Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/202

172 the name of Khirki,—I used in my folly to ride about, and make forced marches under the instigations of Satan and of my own passions. I used to go far on horseback to hunt the nilgau and other kinds of game. Other idle deeds did I do. I used to visit the lake of Qatluq in the valley of the watershed, Chamar Tikri and Jitwārā, and to make pilgrimages to the tombs of the saints Burhanuddin and Zainuddin, or to climb up the hill fort of Daulatabad and to the caves of Ellora, (which are wondrous examples of the Creator's art), sometimes with my family, at others alone."

Game was very abundant in the neighbourhood

of Aurangabad. Herds of wild deer grazed four miles from the city, and nilgaus were found in plenty in the direction of Lauhgarh and Ambar. Tigers could be shot in the hills which hemmed the valley round. At the lake of Qatluq, near the "valley of the watershed," six miles from the fort of Daulatabad, countless flocks of heron rested. Aurangzib, and afterwards his sons Muazzam and Azam, delighted to hunt the nilgau and the heron. The nilgaus were shot from a fixed station as they were driven down the