[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Storia do Mogor](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci) › [Storia do Mogor (Irvine)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine) › 66.3 # Storia do Mogor 66.3 Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 66.3 - **Language:** English ### [66.3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3.1) The aged Rajah of Srinagar felt greatly the vileness of the deed carried out by his only son, and so great was his sorrow that in a short space he ended his days under the disgrace, saying he would sooner have lost his territory and all his wealth than that his son should be guilty of such an act of infamy. This rajah was a great friend of the Jesuit fathers, and had accorded them leave to build churches, and allowed everyone who chose to profess the religion of Christ. I knew two Italian priests, great friends of this rajah, Father Etanilao Malpique, and Father Chesco. Aurangzeb was still in need of confirmation by the chief qazi, who is their supreme pontiff, before he could become absolute monarch and judge in all criminal matters, with power of condemning to death or pardoning whomsoever he pleased. The reason was that the chief qazi, and the inferior qazis objected to his confirmation during the lifetime of the Emperor Shahjahan, and their sorrow still was fresh for the blood of his brothers that he had shed. He, therefore, created another qazi named Abdulbahab ('Abd-ul-wahhab), a man of humble origin, who, being under obligation to him for the dignity thus conferred, confirmed his right to the throne. Reasons for consecrating a king can never be wanting to an unjust judge who seeks only his own interests. ### [66.3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3.2) Aurangzeb was weighed down by the thought that, however hard he had worked to establish himself in the realm, there was still one difficulty left. Murad Bakhsh yet lived. Many at Gwaliyar fortress, they cut off Murad Bakhsh's head in the presence of the complainant and other witnesses. He was interred there and then. Thus came to an end the royal blood of the Mogul, leaving none but Sipihr Shukoh, son of Dara, and the son of Murad Bakhsh, of whom I will speak farther on ('Ezad Bakhsh,' II., 144). Aurangzeb remained absolute master of the whole empire. Thus with the blood of his competitors were assuaged the fears which perturbed the Mogul. ### [66.3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3.3) Now it remains to state how this king wreaked vengeance on those who laid hands upon those of royal blood. First of all, he who had claimed the head of Murad Bakhsh issued from the fortress to obtain the promised reward, but never again was he heard of. The slaves who first of all cut off Dara's head, and now that of Murad Bakhsh, never left the fortress but met their fate within it that very day. Then there remained Nazar Beg and Maqbula, captains of the slaves, but they did not long survive. One day Aurangzeb sent for Maqbula, the second captain, and in secret said to him: 'What can I do for you, and what do you expect? The command of the slaves belongs to you, and I had meant to give it to you; but this brute of a Nazar Beg, without tact and overbold, leaves me no peace; and for several reasons I cannot take the office from him. If it is your wish, it lies in your hands to become captain by killing him who unjustly holds the place to your detriment. To-morrow in my presence, while I am giving audience, kill him, and I forthwith declare you captain.' ### [66.3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3.4) The ambition \[279\] of Maqbula induced him to rely on the king's word, never anticipating what was to happen to himself. Going off home he communicated to his wife, in high delight, what the king had said to him. To effect his design, he provided himself with a dagger, and next day at the audience, when in the king's presence, he stabbed Nazar Beg in the breast with such quietness that he fell dead on the spot. Aurangzeb, feigning ignorance in a matter which he had himself directed, gave a signal to the bystanders, who, with their swords, slashed Maqbula into pieces before he could utter a word in his defence. He did this to conceal his tyranny on the pretext that he (Maqbula) had failed in respect by daring to kill his own officer in his king's presence. After the death of his brother Dara, Aurangzeb ordered them to bring to his presence Acermaad (Sarmad), the atheist, to whom Dara had been devoted (ante, I. 153), and asked him where was his devoted prince. He replied that he was then present, 'but you cannot see him, for you tyrannize over those of your own blood ; and in order to usurp the kingdom, you took away the life of your brothers, and did other barbarities.' On hearing these words, Aurangzeb ordered his head to be cut off. ### [66.3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3.5) Finding there was now nothing else to be seen to, he ordered his chroniclers to write all his battles, and make recital of his glories — how he vanquished such and such powerful adversaries, with all the events, disasters, and encounters up to his ascending the imperial throne. The chroniclers asked how they should record the causes of his father, Shahjahan, being in prison, of the banishment and death of Shah Shuja', and the deceptions practised on the princes Dara and Murad Bakhsh. The king smiled, and displayed his amazement, and said to them : 'Are you so ignorant as not to know the causes of such obvious and well-known events ? Cannot you see that the Mogul Empire was in complete anarchy through the bad government of King Shahjahan, my father, and his desire to make over the state to Prince Dara, an enemy of the Mahomedan faith ? It was a just punishment for the son to lose his life, he being an idolater, while the king was dispossessed of the kingdom and placed in confinement for being incapable of rule. As for the prince Shah Shuja', he was deprived of the kingdom because by his ambition he laid claim to the throne which did not belong to him. Then, having sought refuge in the realm of another, he tried ungratefully to rise against his benefactor, and by losing his life received the merited punishment for his revolt. In regard to Prince Murad Bakhsh, a man of good qualities and an excellent soldier, I am innocent of his death. It was due to the demands of justice. ### [66.3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3.6) Nor was he fit to reign, for he was a heretic, as I have ascertained since his death. If God made me emperor, it was from no other cause than that I had been ever a faithful defender of the Quran. Against my design and my will, which was to live as a poor faqir, I was exalted above other men, because that just Lord, who raises the meek and abases the haughty, had so determined.' I know quite well that some instructed reader will censure this history as not true, if I say to him that Aurangzeb killed the eunuch Shahbaz. I do not condemn the wisdom of a reader who so judges, for there are some historians who assert that the said eunuch continued alive and went to Bengal. Nor can I much blame those writers, for it was the opinion of many that so it was, as they will see in this my short narrative which I insert here, as it has little concern with what follows. To accomplish his wrongful acts Aurangzeb \[280\] had recourse to artifice. After he had become absolute, and Shah Shuja' was ruined, he gave certain orders to one of his eunuchs called Faim (Fahim). This man pretended to be Shahbaz, the eunuch of Murad Bakhsh, and went to live in the province of Bengal. Lands were assigned to him which yielded him a sufficient income to support himself in comfort. He ate and drank and amused himself with pastimes. He was fond of the chase and of conversations with Europeans and other foreigners. He always praised the valour of Murad Bakhsh, and claimed to have been faithful to his prince. ### [66.3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3.7) Aurangzeb acted thus solely that foreign nations should not speak against him, and say he had killed a eunuch so prudent and so loyal to his master. Be it known to the reader that if the said eunuch was sent to Bengal it was by reason of its being frequented by many traders of various nations. He was not sent to Gujarat or to the Dakhin for fear that he might be recognised, and then no one would give credit to his assertions. He might certainly have been sent to Kabul or Kashmir; but since in those places there were no traders from foreign nations, like there are in Bengal, he was therefore sent to that region, where to this day he lives, and thus gives further support to his words. The contests between the brothers which disturbed the Mogul Empire began in the year 1655 (correctly 1658), and lasted till the beginning of 1659. By that time Aurangzeb had become undisputed master of the empire, at the cost of so many of his subjects' lives and of the blood of his brothers. Although the empire is one of the most widespread in the world, still he was not satisfied, as I shall relate in the Second Part. For the proverb is true that 'Plus sunt potæ, plus sitiuntur,' or, 'The more one drinks, the more one wants to drink'; for the things of this world can never satisfy human appetites. What happened to Aurangzeb will be shown along with the history of the Mogul kingdom. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.66.3) · Pramāṇa