History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c27: Chapter XXI.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c27
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Chapter XXI.
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THE END OF DARA SHUKOH.
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Dara's flight: reaches Mairta, From the ruin of his last hopes at Ajmir Dara fled with his second son and only one general, Firuz the Miwati. His women, too, were removed from danger by his faithful eunuch Maqul. All the night of 14th March and the whole of the next day they pursued their flight by different roads, till at last towards the evening of the 15th they met together on the way and reached Mairta, 37 miles north-west of Ajmir. Here the miserable victims of Fate, worn out by their twenty-four hours' precipitate march, rested for a moment. But the enemy, flushed with victory, was sure to give them no respite. So, in that very night the wretched Prince and his family had to get up and resume their march with the same haste as before.∗
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∗ The history of Dara's flight and the pursuit by the Imperialists is given in great detail in Jai Singh's despatches to Aurangzib contained in Haft Anjuman (Benares MS.) and Paris Bibliotheque Nationale Persian MS. No. Sup. 476 (Blochet's Catalogue No. 704). The latter will be referred to as the Paris MS. A general narrative with much supplementary information is given in A. N. 409—415, 418-419. Bernier's personal observations (88—97.) Kambu 22b, Aqil Khan 87, and Isardas 44a and b are very brief. Masum 138b—145b, though a little confused about the route, supplies very useful details about the capture and execution. Storia, i. 345—355, is of little value, as Manucci was invested in Bhakkar all this time.
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Only 2,000 troopers accompanied Dara when he left Mairta. Many times that number had run away from the battle, but they took other routes and never joined him,—some scattered to the right and left of his line of flight, and one party of the fugitives with his elephants moved in a different direction altogether, viz., north-east towards Sambhar.
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At Mairta the pursuers were six days behind; but the rumour of their coming preceded them everywhere, and at every halting place robbed the unhappy Prince and his followers of their sorely needed rest and lent wings to their flight. Covering thirty miles or even more a day, they fled southwards to Guzerat by way of Pipar (16th March) and Bargaon, and on the 29th reached a place 48 miles north of Ahmadabad, hoping to find a refuge in that city. Their misery was extreme. The baggage and tents had been abandoned in the wild rush to escape from the battle-field, and now all along the route various necessary articles and even treasure had to be sacrificed for want of porters. "The heat was intolerable, the dust suffocating," and the path a sandy waste. Bands of Kulis, a tribe of professional robbers, followed the fugitives day and night, pillaging and slaying stragglers. Horses, camels, and oxen perished from the heat and overwork. A French physician retracing Dara's path a few days later, noticed too often by the roadside the sickening "sight of dead men, elephants, oxen, horses, and camels; the wrecks of poor Dara's army."*
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In the meantime the hunters had got on the right trail and were following it with relentless vigour. So fast had been Dara's flight and in so many directions had his followers scattered that for three days after the battle none knew Dara's condition or the line of his flight. At first a rumour arose that he had turned north-east towards Sambhar. But when the pursuing force under Jai Singh and Bahadur Khan reached Mairta (20th March) the truth became known to them. Every path was closed to Dara. The Emperor had written to the Maharajah of Jodhpur to arrest Dara if he entered his kingdom. Jaswant got the letter three days after Dara had left Marwar; but he immediately set off in pursuit and reached Bhinmal, whence he turned aside to join Jai Singh in the march to Guzerat. Jai Singh sent off letters to the princes and zamindars in every direction to bar Dara’s path,—to Sirohi and Palanpur in the south, Daiwara in the south-east, to the princes of northern Kathiawar and Cutch and the zamindars of Lower Sindh, and to the officers of Guzerat. Thus it was that everywhere Dara found enemies warned of his coming and ready to seize him.[*]
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∗ Paris MS. 94b-95a; Bernier, 88-92; A. N. 410; Kambu, 22b. Pipar, 35 miles S. W. of Mairta. (Ind. At., 34 N. W.) Bargaon, 22 miles S. of Bhinmal (Sh. 21 N. E.)
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Rajputana raised against him.
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The civil and military officers of Guzerat decided to adhere to Aurangzib; they arrested Syed Ahmad Bukhari, the Governor left by Dara at Ahmadabad, and took possession of the city and fort. Dara’s harbinger returned from Ahmadabad with the dismal news that he would be resisted if he tried to enter the city. This reply reached him at his halting-place some 48 miles north of Dara is refused admission to Ahmadabad. the capital of Guzerat. It was break of day when the party became aware of the destruction of their last hope of a refuge, "and the shrieks of the females drew tears from every eye. We were all overwhelmed with confusion and dismay, gazing in speechless horror at each other, at a loss what plan to recommend, and ignorant of the fate which perhaps awaited us from hour to hour. We observed Dara stepping out, more dead than alive, speaking now to one, then to another; stopping and consulting even the commonest soldier. He saw consternation depicted on every countenance, and felt assured that he should be left without a single follower."
