Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/363

CHAP. XIII.] seal to the letters issued in Shah Jahan's name. He rightly pointed out that no reliance could be placed on the letters from their agents at the capital reporting the old Emperor's recovery, because the houses of these agents were watched by Dara's men and they were compelled to write to their distant masters false news at the dictation of Mir Salih, the brother of Dara's secretary, Raushan-qalam. In letter after letter, up to the actual starting for Northern India, we see Murad all fire and haste, while Aurangzib is cold and hesitating. Murad urges passionately but in vain, "To wait for true news from the Court is to lose time and assist our enemy;"—"The sooner you advance from Aurangabad to Burhanpur, the better for our work and truer to our agreement;" "We are losing time and letting our business suffer, by waiting for certain news of Shah Jahan. Our enemy is growing stronger (in the mean- time)";—“Let us start together for Agra. It only remains for you to give the order."

Aurangzib had suggested to Murad that a diversion should be made against Dara by instigating the Persians and Uzbaks, to invade Afghanistan, which was then province of the Mughal