Later Mughals v1.c9.s12.16

v1.c9.s12.16

Shortly after this time, Farrukh-siyar having quarrelled with the Sayyids, was afraid that they might bring forward some other Prince of the house of Taimur to take his place. But a Prince once deprived of eyesight could not be raised to the throne. The Emperor resolved, therefore, to deprive of their eyesight the more prominent and more energetic of the many scions of the house of Taimur held in captivity in the palace. On the 6th Muharram 1126 H. (21st January, 1714), three of the Princes, Azz-ud-din, eldest son of Jahandar Shah, Wala Tabar, son of Azam Shah, and Farrukh-siyar's own younger brother, Humayun Bakht (then only ten or twelve years old), were removed from the palace to the prison at the Tirpoliya or Triple gate. It was the place where Jahandar Shah's life had been taken, and where in a few years' time Farrukh-siyar himself was to suffer the same fate. A needle was passed through the eyes of the three Princes, and they were thus rendered incapable of ever becoming rivals for the throne. Mir Jumla is credited with having been the man who urged Farrukh-siyar to carry out this harsh act. [Warid 150b, Kamwar 144, K. K. 740.]