290
llISTOItV OF INDIA.
[Book II.
Tomb of Shah Jehan in the Taje Mahal.' — Oriental Drawing, E. I. Hou^e.
AD. i65». without being oppre.s,sive, were so ably and economically managed during SI. ah Jehan's reign, that in addition to vast accumulations of plate and jewellery,
I he left to the value of
about twenty millioas sterling in coiiL
Aurungzebe was no sooner seated on tlie throne than he endea- voured to make it secure by cni.shing his competi- tors. Dara, after a short halt at Delhi, had pro- ceeded to Lahore, and was busily employed in Adventures raising an army with the money obtained there from the royal treasury, when
of Diira.
he leai-ned that Aurungzebe was already at his heels. Conscious of his inability to encounter him, he quitted Lahore at the head of 4000 men, and made for Scinde by way of Mooltan. He was saved from pursuit by the advance of his brother Shuja from Bengal, at the head of a force so formidable that Aurungzebe thought his presence was immediately required. He accordingly returned to Dellai, and, having made the necessary preparations, marched south-east past Etawah, in the direction of Allahabad. The armies met at Cajwah, about midway between these cities. Shuja held a strong position which he was not disposed to quit, and several days elapsed before the decisive struggle took place. It was commenced by Shuja, who, advancing at siinrise on the 6th of January, 1659, proceeded amidst a furious cannonade to close action. The contest was manfully maintained till Aiirimgzebe, who had repeatedly been in imminent danger, succeeded in forcing the enemy's centre. Shuja was in conse(i[uence completely defeated, with the loss of 1 1 -t cannon and a niunber of elephants. Closely pursued by Mahomed Sultan, Aurungzebe's son, and Mir Jumla, he continued his flight, and never halted till he reached Bengal. His cii.sasters Dara meanwhile had arrived in Scinde, where he found his ranks so much
an<l tragical
fate thinned by desertion, that, to escape capture by a detachment which had been
following on his track, he had crossed the desert to Cutch. After a short stay here he entered Gujerat, and by the influence of Shah Nawaz Khan, its governor, had become master of the whole province, including the important towns of Surat and Baroach. His prospects thus brightening, he opened a communication with the princes of the Deccan, and also with Jeswant Sing,
twenty-two years. Tlie mausoleum and all the build- ings that appertain to it cost 3,17,48026 (three crore, seventeen lacks, forty-eight thousand and twenty-si.x rupees, or £3,174,802 sterling." — Sleenian's Rambles and Recollections hy an Indian Official.
' On the queen's tombstone are passages from the Koran, amidst -wreaths of flowers; on her husband's, onlj- his name and date of death, and mosaic of flowers. The tombs are witliiu a screen of trellis-work of white marble, a chef-d'oeuvre of elegance in Indian art.
