128. Karen Armstrongdecline. The army and the court had both become too ex-
pensive, the emperors still invested in cultural activities, but
neglected agriculture, on which their wealth depended. The
economic crisis came to a head during the reign of Au-
rengzebe (1658-1707), who believed that the answer lay in
greater discipline in Muslim society. His insecurity was ex-
pressed in murderous hatred of Muslim "heretics" as well as
adherents of other faiths. He was supported in his sectarian
policies by those Muslims who, like Sirhindi, had been un-
happy with the old pluralism. Shii celebrations in honour of
Husain were suppressed in India, wine was prohibited by
law (which made socializing with Hindus difficult) and the
number of Hindu festivals attended by the emperor was
drastically reduced. The jizyab was reimposed, and the taxes
of Hindu merchants were doubled. Worst of all, Hindu tem-
ples were destroyed all over the empire. The response
showed how wise the previous tolerance had been. There
were serious revolts, led by Hindu chieftains and Sikhs, who
started to campaign for a state of their own in the Punjab.
When Aurengzebe died, the empire was in a parlous state
and never fully recovered. His successors abandoned his
communalist policies, but the damage was done. Even Mus-
lims were disaffected: there had been nothing authentically
Islamic about Aurengzebe's zeal for the Shariah, which
preaches justice for all, including the dhimmis. The empire
began to disintegrate, and local Muslim officials tended to
control their regions as autonomous units.
The Moghuls managed to remain in power, however, until
1739, and there was a rapprochement during the eighteenth
century between Hindus and Muslims in the court; they
learned to speak one another's languages and to read and
translate books from Europe together. But Sikhs and the
Hindu chieftains from the mountainous regions still fought
the regime, and in the north-west the Afghan tribes which