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

Rh The Reign of Aurangzeb {continued). 1672. Defeat of the Mughal or Imperial troops by Sivají.

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

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