Page:A Brief History of the Indian Peoples.djvu/149

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THE EMPEROR AURANGZEB.
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The Reign of Aurangzeb {continued).

1670. Sivají the Maráthá ravages Khándesh and the Deccan, and there levies for the first time chauth, or a contribution of one-fourth of the revenue.

1672. Defeat of the Mughal or Imperial troops by Sivají.

1677. Aurangzeb revives the jaziah, or poll-tax on non-Muhammadans.
1679. Aurangzeb at war with the Rájputs. Rebellion of Prince Akbar, Aurangzeb's youngest son, who joins the Rájputs, but whose army deserts him. Prince Akbar is forced to fly to the Maráthás.
1672-1680. Progress of the Maráthás in the Deccan. Sivaji crowns himself an independent sovereign at Ráigarh in 1674. His wars with Bijápur and the Mughal or Imperial troops. Sivaji dies in 1680, and is succeeded by his son, Sambhají.
1683. Aurangzeb invades the Deccan in person, at the head of his Grand Army.
1686-1688. Aurangzeb conquers Bijápur and Golconda, and annexes them to the empire.
1689. Aurangzeb captures Sambhají, the head of the Maráthás, and barbarously puts him to death.

1692. Guerilla war with the Maráthás under their various leaders.
1698. Aurangzeb's general captures Ginjí from the Maráthás.

1699-1701. Capture of Sátára and Maratha forts by Aurangzeb. Apparent ruin of the Marathas.

1702-1705. Fresh successes of the Maráthás.
1706. Aurangzeb retreats to Ahmadnagar ; and,
1707. Miserably dies there.

Aurangzeb, Emperor, 1658-1707.—Aurangzeb proclaimed himself emperor in 1658, in the room of his imprisoned father, under the title of Alamgír, the Conqueror of the Universe, and reigned until 1707. Under Aurangzeb the Mughal Empire reached its widest limits. But his long rule of forty-nine years merely presents on a more magnificent stage the usual tragic drama of a Mughal reign. In its personal character, it began with his rebellion against his father; consolidated itself by the murder of his brethren ; and darkened to a close amid the mutinies, intrigues, and jealousies of his own sons. Its public aspects consisted of a magnificent court in Northern India; conquests of the independent Muhammadan kings in the south; and wars against the Hindu powers, which, alike in Rájputána and in Southern India or the Deccan, were gathering strength for the overthrow of the Mughal Empire.

Aurangzeb murders his Brothers.—The year after his accession, Aurangzeb defeated and put to death his eldest