Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c21.s1.5

v2.c21.s1.5

In February 1756, when Hazrat Begam, the daughter of Muhammad Shah, reached her 16th year, she excited the passion of Alamgir II. The old goat, now verging on sixty, shamelessly demanded her hand for himself and threatened her guardian, the ex-Empress Malika-i-zamani, saying, "Either consent to give her to me in marriage, or I shall take her by force." The girl replied, "I prefer death to [such a] marriage... I regard you as my father, and you too should look upon me in the same light as your three daughters. If you use force, I shall kill myself." The baffled suitor wreaked his vengeance by ordering the gates of the princess's quarters to be closed, so as to force her into isolation from the rest of the palace. Still later, on 1 September 1758, he married Zinat-afroz Begam, when his own health was so broken that he had fainting fits and was unable to move in the midst of a march with his wazir. [TALS. 67, 185-186.]