Aurangzeb seized the Mughal throne by imprisoning his father and executing his brothers, then ruled for nearly fifty years — longer than any other Mughal emperor. He was personally devout, living an austere life while commanding the largest and wealthiest empire on earth. But his religious intolerance, the reimposition of the jizya tax on Hindus, and the endless Deccan wars drained the treasury and fractured the empire his ancestors had built, setting the stage for its collapse.

This episode traces Aurangzeb from the succession war that put him on the throne through his expansion of the empire to its greatest territorial extent, the religious policies that alienated millions, and the overextension that left the Mughal Empire fatally weakened.

• The brutal succession war — imprisoning Shah Jahan and executing rival brothers to seize the throne
• Aurangzeb’s personal piety and the austere lifestyle that set him apart from lavish predecessors
• The reimposition of the jizya and the destruction of Hindu temples that fractured imperial unity
• The twenty-five-year Deccan campaign that exhausted the empire and ensured its eventual collapse