History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c38.s4.11

v3.c38.s4.11

A bench of Muslim theologians sat in judgment over Sarmad and doomed him to death ``on account of his nakedness,'' as Aurangzib's servant Aqil Khan Razi says, or because frequently words opposed to the Holy Law were uttered by him,"* as a Hindu writer 80 years afterwards affirmed. But Sarmad's refusal to cover his lower limbs could hardly have been the ground for passing the death sentence on him, because we read of no Hindu Naga *sannyasi* or Jain Digambar monk being beheaded by order of Aurangzib for the same offence. The real reason was political; as even a modern apologist of Aurangzib† admits, "His friendship for Dara Shukoh, whose accession to the empire he is said to have foretold, made him politically a suspect."