The Serpent's tooth

Chapter 22

Shah Jahan had been wondering when the officer Aurangzeb had placed in control of the Agra fort would present himself. He had already been told that he was an Uzbek — one of Khalilullah Khan’s men who with his commander had deserted Dara at Samugarh. Now Makhdumi Khan stood before him and he could see him for himself. He was tall, with a close-cropped grey beard and a pink shiny scar that looked recent across his right eyebrow. He made no attempt at obeisance but nor did he meet Shah Jahan’s gaze, keeping his eyes averted.

‘Why have you ignored the messages I sent you? Answer me now! Where are my daughters?’ Shah Jahan demanded.

‘Princess Gauharara has left the fort at her own request to join Princess Roshanara in the palace she now occupies along the Jumna. Your other daughter remains confined here in the imperial haram.’

‘I wish to see Princess Jahanara as soon as possible. I must be sure you are treating her with the respect due to her rank.’

‘I can assure you your daughter is in good health and being well treated. It isn’t for me to say when you will be permitted to see one another. Please listen to what your son Aurangzeb has commanded me to tell you. He has ordered you to be confined here in your apartments. He has also instructed me to post guards outside day and night to ensure your safety.’

‘I have always had guards at my door to protect me. I assume these are to prevent me from leaving?’

Makhdumi Khan said nothing.

‘And why have my attendants and qorchis been replaced? I do not wish to be served by strangers I neither know nor trust.’

‘It was on His Majesty’s orders …’

‘What do you mean, “His Majesty”? Who are you talking about?’

‘The Emperor Aurangzeb.’

‘There is no such person. I, Shah Jahan, am Emperor of Hindustan and no other.’

‘I am only the bearer of His Majesty the Emperor Aurangzeb’s messages. I cannot debate with you,’ Makhdumi Khan said awkwardly.

With an immense effort of will, Shah Jahan had been speaking slowly and calmly, masking emotions still in turmoil even though it was nearly three weeks since he had been confronted by Dara’s rotten head and the awful reality of his murder. After he had ordered the fort’s surrender he had retreated to his rooms. There he had contemplated ending his life and only the thought of Jahanara, whose distress he knew would be as great as his own and whom he could not desert, had stayed his hand. As the days had passed, a determination to defy — and ultimately to defeat — his traitorous sons had begun to strengthen him. He had waited with growing impatience for the moment when he could confront Aurangzeb and Murad face to face, rehearsing again and again the words he would use to them. But neither had come to him. Instead, cowards as well as traitors, they had simply sent soldiers to occupy and garrison the fort.

Suddenly something else about the commander’s words struck Shah Jahan. ‘At least tell me this. Why do you only mention Aurangzeb? What about his ally in rebellion, my son Murad?’

Makhdumi Khan looked surprised. ‘Don’t you know?’

‘How can I know anything when I’m kept in seclusion like this?’

‘I thought an attendant would have told you … Not long after Aurangzeb returned to Agra he ordered Prince Murad to be arrested.’

‘On what grounds?’

‘That while he was your governor in Gujarat he murdered his finance minister, Ali Naqi. Aurangzeb said that it was a crime before man and before God and his conscience could not allow it to go unpunished even though it was committed by his own brother.’ Shah Jahan almost smiled. He had wondered how Aurangzeb would get rid of his rival. The hypocrisy was breathtaking — Aurangzeb himself had ordered Dara’s murder yet he could pretend to be shocked by his brother’s killing of an official. ‘Didn’t Murad resist?’

‘He didn’t understand what was happening until too late. Aurangzeb invited him to his tent in his camp a mile or so away from his own to celebrate their victory alone together. While refusing it himself on account of his strict religious beliefs he ordered his brother to be plied with wine, then called for a concubine to massage the prince and lie with him. While the prince was naked and off guard in his brother’s tent, Aurangzeb’s guards came for him.’

Aurangzeb had foolishly feared to be alone with Dara in his underground room. Why had Murad not had the sense to beware being alone in Aurangzeb’s tent, knowing he had killed his older brother, thought Shah Jahan. ‘Surely Murad’s own soldiers fought to defend him when they learned what was happening?’

‘That is where His Majesty was so clever.’ Despite himself the Uzbek’s face cracked into a smile that showed deep admiration for Aurangzeb’s cunning. ‘The prince knew his brother would not be missed until the morning and had previously ordered four near-identical elephants to be readied with their howdahs closely curtained. While most of the camp slept he had Prince Murad, still bemused from the effects of the wine, placed in one of the howdahs. Then, to confuse those of his brother’s followers whom he had not already secretly won over with promises of money and advancement and hinder them from rescuing him, while it was still dark he despatched each elephant to a separate point of the compass with a strong escort. In fact, the elephant bearing Murad headed south, making for the fort at Gwalior. By the time his few loyal commanders had discovered what had happened pursuit was impossible and they were easily persuaded to accept the inevitable.’

