more anxious about Aurangzíb's movements than the others, but he feared to let Shujá' approach the capital and possibly seize the person of Sháh-Jahán, who was the key of the situation. His forces were so large that he thought he might safely divide them. The result proved that he had committed a false move. He had better have left Shujá' alone for a while, and concentrated all his resources upon the task of crushing Aurangzíb. Shujá', it is true, was easily repulsed. Jai Singh surprised him at his camp near Benáres, and attacked before sun-rise, while the careless bon vivant was yet heavy with wine. After a brief contest the rebels gave way, and the dazed Prince, hardly awake, hastily took to flight, leaving his camp and treasure, artillery and ammunition, in the hands of Dárá's officers. The pursuit was merely perfunctory, for Sháh-Jahán had strictly enjoined leniency towards his rebellious son.
Meanwhile Aurangzíb pursued his policy of playing a strictly subordinate part. He wrote to congratulate Murád-Bakhsh on his successful capture of Súrat, and added, 'Whatever course you have resolved upon in opposition to the shameless and unrighteous conduct of our abandoned brother, you may count on me as a staunch ally. Our father is still alive, and we two are bound to come to his aid, and punish the presumption and pride of the apostate.' He threw out hints, quite after his puritan ideas, that after restoring order, they should try to reclaim the malignant and send him on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He urged an
