Akbar the Great, the real founder of the Mogul empire as it existed for two centuries, was the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth of England.
Aurangzeb's long reign, from 1658 to 1707, may be regarded as representing both the culminating point of Mogul power and the beginning of its decay.
During the reign of his father Shah Jahan he had been viceroy of the Deccan or rather of the northern portion only, which had been annexed to the Mogul empire since the reign of Akbar.
The rising Mahratta power was thus for a time checked, and the Mogul armies were set free to operate in the eastern Deccan.
No independent power then remained in the south, though the numerous local chieftains, known as palegars and naiks, never formally submitted to the Mogul empire.
