Politicians

Aurangzeb

Sixth Mughal emperor (1618-1707), known by the title Alamgir, "World-Seizer." In a 49-year reign he expanded the empire to its greatest territorial extent, codifying Islamic law in the Fatawa-i Alamgiri and restoring the jizya poll-tax on non-Muslims that Akbar had abolished a century earlier. A scholar-soldier who could recite the Quran from memory, he lived austerely in camp, sewing prayer caps and copying scripture to fund his own daily expenses. His twenty-six-year Deccan war ultimately drained the treasury and seeded the empire's collapse, and his religious policies remain a flashpoint between Indian and Pakistani historiography three centuries on.

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