Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/76

64 The story of Abul Hasan is told elsewhere. Notwithstanding the premature death of Muhammad Sultan Aurangzib affected to regard the succession of Abul Hasan as an act of usurpation, the absurdity of this pretension is manifest, seeing that it was only in his wife's right that Muhammad had been recognized as heir apparent, but any excuse was sufficient for Aurangzib, and Abul Hasan, throughout his short reign, lived in constant dread of the emperor's aggressive ambition.

The blow fell at last in 1686, when Aurangzib, having taken Bija- pur and sent its young kins into captivity, marched on Golconda, which fell in October 1687, after a siege of eight months. Abul Hasan was sent into captivity at Daulatabad where he died some twelve years later and was buried in a humbl egrave at Rauza, in the hills above his prison house.

By the gate of the garden already mentioned stands an unfinished tomb with rough-cast walls and an incomplete dome, considerubly meaner in design than the tombs of the more fortunate kings of the dynasty. This building, though it is now occupied by other graves, is believed to be the tomb which Abul Hasan was building for himself when he was so rudely interrupted by Aurangzib's invasion.