Gwalior … The huge cliff-top fortress with its many-turreted and brightly painted walls was a formidable prison. Many of the Moghuls’ enemies had disappeared into its deep dungeons, seldom to see daylight again.

‘I heard that he is in a cell near your grandson Prince Sipihr,’ the governor went on.

‘Sipihr?’ So Dara’s younger son was still alive … Shah Jahan gave private thanks to God.

‘Yes. Aurangzeb has not yet decided his fate.’

‘What about Murad? What is to happen to him?’

‘His Majesty says that he does not wish to spill the blood of a brother who fought beside him against the heretic Dara. Therefore he has not had him executed. Instead every day he is to be fed pousta.’

Shah Jahan stared at the Uzbek. They both knew perfectly well what that meant. Pousta was a concoction made from the milky juice of the opium poppy, so potent that any man dosed on it turned first into a mumbling idiot before eventually — and it could take years — dying. It was a terrible and protracted end — better by far to perish on the battlefield. For a moment, Shah Jahan thought of Murad as he had been in his childhood — so good-looking and full of energy and daring. A son any man could be proud of. Yet this was what he had come to — first treachery against his own father, then cold condemnation by his brother to a slow death that would rot both body and mind. The burst of compassion he was experiencing at Murad’s plight and his own inability to help him was hard to reconcile with his anger at his previous behaviour. Perhaps it was proof that a father’s feelings for a son, especially the instinct to protect, never entirely dissipated whatever the circumstances … however badly the child behaved. Perhaps in his heart his own father Jahangir had felt the same towards him.

‘I have further orders from the emperor.’ Makhdumi Khan broke into his thoughts. ‘Your steward has already given me the keys to the imperial treasury, but you are to hand over to me your personal jewels since living a life of retirement you will no longer need them. In particular, you have a gold ring that once belonged to Timur the Great. I am instructed to be sure that the ring is included among the jewels you are to relinquish.’

‘No! I will hand over nothing — not the smallest diamond or pearl. And if my son covets Timur’s ring he must come to me and cut it from my finger himself!’ Shah Jahan’s eyes blazed defiance as he locked his left hand over the middle finger of his right hand on which he was wearing the heavy ring engraved with its snarling tiger. ‘Tell my son he is no more than a common thief stealing from his lawful emperor and that as the good Muslim he claims to be he should know there will be a reckoning in the next life if not in this.’

‘I will tell your son that you refuse, and ask for his further instructions.’

Shah Jahan saw that the Uzbek’s expression was more respectful than at the start of their interview and drew himself up, conscious that though a prisoner he still retained the aura of imperial authority his grandfather Akbar had so strongly urged him to cultivate. The governor hesitated, then said softly, ‘You maintain that you are still emperor, but if you watch from your terrace this evening towards sunset you will see that age and events overtake everyone.’

‘What do you mean?’

But Makhdumi Khan clearly felt he had said enough. He gave an almost imperceptible bow of his head before turning to stride from the room.

All that afternoon there was frenetic activity on the riverbank across from Shah Jahan’s apartments. At first, he paid no attention. All his thoughts were focused on the son who was dead and the son and grandson who were still alive but incarcerated in Gwalior. Would Aurangzeb order pousta to be fed to Sipihr too? He wished Jahanara were here with him … he needed her good sense and compassion more than ever as darkness enveloped his family — a miasma conjured by Aurangzeb for reasons that he still struggled to comprehend. Ambition was one thing — it had driven the Moghuls to great as well as terrible deeds — but spite and vindictiveness were something else.

