Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth by Audrey Truschke Penguin, Rs 399 Any book on Aurangzeb Alamgir, the last of the great Mughal emperors, is always going to … Aurangzeb beheaded then. And the reason for this dislikeness for him is that, Aurangzeb, was considered as a bigot, killer of hindus, who demolished uncountable number of hindu and jain temples, who imposed the jizya tax on Hindus, and the brutality with which he killed his own … Author has whitewashed the mughal history. The best thing about heated public debates is that it pushes scholars to dig deeper to resolve thorny arguments in the public sphere. Aurangzeb is considered by many to be a religious bigot, who destroyed Hindu temples, killed a Sikh guru during his reign, and overall had negative attitude toward non-muslims in India. It repeatedly crisscrosses in opposing directions, often contradicting the man and his ideas. A long time ago, I had read a fiction based in the Mughal era, and I was head over heels in love with it. Hindu hater, murderer and religious zealot are just a handful of the modern caricatures of this maligned ruler. While many continue to accept the storyline peddled by colonial-era thinkers—that Aurangzeb, a Muslim, was a Hindu-loathing bigot—there is an untold side to him as a man who strove to be a just, worthy Indian king. Shown from a different lens, one wonders and has so many questions left to be answered. This book deals with the most hated person in India, and offers a narrative as to how we are all wrong. Someday, this year will end! Aurangzeb Alamgir (r. 1658-1707), the sixth Mughal emperor, is widely reviled in India today. ‘Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth’ — separating exaggerations from truth The Mughals played a legendary role in the history of the Indian subcontinent while leaving strong marks on the political, social, religious and literary developments of this region. I have to say I have tremendous respect for her insight and balanced perspective. No one argues that he was otherwise than these things but overall I felt the author has done a great job at trying to present a balanced picture, rather than the exaggerated one of popular myths and images. 2 likes. It is a fascinating biography of an emperor who continues to dominate the contemporary discourse on the Hindu-Muslim relationship and beyond. Its like someone trying to portray Hitler as a hero.If there was a way to give negative rating to this book I would have. Hindu hater, murderer and religious zealot are just a handful of the modern caricatures of this maligned ruler. Enjoyed this one. This is especially so, given Audrey's easy writing style. It gives an avant-garde perspective on Aurangzeb, who was the sixth Mughal Emperor held responsible for igniting the collapse of the Mughal Empire in India. Her first book, Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court (Penguin, 2016) investigates the literary, social and political roles of Sanskrit as it thrived in the Persian-speaking, Islamic Mughal courts from 1560 to 1650. She just compiled what her ideological counterparts have been iterating, without verifying any of it. In her first book titled, ‘Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court’, she investigates the role of Sanskrit in Persian speaking Islamic Mughal courts. The author admits that some of it is true, however she challenged most of this narrative, by suggesting that Aurangzeb wasn't radically different from his predecessors. This book is based on eight chapters. In this short and very readable bio, the author tries to demystify him and present him for what he was, rather than simply a tyrant. But modern visions of Aurangzeb are more myth than reality. A historian’s task to this extent is doubly challenging: identifying the source material and putting aside one’s predispositions and prejudices in the task of interpreting the sources. Read "Aurangzeb The Man and the Myth" by Audrey Truschke available from Rakuten Kobo. The Mughals ruled over a vast empire, whose population outstripped the entirety of Europe in 1600. For surely, we cannot claim to know or even entirely comprehend every facet, incentive, or reason for why things happened the way they did, much less the minds of those who decided the course of history. 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