Moth Smoke

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It is said that one evening, in the year his stomach was to fail him, the Emperor Shah Jahan asked a Sufi saint what would become of the Mughal Empire.

‘Who will sit on the throne after me?’ asked Shah Jahan.

‘Tell me the names of your sons,’ replied the saint.

‘Dara is my eldest son.’

‘The fate of Dara should be asked from Iskandar.’

The Emperor’s toes curled beneath him. ‘Shuja is my second son.’

‘But Shuja is not shuja.’

‘What about Murad?’

‘Murad will not fulfill his murad.’

The Emperor closed his eyes. ‘Aurangzeb is my youngest son.’

‘Yes,’ said the saint. ‘He will be aurangzeb.’

The Emperor gazed across the plain at the incomplete splendor of his wife’s mausoleum and commanded his workers to redouble their efforts. It would be finished before the war of succession began.

The truth of the saint’s words became apparent. Aurangzeb was crowned Emperor, and he obtained from the theologians a fatwa against his defeated brother, charging Dara Shikoh with apostasy and sentencing him to death.

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