Prince Aurangzeb

Mohyuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb was born in 1618 and had already been the Governor of Deccan after 1636, when his father had led the campaigns in person and annexed Bijapur and Nijamshahis Dominions.

This was when he was a young man of 17-18 years. The boy was preoccupied with the thoughts of a vaticinator, who wanted a purpose of life. In 1643, when he was 25 years he announced his intentions to retire from this material world, quit from the viceroyalty of Deccan and took his abode in the jungles of Western Ghats, adopting a life of a Fakir. But this experiment soon faded away and he returned to work.

In 1644, his sister Jahanara got burnt in an accident. The other brothers quickly reached but this “Zinda Faqir” reached 20 days later. He was dismissed the Viceroyalty of the Deccan. In 1647 he was sent to take command of the provinces of Balkh and Badashkhan beyond the Hindukush which was recently acquired by the Uzbegs. He fought there unsuccessfully and was compelled to draw his forces with heavy losses. In 1649 and 1652, he was asked to recover Kandhar but got failed, but these failures gave Aurangzeb the idea of fighting in the mountains with the best soldiers of the world and shaped his personality as a good & witty administrator.

In 1655, he was again sent to Deccan. He attacked Golconda and Bijapur in next 2 years, but at the very eve of the victory, his father got ill and was recalled to Agra.