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∗ Aqil Khan, 87; Paris MS. 95a—96b, 97b, 108a. Bhinmal, 25 N. 72·20 E. (Ind. At. 21 N. E.); Sirohi, 24·53 N. 72·55 E. (Ibid). Palanpur, 24·10 N. 72·30 E. (Ibid. 21 S. E.); there is a Dailwara, 9 miles N. of Udaipur.
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Nothing now remained for him but flight; but to which side? The north, east, and south were closed to him; only on the west the path to Cutch lay open. This he took of necessity. Misfortune had made him totally destitute of power and influence. "Neither his threats nor entreaties could procure" a single horse, ox, or camel for Dr. Bernier who attended his sick wife. Dara's retinue had dwindled down to four or five hundred horsemen, with only a couple of elephants laden with gold and silver coins. Even Bernier had to stay behind because of the absolute lack of transport. In this miserable condition Dara turned (29th March) westwards to the Kari district, where Kanji, the Kuli chieftain, escorted him faithfully to the boundary of Cutch. On the way the fugitive was joined by Gul Muhammad, his late faujdar of Surat, with 50 horse and 200 foot musketeers. From Viramgaon, "reduced to the poorest and sorriest dress,—a tunic of thin linen and shoes worth eight annas,—with a heart broken into two and constantly shaking with fear, accompanied by one horse, one bullock-cart, five camels for his ladies, and a few other camels for transport, his retinue shrunk to a few men," the heir to the throne of Delhi crossed the Lesser Rann and reached Bhuj, the capital of Cutch. But he found his former friend and protector changed; for, in the meantime Jai Singh's letters "full of hopes and threats," urging the arrest of the fugitive, had reached the ruler of the island and done their work. Dara prayed for a place in his dominions to hide his head in for some time; but the Rao could not afford to offend the Imperialists, especially as their rapid approach was noised abroad. He, however, harboured Dara for two days and then escorted him to the northern boundary of his island, whence Dara crossed the Greater Rann and reached the southern coast of Sindh (beginning of May), with his retinue still further diminished.*
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Here, too, Dara found his path closed in the east and north by his rival's forethought and genius for combination. Aurangzib had sent Khalilullah Khan, his governor of the Panjab, down to Bhakkar, to prevent Dara's marching further up the Indus, and he had posted men to close the eastern route to Jasalmir. Jai Singh also had warned the Imperial officers in Lower Sindh to be on the alert.
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After crossing the Rann, Dara found Badin held by a thousand Imperialists under Qubad Khan, and he had to give up the hope of entering that village to refresh his men and animals after their terrible hardships in crossing the vast salt marsh. Aurangzib's local officers and Jai Singh's advanced detachments were converging on the prey from north, east and south-east.
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Only one path of escape still remained open: Dara turned to the north-west, crossed the Indus and entered Siwistan, intending to flee to Persia by way of Qandahar. On the bank of the Indus even Firuz Miwati's love of homeland prevailed over his constancy; he left his master’s hopelessly lost cause* and set off to join Aurangzeb.
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∗ A. N. 410-411; Bernier 89-91; Paris MS. 97a, 100b-101b; Isardas, 44a.
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We now turn to the pursuers. Jai Singh reached Mairta on 20th March,† six days behind Dara, and there learnt the true route of his flight and immediately set out southwards after him by way of Jelor and Sirohi. On the way, one march beyond Sirohi, he was joined by Jaswant Singh and his Rathor army (31st March), and then, “in order not to allow Dara time to gain composure at Ahmadabad,” the Imperialists pushed on, marching from 16 to 20 miles a day, “in spite of scarcity of water, want of fodder, and exhaustion of the horses and transport-cattle.” Reaching Sidhpur on 5th April, they learnt that Dara had been refused entrance into Ahmadabad and had turned aside towards Cutch. Jai Singh had before this sent letters to the princes of northern Kathiawar and Cutch urging them to bar Dara’s path and seize him. Now he wrote to them again to be up and doing on the Emperor’s side. The pursuing army marched on to Ahmadabad to refit. Their misery was hardly less than that of Dara. The year was one of drought in Guzerat; and this vast army of 20,000 men moving together exhausted the scanty water-supply and fodder in their path. It was summer and the forced march broke down the horses and cattle; grass was very scare and grain so dear that even six seers of *bajra* (spiked millet) could be had for a rupee with difficulty. To encourage the soldiers and compensate them for the heavy loss of transport cattle, cash salary was distributed among them, probably at a higher rate than usual. For this purpose Aurangzib had wisely sent up a sum of money from behind.
