[balti]

Dara Shukoh tried to keep the Emperor's illness secret, but his censorship aroused suspicion. Shuja crowned himself at Rajmahal and moved toward Agra, but an army led by Dara's son Sulaiman Shukoh from Delhi forced him to flee. Murad also crowned himself and prepared for war in Gujarat. Aurangzeb was negotiating a peace treaty with Bijapur and wrote letters in cipher to Murad and Shuja, promising Murad the Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Sind. In February 1658 Aurangzeb began marching north with his Deccan army, which defeated Shah Jahan's army that retreated to Delhi. In 1654 Mewar's Raj Singh (r. 1652-80) had submitted to the Mughals and let Sa'dullah Khan destroy his fort at Chitor; but when he visited the court, Shah Jahan took four districts from him. So now when Aurangzeb promised to restore the four districts, Raj Singh supported him. Dara's reorganized army of 50,000 was defeated near Agra in April by Aurangzeb's superior artillery and tactics. Dara fled, and Aurangzeb besieged his father in the Agra fort, depriving him of water until he surrendered on June 8. Dara went to Lahore, and Aurangzeb pursued him. He invited Murad to his camp for dinner and took him prisoner on June 25.
Aurangzeb's Intolerant Empire 1658-1707

Aurangzeb crowned himself at Delhi on July 21, 1658, calling himself 'Alamgir, meaning "Conqueror of the World." Prince Dara Shukoh fled south to Gujarat while Aurangzeb defeated Shuja's Bengal army in December. Dara acquired funds and 20,000 men in Gujarat, but they were defeated by Aurangzeb's army in March 1659. Aurangzeb ascended his father's throne at Shahjahanabad in June. Dara was caught and condemned by the 'ulama for apostasy and idolatry before he and his youngest son were executed on August 30. Shuja fled to Arakan, where he was killed for plotting against its king in 1660. After an attempted rescue of Murad in 1661, he was beheaded for a murder he had previously committed. Suleiman Shukoh was captured and drugged with opium until he died in 1662. The civil war depressed the revenues of the empire, and limited rainfall resulted in famine. Aurangzeb ordered free kitchens in the cities to dispense cooked food. Shah Jahan remained a prisoner until he died in 1666. A revolt in Palamau by Daud Khan in 1661 was put down, and it became a district of the Bihar province.

During the civil war, in the northeast Kuch Bihar ruler Prem Narayan rebelled, and Ahom king Jayadhwaj Sinha invaded Kamrup and occupied Gauhati. In 1660 Aurangzeb sent Mir Jumla to govern Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. He reorganized the administration to increase revenue and imposed Mughal authority, moving the provincial capital east from Rajmahal to Dacca. In November 1661 Mir Jumla declared holy war on Assam with 42,000 men and several hundred ships. The Kuch Bihar ruler fled from Kathalbari, which Mir Jumla renamed Alamgirnagar as the capital of the annexed kingdom. The raja's son converted to Islam to serve the Mughals. The Mughal army marched on to Kamrup and seized the Ahom capital at Garghaon in March 1662, as the Ahom ruler fled, leaving behind granaries of rice, guns, munitions, and armed river boats. Yet the Mughals suffered from lack of supplies, guerrilla attacks, and an epidemic. The Ahom Swargadeo agreed to be a Mughal vassal. However, Mir Jumla died of illness in March 1663; conflicts over the peace treaty arose, and Ahom regained autonomy in Kamrup by the 1680s. In 1664 the Mughals' Bengal governor Shaista Khan (r. 1664-88), son of Asaf Khan, used a navy to free thousands of Bengali slaves at Chatgaon. Two years later he captured that fort and changed the name of the town to Islamabad.

In the northwest the Yusufzai chief Bhagu proclaimed himself ruler in 1667, but his resistance was quelled by an imperial army of 9,000 led by Muhammad Amin Khan. In 1672 Akmal Khan crowned himself king of the Afridis and closed the Khyber pass. They massacred a Mughal army between Peshawar and Kabul. Khatak leader Kush-hal wrote poetry to inspire their revolution against the Mughals, and another imperial army was ambushed the next winter. In June 1674 Aurangzeb himself led the campaign, and he negotiated by offering rebel leaders honors and rewards to protect the trade routes. Amin Khan was appointed governor at Kabul in 1677, and his payments to the chiefs for serving the Mughals kept a diplomatic peace for the next twenty years. His wife Sahibji, daughter of 'Ali Mardan Khan, wisely advised him to pursue a conciliatory policy.

Aurangzeb followed the Hanafi school of Islamic law and even spent seven years memorizing the Qur'an. Having deposed and imprisoned his father, he tried to absolve himself by sending gifts to the rulers of Mecca and Medina in 1659. That year he appointed a muhtasib as a censor to enforce Islamic laws such as those against blasphemy, liquid intoxicants, and gambling. Cultivation of cannabis was prohibited, but opium and ganja were not banned. Dancing girls and public women were ordered to get married or leave the realm. He dismissed court musicians and abolished celebration of the Iranian new year festival. When musicians protested by holding a funeral for Music he had killed, Aurangzeb remarked that he hoped she was well buried. In the tenth year of his reign he ended the official chronicles, and the next year he stopped appearing on a balcony every morning for the darshan (personal) worship that Akbar had begun. All the legal opinions (fatwa) during his reign were collected into a book. His main advisors became the chief judge (qazi) and the supervisor of pious charity. He contributed generously to repair mosques and support religious charities. In 1672 he took back all the grants that had been given to Hindus, though this was not always enforced. He made land grants hereditary in 1690. The 'ulama was often corrupt; Wahhab Bohra was qazi for sixteen years and retired with 3.3 million rupees he had obtained from bribes.

Aurangzeb's policies discriminated against non-Muslims. In 1665 custom duties for Muslims were set at 2.5 percent, but the rates for Hindus were doubled to five percent. Two years later the duty on Muslim traders was abolished. Provincial governors and revenue officials were ordered to dismiss Hindu officers and replace them with Muslims; this also was not enforced in many areas. His 1669 edict ordered demolished all temples recently built or repaired contrary to Islamic law. Bir Singh Bundela had paid over three million rupees to build the Kesev Rai temple at Mathura, but it was torn down. A Surat qazi extorted money from Hindu merchants by threatening them with forcible conversion or defacement of Hindu shrines. After a converted Bania was forcibly circumcised by the qazi and committed suicide, 8,000 men protested by leaving Surat. They were welcomed in Ahmadabad; but eventually the Emperor promised them freedom of religion, and they returned to their homes.

