The end of the Empire

The Emperor Aurangzeb's last years were lonely and solitary. To his eldest son, Azam, he lamented: "I have not been the protector and guardian of the empire. Life, so valuable, has been squandered in vain."

As death approached him, Aurangzeb wrote to his youngest son, Kam Bakhsh:

"For every torment I have inflicted, every sin I have committed, every wrong I have done, I carry the consequences with me. Strange, that I came into the world with nothing, and now I am going away with this stupendous caravan of sin!…Wherever I look, I see only Allah…I have sinned terribly, and I do not know what punishment awaits me…."

Aurangzeb passed away in 1707 at almost ninety years of age. The dynasty continued through his heirs, but they were too weak to maintain control of the once glorious Moghul Empire.