monach

Indira Parthasarathy’s play Aurangzeb presents the Mughal Emperor from certain chosen perspectives. Like Parthasarathy’s other dramatic works, this too is primarily a play of ideas, focusing often on the political and ideological issues that led to the war of succession, which resulted in Aurangzeb’s ascension to the throne. He is both the titular hero and the spirit that pervades the play; however, his father Shah Jahan and his brother and major rival Dara Shukoh are key figures in the debates that reflect differing concerns and worldviews: Shah Jahan, already old and living only in his dreams of love for his dead wife and ways of perpetuating that love, Dara with his syncretic faith and vision, Aurangzeb with his religious beliefs sometimes promoting and sometimes conflicting with his political ambition. But this is also a psychological play about the loneliness and regrets of a powerful monarch towards the end of his life.

Written in the 1970s, the play remains relevant, especially in the context of the present-day debates about religion, politics, the state and civilizational values.