One of the bloodiest Islamic conquest of India happened when Aurangzeb established himself as the ruler of Mogal Empire. He killed his own brothers and prisoned his father Shah Jahan. Committed to making India an orthodox Moslem state, Aurangzeb restricted Hindu festivals and destroyed many Hindu temples. In 1664 the practice of sati was enjoined. Poll tax on Hindus was imposed in 1679. Censors were appointed to enforce morals, and edicts were issued against drinking, gambling, prostitution, and narcotics. When a defiant Sikh guru, Tegh Bahadur, refused to embrace Islam, he was executed. Employment of non-Moslems was restricted in the imperial bureaucracy. Such discriminatory policies naturally led to rebellions. In 1660 the Marathas began a revolt, followed by the Jats in 1669, the Satnamis in 1672, the Sikhs in 1675, and the Rajputs in 1679. Even the English East India Company took up arms against him in 1686. One by one all these revolts were subdued, but the victories were always short-lived. Mogul imperial unity was lost, and the treasury was exhausted. Under Aurangzeb's piety and austerity, Mogul culture also suffered. Music and arts lost royal patronage, and the position of women rapidly declined. The Emperor strove to live up to the ideals of orthodox Islam. In his spare time he copied the Koran to provide for his funeral expenses. He was a man of literary tastes, and his own letters are a model of elegant Persian prose. At the age of 90, with all his faculties, except hearing, unimpaired, he died on Feb. 20, 1707. He is buried in Daulatabad. Before Aurangzeb, Indian Islam had been influenced by mystical Sufi precepts. But based on his conservative interpretation of Islamic principles, Aurangzeb propagated a less mystical, more severe form of Islam. People were forcefully converted to Islam.
Aurangzeb became fascinated with conservative interpretations of the Qur'an, which he set about codifying. According to Aurangzeb's interpretation, Islam did not allow music, so he banished court musicians, dancers and singers. Further, based on Muslim precepts forbidding images, he stopped the production of representational artwork, including the Persianate Mughal miniature painting that had reached its zenith before his rule. He even stopped the practice of his morning appearance on the balcony of the Laal Qila.
In 1675, Aurangzeb publicly executed the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. Sikh history states that Guru Tegh Bahadur sacrificed himself to save the Hindu Pandits of Kashmir who, had been threatened with death if they refused to accept conversion to Islam. The execution marked a turning point for Sikhism. His son the successor Guru Gobind ji further militarised his followers with the inception of the Khalsa. After the death of his mother and four sons who were martyred in the events put into motion when the Sikhs were betrayed after leaving the fortified city of Anandpur Sahib, by the forces of the Mughals and those of their Rajput neighbors, who had laid siege to their city, Gobind Singh sent Aurangzeb his letter the Zafarnama that questioned the Emperor's Godliness, while indicting his deceit and treachery. Sikhs believe this document caused Aurangzeb to realize his many mistaken policies and lose the will to live, leading to his death in 1707.

Considering the complex history of the Muslim conquests of India, their recollection and legacy is indubitably controversial. 20th-century American historian Will Durant wrote about medieval India, "The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history."