Jehangir a prisoner.

CHAPTER V. Jehangir was helpless; he was mounted on an elephant and guarded with Rajpoots; otherwise he was treated with the respect due to the Padishah. At heart he was glad to be rid of Núr Mahal and Asof Khan; he said as much to Mahábat Khan ; what sorrows he had he drowned in wine and opium. Núr Mahal was like a tigress robbed of her prey. She had crossed the river, but re-crossed it. She made a desperate effort to recover Jehangir; there was no standing against the Rajpoots. In the end she was taken prisoner with her brother Asof Khan.

Mahábat Khan

deluded.

Escape of Núr Mahal and Jehangir.

supreme;

The

Meantime the authority of Mahábat Khan was the whole army obeyed him. He was no rebel; he meant no harm to Jehangir; he sought to clear his honour and be revenged on Núr Mahal. The death of Núr Mahal was becoming a state necessity; she had engulfed the empire. monster multitude exclaimed against her; Mahábat Khan and many of the nobles assented to her execution. She had one resource left; she craved permission to take farewell of Jehangír. She was reluctantly admitted; she won over Jehangir; he implored Mahábat Khan to release her. Mahábat Khan could not disobey. He had been gulled into the belief that Jehangir would never leave him. Probably he hesitated to take the life of a woman.

Núr Mahal regained her liberty; she found intrigues ready to her hand. The antagonism between Mussulman and Rajpoot was growing fiercer day by day. It led to treacheries, brawls, and murders. She emptied the coffers of Jehangir; she raised an army to fight against the Rajpoots; she formed a strong league of Moghuls and Afghans against the

Rajpoots. The history is very obscure; the action CHAPTER V. of the Moghuls is uncertain; to all appearance Núr Mahal was working the Afghans against the Rajpoots. At this crisis Jehangir fled from Mahábat Khan and joined the army of Núr Mahal.

joins Shah

Jehan.

Mahábat Khan was taken aback. He had been Mahabat Khan befooled by Jehangir; he soon found that Jehangír was still the slave of Núr Mahal. He received a peremptory order from Jehangir to release Asof Khan. He obeyed, but obedience availed him nothing. Núr Mahal set all his enemies against him. Parwíz died at this time, or he would have joined Parwíz. He fled to the Rana of Udaipur; Jehangir demanded his surrender. In this extremity Mahábat Khan baffled all his enemies; he marched off to the Dekhan; he joined his forces to those of Shah Jehan.

hangir, 1627.

Amidst this round of intrigues and treacheries Death of JeJehangir was sinking to his grave. He was sixty years of age. He had gone to Kashmír in the hot months of 1627; asthma forced him to return. Death overtook him on the way. He again nominated Buláki to succeed him on the throne. He died on the twelfth of October, 1627.

Mahal: coron

The power of Núr Mahal was gone in a moment. Fall of Nur It was based upon the doting fondness of Jehangir; ation of Buláki. it vanished with his last breath. She had no genius, no policy. She was guided only by a vindictive temper which shut her eyes to consequences. She blindly espoused the cause of Shahryár. She blindly drove Mahábat Khan into the arms of Shah Jehan. Possibly there were springs of action in her feminine nature which are hidden from the historian. Roe hints at an early amour between Núr Mahal and

CHAPTER V. Shah Jehan. Herbert says more distinctly that she would have had an amour with the son of Mahábat Khan, but for her hatred towards the father. Shahryár was a fool; possibly she had a passion for Shahryár. She was suspected of having poisoned Parwíz and Jehangir. On the death of Jehangir, she sent Shahryár with a body of horse to secure Lahore. Meantime she was suspected of plotting against the lives of Buláki, and her own brother Asof Khan. The result was that the army turned against her. Buláki was enthroned at Delhi; Asof Khan carried him in triumph to Lahore. Shahryár hazarded a battle; he was betrayed by his own captains; he was taken prisoner and confined in the fortress of Lahore. He was deprived of his eyes, and would have been deprived of his life, but for the intercession of Buláki.

Short reign of
Buláki, 1627-8.

Pretended

Jehan, 1628.

For a brief period Buláki was emperor of Hindustan. An army was sent against Núr Mahal. There was treachery in her camp; her troubles had crushed her spirit. She dismissed her guard and threw herself on the mercy of Buláki. The young Padishah assured her of safety and protection. Throughout his short reign of three months she was treated with every respect and consideration. Buláki moved his court to Agra; he was accompanied by Asof Khan; the object was to be nearer Shah Jehan ; to compel Shah Jehan to tender his submission.

Meantime there was an under current of intrigue funeral of Shah in favour of Shah Jehan. Asof Khan had been forced to place Buláki upon the throne; no other measure would have pacified the army and checkmated Núr Mahal. A plot was laid which could only occur to an oriental. It was given out

that Shah Jehan was dangerously ill; next that he CHAPTER V. was dead. Buláki was requested to permit Shah Jehan to be buried in the tomb of Akber. Nothing could have been more gratifying to Buláki than the burial of his rival. Mahábat Khan conducted an empty bier in sad procession to Agra. He was accompanied by a thousand of Shah Jehan's best officers. He was followed by Shah Jehan in disguise. He was joined on the way by squadrons of Rajpoots, as if to do honour to the ceremony. Buláki was persuaded to go out with a small escort to conduct his uncle's remains to the tomb of Akber. When he saw the vast procession he was frightened; he suspected a plot; he stole away to Lahore. The trumpets were sounded; Shah Jehan was proclaimed Padishah. He entered the fortress in triumph, amidst the acclamations of the people and army. In a moment Buláki was forgotten; in the same moment Shah Jehan began to reign.95

gains the

massacre.

There was no one left to oppose Shah Jehan Shah Jehan excepting the princes who had taken refuge in the throne: fortress at Lahore. The same villain that murdered Khuzru at Burhanpur was employed to murder the princes at Lahore. The tale of slaughter is hideous. Buláki and Shahryár were strangled. Two sons of Danyál, two sons of Murád, and two sons of Parwíz,

96

95 The story of the pretended funeral of Shah Jehan is told by Tavernier. It is confirmed by Catrou.

96 Herbert's Travels. Catrou tells the story differently. The death of Buláki is a mystery. Some authorities say he was killed; others, that he escaped into Persia. A man, calling himself Buláki, certainly escaped into Persia; the Duke of Holstein's ambassadors saw him there in 1637. At that time ambassadors from Shah Jehan to the Shah of Persia were demanding the surrender of the exile. The Shah refused to surrender him. To this day it is a question whether the fugitive was the real Buláki or an impostor; either way he would be dangerous to Shah Jehan. See " 'Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors,” by Adam Olearius, Secretary to the Embassy. Folio: London, 1669.

CHAPTER V. were murdered in like manner.

Their bodies were

buried in a garden at Lahore; their heads were sent

to the new Padishah.
waded through a sea
Hindustan.97

In this manner Shah Jehan

of blood to the throne of

97 The main authorities for the history of the closing years of the reign of Jehangír are Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels in India and Father Catrou's work on the Moghul sovereigns. The chronology is somewhat loose; there are conflicting statements as regards some of the dates. This difficulty is still greater in dealing with the reign of Shah Jehan. Fortunately no question of importance is involved. It is therefore considered unnecessary to trouble the reader with dates; they do not help the story; they only involve long disquisitions.