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AURANGZIB'S ASCETIC TEMPERAMENT 123 seat on the Peacock Throne was as secure as ever had been Shah Jahan's or Jahangir's. They held their power in spite of flagrant violations of the law of Islam; they abandoned themselves to voluptuous ease, to " Wein, Weib, und Gesang," and still their empire held to- gether; even Akbar, model of Indian sovereigns, owed CAP MAKERS AND TURBAN FITTERS. much of his success to his open disregard of the Mo- hammedan religion. The empire had been governed by men of the world, and their government had been good. There was nothing but his own conscience to prevent Aurangzib from adopting the eclectic philoso- phy of Akbar, the luxurious profligacy of Jahangir,
