48 
H I N D O 
the fhrieks of forrow, were heard rifing indiscriminately 
together on this memorable occafion; and the palm of 
victory was feen blended with the funereal cyprefs. 
Aurungzebe loft no time in forwarding a pompous ac¬ 
count of thefe exploits to the emperor, his father, who 
was now holding his court at Agra. Emir Jemla was 
charged with thefe difpatches ; and he fo ingratiated him- 
felf wi'di the overjoyed fuftan, that he conferred upon him 
the high office of vizier. While Jemla remained at Agra, 
information was received of the death of Adil, king of 
Vifiapour; and that the officers of his court had, without 
aiking permiffion of the emperor, raifed his fon to the fo- 
vereignty. Shah Jehan, who coniidered the dominions of 
Vihapour as an appendage to his empire, highly relented 
this neglect. The new vizier was therefore ordered to 
march with twenty thoufand men into that kingdom, ar.d 
depofe the fon of Adil, till he fnould make his fubmiffion 
at the- court of Agra. On his arrival at Burhampour, he 
was joined by Aurungzebe, with all his forces. In the 
mean time, Aii, the vizier of the deceafed, and of the ex- 
ifting fovereign, had forefeen the impending ftorm, and 
hoped to guard againft its fury by levying a confiderable 
army. But he was totally defeated ; all the ftrorrg holds 
of the province furrendered ; the king, led by his minif- 
ter Ali, threw himfelf at the feet of the conqueror, and 
received a pardon on condition of paying down what, in 
our money, would be equal to one million eight hundred 
and feventy-five thoufand pounds! 
The tidings of this enormous acquifition of Wealth 
reached the palace of Agra, juft at the hour when Shah 
Jehan was feized with that dangerous malady, the relult 
of intemperance in his feraglio, which was the fignai for 
his four Tons to ruffi to war, and defolate the empire with 
their fanguinary contefts for the throne. The Tetter to 
conceal his views, and extinguiffi the jealoufy of his bro¬ 
thers, Aurungzebe affeCled the rigid aufterity of a Fa- 
keer, or Mohammedan derveifh. Being only the third Ion, 
and Dara, his elder brother, having been not only pub¬ 
licly proclaimed heir to the throne, but already inverted 
with a great ffiare of the imperial authority, he law in deep 
diffimuiation the only chance he had of attaining his ends. 
.The difeafe of the Sultan rendering him unable to attend 
to public bufinefs, Dara, of his own accord, mounted the 
throne, and affumed all the infignia of royalty. The vio¬ 
lence with which he acted, betrayed at once his hatred, and 
his lufpicions, of his brothers, and hurried on that cataftro- 
phe to which their affairs w-ere unhappily advancing. He 
forbad all perfons, on pain of death, from holding any cor- 
refpondence with his brothers. Their known agents in 
the capital were feized and imprifoned, and the property 
in their hands confifcated. In a public affembly he ex¬ 
patiated on the difloyalty of his brothers; and from in¬ 
tercepted letters unfolded their defigns, and deprecated 
the horrors of a civil war. He declared his firm refolu- 
tion not to abandon a throne which heaven and his father 
had affigned him. An army proportionate to the emer¬ 
gency of the cafe was immediately afiembled; and he 
Seemed anxious to rifque the fate, of the empire on the 
event of a bloody and unnatural war. 
The emperor’s fecond fon Sujah, who had accumulated 
great power in Bengal during his long government of that 
province, was the firft who appeared in the field; and he 
juftified his conduct by the violent meafures of his bro- ' 
tber Dara. He had attached to himfelf many of the great 
omrahs about the court; his refources were extenlive, and 
his army formidable. He iffued a manifefto, declaring 
that he was inarching to revenge the injuftice done to his 
father, and to dethrone the parricide; and for this pur- 
pofe he advanced with his army to the ftrong pofition of 
Benares. 
