IAS Current affairs - Aurangzeb’s Tomb: Detailed Biography

Aurangzeb’s Tomb

Context:

  • Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad was on Thursday, 19 May, closed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for five days.

What is the issue?

  • It all started when a disagreement erupted in Varanasi over the Gyanvapi mosque, which was built on the ruins of the Vishwanath temple, a majestic 16th century Hindu sanctuary destroyed in 1669 on Aurangzeb’s orders.
  • His name is now trending on social media, with thousands of scathing allusions, and his name has been invoked by India’s current Hindu nationalist government.
  • Apart from this the right wing Hindu parties in Maharashtra have been challenging the existence of the tomb in Maharashtra.

About:

  • Aurangzeb, known as the “last effective Mughal emperor,” controlled India for nearly 50 years, from 1658 to 1707, yet historians have never been fond of him.
  • To begin with, he ascended to the kingdom by imprisoning his father and assassinating his older brother.
  • And he did poorly in comparison to other Mughal rulers: his great-grandfather Akbar was renowned as a benign secular ruler, his grandfather Jahangir was recognised for his love of art and architecture, and his father Shah Jahan was known as the great romantic who constructed the Taj Mahal.
  • However, Aurangzeb, the sixth emperor and a devout Muslim, was portrayed as a vicious tyrant who enforced harsh Sharia regulations and reinstated the discriminating jizya tax.
The Tomb:
  • The Tomb of Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor, is located in Khuldabad, Maharashtra, India. In contrast to other Mughal tombs, which are enormous works of Mughal architecture, notably the Taj Mahal, Aurangzeb is buried in an unmarked grave at the compound of Sheikh Zainuddin’s dargah or shrine.
  • He was buried near the dargah of Sheikh Zainuddin, a sufi who was also his “spiritual and religious teacher,” as he requested.

Source: THE HINDU.

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