Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/320



In December, 1656, the public health of Delhi became so bad that Shah Jahan with his Court proceeded to the bank of the Ganges at Garh Mukteshwar, a place noted for its game. In less than a month he returned to the capital; but as the epidemic continued, he again left it (February, 1657), and went to Mukhlispur on the Jumna, nearly a hundred miles north of Delhi. The cool climate of this place, at the foot of the Sirmur hills and yet within easy reach of the capital by boat, had led him to choose it as his summer retreat, and he had adorned it with fine palaces for himself and his eldest son, and given it the glorious name of Faizabad.

Here a grand Court ceremony was held. He just completed three decades of his reign and began the 31st year on 7th March. In the