Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/29

Rh nominally a Muhammadan in outward forms, he was really all things to all men, and prided himself on his breadth of view; accepting philosophical ideas from the Bráhmans who lived upon his bounty, and lending a sympathetic ear to the religious suggestions of the Reverend Father Buzée of the Company of Jesus. He wrote treatises on comparative theology, in which he maintained that 'infidelity' and Islám were almost twin sisters.

It has been suggested that Dárá’s wide religious sympathies were assumed for political reasons, in order to win over the tributary Rájas, and the Christians who furnished all the best gunners for the artillery, with a view to the coming struggle for the throne: but it is more likely that he was honestly trying, according to his lights, to tread the path wherein Akbar had walked. As will be seen, Dárá's 'emancipated' ideas did him more harm than good, and formed a pretext for his destruction. But apart from his creed, or agnosticism, he was a nervous, sensitive, impulsive creature, full of fine feelings and vivid emotions, never master of himself or of others, and liable to lose his self-control just when cool judgement was most necessary. He might have been a poet or a transcendental philosopher; he could never have become a Ruler of India.

His next brother, Shujá', had more will and less elevation of character than Dárá. He was brave, discreet, subtle, and a dexterous diplomatist. He knew how to bribe the Hindú chiefs, and succeeded