History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c25.2

v2.c25.2

Prince Muhammad Shuja, the second son of Shah Jahan and now Governor of Bengal, was a man of great intelligence, elegant taste, and amiable disposition. But his constant devotion to pleasure, the easy administration of Bengal, and his 17 years' residence in that enervating country, had made him weak, indolent and negligent, incapable of arduous toil, sustained effort, vigilant caution, and profound combination. He had allowed his administration to drift, his army to grow inefficient, and all his departments to fall into a slack and sleepy condition. "Small things like the *Chameli* flower escaped his sight," as a writer of the time puts it. His health had been impaired by the pestilential climate of Bengal, and he already felt the touch of age, though only turned of forty-one. His mental powers were as keen as before : but they required great emergencies to call them forth, and shone only by flashes; he was still capable of vigorous action, but only fitfully.