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Akbar was succeeded by his son Jahangirwho ruled from 1605 till 1627. As it normallyhappens with successors of greatercharacters, his reign passed without anyadded glory.

It is even mentioned that the one who reallyruled the Empire was his wife Nur Jahan

who was of Persian origin. This, let theIranian side of Persia enter the power

spheres of the Moguls Empire.There was no further expansion happeneduntil Shah Jahan, grandson of Akbar, whoruled from 1627 till 1658.

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Under his reign the final independent states

of the Deccan broke and had to accept theMoguls supremacy.

This situation was the result not only ofpolitical pressures but of an extraordinary

drought that thrashed Golkunda, Bijapurand Ahmadnagar draining them to famine.For the years to come they were going to beconsidered tributary states.

The relations between Golkunda and

Bijapur were particularly problematic withinthe Empire, because these reigns wereShiites while the Moguls were Sunnites.

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During Shah reign the religious policies suffereda big turn around. He considered himself a fullhearted Muslim, although it is said that thisacquiring of consciousness obeyed to politicalinterest, as he was seeking the support of the

Indian Muslims (Sunnites) against the Persiansfrom Kandahar (Shiites).

Suddenly, the rituals of the court were all Muslimand the rights granted to the rest of the religions

(profession, public adoration and summoning,etc.) were all abolished, while favors andpreferences were granted to those whoconverted to Islam.

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Blasphemers were executed.A new law was issued (although never

fully respected) that obliged the different

courts to hire only Muslims for the posts.Shahs place in the throne was taken by

his son Auzrangzeb (1658 1707)

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Aurangzeb became the first ruler in Indiato achieve that which so many other had

attempted: to create a unified Empire that

covered all the realms of India, were they

Buddhist, Hindi, Muslim or even

Christian.

At the end of his reign everything from

the Mountains of Afghanistan down to theborders with Lanka belonged to the

Moguls.

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His ascendance to the throne became sort of

a legend:

In 1657 the news that Shah Jahan was

terminally ill reached the courts.

This was like a call to arms for his 4 sons, allof them governors of a subah.

The sons were: 1) Dara Shikoh (the favorite

of the Emperor, governor of the Panjab and

Allahabad); 2) Murad, governor of Gujarat;3) Shah Shuja, governor of Bengala and 4)

Aurangzeb, governor of the Deccan.

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The biggest rivalry was between the older, Dara,and the youngest, Aurangzeb.

The interest of Dara lead to the northern part ofIndia, while Aurangzeb was a conquest drivenimpetuous guy who, according to the elder

brother, endangered the Empire (even if theyoung commander seemed to be quite victoriousin his campaigns).

In reality, he (as well as his father before dying)were suspicious that Aurangzeb wanted to createhis own Empire in the south and becomeindependent from the central power.

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Religion was another issue. Dara flirted withSufism and Indian mysticism just as Akbar. He

even wrote Sufi biographies of Saints, chants andbooks that seemed to transport a lot of the Vedabooks to the Muslim culture. He even translated

the Upanishads to Persian.Aurangzeb was a firm Muslim defender of Islam

strong opponent of Brahmanism (he destroyedtemples and blocked Rajput decisions).

U

sing his brothers religious tendency and theacceptance his father observed to him and hisbeliefs, he imprisoned his father and usurpedthe throne.

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Dara was able to flee and organize amovement of resistance. But he wasterminally defeated in 1658 by

Aurangzeb forces and executed. Shah

remained in prision and lived eight yearsmore (!!).

The remaining two brothers supportedAuranzeb in the beginning, but betrayed

him as soon as they considered the timewas the right one. Both were defeatedand killed.

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The expansion under the new Emperorobeyed the following logic:

The first half of his expansion period until

1681, he concentrated on the northern

part of India. After that he moved to thesouth until his dead in 1707.