1 Dismissal of State
2 astrologers and poets.
3 “A system of the
4 strictest economy
5 . introduced.
6 ‘The spy system.
7 Harsh measures
8 against the Shtas.
9 Tdict against mous-
10 taches.
11 Destruction of the
12 Hindu temples.
13 All ostentatious dis-
14 play of idol-worship
15 stopped.
16 Hindu fairs suppress-
17 ed.
18 Exclusion of Hindus
19 from the public
20 service.
21 They are deprived of
22 the rights of citizen-
23 ship.
24 Banishment of the
25 Hindu ascetics.
26 Renewal of the Jazta,
27 176 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
28 Astrology was forbidden, and all astrologers attached to the court
29 were removed. The office of the royal poet was likewise abolished,
30 and the allowances of poets, who in previous times had been honoured,
31 were discontinued. The emperor introduced a system of the strictest
32 frugality and the most minute supervision, and professed to provide
33 for his own subsistence by embroidering caps with his own
34 hands. He brought the spy system to such perfection that his great know-
35 ledge of all that went on was attributed by the credulous to supernatural
36 agency. He professed to be a Sunni of the strictest type, and, having
37 resumed the lands of the Shid grandees, expelled them to Kashmir, there
38 to live on such pensions as were assigned to them. He used to say about
39 the Shias: “They are united to us by the Qurdu, but they have separated
40 themselves by errors regarding the succession to the Khalifat, so they must be
41 separated from us altogether.” He issued an edict prohibiting the Shids from
42 wearing long moustaches, and appointed officers to measure their moustaches
43 and clip them if they exceeded the orthodox standard. He discouraged the
44 teaching of the Hindus, burnt to the ground the great pagoda near Delhi,
45 and destroyed the temple of Bishnath at Benares. and the great temple of
46 Dera Kestii Rai at Mathitira, said to have been built by Raja Narsingh Deo,
47 at a cost of thirty-three lakhs of rupees.* The gilded domes of this temple
48 were so high that they could be seen from Agra. On the site of the ruined
49 temple, he built a vast mosque at a great cost. The richly decorated idols of
50 the temples were removed to Agra and placed beneath the steps leading to
51 the mosque of Nawéb Begum. The name Mathtra was changed into Isld4md-
52 badd, and was so written in all correspondence and spoken by the people. Au-
53 rangzeb had resolved that the belief in one God and the Prophet should be,
54 not the prevailing, but the only religion of the empire of Hindostan. He issned
55 mandates to the viceroys and governors of provinces to destroy pagodas and
56 idols throughout his dominions. About three hundred temples in various
57 parts of Rajputdnd were destroyed and their idols broken. The emperor
58 appointed mullahs, with a party of horse attached to each, to check all osten-
59 tatious display of idol-worship, and, some time afterwards, he forbade fairs on
60 Hindu festivals, and issued a circular to all governors and men in authority
61 prohibiting the employment of Hindus in the offices of state immediately
62 under them, and commanding them to confer all such offices on Mahomedaus
63 only. About the year 1690, the emperor issued an edict prohibiting Hindus
64 from being carried in palanquins or riding on Arab horses. All servants of
65 the state were ordered to embrace the Mahomedan religion, under pain of dis-
66 missal, those who refused were deprived of their posts. A large number
67 of jogis, sanniasis and other religious men were driven out of the king’s
68 dominions. The emperor reduced the duty on merchandise belonging to
69 Mahomedans to one-half the amount paid by Hindus, and remitted a
70 number of other obnoxious taxes.f Following the tradition of his house,
71 he, in 1661, married his son, Moazzam, to the daughter of Rdéja Rup Singh.
72 In the 22nd year of his reign, he renewed the Jazia, or poll-tax, on Hindts,
73 throughout his dominions. The Hindus of Delhi gathered in large numbers
74 beneath the jharoka window, on the banks of the river, and implored his
75 majesty to remit the obnoxious tax; but the emperor was inexorable. The
76 Hindus adopted the expedient of closing the shops in the city, and all
77 business came to a standstill. They thronged the bazars from the palace to
78 the grand mosque, one Friday, with the object of seeking relief, The crowd
79 increased every moment, and the king’s equipage was interrupted at every
80 ee ee ee ee ee
81 Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrarys aveaanao a aNfamdhariEdiaany@ gmail.com