he never learnt to judge men by the crucial test of danger and difficulty; and he lost touch with the active army. Hence he was rendered unfit for that war of succession which among the Mughals served as a practical test for the survival of the fittest. Basking in the sunshine of his father's favour and flattered by an entire empire, Dara had acquired some vices unworthy of a philosopher and fatal to an aspirant to the throne. Aurangzib in later life spoke of Dara as proud, insolent to the nobles, and ungovernable in temper and speech.[1] But while rejecting this testimony of his mortal enemy, we may at least believe that his unrivalled wealth and influence were not likely to develop moderation, self-restraint, or foresight in him; while the fulsome flattery which he received from all must have aggravated the natural pride and arrogance of an heir to the throne of Delhi. The detailed account of his siege of Qandahar, written by an admirer, shows him in the odious light of an incompetent braggart, almost insane with conceit, capricious and childish in the manage-
- ↑ Ruqat-i-Alamgiri, Nos. 5, 47, 53. Anecdotes of Aurangzib, § 3 and 4. In the Adab (260b) Aurangzib writes to Shah Jahan that Dara's only qualifications for winning his father's favour were "flattery, smoothness of tongue, and much laughing, while in carrying out any business entrusted by his father his heart was not in conformity with his tongue."
