Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/168

138 famine and impending massacre. Above all, he utterly failed to keep in hand the diverse races,―Rajputs and Hindustani Musalmans, Afghans and Turks, who formed the garrison of Qandahar. With an impregnable fort, a garrison of 7,000 men, and provisions and munitions for two years, his task was easy in comparison with that of many an English subaltern known to fame, an Eldred Pottinger or a Grant (of Thobal); and he failed in it. If he had held out a month longer, the Persians would have raised the siege through lack of provisions. The garrison had lost only 400 men out of 7,000 effectives when he opened the gates to the enemy.

Shah Jahan

had received news of the Persian preparations for the siege of Qandahar as early as 30th September, 1648, but he suffered his courtiers to persuade him to delay his own march to Kabul till the next spring. On 16th January, 1649 at Lahore he received a despatch