Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/324

294 eldest, Dara Shukoh, their father's favourite and intended heir. The ill-feeling between Dara and Aurangzib in particular was so bitter and had continued growing bitterer for so many years past, that it was the talk of the whole empire, and peace had been maintained be- tween them only by keeping Aurangzib far away from the Court and his eldest brother. Everyone foreboded that the succession to Shah Jahan's throne would be disputed, and that a universal and complicated civil war would deluge all parts of India with blood, as soon as he would close his eyes or even earlier.

Shah Jahan had given clear indications that he wished to leave the crown

to Dara. As this prince was the eldest of four brothers by the same mother, the choice was not an act of unjust partiality, but simply followed the law of nature which gives to the eldest-born authority and precedence above the younger ones. In order to train him in the administration of the empire and to smooth the transfer of the supreme authority to him, the Emperor had kept Dara by his side for many years past. The viceroyalty of rich and long-settled provinces like Allahabad, the