Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/22

16 possessed a set of travelling tents, made in Kashmír, which took two months to pitch in succession. His coronation anniversaries were kept with the utmost splendour and extravagance. On these festivals he was weighed in the Mughal fashion against the precious metals, and bowls of costly jewels were poured over him, all of which, to the value of a million and a half, were ordered to be distributed to the people on the following day. Yet with all his magnificence, Sháh-Jahán was never arrogant. He discontinued the obnoxious ceremonial of prostration before the royal presence; and he was renowned for his kindness and benevolence, which endeared him to the people. No other Mughal Emperor was ever so beloved as Sháh-Jahán.

As he grow old, his benevolence and popularity did not decrease, but he abandoned himself more and more to pleasure, and allowed himself to be managed by his children. His favourite wife, the lady of the Táj, had died in 1631, in giving birth to their fourteenth child, and her husband had centred his affection upon his eldest daughter, Jahán-Ára, with so much fervour as to cause no little scandal, while he also denied himself none of the more transitory joys of the zenána. He had been a grave stern man in his prime, an energetic soldier, and a prudent counsellor: at the age of sixty-four he was a sensual pleasure-loving pageant of royalty, given over to ease and the delights of the eye: —