Storia do Mogor 65.42
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 65.42
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65.42.1
Before issuing sentence of death against Prince Dara, Aurangzeb sent to ask him, if Fortune had been as favourable to him as it had been adverse, and he had held him (Aurangzeb) a prisoner, what would he have done ? Knowing that in no way whatever would Aurangzeb spare his life, and that the question was meant as mere scoffing, Dara replied boldly and resolutely, like a prince and high-hearted leader, that if such had been the case the four principal gates of Dihli would have yielded the answer to his question, where would have been exposed the four quarters of his body.
65.42.2
This answer was conveyed to Aurangzeb, who, furious at such contumacy and license of speech, sent out his sentence of death against the prince, his eldest brother. When he asked who would be so bold as to behead him, the cruel Nasar (Nazar Beg, Chelah) offered himself to do this barbarous harshness and exceedingly hazardous execution. Nazar Beg was one of King Shahjahan's slaves, brought up by him from childhood. When Aurangzeb made his father a prisoner, all the slaves submitted to him (Aurangzeb), who made this man their captain. Nazar had not forgotten how once Dara had abused him for some insolence, and to get his revenge offered himself gladly. He took with him the official next in rank to him, one Macbula (Maqbul), and other six of the same sort — namely, Maharam, [S]ura (Mashhur), Asaram (Asarun), Farad (? Furad), Morad (Murad), and Faccibahader (Fath Bahadur). These all set out from the court. After this, to mislead the people, Aurangzeb ordered out Sefecan (Saif Khan) at the head of four thousand horsemen and some camels laden with kitchen utensils and the other necessaries for a journey, it being announced that he was about to escort Dara to the fortress [of Gwaliyar].
65.42.3
Those executioners of tyranny and barbarity arrived at the garden of Khizrabad at seven o'clock at night. They entered the room where the afflicted prince was walking up and down repeating the words referred to: Muhammad mara mi-kushad, ullah mara jan mi-bakhshad. They laid hands upon him, and, showing neither compassion nor respect, flung him to the ground and cut off his head. Leaving the body to welter in its blood, they carried the head with all haste to Aurangzeb's presence. It was then eight o'clock at night, and he was in the garden of the palace. Such was the tragic and lamentable fate [meted] out to the unhappy prince Dara, first-born and heir to the Mogul empire, loved and cherished by his father, Shahjahan, and respected by the people. Neither his good qualities nor his rank sufficed to deliver him from the evil designs of [Aurangzeb], nor from the ill-effects of his own bad qualities.
65.42.4
When Aurangzeb learnt that the head of Dara had arrived, he ordered it to be brought to him in the garden on a dish, with the face cleaned of the blood on the surface and a turban on the head [259]. He called for lights to be brought so that he might see the mark borne by the prince on his forehead, and might make sure that it was the head of Dara, and not that of another person. After he had satisfied himself, he told them to put it on the ground, and gave it three thrusts in the face with the sword he carried by way of staff, saying, ' Behold the face of a would-be king and emperor of all the Mogul realms. Take him out of my sight.' He gave secret orders to place it in a box, to be sent by runners to the eunuch Atbar can (I'tibar Khan), who had charge of Shahjahan's prison, with orders to deliver it to him (Shahjahan) when seated at table. It was to be offered in his name as a plat. This was planned by Aurangzeb with great glee, to avenge himself for the love lavished on Dara and the little account made of himself. It was as if he said : ' Now has your love come to an end ; he that was despised is lord of the empire, and the favourite gone down into death.' After the head had been sent off, Aurangzeb ordered the interment of Prince Dara's body in the sepulchre of the Emperor Humayun. On that night Roshan Ara Begam gave a great feast.
65.42.5
On receipt of Aurangzeb's orders, I'tibar Khan, to comply with them, waited until the hour when Shahjahan had sat down to dinner. When he had begun to eat, I'tibar Khan entered with the box and laid it before the unhappy father, saying: 'King Aurangzeb, your son, sends this plat to your majesty, to let him see that he does not forget him.' The old emperor said : ' Blessed be God that my son still remembers me.' The box having been placed upon the table, he ordered it with great eagerness to be opened. Suddenly, on withdrawing the lid, he discovered the face of Prince Dara. Horrified, he uttered one cry and fell on his hands and face upon the table, and, striking against the golden vessels, broke some of his teeth and lay there apparently lifeless. Begam Sahib and the other women present began to wail, beat their breasts, tear their hair, break their ornaments, and rend their garments.
65.42.6
Then I'tibar Khan removed the head. When the old man recovered consciousness he began to pluck out his beard till it was all bleeding, and to beat his face; then, dissolving into a flood of tears, he raised both hands to heaven and said these words [260]: 'Coda teri rasa' (Khuda! teri riza)—that is to say, 'My God, Thy will be done.' At this time there came in various women and carried off Begam Sahib, who had swooned. They also removed the aged emperor. I leave out any consideration of the affliction of the father, who loved Dara so tenderly, and of Begam Sahib, who thus saw the lifeless head of the brother she doated upon, for I profess only to write of outward events and not to explain inner feelings.
65.42.7
Following the orders of Aurangzeb, I'tibar Khan then sent the head of Dara to be buried in the sepulchre of Taj Mahal, his mother, which is opposite the palace, as I have said. This [queen's death] was one of the greatest sorrows endured by the emperor Shahjahan in all his life, as many a time he had declared to the nobles. This is why he built this mausoleum opposite to his palace, thinking by a sight of the tomb to dissipate the pain he felt at the death of his beloved wife, Taj Mahal. But after the head of his beloved son was buried in the same place his sorrows were redoubled, and became so poignant that in a short space his life came to an end. The eunuch I'tibar Khan made a report to King Aurangzeb of what had passed, with all the details, whereby he and Roshan Ara Begam received great delight.
65.42.8
Aurangzeb ordered his men to bring into the palace the lady Jani Begam, daughter of Dara and of Nur Mahal Begam (who with her own hands took poison, as I have described). When the unfortunate young lady saw the throne of his murderer placed in the palaces where her father had sat, she began to distil from her eyes the tokens of her grief with such deep feeling that her life began to waste away. She was badly treated by Roshan Ara Begam, who incessantly recalled memories of the dead. When Aurangzeb found that the girl was wasting away, he forwarded her to the fortress of Agrah to be made over to King Shahjahan and Begam Sahib. By beholding her the old emperor's sorrows were in part alleviated; Begam Sahib was pleased with Jani Begam's beauty, a reproduction of lost originals ; and she herself was delighted at finding herself free from the sight of him who had killed her father, and out of the hands of a cruel enemy, Roshan Ara Begam. Aurangzeb also sent for the two second wives of Dara — that is to say, the inconstant Udepuri, a Georgian by race, and the faithful Ranadel (Ra'na-dil), a Hindu by birth. Udepuri obeyed and appeared [261] in the presence of Aurangzeb, who made her his wife, and by her he had the prince Kam Bakhsh.
65.42.9
But Ra'na-dil — that is to say, ' Clear-heart ' — sent to ask the king why he wanted to see her. They answered her that the king wished to take her to wife, since the law thus directed that the wives of a dead elder brother belonged to the living younger brother. On hearing this reply, she sent to inquire with what in her was he enamoured. The king sent word that he had an affection for her lovely hair. Owing to this answer, she cut off her hair and sent it to Aurangzeb, saying that here was the beauty that he longed for, while she wished to live in solitude.