Mogul Wars of Succession
The Mogul Wars of Succession refer to a series of intense and often violent power struggles within the Mogul Dynasty in India, primarily from the 16th to the early 18th centuries. These conflicts were characterized by younger sons challenging their elder brothers for control of the throne, leading to a cycle of rebellion and fratricide that defined the dynasty's later years. Prominent figures in these struggles include Humāyūn, Akbar, Jahāngīr, and Aurangzeb, each of whom faced significant internal opposition from their siblings and offspring.
The most notable instance occurred during Shāh Jahān's reign, when his sons engaged in a brutal conflict for succession, culminating in Aurangzeb's rise to power after defeating and executing his brothers, including Dara, the favored successor. Following Aurangzeb's reign, the empire saw further turmoil, with his sons vying for control in a fragmented landscape where many rulers became mere pawns of powerful courtiers. The wars of succession not only highlighted familial rivalries but also reflected the shifting dynamics of power within the Mogul Empire, leading to a decline in centralized authority and paving the way for the eventual fragmentation of the dynasty. The legacy of these conflicts is complex, illustrating the intricate interplay of ambition, loyalty, and betrayal in one of history's most significant empires.
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Mogul Wars of Succession
At issue: Mogul succession
Date: 1657–1720
Location: India
Combatants: Mogul princes
Principal commanders:Mogul princes, Akbar (1542–1605), Jahāngīr (1569–1627), Shāh Jahān (1592–1666), Aurangzeb (1618–1707), Bahādur Shāh (1643–1712)
Principal battles: Benares, Dharmatpur, Samugarh, Ajmer, Jajau
Result: Skillful commanders won the throne
Background
The Mogul Dynasty in India (1526–1858) experienced recurring succession struggles as younger sons competed with elder sons for their inheritance. Humāyūn spent most of his reign dealing with rebellions by his brothers. His son Akbar had to deal with the revolt of his heir, Jahāngīr, who was fearful of being superseded by his eldest son, Khusrau. During Jahāngīr’s reign, his sons engaged in rivalry from which the third, Khurram (the future Shāh Jahān), emerged successful, having killed two brothers, two nephews, and two cousins.
Action
By 1657, Shāh Jahān, sick and senile, wanted his eldest son, Dara, whom he kept with him in Delhi, to succeed him. Dara’s brothers, Shuja, Aurangzeb, and Murad, governors respectively of Bengal, the Deccan, and Gujarat, aspired to displace him. On the news of Shāh Jahān’s illness, Shuja proclaimed himself padshah (emperor), but Dara’s forces defeated him near Benares (February, 1658). In the meantime, Murad had proclaimed himself padshah in December, 1657, and Aurangzeb agreed to support him.
In February, 1658, Aurangzeb marched north to join Murad. At Dharmatpur (near Ujjain) and then at Samugarh, near āgra (both May, 1658), Aurangzeb and Murad defeated Dara’s supporters, and Dara fled toward Lahore. The victors entered āgra, imprisoned their father in the fort (where he remained a captive until his death in 1666), and seized the imperial treasury. However, tensions surfaced between the two brothers, and Aurangzeb treacherously arrested Murad and sent him to the state prison at Gwalior (June, 1658), crowning himself padshah in Delhi (July, 1658), before dealing with a renewed threat from Shuja in Bengal (December, 1658). Defeated again, Shuja eventually fled to Arakan, where he was murdered.
Meanwhile, Dara had raised a fresh army, only to be defeated near Ajmer (March, 1659), after which Aurangzeb staged a second coronation (June, 1659). Dara, captured in flight, was sent to Delhi and executed, together with his second son. Murad was executed in Gwalior in 1661. Dara’s eldest son was captured and executed in 1662.
Thereafter, Aurangzeb ruled until 1707, although, mindful of his father’s and his own fratricides, he remained obsessively suspicious of his five sons: Muhammad Sultan, whom he kept prisoner in Gwalior until his death in about 1676; Muazzam, who succeeded him as Bahādur Shāh I (ruled 1707–1712); Muhammad Azam; Akbar, who rebelled against his father and fled to Iran, dying between 1704 and 1706; and Kam Bakhsh. At Aurangzeb’s death, Muazzam, Muhammad Azam, and Kam Bakhsh, governors respectively of Kabul, Gujarat, and Bijāpur, embarked on a fratricidal struggle for the succession. Muazzam swiftly occupied Delhi and assumed the title of Bahādur Shāh. Muhammad Azam marched north to fight him, but at Jajau (June, 1707), he was killed in battle with his two sons. Bahādur Shāh then marched on the Deccan and near Hyderabad eliminated Kam Bakhsh and two of his sons (January, 1709).
Following Bahādur Shāh’s death in 1712, four of his sons battled for the throne. The eldest, Jahandar, won but proved a poltroon and was murdered by his nephew, Farrukh Siyar, the puppet of the Sayyid brothers, court kingmakers. When Farrukh Siyar showed signs of independence, the Sayyid brothers murdered him, then successively proclaimed two grandsons of Bahādur Shāh, whom they immediately eliminated in favor of a third and then a fourth, Muḥammad Shāh. Proclaimed padshah in 1719, Muḥammad Shāh was determined to escape the thralldom of the kingmakers. They attempted unsuccessfully to replace him with a cousin in 1720, but the plot miscarried, and by 1722, both were dead.
Aftermath
Of the five successors of Muhammad Shah, one was murdered and two were blinded, but not in intrafamily rivalries. The wars of succession had led to the emergence of two strong rulers, Shāh Jahān in 1627 and Aurangzeb in 1658. In contrast, those who acquired the throne between 1707 and 1719 were mere puppets of the Mogul nobility.
Bibliography
Bernier, F. Travels in the Mogul Empire. Westminster, England: Archibald Constable, 1891.
Irvine, W. Later Mughals. Delhi, India: Manoharlal, 1971.
Richard, J. F. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993.