He was placed
upon the throne, and put in possession of the treasury, and at the
head of a respectable army;[21] but the Empress's brother, Asaf,
designed the throne for his own son-in-law, Shah Jahan; and, as soon
as the Emperor died, he put up a puppet to amuse the people till he
could come up with his army from the Deccan--Bulaki, the eldest son
of the deceased Khusru. Shahryar's troops were defeated; he was taken
prisoner, and had his eyes put out forthwith, and the Empress was put
into close confinement. As Shah Jahan approached Lahore with his
army, Asaf put his puppet, Bulaki, and his younger brother, with the
two young sons of Daniyal, into prison, where they were strangled by
a messenger sent on for the purpose by Shah Jahan, with the sanction
of Asaf.[22] This measure left no male heir alive of the house of
Timur (Tamerlane) in Hindustan, save Shah Jahan himself and his four
sons. Dara was then thirteen years of age, Shuja twelve, Aurangzeb
ten, and Murad four;[23] and all were present to learn from their
father this sad lesson--that such of them who might be alive on his
death, save one, must, with their sons, be hunted down and destroyed
like mad dogs, lest they might get into the hands of the disaffected,
and be made the tools of faction.
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