Aurangzeb's Deccan folly ignites India — 300 years later

There is an illuminating story about Aurangzeb in Harbans Mukhia's The Mughals of India: Soon after he had his brother Dara Shikoh murdered, the newly crowned emperor sent a proposal of marriage to Dara Shikoh's favourite concubine Rana-i-Dil (heart's glory).

- Yogesh Joshi and Shrinivas Deshpande

There is an illuminating story about Aurangzeb in Harbans Mukhia's The Mughals of India: Soon after he had his brother Dara Shikoh murdered, the newly crowned emperor sent a proposal of marriage to Dara Shikoh's favourite concubine Rana-i-Dil (heart's glory). "What part of me appeals the most to you?" she sent back a message, writes Mukhia. "Your hair is the eye's delight," replied the smitten Mughal. Rana-i-Dil chopped off her hair and sent it back on a platter. This sovereign act of insolence, however, only served to inflame Aurangzeb's passions. He sent word that her face still glowed seductively. Rana gashed her face with a dagger and sent back a blood-soaked kerchief.

Alamgir (conqueror of the world) Muhi-al-din-Muhammad Aurangzeb was no stranger to rebuffs. Still, there was no greater setback to him than the one he eventually suffered in the Deccan. Aurangzeb, who ruled over India for 49 years — the country's longest-serving emperor — had to spend the last 27 years of his life campaigning in the arid plateau where he presided over a pyrrhic victory against the Marathas. For 27 years, he chased this victory across a triangular tableland stretching from the Satpura and Vindhya ranges to the northern edges of Tamil Nadu. His target was the Maratha territories, alongside the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda.