Mughal war of succession (1658–1659)
| Mughal war of succession (1658–1659) | ||||||||
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Aurangzeb's forces Murad Bakhsh's forces | Dara Shikoh's forces | Shah Shuja's forces | ||||||
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The Mughal war of succession of 1658–1659 was a war of succession fought among the four sons of Shah Jahan: Aurangzeb, Dara Shikoh, Murad Bakhsh, and Shah Shuja, in hopes of gaining the Mughal Throne. Prior to the death of Shah Jahan, each of his sons held governorships during their father's reign. The emperor favoured the eldest, Dara Shikoh, However, there was resentment among the younger three, who sought at various times to strengthen alliances between themselves and against Dara. There was no Mughal tradition of primogeniture, the systematic passing of rule, upon an emperor's death, to his eldest son. Instead it was customary for sons to overthrow their father and for brothers to war to the death among themselves.
Shah Shuja was victorious in the Battle of Bahadurpur. Shuja turned back to Rajmahal to make further preparations. He signed a treaty with his elder brother, Dara, which left him in control of Bengal, Orissa and a large part of Bihar, on 17 May 1658.
Aurangzeb defeated Dara twice (at Dharmat and Samugarh), caught him, executed him on a charge of heresy and ascended the throne. Shuja marched to the capital again, this time against Aurangzeb. A battle took place on 5 January 1659 at the Battle of Khajwa (Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh, India), where Shuja was defeated. Ultimately, Aurangzeb was victorious making him the 6th Mughal Emperor.