Travels in India (Tavernier) 54.2

54.2

The letter having been accidentally seized by Sultan Muhammad’s guards, and afterwards brought to that young Prince, who was a man of sense, he concealed the matter from Mir Jumla, fearing that he might have received other more precise orders from his father concerning his life, he resolved to cross the Ganges, and throw himself into the arms of his uncle Sultan Shuja, from whom he hoped for more kindness than from his father. With this resolve he pretended to go fishing, and, having speedily prepared some boats on the Ganges, crossed with many of his officers to the camp of Sultan Shuja, who was on the other side of the river, and who had found means for assembling some troops during the time he had been meditating his retreat to the King of Arakan. Sultan Muhammad having reached his uncle’s presence, threw himself at his feet, and asked his pardon for having taken up arms against him, to which he had been forced by his father, adding that he was not ignorant of the injustice with which he had seized the throne. Although Sultan Shuja might have thought that the arrival of Muhammad in his camp was only a ruse of Aurangzeb’s, who had sent him to spy out his condition and discover his weakness, nevertheless, as he was a good and generous Prince, seeing his nephew at his knees, he immediately raised him, and embracing him, assured him of his protection against Aurangzeb.