Muntakhab al-lubab 20: Prince Shuja.

20

[vol. ii. p. 45.] Intelligence now arrived that Muhammad Shuja' had marched from Bengal with 25,000 horse and a strong force of artillery, with the intention of fighting against Aurangzeb. This proceeding changed the plans of Aurangzeb, who deemed it necessary to give up the pursuit of Dara, and to direct his energies to the repression of this graceless brother. So on the 12th Muharram, 1069 (30th Sept., 1658 a.d.), Aurangzeb fell back towards Dehli, the capital. * * On the last day of Muharram, he started from Lahore, * * and on the 4th Rabi'u-l awwal he reached Dehli. There he learned that Muhammad Shuja' had advanced as far as Benares, and that Ram Das, the commandant, who had been appointed by Dara Shukoh, had surrendered the fort to Shuja'. The commandants of Chunar and Allahabad had also surrendered their fortresses and joined him. * * After exacting three lacs of rupees under the name of a loan from the bankers of Benares, Muhammad Shuja' continued his march. He sent a force against Jaunpur, and the commander of that fortress after its investment surrendered and joined Shuja'.