Bharat Ek Khoj—The Discovery of India
A Production of Doordarshan, the Government of India’s Public Service Broadcaster
Episode 35: Aurangzeb, Part I
With Om Puri as Aurangzeb, Sudhir Dalvi as Shah Jahan, Surekha Sikri as Jahan Ara, Ahmed Khan as Aquil Khan, Devendra Malhotra as Baba Lals Shah, Surendra Pal as Dara Shikoh, Ved Thapar as Shahbaz Khan, Sohaila Kapur Limaye as Roshan Ara, Shiv Sharma as Murad, Irfana Joshi as Mallika, and the script by Javed Siddiqi.
Nehru remarked that Akbar’s empire spread far in north and south and his grand rule continued to evoke admiration all over Asia and Europe.
The scene opens in 1656 with prince Aurangzeb, as Shah Jahan’s governor in Mughal Deccan, driving a hard bargain with Golconda’s queen. He demands a hefty indemnity, against acceptance of Mughal over- lordship by Golconda, which had put up a hard-fought resistance and colluded with Bijapur earlier. Their wealth had always been a preoccupation of the redoubtable Aurangzeb. But soon the interests of the empire and Deccan policy are subordinated to considerations of the succession. This happened under orders of Shah Jahan, at the behest of Dara Shikoh, Auragzeb’s eldest brother. The next year, exactly the same situation recurs when Aurangzeb invades Bijapur upon the death of Muhammad Adil Shah and Dara Shikoh intervenes anxious to thwart his brother’s chance of succeeding, Twice disappointed, Aurangzeb has to be content again with an indemnity plus territory.
While Dara Shikoh is Shah Jahan’s favourite, his designated mouthpiece and heir, and the only Delhi-based contender with the reigns of imperial patronage in his hands, his one fault is that he is not an orthodox Muslim, As a scholar of some repute, he loves to consort with Sufis, Hindus and Christians. Shah Jahan is taken gravely ill in 1657. This information is willfully suppressed and Aurangzeb, already deeply frustrated, gets this news from his faithful sister Roshan-Ara. The suspicious Aurangzeb now fears the worst and writes to Dara, alleging suppression of the news of father’s death. The latter, preoccupied with a Kathak dance, is taken aback but being more interested in Peers and Fakirs, shows no inclination to take up the cudgels of the empire.
Meanwhile, the rumour of the emperor’s death, or incapacity, spreads and the scare is enough to send the potential successors to arms. While the shrewd Aurangzeb bides his time, Prince Shuja, another brother and governor of Bengal, is quickly in the field after a hasty coronation. The youngest brother, Murad, follows suit in Gujarat anointed by Gujarati priests. However, on getting a conciliatory letter from Aurangzeb in which a division of the empire is offered, Murad commiserates and joins forces with him. Dara’s desperate attempts to save the situation with the Emperor’s knowledge and sympathy from the other sister Jahan-Ara is of no avail, as Aurangzeb is still distrustful of his placatory missives. While Aurangzeb and Murad are spoiling for fight, Dara is unwilling to battle. He is still keen to abdicate in favour of Aurangzeb and join the ranks of Fakirs. Aurangzeb’s pretense that he and Murad are coming to see an ailing father wears too thin. With great reluctance, Dara prepares for war, initially protesting his relative inexperience and with eventual courage born out of his desperation.
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