Did Aurangzeb ban Music?

An 18th-century miniature in gouache and gold leaf of Aurangzeb seated on a throne  Photo: Bridgeman Art Library 

The sixth and last great Mughal emperor Aurangzeb banned music in the tenth year of his reign, i.e. 1668, even though he personally enjoyed it.

The contemporary Italian historian Niccolao Manucci writes about Aurangzeb's order to an official to stop all music: "If in any house or elsewhere he heard the sound of singing and instruments, he should forthwith hasten there and arrest as many as he could, breaking the instruments. Thus was caused a great destruction of musical instruments. Finding themselves in this difficulty, their large earnings likely to cease, without there being any other mode of seeking a livelihood, the musicians took counsel together and tried to appease the king in the following way. About one thousand of them assembled on a Friday when Aurangzeb was going to the mosque. They came out with more than 20 highly ornamented biers, as is the custom of the country, crying aloud with great grief and many signs of feeling, as if they were escorting to the grave the body of some distinguished person."

To this incident, Aurangzeb is recorded to have said, "Bury [music] so deep under the earth that no sound or echo of it may rise again.”

However, in spite of this, Manucci writes, the Mughal nobles continued to listen to music in secret. He also writes that Aurangzeb did not ban music for the ladies in the harem for their entertainment.

Khushal Khan, the great-grandson of legendary musician Tansen, was given the title of Gun Samundar by Aurangzeb. During his reign, Fakirullah (Saif Khan) wrote  the Rag-darpan (The Mirror of Music) to dedicate it to Aurangzeb. The work is a translation of Man-Kauthal, written at the court of Raja Man Singh of Gwalior.

 

Lord Ellenborough: 1842-1844

Lord Ellenborough served as the Governor General of India from 28 February 1842 to 15 June 1844. He is credited with bringing the Afghan War to an end.  His tenure of office was marked by a successful expedition to Kabul which went a long way in enhancing the prestige of the British in India which suffered a lot due to mismanagement of the Afghan War by his predecessor Lord Auckland.

During Ellenborough’s governor generalship, Sindh was annexed to the British government. This act has been condemned as high-handed by most writers.  Ellenborough also coerced Sindhia to enter into a humiliating treaty with the British.

Ellenborough was recalled in 1844 owing to his defiance of the orders of the Court of Directors of East India Company.

Battles of Tarain

Battles of Tarain (1191-92) were fought between Prithviraj Chauhan and Shihabuddin, popularly known as Muhammad Ghori.  Prithviraj, known as Rai Pithaura to the Muslim historians, was the greatest ruler of the Chauhan dynasty, whose kings also came to be known as Chahamanas of Sakambhari.

Also known as Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam, Muhammad Ghori was a Turkish invader who made his first Indian expedition in 1175 AD. After subjugating some of the Indian rulers, this governor of Ghazni met Prithviraj, the powerful Rajput ruler of Delhi and Ajmer, at Tarain near Thanesar in present-day Haryana in 1191 AD.

According to the Persian historian Ferishta, Prithviraj, with an army of 200,00 horses and 3, 000 elephants, inflicted a terrible defeat on Muhammad Ghori whose army was completely overpowered.  Muhammad Ghori saved his life with difficulty and retired to Ghazni. This is famously known as the First battle of Tarain in history.

The defeat however did not deter Muhammad Ghori from carrying another military campaign against Prithviraj in the next year, in 1192 AD.  Prithviraj appealed the neighboring rulers to join the campaign against the Sultan. Almost everyone, except the powerful Gahadvala king Jaichand, supported him. According to Tod, Jaichand, father-in-law of Prithviraj, felt a sense of jealousy of latter’s exalted position among the Indian rulers.

In this battle, known as the Second Battle of Tarain, fortune favoured Muhammad Ghori. The Turkish army dealt a body blow to the Hindu ranks. Prithviraj was captured and killed.

Today in Indian History (23rd December)

• ·         The Ninth Prime Minister of India, P. V. Narasimha Rao, passes away on December 23, 2000. Considered to be brain behind the Indian economic reforms, Rao ran a minority government which was marred by charges of corruption. 

• ·         Allah Wasai, famously known as Noor Jehan or Noorjehan in the celluloid world, died on December 23, 2000.

Today in Indian History (22nd December)

• Today is the 125th birth anniversary of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. His birthday is celebrated as National Mathematics Day in India.    Ramanujan was born to a poor family on December 22, 1887 in Erode in Tamil Nadu. The maths genius died at the age of 33. 
• On 22^nd December 1851, the first train carrying the construction material ran in India at Roorkee.
• Cyclone hits South India and Sri Lanka on 22^nd December in 1964.  Dhanuskodi, a small town at the southern tip of the Rameswaram Island in Tamil Nadu, was completely devastated and submerged by the cyclone, resulting inn the killing of killing of more than 300 people. 
• Sarada Devi, philosopher and wife of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, was born on 22nd December, 1853. Ramakrishna was the guru of famous spiritual leader of India, Vivekananda.
• December 22, 1939 was declared as the “Day of Deliverance" by Muslim League to celebrate the resignation of the Congress ministries in the Provinces to protest over the Indian people not having been consulted over Viceroy Linlithgow ‘s decision to declare India’s entry into the World War II.
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