In 1669 Jat peasants led by Gokla of Tilpat took up arms against the empire and killed the abusive faujdar (officer) of Mathura and ravaged Sadabad. Gokla's rebellion grew to 20,000 before they were defeated by an imperial army reinforced by Aurangzeb himself. Gokla was put to death, and his relatives converted to Islam. In 1671 Aurangzeb dismissed all the Hindu officers from his revenue department. The next year Satnamis rebelled in Narnaul and Mewat; 2,000 were killed when they were crushed by the Mughal army. Aurangzeb often offered gifts and honors to induce people to convert to Islam. Sikh resistance to an order to demolish their temples led to the arrest of Guru Tegh Bahadur; he refused to convert, was convicted of blasphemy, and was beheaded in 1675.

In 1679 Aurangzeb revived the jiziya income tax on non-Muslims, and thousands in Delhi protested in front of the Emperor's balcony. A few days after many were trampled by elephants, they began paying the tax. Although Rajputs in imperial service were exempt from paying the jiziya, their subjects were not. As Rajput nobles lost their privileges, discontent increased. After the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh Rathor in December 1678, Aurangzeb caused turmoil in Marwar by trying to annex it and raise the prince Ajit Singh in his harem as a Muslim, but Durgadas Rathor escaped with Ajit Singh to Mewar. The Emperor sent an army led by Prince Muhammad Akbar, and they occupied the capital Udaipur, destroying temples. The Rana and cavalry fled to the hills and began a guerrilla campaign. Aurangzeb went back to Ajmer in 1680, leaving Prince Akbar in charge at Chitor; but he rebelled against his father, crowning himself emperor. Akbar with Rajput support from the Rathors and Sisodias marched on Ajmer; but Aurangzeb sent a letter to his son to be intercepted that implied betrayal of the Rajputs, causing them to depart. Akbar had to flee but was given refuge by Durgadas and the Rajputs who learned they were tricked. The Rana of Mewar negotiated a peace that recognized Ran Jai Singh as ruler, and they agreed to pay the jiziya for Mewar. In Marwar resistance against the Mughals continued for a generation. Durgadas stayed in the Deccan for six years and then fought with Ajit against the Mughals for a decade.

Aurangzeb reacted to the threat of Shivaji in Maratha by making peace with Mewar so that he could move his imperial army south to the Deccan. Aurangzeb sent armies into the Maratha kingdom every year; they were able to plunder and burn villages but could not assault the fortresses. In 1684 he sent a Mughal army of 80,000 led by princes Azam and Shah Alam to besiege Bijapur, which was defended by Sikander Adil Shah and a garrison of 30,000 for fifteen months before they surrendered. Meanwhile Shah Alam led the invasion of Golconda; mobs in Hyderabad looted their own city while others fled to the Golconda fort. Sultan Abul Hasan Qutb Shah agreed to dismiss his two Brahmin ministers, pay a war indemnity, and cede territory. The two ministers were murdered by Muslims. When their heads were sent to Aurangzeb, he withdrew the Mughal army to Bijapur.

In October 1686 the English sacked Hughli in Bengal but evacuated it the next year. In 1688 Aurangzeb's navy was fighting English traders on the west coast, but by the end of the next year he had pardoned them and made peace. In 1690 Bengal viceroy Ibrahim Khan invited English agent Job Charnock to found Calcutta. Farther down the east coast the Dutch operated from Pulicat, the English in Madras, and the French at Pondicherry. Refugees from the Mughal-Maratha wars fled into these fortresses. In 1695 English pirates led by Henry Bridgeman plundered 5.2 million rupees and raped the women on the ship Ganj-i Sawai near Surat. Angry Aurangzeb authorized an attack on Bombay which failed. In 1702 the Emperor tried to ban all Mughal trade with the English, Dutch, and French companies.

In 1685 about 4,000 rebels proclaimed Prince Akbar emperor, but his attempt to take Ahmadnagar the next year failed. While Akbar and a few followers chartered a ship and fled to the Persian court in February 1687, the Mughals besieged Golconda. A traitor opened the gate for the assault, and the famous treasure of the Qutb Shahs was found to have more than sixty million rupees in gold and silver. Some Muslim clerics complained that the Emperor made war on fellow Muslims. Aurangzeb appointed a muhtasib to enforce Islamic law and ordered Hindu temples demolished and mosques built. Because his son Shah Alam had tried to negotiate secretly with Sikander Adil Shah and with Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, Aurangzeb had him imprisoned for the next seven years. Aurangzeb sent the Golconda noble Muqarrab Khan to hunt down and kill Shambhaji. Bijapur, Golconda, and Maratha were annexed as Mughal provinces.

In the north Sahibji succeeded her husband Amin Khan in 1698 for two years until Prince Shah Alam arrived in Kabul. In the northeast Gadadhar Singh became king of Ahom in 1681, and the next year in the battle at Itakhuli his forces drove the Mughal imperialists back a hundred kilometers. By the end of Aurangzeb's reign, Ahom king Rudra Singh (r. 1696-1714) was preparing to invade Bengal, where a revolt had broken out in 1696, when Rahim Khan called himself Rahim Shah and led a large army. Aurangzeb sent his grandson Azim-ud-din with cavalry that defeated and killed Rahim Shah near Burdwan in 1698. Preparing for a succession struggle, Azim-ud-din refused to send surplus funds to the Deccan. So in 1701 the Emperor sent Kartalab Khan as diwan (financial administrator) for Bengal, and by stopping the prevalent embezzling he accumulated ten million rupees, which he sent to Aurangzeb in 1702. Prince Azim-ud-din tried to kill Kartalab Khan, and the Emperor had his grandson transferred while honoring Kartalab with the title Murshid Quli Khan and making him governor of Orissa.

