Muntakhab al-lubab 9.1

9.1

About this time Mir Jumla arrived, who had been sent by Shah Jahan before his illness to support Aurangzeb, and he acted as a trusted friend and faithful counsellor. But Aurangzeb deemed it expedient, in order to avoid reproach, to leave Mir Jumla as a prisoner at Daulatabad, while he himself marched against his enemies. As a matter of prudence and expediency, Aurangzeb wrote repeatedly and in the most affectionate terms to Muhammad Murad Bakhsh, and offered him his congratulations. In his letters he said, "I have not the slightest liking for or wish to take any part in the government of this deceitful and unstable world, my only desire is that I may make the pilgrimage to the temple of God. But whatever course you have resolved upon in opposition to the good-for-nothing and unjust conduct of our disgraceful brother (biradar-i be-shukoh), you may consider me your sincere friend and ally. Our revered father is still alive, and I think that we two brothers should devote ourselves to his service, and to the punishment of the wilfulness of that haughty one and the presumption and conceit of that apostate. If it be possible, and we are permitted to see our father again, after exerting ourselves to put down that strife and insurrection, we will entreat the King to forgive the faults of our brother, who has involuntarily been impelled to such a course of action.