174 HISTORY OF AURANGZIB. [CHAP. IX. reference to the Prophet. After investigation and verifica- tion of the charge by order of the Emperor, Zulfiqar Khan and other officers of the place had beheaded him, as was required by justice. Now, the scholar Mulla Muhan has written to me that the brothers of the accursed mis- believer, out of bigotry, have sought justice at the Imperial Court against Shaikh Muhammad Muala, the lord justice, and Shaikh Abdul Mani, the ecclesiastical judge of the province. I, therefore, remind you of this affair, as it is proper for all Muslims to do their utmost to assert the rules of the Prophet's religion, and it is the duty of kings and nobles to protect the scholars of Islam in enforcing the injunctions of the Holy Law. You should exert yourself more than your peers to close the road of the complaint of this wretched tribe [to the Emperor's feet] and to take care of the letters (i.e., explanations) of the guardians of the honour of the Faith."* City of Auran- gabad described. The city of AURANGABADŤ bears the Prince's name and commemorates his first viceroyalty. Originally it was a petty hamlet named Khirki. When Malik Ambar revived the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar, he transferred the capital to this village, and built a palace
- Adab-i-Alamgiri, 101a.
+ This description of early Aurangabad is based on Dilkasha, 9, 11, 12, Tavernier, 1. 146, Masir-ul-umara, i. 263, ii. 60, Masir-i-Alamgiri, 223. Burgess, in his Cave Temples in the Bidar and Aurangabad Districts (p. 59) says: In 1616 Malik Ambar built at Khirki the Nurkhanda palace and mosque, and his army raised dwellings for themselves around it; ravaged and burnt by Jahangir's army in 1621. Malik Ambar's son Fath Khan named it Fatehnagar (1628). The black stone mosque built by Ambar is described in Murray's Hand-book to India. For a description of the city in 1810, see Seely's Wonders of Elora (2nd ed)., 367-369, 403. Digitized by Microsoft Ⓡ
