History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c40.s5.1

v3.c40.s5.1

During the first year of his captivity a very acrimonious correspondence passed between father and son. Throughout the controversy Aurangzib poses as the champion of Islam and good government, as the humble instrument of God in the work of reform and popular beneficence; he condemns his father's incompetent and unjust rule, and defends his own conduct with all the mingled self-righteousness and affected humility of a Pharisee.* To the charge of being an unnatural son and a rebel, he replies thus :