other chance. Sháh-Jahán had missed his opportunity when he was dissuaded from putting himself at the head of Dárá's army and compelling the submission of the opposing forces, who were still loyal to their Emperor. He missed it again when be neglected to come out in state, surrounded by his nobles and retinue, and compel the filial homage of his sons on the field of their victory. The luxurious old epicure had lost his chances, and exposed his weakness of purpose. To restore such a man to power meant the recall of Dárá and the revival of the horrors of civil war. Even to be friendly with him, and visit him in his palace, was to court assassination at the hands of the imperial guards, or the 'large and robust' Tatar amazons of the seraglio – so Aurangzíb was warned by his faithful sister Raushan-Árá. There was but one possible course: the weak-kneed Emperor must be made a prisoner. The trap which Sháh-Jahán laid, to ensnare his son to his ruin, caught the old king himself. Instead of Aurangzíb coming to be murdered, his son Muhammad entered the fortress on the 18th June, 1658, overcame the guard, and turned the palace into a prison. Aurangzíb pretended, in his excess of political prudence, that the detention was only temporary, and that he hoped to see his father again restored to power as soon as the evil machinations of Dárá should be finally suppressed. But this was mere talk, intended to reconcile the people to the deposition of a popular sovereign: and it must be allowed that they were very speedily consoled. Sháh-
