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 Abdul Qadir, and such other of his sons as might be fit for service, they would be honoured with commands. The message also conveyed to Abdur Razzaq himself the offer of a command, which the wounded man respectfully declined. He had, he said, little hope of life, and even if he lived his shattered body could be of little service to the emperor, apart from the consideration that he regarded the short span of life still remaining to him as due to his master, Abul Hasan, for whom he would cheerfully undergo again all that he had suffered. Aurangzib, on receiving Abdur Razzaq's reply, displayed some petulance, but his displeasure was of short duration, and gave way to sincere admiration of the sufferer's inflexible devotion. Abdur Razzaq's scruples were at length overcome, and after his recovery, which, considering the condition of the healing art in those days, was little less than miraculous, he entered the emperor's service, having first obtained his old master's permission to do so, and all his personal property, except a small portion of it which had fallen into the hands of plunderers, was restored to him.

The spoils of Golconda were enormous, and the imperial treasury was enriched to the extent of 61,51,000 golden huns, Rs.2,00,53,000, a large quantity of jewels and plate and 1,15,13,00,000 copper dams.

Thus, after eight months' duration, ended the siege of Golconda, and thus Aurangzib at length plucked the fruit for the ripening of which he had so long waited. Making his religion a pretext for his designs, he had, in contravention of that religion, sent into captivity two fellow-Muslim sovereigns, destroying the last vestige of rivalry to his authority. The Mughal empire had now well nigh reached its utmost extent, and though as yet perhaps the signs of that fearfully rapid decay which led to its disintegration in the course of the next century were barely apparent, they were none the less present. The Marathas were as yet far from the zenith of their power, but were already a thorn in the side of the emperor, whose bigotry fanned their patriotism and whose ceaseless warfare inured them to arms and hardship. The forerunners of those ambitious and turbulent amirs who became virtually independent rulers of the provinces which Aurangzib's enfeebled successors dared not withhold from them, and in whose bands the great Mughal himself, before another century had passed, became a puppet.