabile Ram had so much influence on the Mughal Emperor that he got his close relation Anand Ram appointed as the provincial diwan at Lucknow and within a month the faujdari of Lucknow was assigned to Anand Ram. After the deposition and murder of Farruksiyar Chhabile Ram, in a show of his loyalty to the deceased Emperor, revolted against the scheming Saiyyad Brothers. But before he could face the adversaries in battle he died on the way in November 1719.

  His nephew Girdhar Bahadur, the son of Late Daya Ram, who had been killed at Lahore in 1712, while fighting in favour of Farruksiyar, took over as the Governor of Allahabad. He adopted a rebellious attitude and rejected all overtures from the imperial side. Girdhar Bahadur even refused to negotiate on the excuse that he was in the state of mourning for a year, following his uncle’s death. Since the subjugation of Girdhar Bahadur was not an easy task and the retention of Allahabad in hostile hands was very detrimental to the interest of the Saiyyad Brothers, services of another powerful Hindu noble Ratan Chand, who was perceived by many nobles “as great a man as was Himu, the shopkeeper”, were utilized and after a brief negotiation between Girdhar Bahadur and Ratan Chand, Girdhar agreed to leave Allahabad, provided he was made subedar, faujdar and diwan of Awadh with the right to appoint all the military and civil subordinate officers. In addition, a gift of thirty lakhs of rupees, payable from the Bengal treasury, was to be handed over to him as reimbursement to his expenditure on the army. Besides, he was to be decorated with a jewelled turban and an elephant was to enhance his elegance. Immediately, Mir Mushrif, the Governor and other officials were removed from Awadh to facilitate him to take up the reins of the governorship. Girdhar Bahadur with such an unprecedented power became the Governor of Awadh in May 1720 and remained there until September 1722.

  It is a historical fact that it was the powerful pleading of Girdhar Bahadur and Raja Jai Singh Sawai in favour of the abolition of the Jaziya tax that the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah abolished this tax. He reminded the Emperor how his uncle Chhabile Ram had obtained the same favour of the abolition of Jaziya from the late King Farruksiyar after his triumph over Jalandhar Shah. He convinced the King that the Hindus were equally, if not more, loyal to him than anyone else. Yielding to these argument
s, the Emperor abolished it permanently, although it cost four crore rupees annually to the State exchequer.

  It appears that during his Governorship, recommendation was made for the renewal of 6 bighas of land granted by Akbar in 1600 on the day following the Rāmanavamī to Abhayarāma Das for the construction of the Hanuman Tila and it was renewed by Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah in 1723 A.D. during the Governorship of Sa’adat Khan. Though there is no direct reference to the fact that during the governorship of Girdhar Bahadur the Hindus started worshipping in the mosque along with the Muslims performing namaz in the same shrine, yet it may be reasonably presumed for the sharing of worship by both communities in the disputed building before the British takeover has been confirmed by Carnegy and gazetteer writers.

  From Awadh he was transferred to Malwa where he was killed in 1728 A.D. Before Sa’adat Khan took over the rein of Awadh two Hindu Governors had served there and Girdhar Bahadur was his immediate predecessor from May 1720 to September 1722 A.D.

  (2) Sa’adat Khan (1722–1739)

  The founder of the Awadh dynasty Burhan ul Mulk Sa’adat Khan had a very interesting career. Born in Nishapur in Khurasan in Iran in 1680 Sa’adat Khan migrated to India in 1708 in search of a better career and to meet his brother and father. However, his father had died before his arrival in India. He got a job in 1710 with the faujdar of Kara-Manikpur and two years thereafter, he became commander of 1,000 horses in Walashahi regiment. Three and a half years later, he landed in the Mughal court where the Saiyyad Brothers were impressed with his talent and appointed him as the faujdar of Hindaun and Bayana in October 1719. Husain Ali Khan, one of the powerful Saiyyad brothers who accompanied the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah on his mission to the Deccan, allowed Sa’adat Khan to escort the emperor. On the way, a conspiracy was hatched against Husain Ali Khan with the consent of the emperor. Although Saiyyad Brothers had patronised Sa’adat Khan, he had no hesitation in ditching them and joined the conspiracy. Husain Ali Khan was murdered on the way at a distance of 75 miles south-west of Agra. The followers of Husain Ali Khan gave a tough fight but Sa’adat Khan soon eliminated most of them. The emperor was pleased with him and raised his rank to 5,000 Zat and 3,000 savars. Thereafter, the emperor returned to Delhi to eliminate another Saiyyad brother Abdullah Khan. Sa’adat Khan accompanied the emperor and on his request the emperor raised his rank to 6,000 Zat and 5,000 savars and appointed him the Subedar of Akbarabad (Agra). In a battle between Abdullah Khan and the Emperor, Sa’adat Khan fought valiantly and defeated the forces of Abdullah Khan who was captured and killed subsequently.