Did Aurangzeb sew hats for universal pastimes?

It has been heard since childhood that the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, who ruled India with full glory for about 50 years, used to sell hats to meet his personal expenses. According to traditions, these hats were worn by him in his spare time after paying the affairs of the kingdom.

This story, which was created to paint the image of a dervish on the personality of Aurangzeb, the autocratic king of his time, is still heard and told in our society and no one even asks the question that on the one hand, a kingdom full of glory and On the other hand, how can these two things be possible at the same time?

Most historians who judge history by modern standards reject this story associated with the personality of Aurangzeb Alamgir.

Prof. Dr. Faraz Anjum, associated with the Department of History of Punjab University, is an authority on the Mughal period. He says that ‘this story attributed to Aurangzeb Alamgir is not only fabricated and baseless but also against human common sense.’

When the question was put in front of him, according to the traditions, Aurangzeb used to spend from the royal treasury on the execution of state affairs, while for his personal expenses, he used the money obtained from writing caps and the Quran?

On this, Dr. Anjum said that ‘before the establishment of modern states in the subcontinent, there was no concept of separate arrangements for government expenses and personal expenses of the rulers during the imperial period. The king of time was considered the owner of the royal treasury and he spent as much as he wanted out of it and this was also the practice of Aurangzeb Alamgir.

According to Dr. Faraz Anjum, authentic historical documents mention Aurangzeb’s children’s royal pomp and marriages with Crofers. He said that the expenses of such lavish celebrations could not be met even in this era, at least with the legitimate money received from the sewing of hats or the writing of the Holy Quran. For this it was necessary to use the royal treasury filled with taxes and public money, which was done.’

According to Dr. Faraz Anjum, Aurangzeb Alamgir must have done the writing of the Holy Quran and sewing caps for prayer in the last part of his life, but his purpose was just to pass the time or to get close to God, to make a living. no way.

American historian Audrey Trisky also holds the same point of view. In his book ‘Aurangzeb, the Man and the Myth’, he has written only that, ‘Aurangzeb was busy in the last part of his life in writing the Holy Quran and sewing hats for worship. . He wanted to lead a pure life.’

According to Dr. Trishki, the purpose of this practice was merely to achieve goodness, not a source of livelihood.

A painting from the last period of Aurangzeb’s life, seven years after his death in 1700, also contradicts the impression of Aurangzeb’s poverty. In this painting, he is seated in the most majestic manner on a golden throne with all the Mughal splendor and his attendants are also decked out in the finest clothes and ornaments.

On Mughal rule, SM Jafar has written three long chapters on the personality of Aurangzeb and his reign in his famous book ‘The Mughal Empire, From Babur to Aurangzeb’.

According to SM Jafar, Aurangzeb’s coronation took place on June 5, 1659 with all royal pomp and ceremony, and money was showered like water on the royal family and special courtiers. According to the details, Princess Badshah Begum was gifted Rs 5 lakh, Princess Zeb Al-Nisa Rs 4 lakh and Princess Badr Al-Nisa Rs 160,000 as a gift.

On this occasion, money was also showered on the princes. Prince Muhammad Sultan was given three lakh rupees, jewels and an elephant, while Prince Muhammad Azam and Prince Muhammad Muazzam were given two lakh rupees.

Aurangzeb’s hand-held fly swatter is also majestic (Public Domain).

Such huge sums that Aurangzeb laid on his family could not have been obtained by selling hats, so this incident also proves that the tradition of meeting personal expenses with hats and reading the Qur’an is weak but completely baseless. Is.

In this book, the author has highlighted in detail the small events of Aurangzeb’s life and reign. Even the accusations of religious bigotry, extremism and demolition of temples have been given a very reasoned answer, and historical references have proved that even though Aurangzeb was closer to religion than his predecessors Mughal rulers, the accusations against him were Allegations of anti-Hinduism and extremism are the result of wrong analysis of the ground realities and events of the time.

But in this comprehensive and historically authentic book, there is no mention of Aurangzeb’s personal expenditure by sewing hats.

Finally, a reference must be made to a book in which there is a mention of Aurangzeb Alamgir buying hats and selling them to courtiers. Surendranath Sen is the author of this book titled ‘Indian Travels of Thenaut and Career’.

In his book, he has covered the experiences of French traveler Jean de Thenot and Italian traveler John Francis Carreri who visited India during Aurangzeb’s reign. In this book, Sen. French traveler writes by quoting the words of Kariri that ‘Aurangzeb considered it necessary for every person to earn his own sustenance. For the same purpose, he himself started sewing special hats for worship. He used to present these hats to the governors of his empire and in return for this respect, the respective governors would send a gift of ‘thousands of rupees’ to the king.

Yes, about three and a half hundred years ago the ‘gift’ of a hat cost thousands of rupees.

That is, for the greater part of his half-century reign, the emperor continued to use the royal treasury lavishly according to the methods of the period, and according to the Italian traveler Francis Carreri, in the latter part of his life, his passion for working with his hands stole him. So the nobles used to pay thousands of rupees for each hat for the pleasure of God. In this way, the suddenly awakened spirit of selfishness within Badshah Salamat would also be satisfied and the huge amount of money ‘earned by his own hands’ would also be available.

Although it has been proven from historical references that Aurangzeb was not a luxurious ruler unlike his predecessor Mughal emperors, however the story of selling hats for a living is also an assumption that does not meet the criteria of authentic historical references. Get off

No matter how seemingly harmless a lie is, it is still a lie and if a nation gets used to living in the imaginary world of false greatness, then that nation will live nowhere in the real world. Consider.