The years that followed his defeat and reconciliation with Jahangir did not bring the father and the son much closer together. Shah Jahan did not, ho… - Sri Ram Sharma

It is not wholly true to say that Shah Jahan’s reign was a prelude to what followed under Aurangzeb. Much of what his successor did constituted a vote of censure on Shah Jahan for failing to do, in its entirety, what the Muslim law and tradition demanded of a Muslim king. It is true that the five years from the sixth to the tenth of his reign gave the Hindus a foretaste of what might happen if the Mughal throne happened to be filled by an orthodox king who insisted on following in their entirety the contemporary Muslim practices. Shah Jahan — despite the praises showered on him by his court poets and annalists — was never consistently or for long a persecutor. Towards the end of his reign, we actually find him restraining the religious zeal of Aurangzeb and overriding him in many important matters. It must, however, be admitted that Akbar’s ideal of a comprehensive state’, was gradually being lost sight of, although only partially.

This lull was broken in 1679, when Aurangzeb’s fury broke out with a vengeance. Maharsja Jaswant Singh died on 10 December, 1678, When Aurangzeb heard of his death towards the end of the month, he waited patiently for some time and then on 9 March, 1679, orders were given for the sequestration of the state to the crown. About this time DorSb Khan had been sent to Khandela where he demolished various temples in the neighbourhood on 8 March, 1679. This was followed by the despatch of Khan-i- Jahan to Jodhpur. He destroyed many temples there early in 1679 and as an evidence of his ‘meritorious conduct’ he brought cart- loads of idols to Delhi. These were placed in public places in the court and the Friday Mosque. Aurangzeb was not yet at war with Jodhpur which had really been converted into a crownland property. The destruction of its temples therefore was not an act of warfare. It was an announcement that the state was no longer being governed by a Hindu Raja but had now passed into imperial hands.

At Jahangir’s accession, the Muslim theologians, who had not been pleased very much with Akbar’s attempt at secularizing the State, seem to have tried to win back their lost influence, Mulla Shah Ahmad, one of the greatest religious leaders of the age, wrote to various court dignitaries exhorting them to get this state of things altered in the very beginning of the reign because otherwise it would be difficult to accomplish anything later on. His efforts seem to have been successful to some extent. Jahangir gave orders to Shaikh Farid to submit to him names of four scholars who should see that nothing that was against the Shari'at should take place. Here was the rub. Mulla Ahmad protested to Shaikh Farid that this would not work. No four scholars would ever agree. He suggested therefore that only one scholar be appointed for the purpose. Nothing however seems to have come out of this suggestion. The orthodox seem to have greater faith in Jahangir than in his father. He was said to be less favourably inclined to the Hindus, and, the Muslims in general were asked to make persistent efforts to wean him away from Hindu customs and ceremonies.