Storia do Mogor 65.17.8

65.17.8

Once, at ten o'clock at night, after Aurangzeb had arrived at the woods of Mandu, he being in his tent reading the Quran, there appeared at his right hand a hideous snake, which advanced towards him. Without being perturbed or losing his head, he drew with the greatest calm a little sword that he always carried about with him. By one sudden blow he separated the snake's head from its body, and, seated as he was, the blood splashed all over him. Getting to his feet, he shouted for his servants, and they finished off the snake, for they struck it all over its body. After it was dead he ordered it to be weighed. They made out a weight of sixty pounds (arates). He declared that this was a sign that God would give him the victory, for the Mahomedans are very superstitious. Some critical persons will ask how there could be a snake of that size, and being so large, how it could get into the tent of Prince Aurangzeb. Leaving on one side what other authors have written, I say that I have seen them of much greater size. As for its getting into the tent, let the reader recollect that the said tent was in a wood full of rocks, where the ground could not be levelled. The whole army was scattered about in the same way, for in default of level ground the greater part of the army rests beneath trees, or among rocks, as I have seen on several occasions.