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∗ Paris MS. 104a and b, 108a, 102a ; A. N. 411.
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† Probably 21st (See p. 176n.
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From Sidhpur to Ahmadabad, owing to “the utter scarcity of water both by the road-side and at the halting places,” the army had to advance in three divisions, at intervals of one day’s march from one another. Some delay thus occurred. Ahmadabad was reached about 11th April. Halting there for probably one day only, Jai Singh distributed 2½ lakhs of rupees from the treasury to his troops to enable them to provide themselves with enough water and fodder for the journey, and on the 12th set out again. Turning his face to the west, he arrived (22nd) in the Pathri district, west of Viramgaon, and there, getting further news of Dara’s movements, advanced towards Halwad, *en route* to Cutch. On 3rd May he reached a place 6 miles from Halwad and there learnt that Dara had crossed the Rann and entered Sindh again.[*]
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On the 13th the pursuers reached the capital of Cutch. In this country, never trodden by Mughal troops before, as Jai Singh proudly writes, his letters and the rumour of his approach had already done their work. The Rao had refused to harbour the Emperor's enemy in his land and had personally conducted him out of it. As Jai Singh approached Bhuj, the Rao sent his son in advance to welcome the Imperial general and then personally received him with due honours outside his capital (13th May), and gave him a bond solemnly asserting that Dara was not in his territory. Jai Singh halted there to learn the truth, and soon got news from the Mughal officer of Badin that Dara had reached Lower Sindh. A small detachment of 500 under two officers was at once sent ahead with orders to hasten onwards and cross the Rann, while the main army was to move more slowly at night.
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∗ Paris MS. 94b—101b. Jalor, 25°21 N. 72°41 E., 32 miles N. E. of Bhinmal (Ind. At. Ibid. 20 S. E.) Sidhpur, 23°55 N. 72°27 E., 63 miles north of Ahmadabad. ( 21 S. E.) Viramgam, 23°7 N. 72°7 E., 30 miles W. of Ahmadabad; Patri, 18 miles W. of Viramgam; Halwad, 23°1 N. 71°15 E. (Ibid, 22 N. W.)
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In crossing the Greater Rann the army suffered frightful privations. The Rao of Cutch had turned unfriendly, and refused to supply a guide across the salt marsh; one of his grandsons accompanied Jai Singh, but only to the shore of it. At one halting place, six miles south of the Greater Rann, they found a few wells and the soldiers with all their exertions got out of them only some drops of water mixed with mud, with which they were forced to quench their thirst. Next day they heard of three or four wells, ten miles from their camp. The soldiers hastened thither for the precious water; a few got it, while the others returned with their thirst unquenched after twenty miles of fruitless marching. Towards evening the army arrived at the southern edge of the Rann, at the village of Lauh (?=Luna), and began to cross the salt plain at night. The Greater Rann was here 70 miles in breadth, in the whole extent of which not a drop of drinking water could be found, nor for 10 miles beyond its northern shore.
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The army plunged into this dreary wilderness at sunset. Up to midnight the moon lit up their path, and when it set, torches were kindled at every mile’s interval to guide the soldiers.
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on. No trooper or follower was lost in this trackless plain. It was two hours after dawn when the crossing was over and the northern shore was reached. An hour afterwards they came to the village of Rahman, into the small tank of which the whole army, dying of thirst and worn out by their toilsome march, rushed. In a moment it was filled with struggling men and the water was turned into mud. In their agony of thirst, men and beasts crying for water wandered to the nullahs of the village and drank up the putrid water, "the taste of which made life itself bitter to them." It was only after marching on till noon that they reached their camping ground at Kulabi, and got rest.*
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The experience had been most terrible: the army had marched 80 miles without halting, and that march had consisted of wading through sand over a roadless wilderness with no water to slake their thirst. The horses and camels were so worn out by their long journey and scantiness of fodder and water that, after crossing the Rann as the sun grew hotter and they were urged to travel eight more waterless miles before reaching a suitable place for camping, they fell down dead in large numbers along the road. At every halting-place, many transport-cattle lay down, never to rise again. So disastrous was the march to them that out of Jai Singh’s personal contingent of 4,000 troopers, less than a fourth had horses left for riding on. The loss was equally great in Bahadur Khan’s division. Afterwards the Emperor made some amends by presenting 200 horses to the former and 100 to the latter general.
