Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/122

92 and the flattery of his courtiers had turned his head, and that he was dreaming the vainest of vain dreams. The Indian troops detested service in that far-off land of hill and desert, which could supply no rich booty, no fertile fief, and no decent house to live in. The occupation of that poor inhospitable and savage country meant only banishment from home and comfort and ceaseless fight and watching against a tireless and slippery enemy. The finest troops might be worn out and the richest treasury exhausted in the attempt to keep hold of such a country, and no gain either in glory or wealth was to be expected. Poor as the revenue of the new conquest was at the best of times, the Mughals during their two years of occupation could collect only one half and one-fourth respectively of this small sum, while their war expenses were sixteen times as high!

A Mughal officer began the war by marching with a force from Ghorband, on the northern frontier of Afghanistan, and capturing the fort of Kahmard (June, 1645). But he soon abandoned it to the enemy. Shah Jahan disapproved both of the capture and of the abandonment as unwise, and turned his immediate attention to the