Zulfiqar Khan began the siege of Jinji in 1690. While Maratha leader Rajaram was besieged on and off there for eight years, Santaji Ghorpade and others led Maratha raids. Aurangzeb moved his camp in the Deccan between Puna and Bijapur until he established his court at Brahmapuri (renamed Islamapuri) in 1695. That year he sent his son Shah Alam to govern the northwest, and all Hindus except for Rajputs were forbidden to ride on elephants or horses or to carry arms. In 1698 Durgadas restored Akbar's son Buland Akhtar to Aurangzeb, who granted him and Ajit Singh rank (mansab) and tax income (jagir). After five years of truce, the Marwar struggle began again in 1701 when Aurangzeb ordered Durgadas killed for not obeying his summons. After Ajit quarreled with Durgadas, Aurangzeb gave Durgadas his old Gujarat position back in 1705; but the following year a Maratha invasion of Gujarat persuaded Durgadas to rejoin Ajit's quest for independence. Still living in tents, the Emperor ordered a wall built around Islamapuri in 1699. That year Aurangzeb began besieging forts and took a major one each year until he became ill after taking Wagingera in 1705; meanwhile the Marathas were taking back at least as many forts as the Mughals had gained. Lack of rain 1702-04 and the devastating wars caused famine and pestilence that killed two million people. A year before he died in 1707, Aurangzeb regretted his wars and tried to make peace with the Marathas by offering to release Shahuji, but it was too late. After Aurangzeb died, Ajit Singh led his Rathor army to Jodhpur, where he defeated the imperial troops and took over Marwar.

The religious persecution in Aurangzeb's policies and the resulting Maratha war destroyed the Mughal empire. Many officers refused to engage the enemy, and others paid cash or offered services to the Hindus. Peasants were driven off the land as villages were burned, and merchants and caravans suffered from banditry. The Mughals had an imperial army of 170,000 men, but they still could not make the empire of mostly Hindus submit. The imperial treasure was exhausted, and salaries for soldiers and officials were three years in arrears. The religious zeal of Aurangzeb had been intolerant of other cultural activities, and historians regretfully recalled the better eras of Akbar and Shah Jahan. Hindus were disadvantaged economically and had little personal freedom. The elite Mughals were often arrogant and morally degenerate. The prime minister's grandson Mirza Tafakhkhur with ruffians would plunder shops and kidnap Hindu women with impunity. They lived in luxury, but their education in harems was meager. Although Aurangzeb did not drink alcohol, most Muslims secretly did so. Slaves and peasants did the hard work while the surplus produce went to the Muslim aristocrats. Administration of the empire depended on the Mughal military; offices were sold, and corruption was rampant. Aurangzeb worked hard at administration, but his meddling in every aspect of government discouraged initiative. Queens were jealous of each other's sons, as they prepared for the next succession struggle. Islamic government by conquering Muslims was failing badly in the proud and wealthy land of India.
Marathas and the English Company 1707-1800
Kashmir and Tibet 1526-1707
Tibetan Buddhism

Babur's Mughal brother Kamran invaded Kashmir in 1531; but Kashmiri leaders put aside their differences to drive out the Mughals. After conquering Ladakh and Baltistan, Kashghar sultan Said Khan sent Mirza Haidar Dughlat to invade Kashmir in 1533. Dughlat's troops compelled him to leave Kashmir after he specified certain conditions that included paying tribute to Kashghar. After Muhammad Shah died in 1537, conflicts over the throne enabled Dughlat to return in 1540 and act as regent even though he had just been defeated with Humayun at Kanauj. The Chak tribe appealed to the victorious Sher Shah Sur's Afghans, but the Mughal-Kashmiri army defeated them at Watanar in 1541. Mirza Haidar Dughlat ruled Kashmir for a decade; but his campaigns against Ladakh, Baltistan, Pakhli, and Rajauri wore down Kashmiri support, resulting in a general uprising that killed him in 1550. The Chaks had overthrown foreign domination, and Daulat Chak seized power by deposing Nazuk Shah the next year. He conquered Ladakh and Baltistan but was devastated by an earthquake in 1554.

Ghazi Khan (r. 1555-62) is considered the first Chak sultan of Kashmir, and he defeated attempted invasions by Shah Abul Maali in 1557 and by the Mughal Qara Bahadur in 1561. After suffering frostbite in a campaign to Ladakh, Ghazi Khan abdicated to his brother Husain Shah Chak (r. 1562-69). He passed the throne to another brother Ali Khan, who ruled Kashmir in peace for a decade. His son Yusuf Shah Chak fought his uncle Abdul Chak for the throne but was overthrown by the rebel Saiyid Mubarak Khan, who soon had to abdicate to Lohar Shah Chak. Yusuf Shah then appealed to Akbar, who sent an army to restore him in 1580. Yet Kashmiri nobles threatened to depose Yusuf Shah if he paid homage to Akbar. The Emperor sent an army; but when Yusuf Shah joined them in 1586, he was made a political prisoner for two years. Kashmir was annexed to the Mughal empire by Qasim Khan in 1586.

Akbar visited Kashmir three times, and Emperor Jahangir liked to reside there for his health. His governor Mirza Ali Akbar Khan tried to conciliate the Chak rebels with diplomacy and tricks; he promised them sovereignty but ordered his troops to kill Chaks before he died in 1616. A plague came to Kashmir the next year and lasted until 1619. Kishtwar was a refuge for assassins and rebels, but in 1618 Jahangir sent Governor Dilawar Khan Kakar with an army of 10,000 men to subdue them. The garrison he left under Nazr Ullah Arab was small, and he was killed. Another army led by Jalal failed until the Emperor sent Iradat Khan as governor to restore law and order. Jahangir appointed Itiqad Khan governor of Kashmir in 1622, and he punished even more Chak rebels. When Emperor Shah Jahan learned how oppressive the government of Itiqad Khan was, he replaced him in 1632 with Zafar Khan. Shah Jahan proclaimed a farman (imperial decree) specifying which taxes and policies were to be repealed in Kashmir. In 1634 Shah Jahan ordered Kashmir governor Zafar Khan to conquer Ladakh and Baltistan in western Tibet in order to punish Abdal for giving refuge to Chak rebels, and he made him proclaim Shah Jahan's name in Friday prayers. The next year Zafar Khan's favoring of Shi'a against Sunnis provoked a riot that burned Shi'a homes. In 1637 Abdal relapsed in his obedience, and Zafar Khan invaded with a Mughal army of 12,000, making Abdal pay an indemnity of one million rupees. During the half century of Aurangzeb's reign, Kashmir had twelve Mughal governors. Ibrahim Khan (r. 1678-85) was dismissed after his protection of Shi'a relatives caused a brief civil war with the Sunnis.

