History of India . picion, and,while they feared, resented his distrustful scrutiny. Au-rangzib was imiversally respected, but he was neverloved. Simple of life and ascetic as he was by disposition,Aurangzib could not altogether do away with the pompand ceremony of a court which had attained the pin-nacle of splendour under his magnificent father. Inprivate life it was possible to observe the rigid rulesand practise the privations of a saint, but in public theemperor must conform to the precedents set by hisroyal ancestors from the days of Akbar, and hold hisstate with aU the imposing majesty
History of India . picion, and,while they feared, resented his distrustful scrutiny. Au-rangzib was imiversally respected, but he was neverloved. Simple of life and ascetic as he was by disposition,Aurangzib could not altogether do away with the pompand ceremony of a court which had attained the pin-nacle of splendour under his magnificent father. Inprivate life it was possible to observe the rigid rulesand practise the privations of a saint, but in public theemperor must conform to the precedents set by hisroyal ancestors from the days of Akbar, and hold hisstate with aU the imposing majesty which had been sodear to Shah Jahan. A Great Moghul without gor- 130 AUKAJJTGZIB THE PURITAN EMPEROR geous darbars, dazzling jewels, a glittering assemblageof armed and richly habited courtiers, and all the pag-eantry of royal state would have been inconceivableor contemptible to a people who had been accustomedfor centuries to worship and delight in the gloriousspectacle of an august monarch enthroned amid a blaze. THE JAMI UASJID, OB 6BEAT MOSQUE AT DELHI. of splendour. Among Orientals especially the clothesmake the king. The emperor divided his residence between Delhiand Agra, but Delhi was the chief capital, where mostof the state ceremonies took place. Agra had been themetropolis of Akbar, and usually of Jahangir, but itssultry climate interfered with the enjoyment of theirluxurious successor, and the court was accordingly re- DELHI THE CHIEF CAPITAL 131 moved, at least for a large part of the year, to NewDelhi, the City of Shah Jahan. The ruins of thissplendid capital, its mosques, and the noble remains ofits superb palace are familiar to every reader. To seeit as it was in its glory, however, we must look throughthe eyes of Bemier, who saw it when only eleven yearshad passed since its completion. His description waswritten at the capital itself in 1663, after he had spentfour years of continuous residence there; so we haveevery reason to assmne that he knew his Delhi tho
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