Later Mughals v2.c19.s1.5

v2.c19.s1.5

The feast of Id-uz-zuha fell on Saturday 10th March. In the morning the name and titles of Nadir were proclaimed as sovereign from the pulpits of the Jama Masjid and other places of prayer. [Siyar, i. 98.] In the afternoon Nadir went on a return visit to Muhammad Shah’s chambers and proceeded to his real business, the exaction of ransom. A little scene was now played in order to throw a veil of outward decency over the pre-arranged act of spoliation. We can easily detect the truth in reading between the lines of the following diplomatic narrative of the Persian king’s secretary [Jahankusha, 355] :—