Aurangzeb is the third son of the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Bānū Begum).

After a rebellion by his father, part of Aurangzeb's childhood had been spent as a virtual hostage at the court of his grandfather Jahangir.

Muhammad Saleh Kamboh Salafi, a noted calligraphist and official biographer of Emperor Shah Jahan, had been one of his childhood teachers.

Aurangzeb had returned to live with his parents after Jahangir's death in 1627.

Shah Jahan, following the Mughal practice of assigning authority to his sons, had in 1634 put Aurangzeb in charge of the Deccan campaign.

Following his success in 1636, Aurangzeb had became Subahdar (governor) of the Deccan.

At this time, he had begun building a new city near the former capital of Khirki which he named Aurangabad after himself.

He had married Rabia Durrani in 1637.

During this period the Deccan was relatively peaceful.

In the Mughal court, however, Shah Jahan had begun to increasingly favor his eldest son Dara Shikoh.

Aurangzeb's sister Jahanara Begum had been accidentally burned in Agra in 1644, an event that precipitated a family crisis which is to have political consequences.

Aurangzeb had suffered his father's displeasure when he returned to Agra three weeks after the event, instead of immediately.

Shah Jahan dismissed him as the governor of the Deccan.

He had been barred from the court in 1645 for seven months, but Shah Jahan later appointed him governor of Gujarat, where he performed well and had been rewarded.

Shah Jahan had in 1647 made him governor of Balkh and Badakhshan (in modern Afghanistan and Tajikistan), replacing Aurangzeb's ineffective brother Murad Baksh.

These areas at the time were under attack from various forces and Aurangzeb's military skill proved successful.

After Aurangzeb was appointed governor of Multan and Sindh, he began a protracted military struggle against the Safavid army in an effort to capture the city of Kandahar.

He failed, and fell again into his father's disfavor.