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108 beneath his eyes. In 1643, when only twenty-four, he announced his intention of retiring from the world, and actually took up his abode in the wild regions of the Western Ghats, where he adopted the rigorous system of self-mortification which distinguished the fakir, or mendicant friar of Islam. The novelty of the experiment, however, soon faded away; the fakir grew heartily tired of his retreat; and the prince returned to carry out his notions of asceticism in a sphere where they were more creditable to his self-denial, and more operative upon the great world in which he was born to work.

It is true his first campaigns were unsuccessful. Ordered in 1647 to take command of the provinces of Balkh and Badakhshan beyond the Hindu Kush, recently conquered from the Uzbegs by Shah Jahan's generals, Aurangzib found the position untenable in face of the unceasing hostility of the indomitable hill tribes, and withdrew his forces with heavy loss. Nor were his efforts in 1649 and 1652 to recover Kandahar from the Persians, who had retaken it in 1648, more successful. Aurangzib had again to retreat discomfited, as his elder brother Dara did from a third attempt in 1653. These campaigns in Afghanistan and beyond the Hindu Kush are of no importance in the history of India, except as illustrating the extreme difficulty of holding the mountain provinces from a distant centre; but they were of the greatest service to Aurangzib. They put him in touch with the imperial army, and enabled him to prove his courage and tactics in the