[12] It is very likely that he did strike this army
with a panic by getting some of their leaders assassinated in one
night. He was supposed to have the 'dast ul ghaib', or supernatural
purse' [literally, 'invisible hand'], as his private expenditure is
said to have been more lavish even than that of the Emperor himself,
while he had no ostensible source of income whatever. The Emperor was
either jealous of his influence and display, or suspected him of dark
crimes, and threatened to humble him when he returned to Delhi. As he
approached the city, the friends of the saint, knowing the resolute
spirit of the Emperor, urged him to quit the capital, as he had been
often heard to say, 'Let me but reach Delhi, and this proud priest
shall be humbled'.
The only reply that the saint would ever deign to give from the time
the imperial army left Bengal, till it was within one stage of the
capital, was '_Dihli dur ast_'; 'Delhi is still far off'. This is now
become a proverb over the East equivalent to our 'There is many a
slip between the cup and the lip'. It is probable that the saint had
some understanding with the son in his plans for the murder of his
father; it is possible that his numerous wandering disciples may in
reality have been murderers and robbers, and that he could at any
time have procured through them the assassination of the Emperor.
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