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∗ Paris MS. 102b-103b, 109a-110a.
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Jai Singh had thus achieved a most remarkable military feat; but he had to pay a heavy price for it. Even before reaching the Rann, the privations of the pursuing army had been very great: dearth of food had been added to the long familiar water-famine. At places grain had sold at a seer per rupee, and even at this price there was not enough for all. "At other places no food at all could be procured." His soldiers were dead beat; and his camels, horses and other transport animals had been almost exterminated. Halting was enforced on him by outraged nature, and his progress in Sindh was slow, as the remaining cattle were unable to walk more than eight or even six miles a day.[^ *] The southern coast of Sindh had been reached, probably near Rahim-ki-Bazar,[^ †] about 18th May, but it was the 29th before he arrived
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[^ *]: Paris MS., 103b—104a, 106a, 108a; A. N. 433. [^ †]: Paris MS. (103a) has 'village of Rahman.' at Nasarpur, 7th June before he reached Hala, and the 11th of that month before he struck the Indus near "the river of Siwistan." Here he learnt that Dara had crossed over to the right bank of the Indus and entered Siwistan, intending to go to Qandahar with the help of the Maghasi tribe.
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Jai Singh's task was done; the enemy was no longer on the Indian soil. So, he wrote to the Emperor asking to be recalled to Court,—"When appointing me to this service, your Majesty had told me that so long as Dara was not captured or killed, or did not quit the empire, I should not withdraw my hand from him. I have left no means untried to accomplish the first two alternatives. I have, at no place, however hard and difficult to traverse, taken thought of the scarcity of water and grain or of the predominance of lawless men. But God ordains every thing, and so the third alternative has come to pass. As your Majesty has now been freed from the mischief of that [enemy], I beg to submit that, in view of the extreme privations borne by the army and the weakness of the horses and transport cattle, which have not strength enough to move more than six or eight miles a day,—I should be recalled to Court."*
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∗ Paris MS. 105a—106a; A. N. 412.
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Manucci asserts that Jai Singh deliberately carried on a slack pursuit in order to leave Dara time to escape to Persia. There is nothing improbable in the suspicion, as no old general of Shah Jahan, whether Indian Muslim or Rajput, could have willingly consented to bring about the capture of his eldest son, since all knew that if they did it the result would be his murder by his victorious rival. But I can find no semblance of slackness in the pursuit, except (i) Jai Singh’s marching from Sidhpur to Ahmadabad, instead of turning due west to Kathiawar, and (ii) the long time spent between his crossing the Rann and reaching the left bank of the Indus near Siwistan. The first is, however, explained away by the need of taking money from the Ahmadabad treasury and furnishing the army with the means of securing water and fodder in advance for the waterless march through Kathiawar and Cutch, while the second is satisfactorily accounted for by the utter exhaustion of the troops and loss of transport, so graphically described in Jai Singh’s letters to his master.
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With the object of returning to Northern India, Jai Singh was slowly moving up the Indus towards Bhakkar, when about the middle of June he received the startling news that Dara had been captured on the 9th of that month and that the Imperial generals must hurry on to take charge of the prisoner.*
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We left Dara in Siwistan bent on making his escape to Qandahar and Persia. In the trans-Indus country he was attacked and plundered by the Chandi tribe† and barely escaped capture at their hands by fighting desperately. The Maghasis whom he next visited were more hospitable; their headman, Mirzai Maghasi, welcomed the royal suppliant in his house and promised an escort of his men to the frontier of Qandahar, only twelve marches off. But Dara's women were utterly opposed to leaving India and entrusting their lives to the savage Baluches or their honour to the Persian King. His beloved wife, Nadira Banu Begam, was seriously ill, and the privations of a journey through the desolate Bolan Pass and the inhospitable hills beyond up to Qandahar, would have killed her. Others of his party, too, needed some days' rest after the fatigue and hardships of the terrible two and a half months' ceaseless flight through desert and salt marsh in summer h before another and more terrible journey could be undertaken.
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∗ Paris MS. 108a; A. N. 414-415.
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† A. N., 412, has "the country of Chand Khan." or 'of Jandban' according to a different reading. Khafi Khan, ii. 82, has Jawian. Jai Singh's letter has Rukhandia, (Paris MS. 105 b.) I get the correct name of the tribe from Masson's Kalat, 334. "The Pat of Shikarpur, [between Kach Gandava and Shikarpur] separates the lands of the Magghazzis, subjects of Kalat, from those of the Chandi tribe, dependent on Sind."
