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.[1] But he corresponded frequently with Shuja and Murad, especially 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, Aurangzib 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."[2]
On leaving Bidar, Aurangzib's plan at first was He waits in uncertainty for news of Shah Jahan's condition. to go to Pathri, some 120 miles north, where the road for Burhanpur and Hindustan branches off from that leading to Aurangabad. If he heard of Shah Jahan's death on the
