Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/80

the solar year of the Persians, and had authorized the celebration of the Nauróz, or New Year's festival, a characteristic national institution of Persia. One of Aurangzíb's earliest acts after his accession was to prohibit the Nauróz and revert to the clumsy lunar reckoning of orthodox Muhammadanism. In vain did scholars and mathematicians point out the inconvenience of the lunar method, with its ever-shifting months, for the purposes of administration, collection of revenue, regulation of seasons, harvests, and a thousand other matters. All those things were patent to a man of Aurangzíb's shrewd intelligence; but they weighed nothing against the fact that the lunar system was the kalendar of Muhammad the Prophet, and whatever Muhammad the Prophet ordained should be law whilst Aurangzíb was king.