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The last glimmering sparks of ambition also influenced Dara to linger in India. He wanted to make another effort before finally giving up the contest for the throne. His plan was to take the armed help of any friendly Baluch chieftain, relieve the fort of Bhakkar which was gallantly holding out under his eunuch Basant against Aurangzib's forces, deposit his treasure and women in that island fortress, and then march into Afghanistan from the south, secure the adhesion of its Imperial Governor (once his partisan), and finally with a fresh army at his back enter India again through the Khyber Pass and try to wrest the crown of Delhi with fair hope of success.†
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∗ "The Afghans have a proverb, 'The sun of Sind will turn a white man black, and is sufficiently powerful to roast an egg.'......The mountain tribes say of Sind, 'Duzak ast,' it is pandemonium." (Postans's Sindh, 11 and 14.)
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† A. N. 412; Paris MS. 105a and b; Bernier, 94-96; Masum, 139 a; Storia, i. 347; Khafi Khan (ii. 83) supports Bernier by saying that Dara wanted to contest the throne again.
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Dara, therefore, changed his mind, and looked about for a chieftain in that neighbourhood who would give him a safe shelter and the services of his clansmen. Such a friend he hoped to find in Malik Jiwan, the zamindar of Dadar, a place nine miles east of the Indian end of the Bolan Pass. Years ago this Afghan chief had offended against the State and been sent by the Governor of Multan, bound in chains, to Delhi, where Shah Jahan had sentenced him to be trampled to death by an elephant. Dara, then at the height of his father's favour, had been interested in the case by one of his servants, and had successfully begged the condemned man's life and liberty from the Emperor. He now looked for Jiwan's gratitude in his own need. Giving early notice of his coming, he reached Dadar under the guidance of Ayub, a servant sent by Jiwan in advance. Two miles from the fort the chief himself welcomed his honoured guest and patron, and took him to his house, showing him every respect and care (probably 6th June).
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On the way to Dadar the greatest of all misfortunes had overtaken Dara. His wife Nadira Banu, who had been long ailing of diarrhœa, and
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Malik Jiwan, chieftain of Dadar.
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Death of Dara's wife.
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was heart-broken at the loss of her eldest son, succumbed to hardship and want of medicine and rest. She was a daughter of Prince Parwiz and grand-daughter of the great Akbar on both sides of her parentage, and had borne her husband all his three sons and one daughter. Dara was frantic with grief at losing his constant companion and counsellor in weal and woe. "The world grew dark in his eyes. He was utterly bewildered His judgment and prudence were entirely gone." "Death was painted in his eyes. He became helpless and weak through intense grief. Everywhere he saw only destruction (staring him in the face), and losing his senses became utterly heedless of his own affairs."
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In spite of the warnings of his son and followers, Dara, stupefied with grief, entered Jiwan's house, wishing to spend there the three days of mourning, instead of at once marching towards the Persian frontier. His wife's last wish had been that her body should be laid in the soil of Hindustan. So, after two days he despatched her corpse to Lahore, in charge of Khwajah Maqul, to be buried in the grave-yard of the renowned saint Mian Mir, his own spiritual guide. By a supreme act of folly he sent his most devoted officer, Gul Muhammad, with all the seventy troopers still left at his side, to escort the Dara sends his soldiers away, coffin. In a fit of magnanimity which can be ascribed only to utter despair and apathy to his own future, he left to his companions free choice between returning to their homes and accompanying him to Persia. None, he said, would be forced to go into exile and peril for his sake.* Thus it happened that no devoted officer or brave captain, not even a single common soldier of his own, now remained with Dara. He became utterly helpless and dependent on his host's fidelity.
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And too soon was he to learn the strength of an Afghan's gratitude or faith when opposed to cupidity. On 9th June, when Dara began the march towards the Bolan Pass, the treacherous Jiwan with his wild clansmen surrounded the party, captured the rich prize and brought them back to his village. Against these human "wolves and robbers" of the desert, the few eunuchs and servants who still followed Dara could offer no defence. Only his second son, the lad Sipihr Shukoh, gallantly struck some blows for freedom, but he was overpowered, his arms were pinioned behind his back, and the party was dragged back to their host's house, now their prison.*
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∗ Kambu, 23a.
