Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c55.s4.4

v4.c55.s4.4

“The Pādishāh at present has 27 male children, all alive and swarming. . . It is reckoned that today in the fortress of Delhi there are more than 80 Shāhzāda prisoners, who are all provided with wives and most of them with children. . . Some of these Shāhzādas have only one rupee a day as subsistence allowance, others have two, three, four or five. . . All these princes of the blood imperial lead an extremely unhappy life; the money destined for their subsistence is not always regularly paid.”