Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 31 July 1658
- It is interesting that at the peak of his power Aurangzeb had more subjects than the whole of Europe had inhabitants.
On this day in 1658, Aurangzeb became the great mogul and the ruler of the mightiest empire in India.
At one time, he was quite possibly the richest and most powerful ruler in the world. Indeed, not one Indian ruler before him dominated such a large part of India.
By faith, Aurangzeb was an orthodox Muslim, and he tried to impose Islam on the entire Indian subcontinent. Aurangzeb’s Mughal Empire probably had over 150 million subjects, almost a quarter of the world’s population at that time.
Aurangzeb’s country eventually covered nearly all of today’s India and Pakistan as well as parts of present-day Afghanistan.
It is interesting that at the peak of his power Aurangzeb had more subjects than the whole of Europe had inhabitants.
He had a moving capital, which allegedly contained as many as 50,000 camels and 30,000 elephants. Aurangzeb was the son of the famous Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal in Agra.
It is interesting that Aurangzeb’s mother was Mumtaz Mahal, precisely the woman in whose honor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal. She died giving birth to their 14th child, about 13 years after she gave birth to Aurangzeb (he was her sixth child).
