History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s4: § 4. Shah Alam imprisoned.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s4
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§ 4. Shah Alam imprisoned.
v4.c68.s4.1
Aurangzib acted promptly. Shah Alam's own contingent was sent to the front on the pretext of meeting an expected night-attack, while imperial troops took their place as guards round the Prince's camp. Next morning (21st February), Shah Alam with his four sons was invited to the Emperor's tent for consultation. After a few minutes' talk with him, they were asked by the wazir to step into a side-room (the chapel) with him to hear some secret instructions of the Emperor. There they were politely asked to consider themselves as prisoners and surrender their swords. Shah Alam readily submitted; but his eldest son Muizz-ud-din had more spirit; he laid his hand on the hilt of his sword and looked up to his father for a signal to draw it and make a dash for liberty. But Shah Alam's answer was an angry frown and a stern order to obey. The Prince's entire family was imprisoned, his property attached, his troops distributed among other commands, and his trusted eunuchs tortured to make them divulge their master's treasonable plots. The more the Prince protested his innocence, the more did the Emperor's anger flame up; he increased the rigours of Shah Alam's captivity and ordered that he should not be allowed to cut his hair or pare his nails, nor be supplied with delicate food, cooling drinks or his customary dress. It was seven years before the Prince recovered his liberty.
v4.c68.s4.2
Aurangzib's mortification at this stern necessity was extreme. His eldest son had been put in prison and had died a captive. His eldest daughter, the gifted poetess Zeb-un-nisa, had been doomed to lifelong confinement in the State-prison of Delhi. And now his eldest surviving son had to be punished similarly. After the arrest of the Prince, the Emperor hurriedly broke up his Court, ran to his wife Aurangabadi Mahal, and kept slapping his knees and moaning, "Alas! Alas! I have razed to the ground what I had been rearing up for the last forty years." (M.A. 294.)