Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/392

362 persuade him to visit the Prince in order to receive an important oral message for the Emperor. As soon as Mir Jumla entered the chamber of Aurangzib, he was arrested at a preconcerted signal, and all his property and artillery seized by Aurangzib in the name of the State. But the mask had not yet been thrown off, and so Aurangzib gave an ostensible reason for this act: he publicly announced that Mir Jumla was thus punished because he had not sufficiently exerted himself against Bijapur and was in secret collusion with the two Deccani sultans! But his real motive comes out in the letter which he wrote to the Mir after defeating Dara, when he set him free and said, "You insisted on going back to the Court at an inconvenient time in spite of my urging you to the contrary." The captive wazir was lodged in the prison-fort of Daulatabad, to be released, restored to his property, and promoted to the highest rank of the nobility with the honoured titles of Premier