While the two elder brothers were thus meditating to 
deftroy each other, the wily and fagacious Aurungzebe 
determined to ftep in between, and feize the glittering 
prize for which all were contending; and the better to 
infure fuccels, he hoped £o unite the army, the valour, 
O S T A N. 
and the refources, of his younger brother Morad, vAtli 
thofe of his own. He therefore difpatched to that young 
prince, in Guzerat, letters at once importunate and affec¬ 
tionate, informing him, that as he himfelf, from religious 
motives, declined being a candidate for the imperial dig¬ 
nity ; and as he wholly disapproved of the acceffion of 
either of their eider brothers—of the firft, from his vio¬ 
lent temper and utter indifference about all religion; of 
the fecond, from his being a declared heretic, and poffefT- 
ing but a moderate fhare of intellect—he was refolved to 
throw all the weight of his influence into the fcale of Mo¬ 
rad, who, from his united bravery, ability, and benevo¬ 
lent principles, was, in his contemplation, alone worthy 
to fit on the throne of their immortal anceftor, Tamerlane v 
the Great: and with refpect to himfelf, the utmoft he 
defired was, that when, by their joint exertions, the crown 
fhould be lecured to, Morad, he fliould grant him fome 
reclufe comer of the empire, where-he might pafs the re¬ 
mainder of his days in religious retirement and devotion, 
as became a good and virtuous Muffulman. He accom¬ 
panied thefe letters with one, hundred thoufand rupees, 
apologizing for the fmallnefs of the fum, but advifed him, 
without delay, to feize on the caftle of Surat, where the 
imperial treafure was depofited, and employ the whole in 
railing mercenaries to reinforce his army; and then to 
meet him, with all his forces, at Ujein, in their way to 
feize the capital. 
Morad, blinded by ambition, and beguiled by thefe fpe- 
cious artifices of Aurungzebe, inftantly put his army in. 
motion, feized Surat and the imperial treafure, levied a 
great number of frefh troops, and, having caufed himfelf 
to be proclaimed emperor of Hindooftan, haftened to meet 
his brother at the place of rendezvous. But before the 
junction of the two armies, which took place on the banks 
of the Nerbudda,.the troops of Dara had been Sufficiently- 
aClive to gain poffefiion of Ujein, before the allied bro¬ 
thers could gain that port. The army of Dara was com¬ 
manded by Kaffim Khan and Jeffwunt Sing, two gene¬ 
rals of great military reputation, and firmly attached to 
the interefts of Dara. Shah Jehan, who yet lived ftrug- 
gling with his infirmity, and anxious to preferve the lives 
of his children, by announcing to them a profpect of his 
recovery, lent pofitive orders, in letters authenticated by 
his own fignattire, for them to return peaceably to their 
refpeCtive viceroyalties. But the meffengers were de¬ 
tained as prifoners, and the letters treated only as a for¬ 
gery of Dara. The refult was a battle, fought on the 
banks of the Nerbudda, in which the confederated princes 
were completely victorious. Aurungzebe and Morad 
now entered Ujein in triumph ; from whence the latter, 
in the pride of his exultation, infilled on proceeding with¬ 
out delay to Agra; but the more prudent Aurungzebe 
convinced him of the neceffity of halting there for fome 
days, both to refresh the army, and to obtain intelligence 
of what turn political affairs were now likely to take in 
that city. 
In Bengal, the other detachment cf Dara’s troops had 
been more fortunate, which had been fent againft his next 
brother Sujah. The two armies’got in fight of each other 
on the oppofite banks of the Ganges ; and, Sujah not ex- 
pefting an enemy, the difcipline of, his army was rather 
relaxed, and his camp not ftriClly guarded. The troops 
of Dara, therefore, commanded by his fon Soliman, dis¬ 
covered a fordable place for cavalry higher up the river, 
and, eroding in the dead of night, he rufhed furioufly on 
the enemy, buried in profound flumber, and totally un¬ 
prepared for refiftance. Sujah, roufed by the clafhing of 
Swords, and the cries of the wounded, ftarted from his 
bed in aftonifhment. He was foon armed, and on horSe- 
back ; and at the head of his guards charged the enemy 
with heroic fury; but it was too late; his veteran troops 
were, cut to pieces, or driven into the river, and the prince 
himfelf with difficulty made his efcape in a canoe, nor flop¬ 
ped till he reached the ftrong fort of Mongeer. Soliman 
continued for fome time in Bengal; and clofely inverted 
the 
