third, she by a fourth, and so on, until fifteen or sixteen females
of quality pass with a grandeur of appearance, equipage, and retinue
more or less proportionate to their rank, pay, and office. There is
something very impressive of state and royalty in the march of these
sixty or more elephants; in their solemn and, as it were, measured
steps, in the splendour of the _mikdembers_, and the brilliant and
innumerable followers in attendance; and, if I had not regarded this
display of magnificence with a sort of philosophical indifference, I
should have been apt to be carried away by such flights of imagination
as inspire most of the Indian poets when they represent the elephants
as conveying so many goddesses concealed from the vulgar gaze." [4]

Dramatic justice overtook the scheming Princess at last. In 1664
Aurangzîb fell dangerously ill, and, while he was unconscious,
Rushanara, believing him to be dying, abstracted the signet ring
from his finger and issued letters, as under the royal seal, to the
various Viceroys and Governors, setting aside the succession of the
Emperor's eldest son by a Rajput Princess in favour of another son,
a boy of six, by a Muhammadan sultana. She hoped by this means to keep
the supreme power in her own hands during the long minority of the new
Emperor. Aurangzîb unexpectedly recovered, and became suspicious of
his dangerous sister. The host of enemies she had created at court
were not slow in taking advantage of the situation, and Rushanara
soon afterwards disappeared--removed, it is said, by poison.

Aurangzîb ruled with a firm hand, and in strict justice according
to the law of Islam, but though a man of great intellectual powers,
of marvellous energy and indomitable courage, he was wanting in
imagination, sympathy, and foresight, the highest qualities of a
really great ruler. He checked the dissolute conduct of the nobles,