In Tibet after Gedun Gyatso died at the Drepung monastery in 1542, Sonam Gyatso (1543-88) was accepted as his reincarnation. The Gelugpa sect was the main rival of the Karmapas. After nine years of suppression by the Tsang governor, Drepung monks attacked Karmapa military camps in 1546. Sonam Gyatso was invited to Nedong by the Gongma in 1559 and became the ruler's personal teacher. The next year Sonam Gyatso mediated a dispute between the Gelugpa and the Kagyupa in Lhasa that local lamas had failed to solve. Sonam Gyatso traveled to Mongolia and converted the leading prince Altan Khan of the Tumed Mongols in 1578. Altan Khan gave him the title Talé (Dalai) meaning "Ocean" to imply the depth of his learning. Alta Khan proclaimed that he had changed an ocean of blood into an ocean of milk, and he banned the Mongols' human and animal sacrifices for the deceased. Sonam Gyatso was the third Dalai Lama, and in 1580 he founded the Lithang monastery in Kham. He visited Dhuring Khan in 1585 and died on his way back to Tibet three years later.

Altan Khan's great-grandson was accepted as the fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso, in 1601. He studied under the Tashilhunpo lama Lozang Chosgyan, who was given the title Panchen Lama, which means "great scholar." In 1605 the Tsang chief Karma Tensung Wangpo attacked Lhasa and expelled the Mongols who had escorted the Dalai Lama into Tibet. The Dalai Lama visited the Choskhorgyal monastery and was also welcomed by others, but attendants blocked a meeting with the Karmapa red-hats. Karma Tensung died in 1611 and was succeeded by his son Karma Phuntsok Namgyal, who was also denied an audience with the Dalai Lama. The fourth Dalai Lama died at Drepung in 1617, and the next year Karma Phuntsok Namgyal attacked Lhasa. Several Gelugpa monasteries in U were forced to convert to the Karmapa sect. The late Dalai Lama's attendant Sonam Chospel found a child he believed was the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and he was named Ngawang Lozang Gyatso. Some Mongol troops returned to Tibet disguised as pilgrims in 1619 and the next year killed Tsang troops in a surprise attack on their camp. They agreed to leave Tibet when two conditions were met: the Tsang military camps were abolished, and the monasteries that had been forced to convert were restored as Gelugpa. After Phuntsok Namgyal died in 1622, two officials governed well for his sixteen-year-old son Karma Tenkyong, allowing the fifth Dalai Lama to reveal himself. Two Portuguese Jesuits arrived at Shigatse in 1627; but their mission had little success, and they left in 1632.

In 1635 Karma Tenkyong persuaded the Chogthu Mongols led by prince Arsalang to invade Tibet with 10,000 men to eliminate the Gelugpa sect. Qoshot Mongol chief Gushri Khan learned of this and intervened. Arsalang then went with his personal attendants and prostrated himself before the fifth Dalai Lama. When Arsalang's father learned of this, he sent agents who assassinated his son. Gushri Khan gathered a Mongol army and attacked Chogthu camps in 1637, and the next year he came with pilgrims to the Dalai Lama for religious instruction. Gushri Khan intercepted a letter from Karma Tenkyong saying he approved of religious freedom for all except the Gelugpa. In 1639 the Dalai Lama advised Gushri Khan not to attack, but his chief attendant Sonam Chospel disagreed and sent a message approving of Gushri's planned invasion. Sonam Chospel continued to support the war efforts of Gushri Khan until Shigatse was captured in 1642. Karma Tenkyong was imprisoned; Sonam Chospel was appointed Desi (prime minister), and the Dalai Lama proclaimed Lhasa the capital of Tibet. Gushri Khan and Sonam Chospel suppressed an uprising, killing 7,000 Kongpo troops; but after Karma Tenkyong was executed, the revolt ended.

The fifth Dalai Lama founded the building of the Potala palace in 1645. The Tibetans suffered a minor defeat by the Bhutanese in 1647. The next year several Kagyupa monasteries were forced to convert to the Gelugpa sect, and a portion of taxes were designated to support monasteries. The Dalai Lama visited the Chinese emperor in 1653 and was well received. Gushri proclaimed himself king; but after he died in 1655, his successors exerted little power. The fifth Dalai Lama thus became an independent ruler, and he tried to protect the Qoshot and Khalka tribes from the Dzungar Mongols. After Lozang Chosgyan died in 1662, the Dalai Lama recognized a boy as his reincarnation and the second Panchen Lama. A revolt broke out in eastern Kham, and twenty rebels were going to be executed; but the Dalai Lama changed the sentences to life imprisonment. He wrote to the Chinese emperor that Tibetan troops could not fight well in China because of the difference in climate. In 1676 Tibetan troops were sent to force invading Bhutanese out of Sikkim. The Dalai Lama sent Tibetan and Mongol troops to make the Ladakhis stop harassing the Gelugpa monasteries. He did much to unify Tibet and establish consistent and just taxation. The fifth Dalai Lama also instilled religious discipline and promoted literary works until he died in 1682.

The scholar Sangyé Gyatso, possibly the son of the fifth Dalai Lama, had become Desi in 1679. He concealed the Dalai Lama's death for fourteen years while he fulfilled his administrative functions. After the Potala palace was completed in 1695, Sangyé announced the Dalai Lama had died in 1682. The sixth Dalai Lama was enthroned as Tsangyang Gyatso in 1697; but he refused to take the vows of a monk and spent time drinking and with girls. He suspected the Desi of instigating an assassination attempt that failed and forced Sangyé to resign in 1703. However, the new Desi was his son Ngawang Rinchen, and Sangyé still had much influence. Gushri Khan's grandson Lhazang Khan became Qoshot chief in 1697 and did not like the sixth Dalai Lama's behavior. Lhazang Khan was marching a Mongol army toward Lhasa in 1705 when representatives of the three large monasteries mediated the conflict. The ex-Desi was to leave Lhasa, and Lhazang Khan would return to Kokonor; but after Sangyé was captured and executed, Lhazang Khan entered Lhasa and took control of the government. The sixth Dalai Lama was deposed and escorted into exile. Angry Tibetans objected; but Tsangyang himself calmed them down until they learned that he had died by Kokonor Lake. Lhazang declared that he was not the true sixth Dalai Lama and appointed 25-year-old Ngawang Yeshe Gyatso, probably his son, as the authentic sixth Dalai Lama; but Tibetans did not recognize him and found a child in a place indicated by Tsangyang's poetry.
Tibet and Nepal 1707-1818
Southern India 1526-1707
Independent South India 1329-1526

Krishna Deva Raya chose his half-brother Achyuta Deva Raya as his successor in Vijayanagara; but he was challenged by Krishna Deva's son-in-law Rama Raya and took him as a partner in his administration. A rebellion in the south was suppressed, and then Achyuta invaded Bijapur and recovered Raichur. Rama Raya appointed his friends and relatives, took 3,000 Muslim soldiers into his service, and in 1535 put Achyuta in prison, proclaiming himself king. Southern nobles rebelled against Rama Raya. While he was fighting them, the officer holding Achyuta restored him to the throne and became his prime minister; but he was murdered by Salakaraju Tirumala, who governed for his brother-in-law Achyuta. Ibrahim 'Adil Shah of Bijapur invaded Vijayanagara and got Achyuta and Rama Raya to agree before returning to his now independent kingdom. After Achyuta Raya died in 1542, his son Venkata I succeeded; but he was strangled by his brother Tirumala I, who massacred the royal family to seize the throne.

