Storia do Mogor 97.1.2

97.1.2

Thus Aurangzeb started from the city of Dihll on the 6th December of one thousand six hundred and sixty [? 1662] at three o'clock in the afternoon, the joint decision [46] of the astrologers being that this was the best date that could be found for the king to start on a long journey, which must last at least a year, or even more, in going, coming, and staying. It is a strange thing how Monsieur Bernier says in his third book that this departure took place in sixty-four (1664); for it is a certainty that it happened at the time that I have recorded. Nor can I persuade myself how he committed so great an error, and suppose it due rather to the printer than the author, although he says in his history many other things far from the truth. There were rumours that Aurangzeb's departure was not for Kashmir, but on a campaign against the fortress of Qandahar, then held by this King of Persia. But this story was false. The king, on leaving the city, rested for the night in an extensive garden called Xalemar (Shalihmar), planted by Shahjahan as a pleasure resort ; it lies three leagues distant from the royal palace, adjoining the road to Lahor. Here Aurangzeb halted six days to give time for everyone to make his preparations, and when everybody had joined the army he meant to begin his march. It is the custom in the Mogul country when an army is in the field to order a trumpet to be blown at nine o'clock at night as a signal that there will be no march on the following morning.