Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/65

Rh Shukóh, and Aurangzíb's eldest son Muhammad, who in a rash moment had gone over to the side of his uncle Shujá', and repented of it in prison till he died in 1676. Murád-Bakhsh, who had also been removed there, attempted to escape, and was in consequence tried on an old count of murder and executed in December, 1661. Two daughters of Aurangzíb were given in marriage to the prisoners: one was allotted to the younger son of Dárá, and a similar consolation was awarded to the son of Murád-Bakhsh. It seemed that old sores did not rankle with these complaisant bridegrooms.

There remained no further obstacle in the path of Aurangzíb. He had already assumed the insignia of royalty. He had indeed first been hastily proclaimed Emperor in the garden of Shálimár outside Delhi, in the last days of July, 1658, without asserting the prerogatives of sovereignty, the coinage and public Prayer for the King. But on the 26th of May, 1659, he had formally ascended the throne in state.