CHAP. IX.] ILL-TREATMENT OF HINDUS. 173. narrow valley, and the herons were struck down by trained hawks.** It was during his second rule over the Deccan that Aurangzib clearly unfolded not only his administrative skill and energy, but also the limitations of his character which finally blight- ed his fame and wrecked his empire. We have already seen him boasting how he had destroy- ed the temple on a hill six miles south of Aurangabad. He is taxed by Shah Jahan with being unfriendly to the Rajputs, and tries to answer the charge by recommending a Rajput captain, Rao Karan,† to an administrative post. Evidently there was no love lost between him and the Raj- puts already. People perceive instinctively when they are disliked, and though they may be wrong in guessing the cause, their feeling always indicate correctly the spirit in which they are being treated. Early examples of his religious bigotry. A clearer proof of his religious bigotry even in youth is furnished by the following letter which he wrote at this time to the prime minister Sadullah Khan : "The Brahman Chhabila Ram, the qanungo of property- tax of the city of Bihar, had uttered improper words with
- Dilkasha, 12 and 49. Ruqat-i-Alamgiri, Nos. 12
and 28. + Adab, 29a. Digitized by Microsoft Ⓡ
