Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/121

CHAP. V.] Qandahar and Imam Quli had feared lest his country should be invaded by them, Shah Jahan had assured him that he would be left in peace. That rebels from Afghanistan were harboured in Balkh could not have been a cause of war, because it has always been recognised among eastern kings as a sacred duty to give asylum to suppliants. The Afghan frontier was exposed to private raids by Nazar Muhammad's subjects, but these could not have extended far, and must have been looked upon as common incidents in that debateable land from time immemorial. The Court historian Abdul Hamid is, therefore, right when he says that Shah Jahan determined to conquer Balkh and Badakhshan, "because they were the heritage of Babar and also lay in the way to Samarqand, the capital of Timur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty." The civil war in Balkh supplied him with an opportunity for carrying out his long-cherished scheme.

But if Shah Jahan really hoped to conquer and rule Central Asia with a force from India, we must conclude that the prosperity of his reign