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Malik Jiwan, with his greed sharpened by the hope of reward from Aurangzib, sent fast couriers with the news of the capture to Bahadur Khan and Jai Singh, who had reached the left bank of the Indus near Siwistan. But they had learnt of the event earlier from their agent Qazi Inayetullah, whom they had sent to instigate the zamindars of the Bhakkar district against Dara. They at once hastened forward, leaving their camp and baggage behind, and making a forced march through mid-summer heat and raging simoom. Near Bhakkar they crossed over the Indus to the right bank (20th June) and pushed an advanced detachment on to bring the captives away, while the two generals marched more slowly behind. On the 23rd Dara, with his son and two daughters, was delivered by Jiwan to Bahadur Khan, and the Imperialists set out on their return. The fallen Prince was speechless with despair and utterly dazed by calamity; he consented to everything that his captors suggested. They made him write a letter to the eunuch Basant, ordering him to give up to the Imperialists the fort of Bhakkar with Dara’s property and family lodged there, and sent the eunuch Maqul to carry it as a proof of Dara’s ruin.
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∗ For the capture of Dara, Masum, 139b—142a; A. N. 412—414, 419; Kambu, 22b-23a; Khafi Khan, ii. 83-84; Storia i. 347—351; Bernier, 95-96; Isardas, 44b (meagre.) Paris MS. 108a and b (for dates only).
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The pursuers, at last successful after more than three months’ chase through desert and jungle, in summer heat and sand-storm, began their return march to Delhi, carefully guarding the prisoners. The Indus was recrossed above Bhakkar on 28th June. Passing over the rain-swollen rivers of the Land of Five Waters with due caution for their important charge, they arrived outside Delhi* on 23rd August, 1659.
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The first news that Aurangzib received of the downfall of his rival, was on 2nd July, from Malik Jiwan’s letter forwarded by the faujdar of Bhakkar. He read the letter out in open Court. “But so great was his control over his emotions, that he did not go into exultation over it, and rarely referred to the capture, nor did he order the Imperial band to play the music of victory.” The true reason of his moderation was that the news seemed too good to be true.
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∗ Paris MS. 108b, 107a & b, and Haft Anjuman 35b-36a (for the removal of Dara to Delhi). Paris MS. 2b-3a (Aurangzib’s instructions to Jai Singh about guarding the prisoner). A. N. 418, 419, 430.
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But when, on 15th July, Bahadur Khan’s despatch arrived, reporting that he had taken charge of the captive, there was no longer room for doubt. Rejoicings were ordered in Court, “to inform the public, who were still sceptical about Dara’s capture.”*
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On arriving outside Delhi the miserable Prince and his son were handed over to Nazar Beg, a slave sent by Aurangzib to work his purpose on them. The Emperor ordered that the captive should be paraded through the capital in order to let the people see with their own eyes that it was he and none else, so that in future no counterfeit Dara might raise his head in the provinces and by winning the support of the credulous create disturbances against the Government.
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On 29th August the degrading parade was held. To complete his humiliation, Dara was seated in an uncovered hawda on the back of a small female elephant covered with dirt. By his side was his second son, Sipihr Shukoh, a lad of fourteen; and behind them with a naked sword sat their gaoler, the slave Nazar Beg, whose heart shrank from no act of cruelty or bloodshed at the bidding of his master. The captive heir to the richest throne in the world, the favourite and pampered son of the most magnificent of the Great Mughals, was now clad in a travel-tainted dress of the coarsest cloth, with a dark dingy-coloured turban, such as only the poorest wear, on his head, and no necklace or jewel adorning his person. His feet were chained, though the hands were free. Exposed to the full blaze of an August sun, he was taken through the scenes of his former glory and splendour. In the bitterness of disgrace he did not raise his head, nor cast his glance on any side, but sat “like a crushed twig.” Only once did he look up, when a poor beggar from the roadside cried out, “O Dara! when you were master, you always gave me alms; today I know well thou hast naught to give.” The appeal touched the prisoner; he raised his hand to his shoulder, drew off his wrapper and threw it to the beggar.
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∗ A. N. 414—419; Masum, 142a; Kambu, 23b; Khafi Khan, ii. 85.
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Dara paraded through Delhi with insult.
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If Aurangzeb had wished to make Dara ridiculous to the public, the result proved the contrary. The pity of the citizens swept every other feeling away. Dara had been popular with the lower orders for his magnificent display and lavish charity, and now all classes were moved to sympathy at the sight of fallen greatness. Bernier, an eye-witness of the scene, writes,
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Popular sympathy for him.
