[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.burn-1937) › v4.c19.3 # The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.3 The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c19.3 - **Language:** English ### [v4.c19.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.burn-1937.v4.c19.3) But he had two large enemy forces still to dispose of before his throne could be considered secure. Dārā Shukoh had escaped from the ruin of his hopes at Sāmogarh (8 June), first to Delhi and then to the Punjab, where he was raising an army, while Dārā’s eldest son, Sulaimān Shukoh, after defeating his uncle Shujā‘ (at Bahādurpur on 24 February) and dictating peace to him (at Monghyr about 17 May), was advancing towards Āgra with his victorious troops. An eastward march of Dārā would have ensured the combination of the father and the son and created a serious danger for Aurangzīb. But the luckless Dārā had turned to the Punjab, as that province was held for him by trusty deputies, its people were mostly attached to him, and large numbers of recruits could be had at call among its martial population. This move ruined Dārā’s cause. Aurangzīb inserted himself like a wedge between the father and the son and rendered the junction of their forces impossible except by following a wide loop to the north, of which he held the short chord in strength. On hearing of this blocking of their westward route, Sulaimān Shukoh’s army rapidly melted away, his captains openly deserted him for their homes or for Aurangzīb's standard, and within two days of the arrival of the news of Sāmogarh and Dārā's flight to the north-west, Sulaimān's army shrank from 20,000 men to less than 6000. Aurangzīb, holding the inner line, moved his divisions with great ease and rapidity and blocked every ferry by which Sulaimān tried to reach the Punjab by skirting the foot of the central Himālayas, so that the young prince became in effect a hunted fugitive. - [Previous: v4.c19.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.burn-1937.v4.c19.2) - [Next: v4.c19.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.burn-1937.v4.c19.4) - [Up: v4.c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.burn-1937.v4.c19) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.burn-1937.v4.c19.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.burn-1937.v4.c19.3) · Pramāṇa