This stimulated Rama Raya to take control in the name of Sadashiva. Rama Raya tried to revive Vijayanagara power but intervened in the quarrels of the Deccan sultanate. In 1552 Rama Raya was crowned king and employed Muslim mercenaries to fight and gain intelligence. He was a Vaisnava but tolerated all religions. Rama Raya made a commercial treaty with the Portuguese in 1547; but he attacked them in 1558 at San Thomé and Goa. The same year Vijayanagara joined Deccan allies Bijapur, Bidar, and Golconda in invading Ahmadnagar. This alienated many in the Deccan, and they inflicted a devastating defeat on the Vijayanagara army in 1565. Rama Raya was killed; the city of Vijayanagara was sacked of its wealth as Muslims destroyed its great Hindu temple. Armed competition between the Telegu houses prevented the restoring of the royal authority. However, Rama Raya's brother Tirumala divided Vijayanagara into three parts - the Telegu, the Karnataka, and Tamil, governed by his three sons. Tirumala was crowned in 1570 but soon abdicated to his son Sri Ranga (r. 1572-85) and retired to a religious life. Invasions by Bijapur and Golconda reduced his territory. However, Venkata II (r. 1586-1614) reconquered these areas and subdued the nobles trying to be independent.

In 1614 a war of succession began that lasted until Ramadevaraya (r. 1618-30) gained the Vijayanagara throne. He faced numerous rebellions, and the reign of Venkata III (r. 1630-41) was also marred by a civil war for five years. He was opposed by his nephew Sriranga III (r. 1642-49), who formed an alliance with the Bijapur sultan and recovered the Udayagiri fort that Golconda had seized. He defeated the Golconda until they got Bijapur to take their side. In the south the Nayaks united and rebelled. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan urged the sultans to partition the empire of Karnataka and annex Vijayanagara. Mustafa Khan led the Bijapur army from the north, and the Nayaks advanced from the south, while Golconda besieged the Udayagiri fort in the east. Sriranga was trapped and defeated, retreating into the Vellore fort. The Bijapur army went on to conquer the Nayak kingdoms of Jinji and Tanjore. In 1649 Sriranga fled to Mysore, marking the end of the Vijayanagara empire.

The Maratha country in the western Deccan was protected by mountain ranges, but its poor agricultural resources stimulated self-reliance, courage, simplicity, and social equality. Its Hindu religious reformers included Ekanatha, Tukaram, Ramdas, and Vaman Pandit. Shivaji's guru Ramdas Samarth taught social reform and spiritual regeneration through his schools and book Dasabodha. While Shivaji Bhonsla (1627-80) was a child and was raised by his mother, his father Shahji struggled to govern part of Nizam Shah; but he was defeated by the Mughals in 1636. He was given a position and summoned to the Bijapur court in 1643, when his son Shivaji refused to bow. After Bijapur sultan Muhammad Adil Shah became ill in 1646, Shivaji began taking over forts and became independent in the western Deccan. The death of Shivaji's influential mother in 1647 freed him to use force, bribery, and treachery to take over more forts. Shahji helped Bijapur's Muhammad 'Adil Shah (r. 1627-56) conquer the Vijayanagara empire; but he was arrested by the Bijapuri commander Mustafa in 1648, and the conditions of his release the next year persuaded his son Shivaji to be cooperative through 1655. Then Shivaji sent an agent to assassinate the ruler of Javli and took it over. After Muhammad 'Adil Shah died in November 1656, Prince Aurangzeb invaded. In 1657 Shivaji raided Mughal districts in Ahmadnagar and looted the city of Junnar. In 1659 Bijapur's 'Ali Adil Shah II (r. 1656-72) sent Afzal Khan, who tried to strangle Shivaji in his tent but was killed by Shivaji in the struggle; Shivaji's Maratha troops then slaughtered the Bijapur soldiers.

By the 1660s Shivaji was paying 10,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry, and he procured guns, naval supplies, and technical advice from the Portuguese and British. In 1660 Deccan governor Shaista Khan had difficulty occupying only one of Shivaji's forts at Puna. Shivaji led a night raid on Puna in 1663, wounding Shaista Khan and killing his son and several of his wives. Shaista Khan was replaced by Muazzam. In January 1664 Shivaji raided the important port of Surat, and his troops carried off valuables worth ten million rupees. Then Shivaji's navy captured ships going to Mecca and extorted ransoms from the pilgrims. His cavalry even raided the suburbs of the Deccan capital at Aurangabad. Aurangzeb sent his best general Jai Singh to assemble a large army at Puna in 1665. They attacked the hill fortress of Purandhar and besieged the Marathas for two months. Guided by a dream not to fight a Hindu prince, Shivaji negotiated a treaty, surrendering 23 fortresses while retaining a dozen; he agreed to be a Mughal vassal and pay tribute, and his son Shambhaji was given a high rank at court. Shivaji visited Aurangzeb's court at Agra in 1666; when he reacted to being snubbed, he was detained in May but three months later escaped with his son in baskets. Shivaji got along with Governor Muazzam and made peace with Bijapur and Golconda.