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"The crowd assembled was immense; and everywhere I observed the people weeping, and lamenting the fate of Dara in the most touching language....From every quarter I heard piercing and distressing shrieks,...men, women, and children wailing as if some mighty calamity had happened to themselves." But not a hand was raised in rescue, for, the prisoner was girt round by squadrons of cavalry clad in shining steel, with drawn swords in their hands, and mounted archers with arrows placed ready in their bows, led by Bahadur Khan on an elephant. In this manner the ignominious procession entered the New City or Shah Jahanabad by the Lahore gate, traversed the whole length of it, through Chandni Chawk and Sadullah Khan's Bazar, by the foot of the Fort, till it passed out to the suburb of Khizirabad in Old Delhi. There Dara was lodged in the Khawaspura mansion, amidst a strong guard, to await sentence.*
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That evening his fate was the subject of a debate in the Emperor's Hall of Private Audience. Danishmand Khan pleaded for his life; but Shaista Khan, Muhammad Amin Khan, Bahadur Khan, and Hakim Daud demanded his death for the good of Church and State. The malignant influence of his younger sister Raushanara was thrown into the scale against Dara, and her clamours silenced the feeble voice of mercy in a Court where most ministers shaped their opinions after their master's inclinations. The pliant theologians in the Emperor's pay signed a decree that Dara deserved death on the ground of infidelity and deviation from Islamic orthodoxy. "The pillars of the Canonical Law and Faith apprehended many kinds of disturbance from his life. So, the Emperor, both out of necessity to protect the Faith and Holy Law, and also for reasons of State, considered it unlawful to allow Dara to remain alive any longer as a destroyer of the public peace." Thus does the official history published under Aurangzib's authority justify this act of political murder.
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∗ *Storia*, i. 354-355; Bernier, 98-99 (*an eye witness*); A. N. 431; Khafi Khan, ii. 86; Isardas, 44b-45a; Kambu, 23b; (*for Dara's public parade*).
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Dara sentenced to death as a heretic.
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The doomed Prince's agent tried hard to save his life by running to different mediators, but in vain.[*] Dara learnt of his fate and made a last appeal to Aurangzib's pity. He wrote, "My Lord Brother and Emperor! the desire of kingship is not at all left in my mind. Be (it)
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His appeal for mercy rejected.
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∗ A. N. 432; Khafi Khan, ii. 87; Masum, 142b; Bernier, 100-101; Storia, i. 356.
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blessed to you and your sons. The plan of slaying me which you are cherishing in your heart is unjust. If you only grant me a house fit for (my) residence and one young hand-maid out of my own hand-maids to wait on me, I shall employ myself in praying for your (good) in the retired life of a pardoned man."
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On the margin of the petition Aurangzib wrote in his own hand in Arbic, "You first acted as a usurper, and you were a mischief-maker."* For Dara there could be no pardon from Aurangzib. For more than sixteen years Dara had been a blighting shadow on Aurangzib's life : he had robbed his younger brother of the sunshine of their father's favour; he had thwarted his plans and backbitten him at the Imperial Court; his had been the secret influence behind the throne that accounted for Shah Jahan's attitude of coldness and undeserved censure towards the able Viceroy of Multan and the Deccan; he had intrigued with Bijapur and Golkonda in open opposition to Aurangzib in the wars against them sanctioned by the Emperor himself; every enemy of Aurangzib had found a ready patron in Dara; Dara's officers had insulted and calumniated Prince Aurangzib without any punishment from their master; his sons had monopolised all the favours of Shah Jahan, leaving none for Aurangzib’s offspring. All these Aurangzib had borne with patience and even with affected humility for sixteen long years. Now at last he had got his chance of revenge; and he was not the man to give it up.
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∗ British Museum, Or. MS. Addl. 18881, f. 77a.
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A riot on the 30th precipitated the end of Dara. The populace of Delhi had marked the traitor Malik Jiwan in yesterday’s procession; but in the presence of the strong escort they could not vent their indignation except by cursing and pelting at him. This ungrateful wretch and perjured host had been appointed a Commander of One Thousand Horse and raised to the peerage under the title of Bakhtyar Khan, as the price of his treachery. On thirtieth August, as he was going to Court with his Afghan followers, the populace of Delhi, instigated by Haibat, a gentleman trooper (*ahadi*) of the Imperial army, and joined by the ruffians, beggars and other desperadoes of the city and workmen from every lane and bazar, besides Dara’s friends, mobbed the party. From abuse they quickly passed to hurling stones, clods of earth, and sweepings at the traitors, and finally growing bolder assailed them with sticks. From the house-tops on both sides the women showered ashes and pots of filth on the heads of the Afghans and spectators mingled in melee below. The tumult and noise were very great. Some of Jiwan’s followers were slain outright, and some wounded; and if the Prefect of the City Police had not come to the rescue with his men, not one of the Afghans could have escaped from the crowd with life. The newly created Khan, going to his first audience at Court, was brought away in safety under cover of a wall of shields formed over his head.[*]
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Malik Jiwan mobbed by the people of Delhi.
