Page:Studies in Mughal India.djvu/94
orders in all affairs as sacred like tbe Quran and Traditions of the Prophet, and obedience to them as proper."
When Akbar's rebellion frizzled out and his abandoned camp near Ajmir was seized by the imperialists (16th January, 1681), "Zeb-un-nissa's correspondence with him was discovered, she was deprived of her pension of four lakhs of Rupees a year, her property was confiscated, and she was lodged in the fort Salimgarh at Delhi." (Masir-i-Alamgiri, 204.) Here she lived till her death on 26th May, 1702. It would be sweet to imagine that during this captivity our
High born maiden
In her palace-tower
Soothed her love-laden
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflowed her power.
and that she wrote at this time the pathetic laments which Mrs. Westbrook has translated on page 17: —
So long these fetters cling to my feet!
My friends have become enemies, my relations are strangers to me.
What more have 1 to do with being anxious to keep my name undishonoured,
When friends seek to disgrace me?
Seek not relief from the prison of grief, O Makhfi; thy release is not politic.
O Makhfi, no hope of release hast thou until the Day of Judgment come.
But history is silent on the point. On the other hand our ardour to weave a romance out of her captive life is