CHAP. V.] PRAYS DURING BATTLE. 107 arrived when the battle was at its hottest; Aurangzib spread his carpet on the field, knelt down and calmly said his prayers, regardless of the strife and din around him. He was then, as during the rest of the campaign, without armour and shield. The Bukhara army gazed on the scene with wonder, and Abdul Aziz, in generous admiration, stopped the fight, crying, "To fight with such a man is to court one's own ruin."* The Bukhara king could no longer pay and Uzbak melts away. army keep his vast host together. The hope of an easy plunder of the Imperialists had brought his men together. That design having failed they were eager to return home. The Turko- mans in particular sold their horses to the Imperial army and decamped across the Oxus.† Overtures of peace. Abdul Aziz proposed that Balkh should be delivered to his younger brother Subhan Quli, as Shah Jahan had publicly offered to restore the country to their father. Aurangzib referred the question to the Emperor, and Abdul Aziz left the neighbourhood of Balkh, and from Khulm turned sharply to the crossing the
- Masir-i-Alamgiri, 531; Abdul Hamid, ii. 704.
† Abdul Hamid, ii. 701 & 702, 708. Digitized by Microsoft Ⓡ
