Storia do Mogor 65.33
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 65.33
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65.33.1
When I knew of this order I presented myself before Dara and urgently besought him to take me along with him. With words of exceeding love and tenderness, he replied that he longed to take every one of us with him. But it was of the greatest importance to him to make sure of the said stronghold, and for this reason he left us in it, having such great reliance upon our valour and fidelity. I renewed my application, with protestations and entreaties added to tears, indications of the grief I felt at our separation, asking him to leave all the rest behind, but take me along with him. Dara, with a pleased face, repeated that it was desirable that we should all remain in the fortress, seeing that the place was of the greatest use to him against his enemies, that in it were goods which he held as dear as his own person; and, using other words of much affection, he sent me off.
65.33.2
I was overcome with tears and sighs at this parting; and seeing the downcast state in which I was quitting the presence, he had me called back. He then made me captain of the Europeans, and ordered them to give me five thousand rupees to divide among my men, and doubled my pay. It had been one hundred and fifty, and he made it three hundred rupees. He gave me his word that if God made him king he would create me a noble of his court, and reward my men, in whose loyalty he had much confidence. He added the present of a 'serpao' (sarapa), and directed that I should receive a boat-load of Persian and Kabul wine. He recommended me earnestly to Primavera, the eunuch, and told him to look well after me and my men. After shedding more tears, I left and went into the fortress with the eunuch, while Dara departed thence, taking all the boats. Hardly had he gone when we heard the drums of the enemy, and the report came in how Aurangzeb had left Multan for the Agrah direction in the greatest haste, in the fear that Sulaiman Shukoh might come down from the mountains of Srinagar.
65.33.3
This alone was not the cause of Aurangzeb's leaving Multan; it was due still more to his having received advices that Prince Shah Shuja' with a great army was marching from Bengal against the city of Agrah. So great was the terror of Aurangzeb lest Shah Shuja' might arrive first at Agrah city with his army, that he went on in advance of his army two or three leagues, followed by very few men, sometimes quite alone. His object was to make his men follow with greater quickness. He rested beneath some trees, his head supported on his shield, until [220] some men overtook him and formed a retinue. In this way Aurangzeb moved on with extreme haste, and passing by Lahor, he left there as viceroy the traitor Khalilullah Khan, and, without delaying, continued his route to Agrah, taking the whole of his army. Going on one day in advance, with only five horsemen, he was passing through a grove of trees in a wood, when all of a sudden there appeared from the opposite direction Rajah Jai Singh, who had come to seek him through the wilds of the Laqui Janguel (Lakhi Jungle). With him were three thousand well-armed horsemen, all Rajputs.
65.33.4
Be it known to the reader that, as I have already said, Aurangzeb never lost an opening for getting officials, officers, and soldiers to desert their masters and transfer themselves to him. He acted on this principle with Rajah Jai Singh, managing so that he left Prince Sulaiman Shukoh, as we have related. When it was known that Jai Singh had abandoned the said prince, he wrote him a friendly letter, declaring his anxiety to see him, as he had important business to communicate to him. But he fixed no place for a meeting, and after the evil deed he had been induced to do the rajah came in search of Aurangzeb, and met him at the above-named place at a time when he had left his army behind.
65.33.5
Aurangzeb was much alarmed when he saw the rajah, he himself having only an escort of five horsemen, for he knew the rajah had great affection for King Shahjahan, and was much troubled, as one can imagine, at the danger of losing his life. And, as a fact, the officers round the rajah, when they saw Aurangzeb in this unprotected state, advised him to kill him, or allow them to do so. They said his name would be renowned in the world through the release and liberation of Shahjahan. But the rajah would not listen to such advice, although the occasion was excellent and the accomplishment easy. As it seems to me, he refrained from acting because he was on bad terms with Dara, and while succeeding in doing good to Shahjahan, he could not have helped favouring Dara. But to the latter he wished all possible evil, for the reasons stated by me earlier.
65.33.6
Suppressing all agitation and keeping on his way, Aurangzeb went straight to meet the rajah, and, while still at a distance, signed with his hand that he should approach, calling out, 'Rajaji! Rajaji!' (Rajah Ji! Rajah Ji!) — that is to say, 'Mr. Rajah! Mr. Rajah!' When the rajah was close to him, Aurangzeb spoke to him thus: 'I am waiting with great anxiety to see you, as I have already stated in my letter to you. I have great regard for your person, because I can find no other friend with sense and judgment like you, so full of experience and natural ability, who can help me in the great enterprise which it has pleased God to lay upon me. Already is Dara lost and without an army, and I have sent after the fugitive Bahadur Khan, who cannot fail in a brief space to bring him before me in chains. Thus, helped by your wisdom and prudence, I shall easily be able to complete what God has purposed.'
65.33.7
During this speech Aurangzeb took from his neck a valuable necklace of pearls and placed it in the rajah's hands, and said: 'This is a token of the love and affection I bear you, and of the obligation imposed on me by what you did in quitting Sulaiman Shukoh and coming to find me. I make you governor of Dihli city, and grant you the province of Sambar (Sambhar). Proceed there without delay, for it is of importance to me.' He got rid of the rajah with high delight, because he dreaded that he, out of his love and gratitude to Shahjahan, might play some trick upon him, as he could easily have done, owing to his (Aurangzeb's) small retinue. The prince continued his journey for Agrah city with all haste, in order to attack Shah Shuja'. The province of Sambhar, of which Aurangzeb made a gift to the rajah, brought in to the Crown a million and more of rupees, the price of the salt that comes out of the lake, which is [222] adjacent to the province of Asmiar (Ajmer).
65.33.8
It is now time to speak of the defeat that befell Dara, but before we talk of that I will give the reader an account of the country, so that afterwards we may the more clearly continue our story. It should be known that close to Bhakkar seven rivers unite — namely, five issuing from the kingdom of Lahor, which have their sources in the mountains of Srinagar and Kashmir, and reach the province of Lahor by five openings. This is why the kingdom of Lahor is called Panjab — that is to say, ' Five Waters.' The names of the rivers are, firstly, Satleg (Sutlaj), on which there is a large town called Lodiana (Ludhianah). From it to the second river, called Biat (Biyas), is a distance of thirty-five leagues, and on this second river is a large town called Gonduval (Govindwal). From the second to the third river it is also thirty-five leagues ; this river is called the Ravi, which flows below Lahor. The fourth river, called the Chenau (Chinab), is distant twenty-five leagues from Lahor. This river also has on it a large and fine town called Vizirabad (Wazirabad). From this place it is twenty-eight leagues to the fifth river, called the Biat (Behat), which, too, has its town called Jelem (Jihlam).
65.33.9
These five rivers, which are all navigable by large boats, and the towns named, which serve as harbours, belong to the province of Lahor. The sixth river and the chief one is called Ateke (Atak), or otherwise Indo (Indus), because it separates the lands of India from the lands of the Pathans, from Persia and the province of Kabul. On the western bank of this river Atak is a town named Zafarabad, and on the eastern a castle called by the same name, where all the caravans halt from Persia, Tartary, Balque (Balkh), Samarqand, Bukhara, Cascar (Kashghar), Kabul, and many other kingdoms. Thence come every year one hundred and fifty thousand horses, more or less, besides many camels. Most of these are loaded with various kinds of fruit — melons, pears, apples, pomegranates, quinces, grapes, and other dried fruit; three kinds of raisin, almonds, filberts (avelans), and nuts, [223] and pine-nuts (pinhoens). All these are brought across the river to be sold in Hindustan, from which the Mogul king derives a great revenue.