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164 which was now offered to him. But Shah Jahan was inexorable: he ordered Aurangzib to go to the Deccan at once, and brushed aside the Prince's excuses for his failure with the caustic remark, "If I had believed you to be capable of taking Qandahar, I should not have recalled your army...Every man can perform some work. It is a wise saying that men of experience need no instruction." Aurangzib replied by quoting the proverb, "Whosoever has a particle of sense can know his own good from his harm" and pointing out that he could not have purposely failed in his task, as he knew that it would involve his father's displeasure.

The Court ascribed the failure to the abandonment of Shah Jahan's plan of operations, which was that Aurangzib should invest the fort with half the force, while Sadullah should advance west with the other half and capture the forts of Bist and Zamin Dawar, when the garrison of Qandahar would see their communication with Persia cut off, lose heart and surrender to the Mughals. But Sadullah Khan opposed such division of the force and of the scanty supply of provisions and material, and the Emperor