After spending twenty million rupees from the imperial treasury during two years of war in Bijapur, Aurangzeb made peace with Shivaji and even proclaimed him a raja in 1668; but the Emperor's orders to destroy Hindu temples and schools the next year provoked renewed rebellion. In 1670 Shivaji began recovering his forts and with 15,000 men plundered Surat of another 6.5 million rupees in goods, depressing the trade of the port. In 1672 the rulers of Bijapur and Golconda died, and the next year Shivaji recaptured Panhala from Bijapur and Satara. In 1674 Shivaji crowned himself a Hindu monarch in a ceremony that cost five million rupees. Shivaji ruled autocratically but chose his ministers by merit. He had eight ministers, who were all military commanders except the religious minister and chief judge. He divided his kingdom into provinces and appointed viceroys with eight ministers each. Taxes were set at 30% of the produce in cash or kind, but this was later raised to 40%. Each fort was under three officers of equal status. Shivaji commanded that no female was to accompany the army, and any soldier violating this could be beheaded. Even in battle he insisted that women, non-combatants, and mosques be respected, and he treated prisoners honorably. He practiced religious toleration and gave captured Qur'ans to his Muslim friends. He made a truce with the Mughal governor of the Deccan while forming a defensive alliance with Golconda against the Mughals. It took him more than a year to take over the Bijapur Karnatak bastions at Jinji and Vellore.

In 1678 Shivaji decided to divide his kingdom between his two sons Shambhaji and Rajaram at his death. His oldest son Shambhaji was disappointed, and after being disgraced for raping a prominent Brahmin woman, he escaped to form an alliance with Deccan governor Dilir Khan. Aurangzeb made Shambhaji a raja with a very high rank and large income. However, after fighting for the Mughals for a year, Shambhaji returned to the Bhonsla court. Meanwhile Shivaji wrote letters to Aurangzeb complaining about jiziya taxes imposed on Hindus in 1679 and asking for equality. He wrote to Aurangzeb, "Islam and Hinduism are only different pigments used by the Divine Painter to picture the human species."1

Shivaji died of fever in March 1680, and his oldest wife Sorya Bai proclaimed her son Rajaram king. Shambhaji deposed him without harming him but executed Rajaram's mother and some two hundred of her followers. Shambhaji continued the raiding; but, unlike his father, he allowed raping with the plundering. Extorted zamindars (landlords) had to pay 25% of their revenue. After Prince Akbar proclaimed himself emperor in January 1681, Shambhaji with 20,000 horsemen invaded Khandesh and plundered prosperous Burhanpur. Akbar fled, and Shambhaji avoided fighting the Mughal army. He bombarded the Siddis at Janjira in 1682 and went to war against the Portuguese the next year, forcing the Goa viceroy to retreat from a siege at Phonda in October; but Akbar mediated a peace between Shambhaji and the Portuguese in January 1684. Four months later Shambhaji made a treaty with the English at Bombay.

While the Mughals were besieging Bijapur in 1685, a Jat zamindar also named Rajaram led an uprising and plundered traffic on the royal road to Agra. In 1687 Rajaram killed the Mughal commander Uighur Khan, and Aurangzeb sent his grandson Bidar Bakht; but the Jats avoided him and looted Akbar's tomb at Sikandra. Finally the imperial troops captured the Jat strongholds at Sinsini and Soghor, suppressing the revolt by 1691.

Shambhaji and his Brahmin chief minister Kavi-Kulash were captured in 1688, tried by the 'ulama, tortured, and brutally killed. Rajaram claimed the throne but was forced to escape disguised as a hermit. He adopted the strategy of dispersing the royal family and continuous guerrilla warfare. The Marathas began persecuting those who accepted Aurangzeb's rewards. Prince Shahu and three hundred of Shivaji's other relatives were captured and imprisoned the next year, as Maratha was annexed by the Mughal empire. Maratha raids plundered Hyderabad until 1692 when they turned their attention to the siege at Jinji, which did not fall to the Mughals until 1698. The best Maratha guerrilla warrior Santaji Ghorpade had quarreled with Rajaram and was killed in 1696. Rajaram escaped to Satara in 1698 and then led a Maratha army into Khandesh and Berar. Aurangzeb sent prince Bidar Bakht with a large army that defeated the Marathas near Ahmadnagar. Rajaram fled again to the Singuharh fort, where he died of illness in 1700. News of this caused the commander Subhanji at Satara to surrender and serve the Mughals. Shambhaji's widowed queen Yesu Bai ruled as regent for her four-year-old son Shambhaji II and offered to submit if her son were given a high rank. In the next five years eleven Maratha strongholds fell to the imperial armies, but in 1702 a Maratha army of 50,000 attacked and looted Hyderabad. Amid war, drought, famine, and an epidemic, the long-distance caravans ceased for two years. In 1706 the Marathas raided Gujarat and sacked Baroda, and their large army even threatened the Emperor's camp at Ahmadnagar.

On the northern tip of Sri Lanka, Jaffna king Cankili (r. 1519-61) feared the spread of Christianity from the Mannar coast, and he forced his subjects to renounce the new religion, executing 600 who refused. Madura's Visvanatha Nayaka (r. 1529-64) attacked the Christian settlements in 1560. Cankili's successor Puviraja Pandaram (r. 1561-70) was overthrown by Periyapulle (r. 1570-82) with help from the Portuguese; but Puviraja Pandaram came back to rule (1582-91) and attacked the Portuguese at Mannar. He was killed when the Portuguese led by Andre Furtado de Mendoça invaded Jaffna and installed Ethirimanna Cinkam (r. 1591-1615), who promised to favor Christianity. When he died, his nephew Cankili Kumara killed all the princes except the three-year-old heir and acted as regent, telling the Portuguese he would not aid the rebels. However, in 1618 a rebellion against him led by Christians caused him to get troops from Madura's Raghunatha Nayaka (r. 1600-34). The next year a Portuguese expedition led by Filipe de Oliveira came from Colombo and annexed Jaffna, capturing Cankili. By 1621 Ranunatha Nayaka's resistance was quelled. De Oliveira raised taxes to pay for his army and promoted Christian missionary efforts. Hindus, resenting the destruction of their temples, joined a force from Kandy in 1628; but the Portuguese, after retreating into their fort, defeated them. The Portuguese used Sinhalese troops to guard this Tamil kingdom.

