Aurangzeb and the Hindu Supremacist Narrative: Fact vs. Fiction

More than three centuries after his death, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb remains a polarizing figure in contemporary India, deeply embedded in the discourse of Hindu supremacist narratives. Merely invoking his name today can result in legal repercussions, physical assaults, or even threats of sexual violence and death.

The vilification of Aurangzeb is largely driven by Hindu supremacist rhetoric, which portrays him as a tyrant who systematically oppressed Hindus and destroyed hundreds of temples. These claims—frequently amplified by members of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and sections of the entertainment industry—have played a significant role in shaping public perception. But how historically accurate are these assertions?

Below, we examine key facts and common myths surrounding Aurangzeb’s legacy.

Myth: Aurangzeb, and all Mughal rulers, wrought devastation on Hindus 

Hindutva, or Hindu supremacist ideology, is predicated on the idea that only Hindus are “true” Indians. Muslim integration in India is dismissed by claiming that Islam only exists in India due Mughal kings, whose rule is painted today as being more bloody, repressive, and “anti-Hindu” than even British colonialism. 

The Hindu supremacist claim that all Muslims are linked to the Mughals has been weaponized to call for Muslim erasure, expulsion, and even genocide. But what do experts have to say about these claims? Historians interviewed by The Guardian refer to the Hindu supremacist telling of history as “outlandish”, a “fantasy,” and “nothing more than fiction” that reduces the complexities and cultural exchanges of the time period to just “Hindus vs Muslims.”

But as historian Audrey Truschke writes, Hindu-Muslim conflict was “a phenomenon that largely developed during British colonial rule (1757–1947). By vilifying earlier Indian kings, the British deflected attention from their exploitative and harmful colonial enterprise.”

Hindu supremacists have continued this vilification, going so far as to falsely accuse Muslims of committing genocide or enacting colonial rule over Hindus. All of this is dismissed by mainstream historians as the mythology of a fascist movement.

Myth: Hindus were treated as second-class citizens, genocided, and forced to convert to Islam under Aurangzeb’s rule

Aurangzeb was by no means a perfect ruler. But he was also not the caricature of anti-Hindu hatred that right-wing Indians paint him as, which includes accusations of forcing Hindus to convert to Islam, reducing them to second-class citizens, and killing them en masse. However, there’s no concrete historical evidence that Aurangzeb did any of those things.  

“Over the centuries, many commentators have spread the myth of the bigoted, evil Aurangzeb on the basis of shockingly thin evidence,” writes Truschke in her book, Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India’s Most Controversial King. “Many false ideas still mar popular memory of Aurangzeb, including that he massacred millions of Hindus and destroyed thousands of temples. Neither of these commonly believed ‘facts’ is supported by historical evidence, although some scholars have attempted, usually in bad faith, to provide an alleged basis for such tall tales.”

“No one would contend that Aurangzeb was without faults,” Truschke continues. “We need not absolve those we [historians] study of guilt, and we certainly do not need to like them. But we strive to hold back judgement long enough so that the myth of Aurangzeb can fade into the background and allow room for a more nuanced and compelling story to be told.”

Myth: Aurangzeb destroyed hundreds of Hindu temples 

The claim that Aurangzeb destroyed Hindu temples as policy is part of a larger myth that the Mughals systematically destroyed thousands of temples across India in order to build mosques on top. This claim, according to Richard Eaton, a professor of Indian history at the University of Arizona, is “outlandish, irresponsible and without foundation.” 

Truschke elaborates, “Detractors trumpet that Aurangzeb destroyed certain temples without acknowledging that he also issued many orders protecting Hindu temples and granted stipends and land to Brahmins. They denounce that he restricted the celebration of Holi without mentioning that he also clamped down on Muharram and Eid festivities. They omit altogether that Aurangzeb consulted with Hindu ascetics on health matters and employed more Hindus in his administration than any prior Mughal ruler.” 

Fact: Indian Muslims today are facing violence driven by Hindu supremacist distortions of a long-dead king’s legacy.

For the past week, the Indian city of Nagpur has been engulfed in violence over calls to demolish Aurangzeb’s grave, further inflamed by Hindu militants burning verses of the Quran to provoke Muslim residents. 

For around a month, the Bollywood propaganda movie Chhaava – which provides a fictional account of the battle between Aurangzeb and the Marathas – has riled supremacist fervor in Hindu movie-watchers across India. 

Young Indian Muslims are beaten, humiliated, and arrested simply for posting Aurangzeb’s name as WhatsApp statuses. When leaders of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) give hate speeches, they invoke the name of Aurangzeb to drive support for the disenfranchisement and mass violence of 200 million Indian Muslims. 

That a 17th-century ruler continues to serve as a justification for state-backed discrimination, mob violence, and political hate speech highlights the extent to which history is being manipulated to sustain a hateful agenda. This is no longer a debate about Aurangzeb’s legacy—it is about the active and ongoing weaponization of the past to oppress Muslims in the present.