Sending Dara’s decomposing head had been an act of deliberate malice. Why did Aurangzeb hate him so much, and when had those feelings begun? Had they already been festering that day when Aurangzeb had defied his order to inspect the underground chamber of Dara’s mansion? At the time he had been too angry to consider what really lay behind his son’s strange behaviour … whether he had genuinely thought Dara intended to kill him and that his father would collude in his murder. Surely not. But Aurangzeb’s suspicions and insecurities ran deeper and further back than he had ever suspected. His humiliation and killing of Dara was calculated, cold-hearted revenge against his father as well as a brother he had envied and despised. It signalled a determination to rid himself of anyone who posed a threat. First Dara, then Murad. Who would be next? Probably Shah Shuja — wherever he might be — and his grandson Suleiman? Ever since Dara’s flight from Agra after the battle of Samugarh a good portion of Shah Jahan’s hopes had focused on Suleiman. He had longed to hear that his army was marching on Agra, but no more. Having slaughtered Dara, Aurangzeb wouldn’t hesitate to kill his eldest son, now his most serious rival for the throne. He wouldn’t care whether it was a clean death in battle or by the blade of a paid assassin creeping into Suleiman’s camp. One way or another Aurangzeb would have his way …

Shah Jahan remained deep in contemplation — all of it bleak and dark — until finally the raucous clamour outside grew too loud to be ignored any longer. He had no intention of going out on to his terrace where he might be observed, but looking through a carved jali screen he could see well enough what was happening. About two hundred feet away on the opposite side of the Jumna soldiers had almost finished erecting a large green silk pavilion edged with gold and supported by tall, slender poles striped green and gold. At each corner, the fabric was tied back on either side with golden cords on to which, from the bright sparkle, gems had been sewn. Beneath the canopy the troops had spread the earth with rich carpets while on the strip of ground between the pavilion and the river itself they were arranging more carpets in rows like prayer rugs in the mosque. Two jewelled incense burners shaped like crouching tigers and almost as large had been positioned on either side of the pavilion and thin trails of white smoke were already issuing from the tigers’ open jaws, inside which perfumed crystals must have been lit.

Curious crowds had already assembled. Straining to see what was going on, they were being held back by soldiers who had formed a cordon from one side of the canopy round its back to the other. Excited cries and shouts filled the air. He had long realised — even before the crowd roared their approval of Ismail Khan’s execution at the beginning of his reign — how fickle the people were and how short were their memories and loyalties. So many times he’d ridden at the head of his troops into the Agra fort while his attendants flung ornaments of beaten gold to his cheering subjects as they roared their enthusiasm for their ruler. Did a single person waiting so expectantly on the riverbank have a sympathetic thought to spare for their true emperor standing betrayed just across the river? Probably not. Like children craving entertainment and trinkets, not caring from whom they came, all their thoughts would be focused on the coming spectacle and Aurangzeb’s potential largesse.

What was Aurangzeb planning? It wasn’t too long before he had his answer. A large, flat-bottomed barge of a design Shah Jahan had not seen before came slowly into view from downstream, rowed by a dozen men whom Shah Jahan did recognise as imperial boatmen who crewed the vessels usually kept moored beneath the fort walls for the emperor’s use. Bare backs glistening with sweat in the late afternoon sun, they were straining at the oars not only because they were battling the current but because of the weight of a tall object covered with a piece of oiled cloth positioned in the middle of the boat. It was so heavy that the vessel seemed to ride low in the water. As the boatmen nudged the bow in at an angle against the far bank, soldiers ran forward to grab ropes the oarsmen flung to them and heaved the boat a little farther up on to the flat, muddy bank.

Soon soldiers climbed into the boat. One drew his dagger and began to saw at the thick ropes holding the object’s covering in place. It took some minutes before the ropes fell away and other men were finally able to pull off the oiled cloth. Shah Jahan gasped as he saw what it had been concealing. Facing towards him was his golden peacock throne. The twelve emerald-studded pillars supporting its domed roof blazed green in the sunlight. The gem-studded peacocks and trees set with rubies, diamonds, emeralds and pearls atop the pillars were dazzling.

For a moment a kind of pride pushed aside Shah Jahan’s troubles. He and he alone had created this fabulous thing, personally selecting the best jewels from the treasure of his empire. No ruler since the days of King Solomon had possessed such a throne … When the idea had first come to him at the start of his reign he had still been young and full of hope. For just a few moments he was that man again, with his glory days still ahead of him and his family around him, but then the feeling faded. His family had imploded. This was no longer his throne. A usurping son had stolen it from him. As he watched, two of the oarsmen lowered the front of the barge, which must have been specially constructed for this purpose. A group of soldiers edged behind the throne and began to push. Slowly and painfully they inched it forward. When at last it started to emerge from the boat on to the bank Shah Jahan could see that it had been placed on a wooden platform with rollers at either end. After twenty more minutes’ pushing, the throne was finally in place beneath the canopy, its gleaming, glittering front facing directly towards the fort.

