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  • Emperor Dara Shikoh

    From Louis Epstein@le@main.lekno.ws to alt.history.what-if on Thu Feb 9 01:38:49 2023
    From Newsgroup: alt.history.what-if

    When Indian Emperor Shah Jahan fell ill his sons battled
    for who would depose him.
    His eldest and favorite son Dara Shikoh was defeated and
    killed by ruthless younger brother Aurangzeb,who brushed
    the rest aside and became sole ruler,also imprisoning
    sons of Dara Shikoh.

    Dara Shikoh was liberal-minded and Aurangzeb an orthodox
    Islamist.

    If either this war had gone differently on battlefields,
    or Aurangzeb had not been lucky fighting an elephant head-on
    when he was fifteen circa 1933.and Dara Shikoh had become
    Emperor...then what?

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    at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
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  • From Rich Rostrom@rrostrom@comcast.net to alt.history.what-if on Mon Feb 13 10:56:47 2023
    From Newsgroup: alt.history.what-if

    On 2/8/23 7:38 PM, Louis Epstein wrote:

    If either this war had gone differently on battlefields,
    or Aurangzeb had not been lucky fighting an elephant head-on
    when he was fifteen circa 1933.and Dara Shikoh had become
    Emperor...then what?

    All I know about this period is that by the end of Aurangzeb's reign,
    the Moguls held the entire subcontinent except the very southern tip.
    ISTR that he was viewed as a ferocious conqueror.

    Presumably there was a lot of damage done during his campaigns. If
    Dara Shikoh reigns as Grand Mogul instead, India remains largely
    peaceful and thus stronger and more prosperous later on.

    Alternatively, Dara Shikoh as a religious pluralist might have
    united India more peacefully and more successfully than
    Aurangzeb.

    Or under Dara Shiloh, less able than Aurangzeb, the Mogul state
    declines and breaks up in the mid-1600s, leading to widespread
    chaos and violence.
    --
    Nous sommes dans une pot de chambre, et nous y serons emmerd|-s.
    --- General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot at Sedan, 1870.

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  • From Louis Epstein@le@main.lekno.ws to alt.history.what-if on Tue Feb 21 00:20:21 2023
    From Newsgroup: alt.history.what-if

    Rich Rostrom <rrostrom@comcast.net> wrote:
    On 2/8/23 7:38 PM, Louis Epstein wrote:

    If either this war had gone differently on battlefields,
    or Aurangzeb had not been lucky fighting an elephant head-on
    when he was fifteen circa 1633.and Dara Shikoh had become

    [correcting "1933" to 1633]

    Emperor...then what?

    All I know about this period is that by the end of Aurangzeb's reign,

    1707

    the Moguls held the entire subcontinent except the very southern tip.
    ISTR that he was viewed as a ferocious conqueror.

    Presumably there was a lot of damage done during his campaigns. If
    Dara Shikoh reigns as Grand Mogul instead, India remains largely
    peaceful and thus stronger and more prosperous later on.

    Alternatively, Dara Shikoh as a religious pluralist might have
    united India more peacefully and more successfully than
    Aurangzeb.

    Or under Dara Shiloh, less able than Aurangzeb, the Mogul state
    declines and breaks up in the mid-1600s, leading to widespread
    chaos and violence.

    Two rather divergent options.

    I am wondering what difference would have been made to the
    reception of European colonialists,then mainly concerned with
    the coastal ports the Mogul Empire had less control of than
    the central area.

    -=-=-
    The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
    at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2