The Portuguese built their first fort in Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1519 and were resented by the Muslim traders. Bhuvanekabahu (r. 1521-51) came to terms with the Portuguese; their fort was dismantled in 1524, and two years later they persuaded the king to expel the Muslim merchants. In 1533 Bhuvanekabahu agreed to increase the cinnamon given to the Portuguese as tribute to 415,000 pounds; but the Portuguese had to buy all the cinnamon in the royal storehouses. Mayadunne (r. 1521-81) favored the Muslim traders, and his Sitavaka kingdom fought two wars with Kotte, which was aided by the Portuguese. In 1540 the Portuguese made Bhuvanekabahu designate his grandson Dharmapala as his heir, instead of his brother Mayadunne. Franciscans tried to convert Bhuvanekabahu, but he refused to change his religion. In 1545 Kotte and Sitavaka combined to defeat Udarata before Kandy's Jayavira Bandara (r. 1521-51) could get help from the Portuguese. Then Sitavaka forced Kandy to expel the Portuguese, who helped Kotte defeat Sitavaka in 1550. Bhuvanekabahu was shot dead by a Portuguese soldier, but the Portuguese claimed it was an accident.

Mayadunne proclaimed himself king of Kotte; but the Portuguese favored Dharmapala, who was educated by Franciscans. Using a large army, they defeated Sitavaka, seized the treasury at Kotte, put Dharmapala (r. 1551-97) on the throne, and rebuilt the fort at Colombo. The Portuguese also supported Karaliyadde Bandara (r. 1552-81) as he overthrew his Kandyan father Jayavira, who fled to Sitavaka. Dharmapala's father Vidiye Bandara escaped from prison in 1553 and raised anti-Portuguese forces; he was aided by Karaliyadde, but in 1555 Mayadunne helped the Portuguese defeat them, Sitivaka gaining most of the spoils. In 1557 Dharmapala converted to Catholicism, and he confiscated temple lands, giving them to Franciscans. Monks in Kotte rioted, and thirty were executed. The Kotte army declined; but Karaliyadde became a Christian and kept Sitavaka forces from capturing the capital in 1563. Two years later the Portuguese abandoned Kotte by retreating to Colombo, letting Sitavaka control the cinnamon.

Sitavaka attacked Kandy in 1574, provoking the Portuguese to ravage the southwest coast with their navy. Mayadunne was succeeded by his son, the effective general Rajasimha (r. 1581-93), who ended his two-year siege of Colombo. He raised taxes, defeated Kandy in 1581, and controlled most of Sri Lanka. Like the Portuguese, Rajasimha kept cinnamon prices high by burning excess stocks. Colombo was besieged again for three years until Kandy revolted in 1590. Seven Korales also rebelled, and Rajasimha withdrew his forces from Udarata. When two of his commanders gave up stockades to the Portuguese, Rajasimha had them beheaded. After failing to quell the revolt in Udarata, Rajasimha died of an infected wound in 1593. The Portuguese, assisted by a former Sitavaka general, took over Sitavaka. In 1595 Colombo was given a private monopoly on the export of cinnamon. Dharmapala died in 1597, leaving his throne to the king of Portugal.

Konappu Bandara ruled Kandy as Vimala Dharma Suriya (r. 1592-1604); but he was resented by Catholics because he had reverted to Buddhism. Sinhalese rebellions were put down in 1594 and again in 1603 after the Portuguese invaded Kandy. Nikapitiye Bandara claimed to be the grandson of Rajasimha and led a revolt in 1616; he had followers in the Seven Korales. An uprising in the southern area of Kotte gained strength when Kandy king Senerath (r. 1604-35) sent Kuruwita Rala; but Senerath changed his mind and made a treaty with the Portuguese in 1617. Kuruwita Rala asked the Sitavaka prince Mayadunne of Denwaka to be the leader, and it took three years for the combined forces of Kandy and the Portuguese to subdue them. The Portuguese feared the Dutch trade and violated the treaty by building forts at Trincomalee in 1623 and Batticaloa in 1628, the latter causing a war with Kandy, which the Portuguese invaded twice. The Kandyan attempt to besiege Colombo in 1630 failed the next year, and the 1633 treaty let the Portuguese keep the forts.

Senerath was succeeded by his son Rajasimha II (r. 1635-87); but Portuguese support for his political enemies caused him to appeal to the Dutch in 1636. The Portuguese set Kandy on fire but were surrounded and annihilated at Gannoruwa two years later; only 33 out of 700 Portuguese survived as prisoners, and nearly half their auxiliaries were killed while the rest fled. The Dutch made a treaty to defend Rajasimha in exchange for expenses and a monopoly on the cinnamon trade. The Dutch returned to Kandy the Trincomalee and Batticoloa forts they seized from the Portuguese in 1638, but they kept the Galle and Negombo forts they took in 1640 to protect the cinnamon peeling areas. The Dutch kept them, because Rajasimha could not pay the expenses the Dutch had exaggerated. A seven-year truce between the Dutch and Portuguese ended in 1652, and Rajasimha helped the Dutch push the Portuguese out as they conquered Colombo in 1656 and Jaffna in 1658. Using Sri Lanka as a base, the Dutch were able to drive the Portuguese off the Malabar coast of India by 1663. The wars of the 16th century and early 17th century caused prosperity and population in Sri Lanka to decline, though cinnamon production greatly increased in the 17th century. The Portuguese Christians were hated as invaders and destroyers of temples; but social acceptance of polygamy and polyandry decreased.

Rycloff Van Goens was the Dutch governor of Sri Lanka and aimed to project Dutch power from there. In 1659 the Dutch seized Kalpitiya; in 1665 they moved into Sabaragamuwa; and by 1667 they had occupied the Four Korales. They reoccupied the Trincomalee and Batticaloa forts, and in 1670 they announced their monopoly on the export of elephants, areca nuts, and pearls, and on the importation of cotton goods, pepper, and minerals. Rising prices caused shortages in food and clothing for many, and smuggling increased. The Kandyans tried to form an alliance with the French; but they refused to fight the Dutch and were driven off in 1672. Sporadic uprisings became worse by 1675, and the Dutch tried to reduce military expenses by promising peace and flattering the elderly Rajasimha. Laurens Pyl became Dutch governor in 1681 and used more restraint. The main Dutch concern was protecting their monopoly on cinnamon. Kandyans under Vimala Dharma Suriya II (r. 1687-1707) tried to participate in trade with India after 1694, but the Dutch reimposed tight control in 1703.
Marathas and the English Company 1707-1800
European Trade with Mughal India

Viceroy Nuno da Cunha (r. 1529-38) established Portuguese settlements on the east coast of India near Madras and at Hughli in Bengal. Goa on the west coast became the capital of Portuguese India in 1530. Diu in Kathiawar was captured in 1535 and was defended against a Turkish navy and the Gujarat sultan three years later and against Gujarat again in 1546. Joao de Castro (r. 1545-48) defeated Bijapur forces attacking Goa, but in 1546 the Turks took the Persian Gulf port of Basra. So many private ships were violating the King's monopoly that the Portuguese began licensing them so that they could collect customs duties from them. Trading ships were required to have a pass called a cartaz. Ships without it could have their goods confiscated and their crews killed. Modern historian R. S. Whiteway considered the Portuguese governors after Castro superstitious, corrupt, and lazy.

