Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/336

306 promotion and rewards worth 2½ lakhs of rupees, and again on 20th December presented him with one krore of rupees besides jewellery valued at 34 lakhs, in recognition of his filial piety and tender nursing during the Emperor's illness. Dara's rank was raised to that of a Commander of Sixty Thousand Horse, and his eldest two sons were promoted Commanders of 15,000 and 10,000 troopers respectively.

After the first week of illness Shah Jahan, as we have already seen, felt some relief, but no hope of recovery. So he piously set himself to prepare for the next world. Calling to his presence some confidential courtiers and the chief officers of the State, he made his last will before them, and ordered them to obey Dara henceforth as their sovereign in everything, at all times, and in every place. To his successor he gave the advice to seek to please God, to treat the public well, and to care for the peasantry and the army. Dara now had the supreme power in his hand, though he did not assume the crown but continued to issue orders in his father's name. The history of the next eight months is