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316 HISTORY OF AURANGZIB. [CHAP. XII. echoed the sentiments of others when he asserted that these letters were really written by Dara, an expert imitator of Shah Jahan's hand, and that the late Emperor's seal was necessarily in the possession of his successor. Even those who did not go so far, thought with Aurangzib that Shah Jahan was either dead or a helpless invalid entirely under Dara's control, so that he had practically vacated the throne. Some even assert- ed that Dara had wickedly flung his helpless father into prison and was doing him to death.† The three younger brothers, therefore, very plausibly asserted in their letters to the Emperor that their loving minds had been unsettled by these alarm- ing rumours, and they were marching on Agra to see their father with their own eyes and satisfy themselves as to his real condition. Thereafter (they promised) they would return peacefully to their provinces or loyally do whatever their father would personally command them. Their marching on Agra was no sign of rebellion. Had they not hastened thither from their head quarters without waiting and march on Agra. Faiyas-ul-qawanin, 418, 425, 429. As a matter of fact both Shah Jahan and Dara wrote in the same style of hand, as the signatures of the two in some Persian MSS. of the Khuda Bakhsh Library show. + Isardas, ga. Adab, 2006. Digitized by Microsoft Ⓡ