and
represented the value of the loot the prince would acquire, and the
importance of such untold treasure in prosecuting his ambitious
projects. Kootb, however, offered Aurung-zeb prodigious wealth in
diamonds and specie to leave his kingdom unmolested, and threatened
Jemla with the death of his son (whom Kootb had seized and cast into
prison), unless the terms were accepted. Aurung-zeb declined the
proposal, and entrusted to Mohammed, his eldest son, the conduct of
the war. The young warrior, with Jemla, set fire to the city of
Golconda and murdered its inhabitants. As the King retreated to the old
city he was closely followed by young Mohammed. Kootb was at the mercy
of the victorious prince, who would have slain him but for the
intercession of his daughter, whom Mohammed wedded even in the midst of
the slaughter and desolation of the royal house. Within a few months
the dependent king of Beejapoor died, and his throne being filled
without reference to the Emperor, Shah Jehan, the Deccan was again
subject to the horrors of war.
From
this period to 1666 (nine years) the internecine strife for supremacy
under the nominal sovereignty of their father, Shah Jehan's four sons,
Dara, Shooja, Aurung-zeb, and Murad were in perpetual strife. The star
of Aurung-zeb soon showed itself in the ascendant. Shah Jehan and his
youngest son Murad were now virtually prisoners of Aurung-reb. Dara,
his elder brother, had been conquered, and was in flight, and Shooja
was in arms ready to attack Aurung-zeb, who had seized the power of the
throne, though vehemently asserting his utter
