Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/266

236 ning streams, inhabited villages with large patches of cultivated land attached to them. Not a piece of land without tillage. Such a money-yielding country, unmatched by the Imperial dominions, has fallen into this wretch's hands!" And again, "Golkonda is a spacious kingdom, well-cultivated, rich in mines of diamond, crystal, &c." He plied his father with all sorts of arguments to secure his consent to its annexation: Qutb-ul-mulk was a godless wretch, ungrateful for Imperial favours, sunk in vices unworthy of a king, a violator of the purity of his subjects' homes, an oppressor against whom the people were invoking the Heavens, a heretic who had perverted all his subjects from the pure Sunni faith, and lastly an ally and financial supporter of the king of Persia. Not to punish such a heretical ruler would be a failure of duty on the part of an orthodox Islamic emperor! To miss this opportunity of crushing such an enemy would he highly impolitic. "I hope your Majesty will order annexation."