The Rashīdī History 139.7

139.7

He kept my brother, Muhammad Shah, up till the age of fifteen years among his eunuchs [ghulam-i-akhta]. When [my brother] reached this age [the Mirza] ordered a roasting-spit to be thrust into his stomach, then to be driven through with a hammer, so as to come out at his back, and impale him against a wall; thus nailed to the wall, he was left [to die in agony]. From these examples, one may judge of his treatment of his nephews and nieces, and of those two noble women, the Begum and the Khanim. On consideration, I have decided to withhold my pen from further details, for I do not wish the honourable mind of the reader of this Epitome to be clouded by the darkness of that black nature ; I will therefore not detain him longer on this subject.