322 HISTORY OF AURANGZIB. [CHAP. XIII. proof of his treason. The minister read it, and, fearless through consciousness of his own inno- cence and good service, he scoffed at his rivals who had forged such a clumsy instrument, and taxed his master with lack of wisdom in not be- ing able to see through the forgery and to know his true friends from his foes. by Murad. This was too much for Murad, who had been so long quivering with pent-up and is murdered wrath. Starting up he ran Ali Naqi through with his spear, shouting, "Wretch! in spite of all my favours you have turned such a traitor!" The eunuchs present fell on the unhappy victim and completed their master's work. The reign which began with this tragedy was to end in one equally horrible. For the murder of Ali Naqi, Murad had to atone with his own life-blood, four years later, in a dismal prison, before the pitiless eyes of enemies,
- If we can trust Khafi Khan's gossip, Ali Naqi fell a
victim to a faqir's curse. "Ali Naqi was so strict in ad- ministration and chastisement that for a trivial fault he would order the offender's bile to be squeezed out. One day they brought to him a faqir arrested on suspicion of theft, and the minister, without making any investigation, ordered his bile to be pressed out. The faqir under torture turned his face to the heavens and cried out, 'You are slaying me unjustly. I pray that you too may meet with a similar fate under suspicion.' But we must remember that a faqir's garb is the commonest of all disguises in India and the one first adopted by criminals trying to escape the officers of justice. 993 Digitized by Microsoft Ⓡ
