History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v2.c28.3

v2.c28.3

Sulaiman Shukoh ordered to join Dara, news of Dara's downfall produced the greatest excitement in his son's army; the soldiers were distracted or openly hostile to the fallen cause; the road to Delhi was long and would soon be blocked by Aurangzib's men. What was Sulaiman Shukoh to do? The youthful Prince, bewildered by the calamity, took counsel with Jai Singh. The Rajput general advised him either to push on to Delhi or to fall back on Allahabad and there wait within its sheltering walls for news of his father. For himself, Jai Singh openly refused to follow the losing side any longer; he would go away with his troops and join the new Emperor. The hapless Sulaiman waited another day and held a second consultation. Dilir Khan, the Afghan general, advised him to cross the Ganges at Allahabad, go to Shahjahanpur, the home of a large Afghan colony, and there raising an army of his clansmen wait for fresh developments. Only on such condition was he willing to accompany the Prince. Sulaiman had no help but to obey. So, he ordered a retreat from Allahabad (4th June). But meantime Jai Singh had convinced Dilir Khan of the folly of such unselfish devotion; these two generals with their contingents parted company with the Prince at Korah, and so also did all the other Imperial officers and many newly enlisted troops* whose home was in this doab country. Only 6,000 men, less than a third of Sulaiman’s army, accompanied him in the retreat to Allahabad, under the guidance of his guardian, the faithful Baqi Beg. While he should have flown on wings to his father’s side, if he was to reach him at all, he wasted a week’s time here in distraction, daily consultation, and the maturing of conflicting plans. He was burdened with a harem of women and “furniture and articles of pomp beyond imagination.” Couches of gold, chairs of gold and silver, jewellery, gold plate, rich clothing,—in short every gift that a loving father and a doting grandfather could bestow on him on his first campaign, accompanied him and impeded his march. He could not carry them and yet he was loath to leave them. Some advised him to seize and govern the country from Allahabad to Patna and there build up an independent power. Others counselled him to retreat to Patna and by joining Shuja raise a strong force against Aurangzib. But the Syeds of Barha, who were among Dara’s chief followers, pressed him to make a wide loop round Delhi, march by the northern side of the Ganges, through their home the Middle Doab, and then cross the Ganges and the Jumna at the foot of the hills, near Nagina and Saharanpur, in order to reach Dara in the Panjab without fear of interception by Aurangzib’s forces.