Tarikh-i Iradat Khan 5.1

5.1

Shah 'Alam was generous and merciful, of a great soul tempered with affability, discerning of merit. He had seen the strict exercise of power during the reigns of his grandfather and father, and been used to authority himself for the last fifty years. Time received a new lustre from his accession, and all ranks of people obtained favours equal to, if not above their merits; so that the public forgot the excellences and great qualities of Aurangzeb, which became absorbed in the bounties of his successor. Some narrow-hearted persons, however, out of ingratitude and envy, attributed his general liberality to ill-placed extravagance and profusion; but it is a fact that the deserving of every profession, and the worthy of all degrees, whether among the learned or the eloquent, the noble or the ignoble, received an attention from the throne, which prior to this the eye of time had never seen, nor had such been heard of before by the ears of fame. His personal qualities and perfections, speech is unable to relate. His valour was such that he had resolved on meeting A'zam Shah, whose bravery was celebrated, in single combat. His four sons, possessed of great power and considerable force, he suffered to be constantly near his person, never giving himself a moment's suspicion regarding them, nor preventing them forming connexions with the prime nobility;