Travels in India (Tavernier) 24.3.4

24.3.4

This young noble, somewhat carried away from his ordinary demeanour, used such sharpness of expression to the King that his Majesty, offended by his insolence, rose in a rage, whilst the nobles of the Court, who were present, threw themselves on him and handled him roughly. At the same time, by order of the King, he was arrested and put in prison, with his mother and sisters; and this affair, which made a great commotion at Court, so much enraged Mīr Jumlā, who soon had news of it, that, having forces at hand, and being beloved by the soldiers, he at once resolved to make use of these advantages to revenge himself for the injury. He was then, as I have said, in the direction of Bengal, for the purpose of bringing to their allegiance some Rajas possessing territories on the Ganges; and Sultān Shujā, the second son of Shāh Jahān, who was then Governor of Bengal, was the one whom he considered it to be most suitable to address as the wisest Prince with whom he might join forces against the King of Golconda, whom he no longer regarded as his master, but as the greatest of his enemies. He accordingly wrote to this Prince that if he was willing to join him he would afford him the means of taking possession of the whole of the kingdom of Golconda, and that he ought not to lose so good an opportunity of increasing the Mogul Empire, the succession to which affected him as well as the other Princes, his brothers.