Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/30

24 in interesting the great Mahárája of Márwár, Jaswant Singh, in his cause. He professed himself a Shí'í, or follower of 'Alí, in order to secure the adhesion of the powerful Persian lords. But he had a fatal weakness: he was too much a slave to his pleasures; and once surrounded by his women, who were exceedingly numerous, he would pass whole days and nights in dancing, singing, and drinking wine. He presented his favourites with rich robes, and increased or diminished their allowances as the passing fancy of the moment prompted. No courtier who consulted his own interest would attempt to detach him from this mode of life: the business of government [he was viceroy of Bengal] therefore often languished, and the affections of his subjects were in a great measure alienated. ' It is recorded of the great Khalif Al-Mansúr, the true founder of the 'Abbásid empire, that when he was engaged in a war, he never looked upon the face of woman till he had triumphed. Shujá' might well have emulated his example. No Mughal sovereign who shut himself up in the seraglio, and neglected to show himself constantly to his subjects and listen to their complaints, had any chance of retaining his ascendancy over them. Shujá's zenána was the prison of his career.

Murád-Bakhsh, the youngest son of Sháh-Jahán, was a gallant swashbuckler, brave as a lion, frank