Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/41

CHAP. I.] shouted to his own guards to run to the spot.

Just then an unlooked for diversion came to the princes' aid. The other elephant, Suratsundar, ran up to renew the combat, and Sudhakar, having now no stomach for the fight, or being daunted by the spear-thrusts and fire works discharged at him, fled from the field with his rival thundering at his heels.

The danger thus passed away, and the princes were saved. Shah Jahan clasped Aurangzib to his bosom, praised his courage, gave him the title of Bahadur or 'hero,' and covered him with presents. The courtiers cried out that the boy had inherited his father's reckless courage, and told each other how Shah Jahan in his youth had attacked a wild tiger sword in hand before the eyes of Jahangir.

On this occasion Aurangzib gave a foretaste of his lofty spirit and royal contempt for death, in his speech as reported by Hamiduddin Khan. When his father lovingly chid him for his rash courage, he replied, "If the fight had ended fatally for me it would not have been a matter of shame.