158 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



tractable. Shah Jehan is said to have given 200,000 rupees 

 in charity as a thank-offering, and to have awarded important 

 court oflBces to the sons of the man who had so courageously 

 saved his life and that of the prince.* 



A favourite sport of Shah Jehan was to pit two of his 

 war elephants against each other, and this led on one occa- 

 sion to grave peril for his son and successor, Aurengzeb. 

 The two elephants chosen had been incited to action, not 

 always an easy task, for the animal in its normal state is 

 anything but ferocious. Not improbably an exciting drink 

 of some kind had been administered, as was customary in 

 bracing up the courage of war elephants before a battle. 

 The action had scarcely been engaged when one of the pair 

 sought temporary safety in flight, the other elephant charged 

 in pursuit, and as Aurengzeb, then a youth of fourteen, had 

 urged his horse quite near to the fighting elephants, the beast 

 singled him out for attack in default of his fleeing opponent. 

 Nothing daunted and forcing his trembling steed to stand 

 still, the young prince hurled a spear at the oncoming ele- 

 phant. Of course this failed to check its onset, and with 

 one thrust of its sharp tusks it dashed Aurengzeb 's mount to 

 the ground. Still fearless, the prince rose quickly and drew 

 his sword, but fortunately for him assistance was at hand, 

 and he was rescued. When reproached later by his father 

 for his foolhardiness he replied : " If the fight had ended fatally 

 for me it would not have been a matter of shame. Death 

 drops the curtain even over emperors; it is no dishonour. 

 The shame lay in what my brothers did"t — meaning 

 that they ought not to have interfered to save him. This 

 incident occurred on May 28, 1633. One of Shah Jehan's 

 most valued elephants had been yielded to him by the 



*"Les six voyages de Jean Baptiste Ta vernier," Paris, 1678-9, Vol. II, p. 199, Voyages 

 des Indes, Liv. I, chap, xviii. 



tjadunath Sarkar, "History of Aurengzeb," Calcutta, 1912, Vol. I, pp. 9-12. 



