Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/380

350 way he would follow the former route and march into Northern India; otherwise he would set his face westwards and return to Aurangabad, the seat of his viceroyalty. But the period of uncertainty was only prolonged; no decisive information came from Delhi, and for weeks after leaving Bidar, Aurangzib passed his time in the greatest anxiety and vacillation.

On 18th October he learnt from a letter of his agent at Delhi that Shah Jahan had become helpless; on the 21st came another letter, saying that the Emperor's illness was decreasing. A third letter, received on the 22nd, brought news of an opposite tenour: Dara had become supreme at Court and was daily strengthening his position. A secret message from the Collector of Agra, evidently professing devotion, reached Aurangzib at this time. It only confirmed his worst suspicions: the very fact of such a letter being written meant that a demise of royalty had taken place or was very imminent; "one of these two alternatives must have happened,-Shah Jahan is either dead or a helpless invalid."

In view of these facts Aurangzib proposed to send his son Muhammad Sultan with an army to Burhanpur, to close the ferry over the Tapti river,