History of the Panjab from the remotest antiquity to the present time

Latif, Syad Muhammad · 1891 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1174 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.

2Shah Jahdn, who was induced to send some of the crown jewels to his son.

3Aurangzeb, as an acknowledgment of this act of kindness, sent a Europe-

4an physician to treat the old king. The name of this physician is not

5stated, but he had been employed in more than one work of poisoning, and

6Death of Shah Jabén, had been advanced to high office in the state. The death of Shah Jahdén:

71666. ° .

8was soon announced. It happened during the night, when Aurangzeb was

9Grave susploion that ready to march for Kdéshmir with a contented mind. The suspicion was

10of paride 8" never removed that the aged king had been removed by poison. Fakhr-un-

11nissa, the eldest daughter of Aurangzeb, congratulated her father on the

12The funeral. occasion. The funeral ceremonies were performed with great splendour.

13The entire troops at Agra, in mourning costume, fied the procession, “

14and Aurangzeb followed the funeral car in solemn sadness, and with tears in

15his eyes, to the celebrated mausoleum of his mother, where the remains of

16the unhappy monarch were interred by the side of those of his beloved

17wife. So died Shah Jahan, the most magnificent monarch who ever ruled

18the destinies of the Indian empire. He was seventy-four years old when he

19died, and had reigned thirty years.

20All historians agree in speaking in eulogistic terms of the high pros-

21rent prosperity of — pertty of India during the reign of Shah Jahdén. The presence, in the

22aaa heart of the city of Léhore, of a splendid mosque, such as that of Wazir

23Khan, is a proof of the existence of much public as well as private

24wealth. Shah Jahan made many costly additions to the palace of L&hore

25and laid out the elegant Shdldmdér gardens of Léhore and Kashmir cele-

26brated in Moore’s Lalla Rookh. It was he who founded modern Delhi and

27adorned it with a castellated palace and a magnificent mosque, the finest in the

28East. To him India is indebted for that splendid edifice, the T4j of Agra, a

29monument of historical significance, unequalled by any other edifice in the

30world for the mysterious fascination which attaches to it. It is the admira-

31tion of the world, and the architectural pride of India. As a financier, Shah

32Jahdén had the reputation of managing his extensive establishment with great

33His economy. circumspection. In spite of the costly campaigns carried on from the borders

34of the Carnatic to the frontier of Balkh and Thibet; in spite of his magni-

35ficent shows and expensive entertainments; in spite of all his expenditure

36on public works, which were of such magnitude as had never before been

37undertaken by a single monarchy; in spite of his periodical expeditions

38to Kashmir and his expenses in maintaining a standing army of 200,000

39horse, he left at the end of his reign a treasure estimated at twenty-four crores

40- of rupees, besides vast accumulations in wrought gold and silver and in pearls.

41Testimony of Euro- Tavernier, the French traveller, who constantly visited most parts of

42sai India during the reign of Shah Jahdn, speaks of him as having “reigned

43not so much as a king over his subjects, but more as a father over his family:

44and children.” Describing the great prosperity and security enjoyed during

45his reign, Tavernier says: “ He was a great king, during whose reign there

46was such a strictness in the civil government, and particularly in the security:

47of the highways, that there was never any occasion to put any man to death:

48for robbery.” ‘Nor was this prosperity,” says Elphinstone on the authority

49of European travellers,* “confined to royal residences; all travellers speak

50with admiration of the grandeur of the cities, even in remote provinces, and’

51_of the fertile and productive countries in which they stood.” We have also

52the testimony of the Italian physician, Manucci, who came to India in 1649,:

53“ Mandelslo for Gujrdt; Graaf and Burton for Bengal, Behar and Orissa; and Tavernier

54for most parts of India. Pietro Della Valle, writing in 1623, the last year of Jahéngir, says:

55*‘Here geuerally all live after a genteel way, and they do it securely as well, because the king

56does not persecute his subjects with false accusations nor deprive them of anything when he

57sees them live splendidly and with appearance of riches.” an =