Portuguese envoys to Constantinople turned down a proposal to allow Turks in the Indian Ocean, though they offered to pay Portuguese duties and give them access to all Red Sea ports with factories in Basra, Cairo, and Alexandria. The Portuguese lost a fort near Calicut in a land battle in 1570. Eventually the Portuguese provided protective ships called cafilas for large fleets of small boats. The Portuguese also tried to control the horse trade from Arabia and Persia. In 1574 the Church forced buyers to come to Goa for horses, because a Papal Bull had forbidden selling them to infidels. Although Muslims were killed, captured Portuguese were often ransomed. After El-Ksar el-Kehir in 1578 several Portuguese families were nearly bankrupted buying back their relatives.

After 1540 the Portuguese settlements were dominated by the Catholic priests. That year all temples in Goa were ordered destroyed, and the next year their lands were turned over to the priests. Goa had been given a bishop in 1538 and was declared an archbishopric in 1557. Jesuits led by Francis Xavier arrived in 1542 and converted thousands of fishermen. The Jesuits brought a printing press in 1556. By 1560 the Inquisition was established and began burning unbelievers and apostates. Nestorian Christians were so persecuted that they preferred to trade their pepper with Muslims. In 1561 Catholics in Sri Lanka captured the tooth believed to be the Buddha's. Although the king of Pegu offered more than 300,000 cruzados and a perpetual supply of rice for Melaka, the viceroy D. Constantino de Bragança had the tooth burned, ground up, and scattered at sea. A synod at Diamper in 1599 tried to suppress the Syrian Christianity of Malabar. The Catholics were so hated by the Hindus that many considered converts as losing caste but did not treat Muslim converts that way. By 1600 there were about 175,000 Christians in India, but most of these were low-caste fishers and pearl divers.

In 1595 a Dutch fleet defied the Portuguese maritime empire by rounding the Cape of Good Hope. They formed the Dutch United East India Company in 1602, and the next year they blockaded Goa. The king of Arakan (in Burma) killed 6,000 of the hated Portuguese in 1607. The Dutch established a fortified settlement on the east coast north of Madras in 1610. On the west coast of India an English squadron led by David Middleton defeated the Portuguese fleet off Bombay in 1611 and put a factory at Surat the next year. The British navy decisively defeated the Portuguese off Swally in 1615. The English also established factories at Ahmadabad, Burhanpur, and Agra. English ambassador Thomas Roe in 1618 got Emperor Jahangir to grant trade with exemption from inland tolls. The Mughals destroyed the settlement at Hughli in 1632, imprisoning more than a thousand Portuguese; but the same year the Golconda sultan granted free trade from its ports. In 1639 Francis Day got the lease from the declining Vijayanagara empire to build Fort St. George at Madras. In 1651 the English got permission to build a factory at Hughli. When Shivaji's Marathas sacked Surat in 1664, English president Oxenden held out in the governor's castle and was honored by Aurangzeb. The French fortified Pondicherry, and in 1672 they occupied San Thomé near Madras.

In 1661 the Portuguese, as part of a dowry in the marriage of England's Charles II, gave him Bombay. Gerald Aungier, as president of Surat and governor of Bombay (1669-77), established laws, a police force, a militia, and fortified the port for the use of merchants of all classes and castes. Aungier granted concessions to end the first mutiny at Bombay in 1674. The men complained they had not been paid in a month and wanted to be paid in rupees. The leader of the mutiny was court martialed and executed. When the Mughals and Marathas clashed in Bombay harbor in 1679, the English remained neutral. In 1682 John Child became president of Surat and governor of Bombay. The next year London ordered him to cut costs, and these provoked Kegwig's rebellion that took over a ship with 50,000 pounds in gold. Kegwig governed Bombay for a year and was pardoned when the gold was returned. The export of cotton cloth by India increased six-fold from 1664 to 1684 by trade with the English and Dutch east India companies, but after 1689 the saturated market began declining. In exchange India imported mostly precious metals from the new world; between 1681 and 1685 the British East India Company exported 240,000 kg of silver and 7,000 kg of gold to Mughal India. An English colony on the island of St. Helena provided vegetables and fresh fruit for English sailors, but punishments of rebellion were harsh. When protestors demanded the release of an innocent prisoner in 1684, seventeen of them were killed or wounded; then nineteen were condemned to death.

Conflict escalated in October 1686 when Hughli governor Job Charnock reacted to the abuse of three English soldiers with reprisals that spiked guns, captured a ship, and burned houses, killing sixty while only one Englishman died. In negotiations Charnock demanded an indemnity of 6.6 million rupees. When 700 cavalry attacked the island, Charnock moved back to the fortification at Sutanati, which Company director and captain William Heath later named Calcutta. Others went to Madras, where Governor Elihu Yale (1687-92) helped the settlement get a corporation, a mayor, and aldermen. Shaista Khan proposed that the English help them fight Arakan pirates. In 1689 Company directors approved the settlement of Sutanati, and Charnock established a factory there the next year. During the Mughal-English war 1688-90, the English at Surat captured at least 14 ships; yet all but the castle was lost at Bombay, and they had to agree to restore all plundered goods and ships and pay Aurangzeb an indemnity. War and plague reduced more than 700 English at Bombay to sixty. In 1691 Bengal governor Ibrahim Khan exempted the English from customs duties for 3,000 rupees a year.

After the English revolution of 1688, the Whig party supported free trade and what the monopolists of the Company called "interlopers." In 1693 Josiah Child used 80,000 pounds in bribes to get the Company a new charter from the Privy Council, and the next year the House of Commons passed a law allowing equal access to trade. In 1697 the Mughal empire allowed the English to defend themselves against the Afghan rulers of Bengal, and the next year they granted them land at Calcutta for collecting taxes. That year the Whig party in the House of Commons started a new company. Two million pounds were raised in two days, but they went into the Exchequer for the charter. In 1701 Emperor Aurangzeb decreed the cessation of all European trade and the seizure of their goods because they were not protecting Indian shipping. The next year the two companies decided to merge, and this was accomplished in 1708.