Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c16.s8.29

v1.c16.s8.29

The new Emperor immediately ordered his predecessor to be brought under arrest. Saifullah with his Badakhshis entered the harem by the Khās-mahal porch and discovered Ahmad and his mother hiding among the trees of the small garden in front of the Rang-mahal. The soldiers first seized the ex-Emperor and confined him in a room outside, and then throwing a *shāl* to cover his mother’s face dragged her into the same prison. Mother and son were not parted in this their last adversity. The fallen monarch cried out for water in the agony of thirst and mental anguish. Saifullah held up to his lips some water put in the sherd of a broken earthen pot lying in the dust there, and the King of Kings of an hour ago was glad to drink from it. “What a revolution of fortune!” cries the annalist of his reign.