Travels in India (Tavernier) 54.11

54.11

Consequently Sultan Shuja was obliged to remain with the King of Arakan, who is an idolater, and in order the better to secure his protection, asked for one of his daughters in marriage, which request was granted, and he had a son by her. But this, which should have been a strong bond of friendship between father and son-in-law, soon became a cause of division and hatred ; and some nobles of the country, who had already shown jealousy of Sultan Shuja, caused him to be regarded with suspicion by the King of Arakan, as though he desired, in consequence of his marriage with his daughter, and of the son which he had by her, to depose him from his throne. This pagan King, in whose country several Muhammadans were settled, easily believed what was told him, namely, that this Muhammadan Prince might readily induce all who were in his country, under the pretext of zeal for religion, to form a conspiracy, and place himself on the throne of Arakan, instead of that which his own younger brother had seized upon. These doubts were not altogether ill-founded, for in truth Sultan Shuja, who still had quantities of golden rupees and many jewels, easily bribed a number of these Muhammadans of the Kingdom of Arakan, and with about 200 men who remained of those who had followed him from Bengal after the defeat of his army, he arranged an enterprise of much boldness, but which was at the same time less an indication of bravery than of despair.