Travels in India (Tavernier) 50.2

50.2

But Sultan Khurram, who afterwards took the name of Shāh Jahān, thinking that, as second son of Jahāngīr, he should be preferred to his nephew, resolved to use every effort to keep him from the throne, and to seat himself upon it, without waiting for the death of the King. He dissimulated, however, keeping his real purpose concealed, and appeared at first altogether submissive to the will of his father, who always kept the children of his eldest son beside him. It was by this submission that Shāh Jahān more easily arrived at the attainment of his ends ; and having in this manner gained the goodwill of his father, obtained permission from him to take with him the blind Prince his elder brother to his Government in the Kingdom of Deccan. He represented to the King that it was advisable to remove from before his eyes an object which had become distressing to him, and that this Prince, being deprived of his sight, would not in the future be other than a charge and trouble to him, and would pass the rest of his life with greater comfort in the Deccan.