CHAP. XIV.] RETURN TO MUGHAL TERRITORY. 349 and the mother of three of his sons had died at Aurangabad on the 8th of the month.
Shah Jahan had ordered Aurangzib to stay at Bidar; but the prince now got a plausible excuse for marching to Aurangabad, viz., to console his children newly bereaved of their mother. For some weeks after leaving Bidar he did not write any letter to the Emperor, nor give any reason for his return to Aurangabad. But he corres- ponded frequently with Shuja and Murad, espe- cially the latter, who was nearest to him, and thus built up an alliance against Dara. Murad's first letter, sent with a confidential servant named Muhammad Raza on 19th October, had crossed Aurangzib's letter to him (written about the 15th). And now, assured of his support, Aurang- zib sent him the key to a cypher in which their future correspondence was to be conducted, as "prudence is needful, and writing in the ordinary alphabet is not proper." On leaving Bidar, Aurangzib's plan at first was He waits in un- certainty for news of Shah Jahan's condition. to go to Pathri, some 120 miles north, where the road for Bur- hanpur and Hindustan branches off from that leading to Auran- gabad. If he heard of Shah Jahan's death on the
- Adab, 198a and b.
+ Aurangzib to Murad (Adab, 169a-170a), to Shuja (Adab, 170a-171a). Murad to Aurangzib (Faiyaz, 413-435). Digitized by Microsoft Ⓡ
