160 
LIVES OF THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 
of the Afghan sovereigns ; and there is little doubt 
but here many victims of Sultan Ibrahim’s cruelty 
expiated some mere imputed crime with the loss of 
life or liberty. 
The Selim Ghur, or state-prison, appears on the 
right-hand side of the picture, and is united to the 
fort of Shahjehanabad, the modem city, or New Delhi, 
as it is now called, by a strong stone bridge. The 
bastions projecting from the wall towards the river, 
and sloping upwards from the base, have precisely 
the character of an Afghan or Patan structure. It 
is separated from the opposite fortress, a beautiful 
specimen of the later Mohammedan architecture,* by 
the river Jumna. Its aspect is extremely gloomy. The 
top is now overgrown with stunted trees, which put 
forth their sickly vegetation as if they were emblems 
of the misery which once reigned within those dim 
and murky walls. The opposite edifice is a fine 
contrast to the repelling gloom of the Selim Ghur: 
the tall central tower, surrounded by splendid balco- 
nies rising majestically from the solid octagonal mass 
beneath, has an imposing effect, either from the river 
or the opposite plain. Since the dilapidation of the 
former pile, certain hill-forts have been converted 
into state-prisons. Within their dark and silent 
chambers the sanguinary work of despotism has been 
frequently done in secret, and no record has remained 
to chronicle the tale of blood. 
So numerous had been the victims of Sultan Ibra- 
him’s cruelties, that, actuated by their terrors, the 
* This fortress was built by Shah Jehan, a descendant from 
Baber in the fourth degree. 
