Was Aurangzeb a major cause for the decline of Mughal Empire?

Answer 1

He initiated the decline....he was still the last 'great' mughal emperor..but many of his policies like religious intolerance, bad administration (empire too unwieldy) etc etc are considerd as major causes.
After him all the emperors were weak and followed each other in quick succession as the mughal empire slowly whittled away.
But many historians today do consider him major cause.

Answer 2

Aurangzeb
Jahan's son Aurangzeb was to be the last great Mughal Emperor.
History's verdict on Aurangzeb largely depends on who's writing it; Muslim or Hindu.

Aurangzeb ruled for nearly 50 years. He came to the throne after imprisoning his father and having his older brother killed.

He was a strong leader, whose conquests expand the Mughal Empire to its greatest size.

Aurangzeb was a very observant and religious Muslim who ended the policy of religious tolerance followed by earlier emperors.

He no longer allowed the Hindu community to live under their own laws and customs, but imposed Sharia law (Islamic law) over the whole empire.

Thousands of Hindu temples and shrines were torn down and a punitive tax on Hindu subjects was re-imposed.

In the last decades of the seventeenth century Aurangzeb invaded the Hindu kingdoms in central and southern India, conquering much territory and taking many slaves.

Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire reached the peak of its military power, but the rule was unstable. This was partly because of the hostility that Aurangazeb's intolerance and taxation inspired in the population, but also because the empire had simply become to big to be successfully governed.

The Muslim Governer of Hydrabad in southern India rebelled and established a separate Shi'a state, he also reintroduced religious toleration.

The Hindu kingdoms also fought back often supported by the French and the British, who used them to tighten their grip on the sub-continent.

The establishment of a Hindu Marathi Empire in southern India cut off the Mughal state to the south. The great Mughal city of Calcutta came under the control of the east India company in 1696 and in the decades that followed Europeans and European – backed by Hindu princes conquered most of the Mughal territory.

Aurangzeb's extremism caused Mughal territory and creativity to dry up and the Empire went into decline. The Mughal Emperors that followed Aurangzeb effectively became British or French puppets. The last Mughal Emperor was deposed by the British in 1858.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/mughalempire_5.shtml

Answer 3

I want to add one more point to the above two answers: Aurangzeb spent most of his reigning period fighting, and although he spent little on his personal expenditures, he spent huge fortunes to fund his military campaigns. He was constantly at war and his children grew up in royal tents that were set up wherever Aurangzeb was fighting. So the next generation didn't grow up in peaceful times nor were they settled in palaces where they could be trained as future rulers.

Answer 4

Ther are many many causes for the slow but inevitiable decline of the Roman Empire and these lasted hundreds of years. Rome outgrew herself and it was next to impossible to administer far flung provinces in a timely and efficient manner. They were also unable to check the advances of northern/eastern tribes pushing into Roman territories. Couple this with famine, plagues, cash short-falls and the division of the Empire and well... you see what happened.

Answer 5

How can he be? Unfortunately he did not have a good bloodline like himself to follow his footsteps. He han built a great empire for his successors who could not even take care of what he had left them let alone creat more. We cannot hold him responsible for the decline.Read a book called 'SANENSHAH' to get mor dramatised idea of life and period of Aurangzeb.

Answer 6

He was not only the cause .He destroyed Mughal empire by abandoning it for 20 years by staying in Deccan.

Answer 7

yes, his attitude and continuous battles started the disintegration
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=Aurangzeb
http://www.infoplease.com/search?fr=iptn&query=aurangzeb&in=all&x=0&y=0

Answer 8

yes i agree .it was because of him only