RECONSTRUCTION OF ECONOMIC ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF THE MUGHALS DURING THE REIGN OF AURANGZEB (1658-1707)

The economy was a crucial backbone in the governance of the Mughal Empire. Nevertheless, it was also an issue afflicting the stability of the empire due to the various challenges faced by its rulers during their reign, including the era of Aurangzeb (1658-1707). Military operations directed by Aurangzeb, especially to Deccan, were blamed to be the sole factor of economic crisis which happened during the period of his time. Consequent to the economic problem, Aurangzeb was forced to introduce a few appropriate measures to ensure the empires economic stability to secure the sustainability of the Mughals dominance. Based on these, this article has the objective of re-examining the economic issues and challenges of the Mughals during the era of Aurangzebs reign. In addition to that, this article also attempts to carry out a reconstruction of the economic problems in order to understand them which needed to be dealt with by Aurangzeb. This study applies a qualitative approach via historical study and content analysis of data while accumulating and analysing them based on primary and secondary sources. Results of this study showed that military expeditions during the era of Aurangzeb was collectively not the lone factor to the economic downturn of the Mughal kingdom. In fact, the economic challenges which needed to be tackled by Aurangzeb had already been in existence prior to his ascension to the throne. The economic challenges were inherited by Aurangzeb from previous administration causing him to undertake several measures to handle the economic problems in order to ensure sustainability of the empire.