Towards sunset, Makhdumi Khan had said … Glancing towards the horizon, Shah Jahan saw it wasn’t far off. As if on cue, moments later a series of strident trumpet blasts sounded, apparently from somewhere along the fort’s battlements. Then the great, silver-oared imperial barge — his barge — appeared from the same direction as the boat that had carried the throne. It had been re-gilded and banners of Moghul green fluttered from prow and stern, and its decks were deep with rose petals that drifted in the breeze like pink snowflakes. In the centre of the vessel shielded from the sun beneath a giant green umbrella stood Aurangzeb, dressed in cream-coloured robes with long ropes of pearls round his neck. On his head was the imperial turban with its white egret feathers and his fingers gleamed with gems. Everything about the way he was holding himself, from his straight back to his raised chin, suggested pride and authority.

Two more boats were following. Shah Jahan recognised nearly every one of the thirty bright-robed courtiers aboard. Some were Aurangzeb’s commanders and nobles but among them were men he had thought loyal to him, even a few who had helped defend the fort during the siege. Aurangzeb had bought them … or had they too simply bowed to the inevitable?

Saddened by the sight, Shah Jahan left the jali screen and walked the room, feeling a little like one of his hunting leopards restlessly prowling its cage — except that the leopards sometimes had the chance to run free. He might never know freedom again … But eventually, even though he knew that whatever he was about to witness could only bring him pain, further fanfares of trumpets followed by the booming of kettledrums drew him back to the jali screen.

Aurangzeb had disembarked and, flanked on each side by twelve bodyguards in silver breastplates, was making his way towards the peacock throne followed at a respectful distance by the courtiers. Reaching the throne, Aurangzeb paused for a moment, looked up at the dazzling canopy, then mounted its golden steps, turned and sat down. His courtiers ranged themselves before him. Then at a single shrill trumpet blast they fell to the ground, prostrating themselves in the age-old obeisance of the korunush, arms spread wide and faces pressed against the earth. At the further sounding of a trumpet they rose again. Next, a bearded man whom Shah Jahan hadn’t noticed before stepped forward. Dressed in a white robe and black turban he looked like a mullah. At a sign from Aurangzeb, he turned to face the courtiers and began a loud chant that Shah Jahan recognised at once as the prayer inaugurating the reign of a new Moghul emperor:

‘By the grace of God, and in succession to the glorious reigns of the mighty Genghis Khan and Timur, of Babur the Great and Humayun, of Akbar and Jahangir, of Shah Jahan …’

As Shah Jahan heard his own name, for a moment he clenched his eyes tight shut.

‘… I now proclaim that Aurangzeb is the new Emperor of Hindustan. May his glorious reign bring light to his people so that they and their descendants will bless his name for centuries without end and his memory will be as a shaft of sunlight driving away the darkness of the world. Long life to the Ruler of the Age!’

As the mullah ceased his sonorous chanting, Aurangzeb raised his right hand. From behind the throne emerged a line of qorchis, each carrying a heaped tray. From the glint Shah Jahan guessed what they were carrying — gold rupees, the traditional gift of a new emperor to his people. At a nod from Aurangzeb, the qorchis divided, half making their way to the right, the other half to the left, where the spectators were waiting. As they reached the cordon of soldiers they threw the contents of the trays into the air, showering the crowds with golden coins. There was a wild scrambling as people rushed for a share of the new emperor’s largesse. Meanwhile, more qorchis brought silken robes of honour and small bags doubtless containing money and jewels which Aurangzeb began handing to his nobles as each in turn approached the throne and knelt before him. Shah Jahan’s eyes narrowed as the tall figure of Khalilullah Khan advanced and Aurangzeb presented him with a sword whose jewelled scabbard flashed in the dying rays of the sun. The reward of treachery.

By the time Aurangzeb had finished, the light was fading and attendants were thrusting burning torches into the ground at intervals along the riverbank. From the battlements of the fort came the crack and whizz of fireworks and bursts of gold and green stars patterned the sky above Aurangzeb. Unseen drums and trumpets were sounding and attendants carrying lanterns waited to escort the emperor and his courtiers back to the boats. So many lamps had been lit on the imperial barge that the dark waters of the Jumna shimmered gold around it.

What had this ritual really been about, Shah Jahan wondered. Why had Aurangzeb chosen the riverbank as the place to proclaim himself emperor instead of the Hall of Public Audience within the fort? There was only one answer … Aurangzeb had chosen a spot directly opposite his father’s apartments in the fort because he had wanted, just as Makhdumi Khan had hinted, to show his father who was emperor now. Taking one last look through the jali, Shah Jahan saw his son still seated on his throne erect and motionless and looking directly towards him, as if he knew his father was watching and that after all these years he had his full attention at last.