Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c21.s5.38

v2.c21.s5.38

The hopeless poverty of the Emperor subjected him to deepening distress and insult. Only a month and a half after his accession, he had no conveyance left for the State procession to the place of the Id prayer.* The contrast between his miserable plight and the magnificence of his ancestors became painfully manifest when he held his birthday Court in the Diwan-i-am. The Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan, resplendent with gold and gems, had been lost, and its place was taken by an imitation in wood, with the figures of gold chasing and gems represented by paint !