taste for
the task that Akbar recalled him and sent him to his {141}
semi-independent government of Allahabad, where he spent his time in
congenial debauchery, and in worse. His disregard of all sense of
duty and honour, even of the lives of his most faithful attendants,
became at last so marked that Akbar set out for Allahabad, in the
hope that his presence might produce some effect. He had made but two
marches, however, when the news of the serious illness of his own
mother compelled him to return. But the fact that he had quitted Agra
for such a purpose produced a revulsion in the thought and actions of
Prince Salim. As his father could not come to him, he determined to
repair, slightly attended, to the court of his father. There he made
his submission, but he did not mend his ways, and his disputes with
his eldest son, Prince Khusru, became the scandal of the court.

The Emperor, indeed, was not happy in his children. His two eldest,
twins, had died in infancy. The third, erroneously styled the first,
was Prince Salim. The fate of the fourth son, Prince Murad, has been
told. The fifth son, Prince Danyal, described as tall, well-built,
good-looking, fond of horses and elephants, and clever in composing
Hindustani poems, was addicted to the same vice as his brother Murad,
and died about this time from the same cause. His death was a great
blow to Akbar, who had done all in his power to wean his son from his
excesses, and had even obtained a promise that he would renounce
them. There were at court many grandsons of the Emperor. Of these the
best-beloved was Prince Khurram, who {142} subsequently succeeded
Jahangir under the title of Shah Jahan.

The news of the death of Prince Danyal and its cause seem to have
greatly affected the Emperor. He was ill at the time, and it soon
became evident that his illness could have but one termination. The
minds of those about him turned at once to the consideration of the
succession. His only surviving son was Prince Salim, but his conduct
at Allahabad, at Agra, and elsewhere, had turned the hearts of the
majority against him, whilst in his son, Prince Khusru, the nobles
recognised a prince whose reputation was untarnished. Prince Khusru,
moreover, as the son of a princess of Jodhpur, was closely related to
Raja Man Singh, and that capable man was a great factor in the
empire. He had married, too, the daughter of the Muhammadan nobleman
who held the highest rank in the army, and