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Immediately Aurangzib passed the order for Dara’s execution, and entrusted the task to Nazar Beg and some other slaves under the supervision of Saif Khan. Early in the night (30th August) the wretches entered Dara’s prison in order to separate Sipihr Shukoh from their victim before attempting the deed of blood. On their hideous features and relentless eyes Dara read his doom. Starting up he approached them, and falling on his knees cried out, "You have come to murder me!" They pretended that their order was only to remove Sipihr Shukoh to another place. The boy, too, knelt down, nestling close against his father's body. Nazar
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Aurangzib's slaves separate Sipihr Shukoh from Dara.
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[*] For the riot, Khafi Khan, ii. 86; A.N. 432; Bernier, 99, mentions only the pelting on the first day.
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with a malevolent glance bade him get up. In madness and despair Sipihr began to weep and clung to Dara’s legs. Father and son hugged each other tightly, with loud cries of grief. The slaves grew more threatening in their tone, and then tried to drag the boy away by the hand. At this Dara wiped his own tears and calmly appealed to the slaves to carry his entreaty to his brother to leave Sipihr Shukoh with him. But they scornfully replied, “We cannot be anybody’s messenger. We have only to carry out our orders.” Then with a sudden rush they tore away the boy from his father’s arms by sheer force, took him to a side-room, and prepared to despatch Dara. That Prince, knowing that his end was near, had already prepared for a last desperate struggle. He had secured a small penknife and concealed it in his pillow. Now he tore the cover open, grasped the knife, and attacked the slave who was advancing to seize him. This small instrument was driven with such force into the wretch’s side that it stuck fast in the bones. Dara tugged at it, but in vain. Then he flung himself blindly on them, dealing blows with his fist right and left. But the slaves were accustomed to such bloody work; they fell on him in a body and seized and over-powered him.
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The scene of the murder of Dara.
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All this time Sipihr Shukoh's agonised shrieks were reaching his father's ears. A minute after the room grew still; the daggers of the slaves finished the work; the struggle ended in a pool of blood.
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The severed head was sent to Aurangzib, to satisfy him that his rival was really dead, and that no fraud or substitution of victims had taken place. By Aurangzib's order the corpse was placed on an elephant, paraded through the streets of the city a second time, and then buried in a vault under the dome of the tomb of Humayun, without the customary washing and dressing of the body, without a funeral procession following it. Beside him lies not only that royal ancestor, but also two of his grand-uncles, the younger sons of Akbar.[*]
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Two centuries rolled by, and then the dynasty of the Great Mughal closed in a still bloodier scene. On 22nd September 1857, not far from the spot where the mangled remains of Dara Shukoh were laid in earth, Princes Mirza Mughal, Mirza Quraish Sultan, and Mirza Abu Bakht, the sons and grandson of the last Emperor of Delhi, and one of them his chosen heir, were shot dead in cold blood by a foreign soldier, as devoid of principle as of pity, while they were vainly protesting their innocence and crying for an inquiry into their past conduct.[*] The bodies of the last of the legitimate Timurids were flung like carcases on the terrace of the Police Office and exposed to the public gaze, as Dara's had been. In brothers' flood did Aurangzib mount to the throne, and in the blood of his children's children did the royal name pass away from his race.
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∗ For the murder and burial of Dara, Masum, 143b-145b (most graphic account, followed by me); Bernier, 102; Tavernier, i. 354; Storia, i. 358; Kambu, 24a; A. N. 432-433; Khafi Khan, ii. 87 (all very brief.) The popular story of the insult done to his severed head by Aurangzib, rests solely on the doubtful authority of Bernier and Manucci. Masum says,—"When the head was carried to Aurangzib he said, 'As I did not look at this infidel's face in his lifetime, I do not wish to do it now.'" (145b).
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∗ "Unscrupulous, unprincipled,...[Hodson] was a man without fear, if not without reproach....In slaying them as he did he was guilty of an outrage against humanity." Holmes's *Indian Mutiny* (4th ed.), 372, 377. "The spirit of the condottiere now came into play [in Hodson's mind.] A more brutal or a more unnecessary outrage was never committed....Not a single item of evidence had been adduced to substantiate the charge [that the princes had instigated the massacre of Europeans in May.]" Malleson's *Indian Mutiny* (ed. of 1879), ii. 77, 80. With their dying breath the princes vainly appealed to Hodson to make a *tahqiq* (investigation) into their conduct, before shooting them.
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